The Book Of ROMANS.....A Systematic Teaching

Romans 15:10.............
"And again he saith, Rejoice, ye Gentiles, with his people."

This is a quote from Deuteronomy 32:43. It is the conclusion of the "Song of Moses".

That song is a prophetic recitation of the history of the nation of Israel until the coming of the 1000 year rule of Messiah Jesus and the kingdom.

Here, the Gentiles are invited to join Israel in the praise to God.
 
Romans 15:11.............
"And again, Praise the Lord, all ye Gentiles; and laud him, all ye people."

This is a quote from Psalms 117:1. It is an invitation to the Gentiles to join in praise to God.

It is interesting to note the occurrence of the word ALL twice in this brief quote. Do you know WHY?????
Me neither!!!;)

Paul is showing that God planned all along for Gentiles and Jews to praise the Lord together as they came to Him through faith in Christ.

The verse following Paul's quotation, Psalms 117:2, shows the Gentile nations praising the Lord for His steadfast love and faithfulness. This follows a major theme of New Testament teaching: that the gospel applies to all people and cultures, throughout all of mankind.
 
Romans 17:12............
"And again, Esaias saith, There shall be a root of Jesse, and he that shall rise to reign over the Gentiles; in him shall the Gentiles trust."
This is a quote from Isaiah 11:10.

"The root of Jesse" refers to the descendant of Jesse who will rise to rule over Israel and all the Gentile nations.

Though the Messiah is from the line of David, He is also to rule over the Gentiles. Obviousely it was the clear intention of God that the Gentiles should come to Christ.

Some had come to Christ in Paul's day, and they were the first fruits of even a greater day.

Remember that Paul was writing to the Romans and the Roman church was largely a Gentile church, as are our churches today.

Paul's bottom line is that Jesus is the fulfillment of all these Old Testament writings both for Israel and for the Gentile nations.
 
Romans 15:13............
"Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost."

If there were not another 15 or so verses left, this would be a wonderful salutation! In fact I have used this very same Scripture many times in the closing of a worship service.

"The God of Hope" is a thrilling new name for God!

The believing heart can find here the ROCK OF AGES who is the shelter in our time of all storms!

"The God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing" is exactly what this study should do for you. I trust it has given YOU joy and peace in your heart and that it has strengthened your faith! That was my total goal in doing this.

I truely hope it has brought you hope and power into your life!

Now.........this verse is actually the benediction that concludes the DOCTRINAL section of the Epistle to the Romans.

In verse #14, Paul will continue his Personal Testimony.
 
Romans 15:14...............
"And I myself also am persuaded of you, my brethren, that ye also are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge, able also to admonish one another."
CONTINUATION OF PAUL'S PERSONAL TESTIMONY.

This is a lovely passage of Scripture. Paul is actually offering a gentle apology for his frankness and boldness in speaking to the Romans in the doctrinal section we just went through.

My dear friends......Bible Doctrine can be very hard to grasp and understand. When a man tries to "soft peddle" doctrine so as to make it acceptable, it waters down the meaning that God wants us to know. A "lot" of people just refuse to accept Bible doctrine as it is written and many, many preachers refuse to preach it and as a result, we have a bunch of CHRISTIANITTES as a result of SERMONITTES!

In my personal opinion.........that is why the USA is in the tragic situation it is in today. The USA was in real time history, a CHURCH RELOCATION FROM ENGLAND called "PURITAINS!. The Puritans were a group of people living in England in the late 16thcentury. Like many of us, they cared deeply about obeying God and living according to the Bible. A group of Puritans left the church and declared themselves “Separatists.” This group became the Pilgrims, who left Europe and landed on Plymouth Rock in what is now known as New England.
They valued preaching and highlighted the Supremacy of God. They held to a literal belief of Scripture and were minimalistic in worship and sanctuary style. Many Puritans were well-educated, articulate, and skilled at writing.

