Does your day-to-day life mirror the beliefs you hold, or do you find
This union between doctrine and life illustrates for Christians the absolute importance of both what we believe and how we live out those beliefs. Beginning with eleven chapters of doctrine, the book then transitions into five chapters of practical instruction. The structure of Romans provides a hint into the importance of the book in our everyday lives.
Rebels to followers (6–8), confirm His righteousness when God saves the Jews (9–11), and apply His righteousness in practical ways throughout our lives (12–16). Paul showed how human beings lack God’s righteousness because of our sin (1–3), receive God’s righteousness when God justifies us by faith (4–5), demonstrate God’s righteousness by being transformed from For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith as it is written, “But the righteous man shall live by faith.” (Romans 1:16–17) The primary theme running through Paul’s letter to the Romans is the revelation of God’s righteousness in His plan for salvation, what the Bible calls the gospel:įor I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. Paul’s treatment of these issues offers a logical and complete presentation of how a person can be saved from the penalty and power of his or her sin. But Paul made it clear that the believer’s pursuit of God doesn’t stop with salvation it continues as each of us is sanctified-made holy-as we persist in following Him. Redemption, or salvation, because Christ’s blood covers our sin. However, God in His grace offers us justification by faith in His Son, Jesus. All people have been condemned due to our rebellion against God. Paul began by discussing that which is most easily observable in the world-the sinfulness of all humanity. The letter to the Romans stands as the clearest and most systematic presentation of Christian doctrine in all the Scriptures. It was played out before his eyes every day. So when Paul wrote in Romans about the sinfulness of humanity or the power of God’s grace to miraculously and completely change lives, he knew that of which he spoke. The prominent Greek city was also a hotbed of sexual immorality and idol worship. Writing from Corinth, Paul likely encountered a diverse array of people and practices-from gruff sailors and meticulous tradesmen to wealthy idolaters and enslaved Christians.
Therefore, Paul wrote to a church that was experiencing a time of relative peace, but a church that he felt needed a strong dose of basic gospel doctrine. The political situation in the capital had not yet deteriorated for the Roman Christians, as Nero wouldn’t begin his persecution of them until he made them scapegoats after the great Roman fire in AD 64. The apostle Paul wrote to the Romans from the Greek city of Corinth in AD 57, just three years after the 16-year-old Nero had ascended to the throne as Emperor of Rome. No doubt they had heard of Paul and would have been honored by the letter, but Paul always took opportunities to personally connect with his audience so that the message of the gospel might be better received. The apostle greeted twenty-six different people by name, personalizing a letter from a man who would have been a personal stranger to most of the recipients. Paul had never been to Rome when he wrote the letter to the Romans, though he had clearly expressed his desire to travel there in the near future (Acts 19:21 Romans 1:10–12).
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