For my Romans class we had to create a readers guide for the entire book. I don't even want to pretend to understand every detail of this book but I think the major concepts that Paul communicates in this letter can be easily understood. The principles of the Gospel and Christian living are found in this letter and it is an amazing book. I hope that this readers guide helps you see the big picture in the book of Romans.
Romans Reader's Guide:
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Thought Flow of the Book of Romans:
I. All of humanity stands justly condemned before God and all people are justified by faith in Jesus (Romans 1-4).
--->✠ Gods’ wrath remains on immoral and wicked people (1:18ff).
--->✠ God’s wrath remains on “moral” Gentiles and on Law keeping Jews (2:1ff).
--->✠ Jewish blood does not equal friendship with God (3:1-20).
--->✠ Righteousness and justification comes from Christ alone (3:21ff).
--->✠ Abraham: the supreme example of righteousness by faith (4).
II. Jesus and the Spirit solved the problems that the Torah could not solve: sin and death and making people holy (Romans 5-8).
--->✠ Jesus fixed the mess that Adam introduced into the world (5:12ff).
--->✠ The sinful life died with Christ in baptism, therefore don’t live in sin (6:1-14).
--->✠ Sin is no longer the master so stop submitting to him, submit to Christ the new master who gives eternal life (6:15ff).
--->✠ Christ has released us from the Law so that we can serve God in the Spirit (7:1-6).
--->✠ The problem with the Law is sin, not the Law itself (7:7ff).
--->✠ The new way of serving God is in walking by the Spirit (8:1-17).
--->✠ Christ’s love is permanent (8:31ff).
III. God has always been faithful to his promises throughout history and his plan has always been to create one people for himself made up of Jews and Gentiles, the Church. (Romans 9-11).
--->✠ God’s promise to forever be the God of Abraham’s descendents has not failed; it has been misunderstood (9:6-13).
--->✠ God has the right to choose whom he will show his mercy (i.e. Israel Old Covenant, Church New Covenant) (9:14-18).
--->✠ The Scriptures reveal that God’s plan was to form one people and they also reveal that this new people would be made righteous through faith (9:19ff).
--->✠ The Jews are not part of God’s people because they try to establish their righteousness through the Torah instead of through faith in Christ (10).
--->✠ God did not reject the Jews; on the contrary they rejected him (11:1-10)!
--->✠ The Jewish people can have fellowship with God when they repent and believe in Christ (11:11-24).
--->✠ All of this happened according to God’s sovereign plan (11:25ff).
IV. How to live as the people of God in this world; love with God’s kind of love. (Romans 12-15).
--->✠ Offer your body as a living sacrifice and be transformed (12:1-2).
--->✠ Be humble and use the gifts God has given you to build others up (12:3-8).
--->✠ The characteristics of sincere love (12:9-13).
--->✠ How love reacts to persecution and opposition (12:14ff).
--->✠ How love interacts with higher authorities (13:1-7).
--->✠ The essence of love (13:8-10).
--->✠ Christians must live in anticipation of the coming age (13:11-14).
--->✠ How strong and weak Christians should treat one another (14-15:13).
• Concluding Matters (Romans 15:14-16).
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Romans 1-4
Summary: Paul begins the letter to the Romans by introducing himself and his Gospel. The Gospel is the primary focus of the entire letter. Paul states, “I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes…For in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed- a righteousness that is by faith from first to last…” (1:16-17). A legitimate question that one may ask at this point is, “What do I need to be saved from?” That question leads directly into the main focus of Romans 1-4. We need salvation because the wrath of God rightly remains on all people because of their sins and all people can be justified through faith in Christ alone.
Paul explains why God’s wrath remains on all people in the first 2 chapters. Paul says that immoral and wicked people are under God’s wrath because they know what is morally right but still choose to suppress the truth and practice evil (e.g. sexual immorality; homosexuality; etc) (1:18ff). Paul then explains that “moral” Gentiles stand justly condemned because when they pass judgment on people who do wicked things they are actually judging themselves because they have done the same things! Then Paul explains that the Jews who observe the Torah (the Mosaic Law) stand justly condemned because even though they have God’s specific commands they still break God’s commands! All of humanity stands condemned before God!
The only way that mankind can be made right with God is through faith in Christ. Christ removed the death sentence looming over our heads because of his perfect sacrifice. God’s wrath was fully satisfied when it was laid upon Jesus on the cross. We are justified through faith in Christ not by law keeping. Abraham is proof that God justifies on the basis of faith and not on the basis of keeping the Law.
Key Words: Wrath, Law, Faith, Righteousness, and Justification/Justice.
Application:
• Romans 1-4 explains why we so desperately needed Jesus. When you present the Gospel to others try to explain to them why they need it in the first place.
• In this section we see the helpless situation of fallen humanity. The good news is that God got his hands bloody to make things right again and it focuses on what God did to overcome evil. Examine your life. When you get angry about things that are messed up in the world focus on what you can do to change that problem and commit to change it.
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Romans 5-8
Summary: Paul’s main point in this section is that the Law was not capable of putting an end to sin and death and that it could not make people holy. Jesus and the Holy Spirit on the other hand did solve all those problems. Paul begins his logic in this section by assuring us Christians that our future is secure in Christ because he took it upon himself to put sin and death to an end before we even loved him (5:1-11)! The Law could not justify, it could only condemn. Then Paul explains how Jesus solved the problem of sin and death that Adam had introduced into the world. The Law was established during the time between Adam and Christ but it only increased sin it didn’t cure it (5:12ff). Death is a natural consequence of sin so when Christ did away with sin he also did away with death.