The church still experiences conflict over adherence to Biblical teachings today, especially over socially divisive issues. And again, some try to make changes from within denominations while others decide to separate and create new ones.

We can still learn from Puritan writings and sermons. Some of the more famous Puritans who continue to be read and inspire faith in our times are John Bunyan (Pilgrim’s Progress), Jonathan Edwards (Sinners in the Hand of an Angry God), and Thomas Goodwin (The Heart of Christ). One penchant of Puritan writers was to take a single verse of Scripture and write an entire volume on the implications of its truth.

The Puritans remind us that conflict and disagreement within the Body of Christ isn’t a new dilemma, and it still has no simple solution. But, we can study this period of church history and learn from their experience.

A strong lesson from the Puritans is the power of not only reading and studying God’s Word but being willing to sacrifice every comfort to live it out. The Puritans exercised a faith that had hands and feet. They maintained that faith even when they suffered harsh conditions, losses, and unexpected challenges in the New World.

Now, Paul does know Priscilla and Aquila, who host a house church in Rome (Romans 16:3–5). He knows other people in Rome, as well (Romans 16:5–15), so he likely has received several reports about what's going on among the believers in that city.

Based on this knowledge, Paul can both praise and express his concern for them. Here, he calls them brothers and sisters and tells them that he is satisfied in two things about them.

First, he believes the Roman Christians to be full of goodness, meaning they have a reputation for doing the right things and being kind and generous.

Second, Paul understands them to have good knowledge and to have the ability to teach that knowledge to each other. By this, Paul means that he believes they have learned well from their teachers about Christian truths to the point that many of them are even able to teach those truths to each other.

Likely, these two ideas are connected. Paul believes the Romans Christians to be full of goodness in their behavior because they are full of knowledge about God and His grace to them in Christ.
 
Romans 15:15...........
"Nevertheless, brethren, I have written the more boldly unto you in some sort, as putting you in mind, because of the grace that is given to me of God,".

Paul now says, that he has written to them boldly. Indeed, Romans is a long letter that teaches both powerful truth and practical direction about how to live. The Roman Christians were full of goodness and knowledge, but they obviously had room to add more and more specific knowledge, as well as room to act with even more self-sacrificing goodness.

He tells them this on the basis of being God called as an apostle to the Gentiles. As such, he is exercising that office in his writing as he is doing to them in Rome. He is Ministering to them the truth of God's Word.

Paul says that he has written to remind them of what they already know. To the extent that is true, Paul reveals the value for all of us who study the Bible. We may already be doing well, including good works, and understanding much of what God wants us to know, but we study God's Word because we have much more to learn and much more good to do.

Who is Paul to be the one to write to them about all there is to know and do in Christ? Paul describes his role in a long series of phrases that reveal his authority to represent Christ to them in this letter, beginning here and concluding in the following verse.

First, Paul insists that he writes to them by God's grace, not by his own merits. All his authority as an apostle and teacher comes from God, not from the excellence of his own mind or study or achievements.
 
Romans 15:16..........
"That I should be the minister of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles, ministering the gospel of God, that the offering up of the Gentiles might be acceptable, being sanctified by the Holy Ghost."

"Sanctified" = the Holy Spirit indwelt the Gentile believers. That happens at the moment we accept the Lord Jesus as Saviour!

God is the one who has appointed Paul to be a minister of Christ to the Gentiles. He is focused on one message, the gospel—the "good news." He acts as a priest might in service of the gospel of God, representing the truth of God's grace to them on God's behalf.

Paul is not a priest, however, but an apostle. In fact, because of Paul's Christ-given role as an apostle, and that he wrote under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, his teaching in Romans stands as the very Word of God.

Paul adds his purpose in writing to them: so that the offering of their lives to God, as Gentile Christians, might be acceptable to God and sanctified by the Holy Spirit. Again, Paul is picturing the role of a priest offering a sacrifice to God. In that picture, he is the priest and their lives are the offering. He is working hard to make sure that offering, their lives, are acceptable to God.

