Bible Survey: Romans
Romans is Paul's greatest epistle, the one book of the Bible that sets out the doctrines of the faith in order, and Martin Luther called it the true masterpiece of the New Testament. Its theme is the gospel of God, and its key verse is For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith (Romans 1:17).
Paul does not try to prove that man is a sinner. He simply says it: For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23). Three times in the first chapter God gives up a people who did not like to retain Him in their knowledge, and a nation that sinks to that kind of perversion is under judgment. America is heading there.
From that foundation Paul builds the whole plan of salvation. We are justified freely by his grace (Romans 3:24), justified by His blood, and justified by faith: Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ (Romans 5:1). So many people today have no peace at all, and that is an open door for the gospel. Good works do not justify anyone, but they are the evidence that a man has been justified.
Chapters nine through eleven deal with Israel. God is not finished with the Jews, and the church is not a new Israel: And so all Israel shall be saved (Romans 11:26).
Then comes a therefore: I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice (Romans 12:1). And be not conformed to this world (Romans 12:2). Before we blame Hollywood and the politicians for the state of the country, we ought to look at worldly churches and worldly Christians.
Paul reminds believers that every one of us shall give account of himself to God (Romans 14:12), and warns them to mark them which cause divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned; and avoid them (Romans 16:17). False teachers are nothing new.
Next in the series: 1 Corinthians.
Taught by Brother James Barker in Sunday School at Naples Independent Baptist Church, February 28, 2021. Watch the lesson.