Now that sin and death has been taken care of in Christ one thing yet remains to be accomplished: making sinful people holy. Paul teaches that the weakness of the flesh combined with sin’s abuse of the Law held humanity captive to sin. The Law actually became a contributor to humanity’s slavery to sin; though not because it was sinful in and of itself. The problem with the Law is that it could only tell people what they must do but it did not provide the power to actually obey. Paul explains the agony of a person who desires to obey God but does not have the inner power to do so (7:7ff). This problem was fixed when our flesh was crucified with Christ and when we were raised with him (6:1-14). Christians are now slaves of God and no longer slaves to sin (6:15ff). Being a slave to God is the same thing as having a mind that is controlled by the Spirit (8:5-8). Now that we have the Holy Spirit it is possible for us to “put to death the misdeeds of the body” and live. Those who walk by the Spirit are pleasing to God and are not controlled by the flesh. The Spirit of God intercedes for us so that we might be conformed to the image of Christ.
Key Words: Spirit, Flesh, Sin, Slave.
Application:
• Sin is no longer an obligation but a desire! We don’t have to sin any more because we died to sin; we now sin because we choose to. Daily remind yourself that you are not bound to sin anymore.
• We need the Spirit’s help in order to overcome sin even though we are dead to it. We walk by the Spirit by setting our minds on the things of the Spirit. Choose to set your mind on the things of the Spirit.
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Romans 9-11
Summary: This section of Romans deals with the faithfulness and trustworthiness of God. Paul is standing in God’s defense and explaining that God has always been faithful to every promise he has ever made and that his plan has always been to create one new people for himself made up of Jews and Gentiles, the Church. Paul has to address a Jewish misunderstanding because he has just said that nothing will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus (8:37ff). This statement is problematic to a Jew because he is left wondering, “If nothing can ever separate you from God then why has God just forgotten about Israel, his chosen people!”
God promised Abraham in Genesis 17:7 that he would forever be the God of Abraham and his descendents. Paul affirms that God’s word did not fail (i.e. his promise was not broken) but his promise has been misunderstood (9:6). Israel is whoever God wants “Israel” to be. Abraham had many children but his line was carried on by Isaac alone (9:7). Moreover, Isaac had twins, Jacob and Esau, but God only chose Jacob to carry on the line of Abraham. Paul argues that God has the right to choose whom he wants to show his mercy because nobody deserves it anyway. God does not owe national Israel salvation. They felt that they were entitled to salvation but when God chose to show his mercy through the Church instead of through Israel they got upset. Paul then shows his opponents from their own scriptures that God’s plan was to form one people for himself and that this new people would be made righteous through faith (9:19ff).
The only reason the Jews are no longer God’s people is because they choose to try and make themselves right with God through observing the Torah instead of through faith in Christ (10ff). The argument comes full circle on the Jews because it is not God who had rejected them it was they who had rejected God (11:1-10)! Jews are free to reenter into fellowship as God’s people when they repent of their unbelief and trust in Christ (11:11-24). “Israel” is now the church which is made up of Jews and Gentiles and all of this has come about because of God’s sovereign plan (11:25ff).
Key Words: Mercy, Kindness, Grace.
Application:
• It is a temptation to think that God is obligated to us. God does not owe us salvation; he gave it as a gift. If you are a teacher or preacher or small group leader do not be tempted to believe that just because of what you do for God means that God owes you salvation. Salvation comes only through faith.
• God’s grace allows no room for superiority complexes. If we look down on other people that are less “spiritual” then it is time to check our pride. All have fallen short of God’s glory.
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Romans 12-15
Summary: Now that Paul has explained that the Church is God’s people and that faith in Christ is the only way to be justified he focuses his attention on how God’s people are to live in this world. The first instruction Paul gives is that we need to offer our bodies as a living sacrifice and he then urges us to be transformed by the renewing of our minds (12:1-2). This thought echoes Paul’s teaching on walking by the Spirit (8) which is the foundation of Christian living. Paul teaches that God’s people are to use their individual gifts to build up the body of Christ and to be humble (12:3-8). Paul then draws a picture of what sincere Christian love looks like so that believers can model their lives after it (12:9-13). The people of God are to respond to persecution and opposition with love and to allow good to overcome evil (12:14ff).
The love that characterizes the believer’s life is so immense that it affects every area of their life. When Christian love is expressed toward governing authorities, submission and respect is the result (13:1-7). It would take books to explain the way Christian love changes specific situations in life. Paul sums up the essence of Christian love; “Love does no harm to its neighbor.” He leaves the exploration of this principle up to us (13:8-10). As God’s people, not the people of the world, we are to live in anticipation of the coming age by clothing ourselves with Jesus Christ (13:11-14). Paul turns to address a specific situation that was dividing the church in Rome and urges the mature Christians who realize that they are not bound to food laws not to use their freedom if a weaker Christian brother or sister will be destroyed by it. Paul urges the weaker Christians to not judge their brothers over morally neutral issues (14:15-13). The people of God are to live in harmony with one another and they are to love with God’s brand of love.
Key Words: Good, Love, Judge.
Application:
• Real love only acts from a disciplined will. The kind of love that God is calling us to show others is tough. Real love seeks the good for others even when it doesn’t feel so great for us. We need to get rid of the idea that love is a feeling and replace it with the idea that love is a commitment.
• At the core of Paul’s teaching on eating meat is the idea that we are not to put another believer’s soul in danger by what we do. If someone you know feels that it is morally wrong to drink wine don’t drink wine in front of them. Be considerate of the conscience of other people for the sake of their spiritual health.