Paul understands, of course, that though his teaching might be used by God to help shape the living-sacrifice lives of the Roman Christians into something acceptable to God, he is not the one who accomplishes that.

The Holy Spirit is the one who supernaturally sanctifies believers, transforming us from the inside out.
 
Romans 15:17...................
"I have therefore whereof I may glory through Jesus Christ in those things which pertain to God."

In a way, Paul has said, he is like a priest of the gospel of God and they are like the offering he presents to God. His desire is to see the Holy Spirit sanctify their lives in a way that will make them acceptable offerings on Paul's behalf.

Maybe the church did not need Paul's instructions, but then the case would be made......Why did it write it???

There is no personal assumption in his apology! He is a servant of Christ, led by the Holy Spirit and doing the will of God!

There is ONE thing that should always characterize a servant of Christ and that is a lack of pride! We should never ecer cometo the point that we as servants are more important than the message of God, the gospel! Jesus is the one in charge!
 
Romans 15:18..........
"For I will not dare to speak of any of those things which Christ hath not wrought by me, to make the Gentiles obedient, by word and deed".

"For I will not dare to speak of any of those things" =
Paul suggests that the false teachers who spoke of things which were not done by them at all, and much less were what Christ had done by them; and signifies that he was a conscientious man, and could speak nothing but what was truth; his conscience would not suffer him, nor could he allow himself to make mention of anything, that was not done by him, as if it was; nor of anything that was done by himself, nor of anything that was done, as if it was done by himself, but as it was wrought by Christ; nor had he any need to speak of any other things which he had wrought himself, as he could not of what he had not wrought at all; or, as he says next..........

"which Christ hath not wrought by me:"
Paul signifies that what he had wrought, and which he could with good conscience speak of to the honor of Christ, and the glory of his grace, were not wrought by himself, but what Christ wrought by him; he was only the instrument, Christ was the efficient cause: as a Christian, it was not he that lived, but Christ lived in him; as a minister, it was not he that spoke, but Christ spoke in him; nor was it he that laboured, but the grace of Christ that was with him; much less was it he that converted souls, but Christ did it by him.

Folks, our goaL in life as a Christian, is that CHRIST WOULD BE ALLOWED TO LIVE THROUGH US! THIS FRINDS IS THE KEY TO CHRISTIANITY!

"to make the Gentiles obedient" = the nations of the world, who had been brought up in blindness and ignorance of God, in rebellion and disobedience to him would be able see a difference!

The Gospel was sent among them, and was blessed unto them, to make them, those of disobedient, obedient ones; not to men, but to God; not to magistrates and ministers, though they were taught to be so to both, but to Christ; to him as a priest, by being made willing to be saved by him, and him only, renouncing their own works, and disclaiming all other ways of salvation; and to submit to his righteousness for their justification before God, and acceptance with him; and to deal with his precious blood for pardon and cleansing.

Paul wanted the Romans to rely on His sacrifice for the atonement of their sins, and to make use of him as the new and living way to the Father, as their one and only mediator, advocate, and intercessor; and to him as a prophet, to the faith of the Gospel, and the doctrines of it.

Not barely by hearing it, and notionally assenting to it, but by embracing it heartily, and professing it publicly and sincerely.

All of that and to him as a King, by owning him as such, and as theirs; and by subjecting to his ordinances, and obeying his commands in faith and fear, and from love to him: the means whereby these persons were brought to the obedience of Christ, and of faith.

by word and deed;
or "deeds", as the Vulgate Latin, Syriac, and Ethiopic versions read.

This means the word of the Gospel and the preaching of it, being sent unto them, and coming with power, and not as the word of man, but as the word of God. a
 
Romans 15:19.........
"Through mighty signs and wonders, by the power of the Spirit of God; so that from Jerusalem, and round about unto Illyricum, I have fully preached the gospel of Christ."
Christ did many works and signs and miracles by the power of the Spirit of God. The primary purpose of Jesus’ miracles was to demonstrate the fact that He was the Messiah promised by God to Israel through the prophets.

