The Book of Romans: Introduction

Romans: it is a letter from Paul that can easily be underestimated.

This book is filled with deep, theological thought, as well as understandable, day-to-day advice that can make an impact on any level of faith.

The goal of this series is to break down Paul’s rich book into a digestible level, but also highlight some hard questions that scholars still struggle to understand today.

The series will be broken into five parts:

• Part 1: Human Nature (Chapters 1-3) - How does a human act? How should they act? How does God act? Paul takes all these questions and brings it to one conclusion: God is good, and humans are not. We are in desperate need of help.
• Part 2: Justification Through Jesus (Chapters 4-6) - We could never save ourselves. The Old Testament gave Israel the law, but because of their sinful nature they could never fulfill it on their own. This is why Jesus came. Through faith we have hope.
• Part 3: We Are of Christ, Not Flesh (Chapters 7-8) - Just because we have justification through Jesus’ sacrifice, does not mean we can live however we want. We are a new creation with a new master and a new lifestyle.
• Part 4: God Desires All (Chapters 9-11) - This is, by far, Romans’ most theologically dense section. The overarching theme is that God made a plan for Jews and Gentiles to be saved. However, there is a lot of debate on whether Paul is teaching predestination (the belief that God controls every aspect of life without any human decision) or not¹.
• Part 5: The Law of Love (Chapters 12-16) - Paul steps away from the theology and tackles the conflicts that the Roman church is facing. Hateful and petty arguments do not show the love of Christ, so Paul tries to help by offering practical advice.

By the end of this series, I hope that you walk away knowing a little bit more about God’s relentless love for us and how we should live that out as Christians.

God has taught me and grown me so much through studying this book, and I pray that He will do the same for you!