John 15:24.....
" If I had not done among them the works no one else did, they would not be guilty of sin. As it is, they have seen, and yet they have hated both me and my Father."

Now, the Apostles were given the same ability that Jesus had to do miracles. They were given to them by Jesus in Mark 16 at the Great Commission. This was done so as to "validate" what they preached as coming from Christ Himself!

Now folks....only the Apostles were given those SIGN GIFTS! Do not be deceived by those who claim to be apostles or those who say that they can heal and do great wonders. That is the deception of Satan! YES........I did say that!

In the New Testament, miracles were performed exclusively by the apostles and their close appointed associates. The miracles served to validate the gospel message and the ministry of the apostles (Acts 2:43; 5:12; 2 Corinthians 12:12; Heb. 2:4).

While we should never doubt God’s ability to perform miracles, the biblical purpose of miracles should give us a degree of skepticism concerning reports of modern-day miracles. While it is not biblical to say that God never performs miracles, the Bible is clear that we are to seek after truth, not miracles (Matthew 12:39).

In Matthew 24:24, Jesus warns..........
“For false christs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and miracles to deceive even the elect—if that were possible.”

Similarly, 2 Thessalonians 2:9 says,.........
“The coming of the lawless one will be in accordance with the work of Satan displayed in all kinds of counterfeit miracles, signs and wonders.”

We see that When God sent Moses to deliver the Israelites from slavery in Egypt, He performed miraculous signs through Moses to prove that Moses was indeed His messenger.

God used supernatural miracles to convince Paul's listeners that his words and deeds were genuinely of heaven. These miracles included evidence of the Holy Spirit's power, especially when groups of people believed in Christ and received the Spirit.

Paul understood that none of the results of his ministry were his doing, but also that he was the one who showed up with the message of God's grace for the Gentiles. That is still the case with ministry today. Believers obey God by showing up to serve in whatever way He has made available, and then He provides the power to do the work. He sends. We go. He accomplishes His purpose through us.

Paul describes his ministry to this point in time in geographical terms. His travels reached from Jerusalem, where he began, to Illyricum, also known as Dalmatia, a region north and west of Macedonia, including part of modern-day Croatia.

In saying that he has fulfilled his ministry of delivering the gospel of Christ to all these places, Paul does not mean that no work remains to be done there. More likely, he means that he did in each place exactly what Christ gave Him to do.
 
Romans 15:20...........
"Yea, so have I strived to preach the gospel, not where Christ was named, lest I should build upon another man's foundation".
With Paul, it was a point of honor---not a competition that caused him to go as a pioneer where the gospel had not been preached.

Paul did not minister where a church already existed or where others had gone. He was a true evangelistic missionary!

He never has a committee to do his groundwork for him. When he entered a town, he was not given a welcome or a key to the city.The mayor did not greet him and usually he was arrested and put into jail.

Now.......there's nothing wrong with preaching the gospel of Christ in an area where it has already been preached. In fact, that preaching must continue so that the gospel is watered. It's not feasible to put that message in front of every living person in a region all at once. People are born and move into and out of those areas all the time. Others need to hear the message more than once to fully understand it. Paul, though, grasped that staying to re-preach the good news was not his mission. God had given him a more specific work to do.

He was to go and open the doors in places where the door had been closed and locked.

Ambition is a good thing when it is bent toward a good purpose. Paul's ambition was to preach the gospel only to what we call today "unreached peoples." His work was not to build on the work done by other preachers before him. His work was to break new ground, to bring the truth of God's grace to new ears.

This fits with what he wrote in the previous verse that he has fulfilled his ministry in a large number of places, introducing the gospel for the first time in many cities and regions. What an honor Paul was given: to introduce to so many people the news of the amazing opportunity to be made right with God through faith in Christ.
 
Romans 15:21............
"But as it is written, To whom he was not spoken of, they shall see: and they that have not heard shall understand."

A tragic movement is and has been going on now for many years. Many, many people are being carried away by "Fanaticism".

What is that??? It is simply a false wrong teaching and false doctrine within Christianity that speaks to the carnal part of all people.
I am defining “Christian fanaticism” as “excessive, irrational zeal by professing Christians about their faith and what they what to do to prove their faith.”

I am not speaking here of zeal itself, but only of irrational zeal. Proper biblical zeal is indeed highly commendable. As Gal. 4:18 says....
“It is fine to be zealous, provided the purpose is good.”

It is the irrational zeal which is unbiblical and sinful. We see this very clearly in what Jesus identified as the greatest commandment: .....
“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind”

A Christian is called to love God with all of his or her mind. Thus, political, economic, moral, legal, and scientific issues must be fairly depicted and intelligently and thoughtfully pondered. Unfairly depicting opponents and their arguments is prohibited, as is neglecting to do the hard intellectual work of deep study and arrogantly refusing the insights of trained, knowledgeable experts in various fields.

If you are reading this statement and you have been on the CFS long enough, you have seen exactly that right here!!!!

You have seen those who say....."I am filled with the Holy Spirit and he teaches me all I need to know. I do not need to be educated in the Word of God, God teaches me".

That/those people will then argue Bible doctrine with those who have actually studied the ramifications of Bible doctrine. That is "Christian Fanaticism".

Many Christians are sometimes guilty of this kind of indiscretion. And even worse, they can be proud of their anti-intellectualism when they ought to be ashamed. It truly is wicked, since it involves intentional rejection of one third of the greatest commandments.
 
Romans 15:22 .............
"For which cause also I have been much hindered from coming to you."
If Paul thought he was "Much hindered" you can believe that he was MUCH hindered. A lot of roadblocks had been put in his way.

He kept finding new territories in his part of the world where the gospel had not yet been preached. He had to fulfill his mission to introduce each region to Christ. This hindered or prevented him from traveling to Rome, since a group of believers had already been established there by the work of others.
 
Romans 15:23........
"But now having no more place in these parts, and having a great desire these many years to come unto you;"

He now writes that he has run out of unreached places to preach in his part of the world, freeing him up to come and see them on his way to Spain. He speaks very personally that he has longed to come and see them for many years.

Ever had a family member tell you that and when they finally do come for a visit......you can not wait for them to leave!!!!;););)

Several years ago, we had one of my 1st cousins do just that. We had not seen her in may years and then one day she came for a visit. After about 3 days, we had to tell her that it was time for her to go home. You see, she had a real habit of cursing, all of the time. She
also had this real bad habit of walking around our house almost nude. She would take a shower and somehow forget to take a towel in with her. After 3 days, and several adult conversations, my wife said, "You obviously are not going to do what we ask you to do in our house,,.... so it was Good to see you come and now you have to go!"

Ever been there and done that??????

The following chapter will reveal that, though Paul has never been to Rome, he knows a great many people there, and cares deeply about them.

Paul's expression of his longing to see the Romans echoes what he wrote at the beginning of his letter. There, he mentioned his desire to strengthen them spiritually, to give and receive encouragement, and to reap a spiritual harvest among them.
 
Romans 15:24.............
"Whensoever I take my journey into Spain, I will come to you: for I trust to see you in my journey, and to be brought on my way thitherward by you, if first I be somewhat filled with your company."

Now he makes his plans to go to Rome.

Part of his itinerary will take him on to Spain to preach the gospel to unreached people in that part of the world. You see, Spain, at that time, was part of the Roman empire.

Paul has mentioned several reasons for coming to Rome both at the beginning of his letter and in this chapter as well. Now he adds two other reasons:

1. He genuinely wants to enjoy their company for a while. This phrase suggests that Paul sees the visit, in part, as a time of refreshment for him, a break from his larger mission.

2. He also hopes to be helped by them for his journey to Spain. Likely, this means Paul is hoping they will be able to help fund his missionary efforts in this new region.

I hope that the church you are involved with has a mind for missions! If it does not..........then find a new church!

Boy Major, that is hard teaching! YES it is and IMHO that is what is needed today. Somebody to stand up and blow away all the nonsense and get down in the mud and deal with Satan.
 
Romans 15:25........
"But now I go unto Jerusalem to minister unto the saints."

Paul wanted to take a gift to the poor saints in Jerusalem and he wanted to take it with his own hands.

WHY?

Because with his own hands he had "wasted" the church at Jerusalem. He had led in the persecution of the believers there. It is thought that when Stephen was stoned, it was Paul who threw the 1st stone.

Now it was in his heart to try and make up for what he had done by taking a gift to them.

How do we know that? By the next verse!!!!!!
 
Romans 15:26..........
"For it hath pleased them of Macedonia and Achaia to make a certain contribution for the poor saints which are at Jerusalem."
And there it is!

Now, he has that money in hand. The churches in Macedonia and Achaia, he writes, have been pleased to contribute what they could to the poor saints in Jerusalem.

As in all of the New Testament, Paul uses the word "saints" here to refer to all believers in Jesus. This is not some specially-blessed group, but all of those who have accepted faith in Christ.

The following verse shows Paul's emphasis that these Gentile Christians were pleased to give to meet the needs of Jewish brothers and sisters they had never met. Their giving came of their own free will. Paul may have pushed hard for it, but the giving was not mandatory.
 
Romans 15:27............
"It hath pleased them verily; and their debtors they are. For if the Gentiles have been made partakers of their spiritual things, their duty is also to minister unto them in carnal things."
It was a freewill offering.

The New Testament emphasizes that giving should always come from a willing spirit and not as a burdensome obligation. It seems that in today's church life, there is a new and different offering taken every month which is above and beyond the normal tithe.

I made sure that we did not do any of that in my pastoral days. We did take an "Annie Armstrong" offering" and a "Lottie Moon" offering once a year. Both of those went to missions and missionaries. That was it!!!

If we had a singing group come in to entertain, what they received was purely a LOVE offering.
 
Romans 15:28.........
"When therefore I have performed this, and have sealed to them this fruit, I will come by you into Spain."
I personally believe that if you are going to give money to something, you really should know what the cause is and what it is doing.

The area of Christian giving is in my opinion in danger today.

As I just stated, if there is an offering taken every month for this and for that, it will harm the attitude of all church members.
The idea will be planted by Satan that........."I stopped going to church because every time I did, they asked for money for the unborn, or the missionary in Africa or the un-wed home for mothers or the home for orphans."

Actually those are all wonderful causes that should be given financial help. However, the Pastor and his finance leaders can incorporate those gifts into their yearly budget and then not ask for special offering every month.

Paul also uses unusual/awkward language to describe his delivery of the money to Jerusalem. He says that he will leave when he has "sealed to them this fruit."

It is thought that, by fruit, he means the financial gift of the Gentile Christians. It is the fruit, or product, of both their generosity and their faith in God. Paul will "seal" it in the sense that he will complete the task by handing it off to the right people and verifying who it is from and what it is for.
 
Romans 15:29............
"And I am sure that, when I come unto you, I shall come in the fulness of the blessing of the gospel of Christ."

This is Paul's stamp of approval of his trip to Rome.

He went according to the will of God and in the fullness of his position as an Apostle.

Have you ever had someone say to you........."You are out of the will of God"????
It is very easy and often said by believers when another believer is having bad times. Trouble or bad times, or sickness does not mean that you are out of the will of God my dear friends.

In fact, it may very well mean that you are IN the will of God and are now under attack from Satan.

You see, if you are living a perfect life, calm and relaxed with no worries or stress, then Satan has no reason to oppress you!!!

I promise all of you.....If YOU are peaceful and calm with no drama then you are not getting out the Word of God and witness for the Lord Jesus Christ!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top