History tells us that Martin Luther, the leader of the Protestant Reformation, described the book of Romans in the New Testament as the “clearest gospel of all” and according to Jack Sequeira, a retired Seventh-day Adventist pastor, the reasons are two-fold. The first reason, Sequeira says, is a general one and that’s because Romans was written by Paul, the theologian of the New Testament. The second reason is more specific and that’s because Paul had neither established nor visited the church at Rome before he wrote this letter, and this means Paul had to spell out the gospel in such a way that it would make sense to people who had never heard it before.
It is for this reason, Sequeira says, that no other book of the Bible or passage of Scriptures explains the plan of salvation – the teaching of righteousness by faith – as clearly as Romans does, and during the next few months I will be facilitating a series of Bible studies on this book and topic on location at Chatswood Church from 9.45am-10.40am, Saturdays. By way of introduction to these studies we had a discussion during our Worship Service this morning based on Romans 1:1-17 and I have uploaded the introduction, passage of Scripture and discussion questions for you to explore. May God ever increase our understanding and experience of what it means to be saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ!
Sue Redman – July 18, 2009
It is approximately AD 57 and the world is ruled by Rome. One in four people living between England and Africa, Syria and Spain, are living under Roman law and you are one of them.
As with many cultures, a person’s quality of life in Rome depends upon their rank and because you are wealthy, your life appears good. You live in a beautiful house in the hills outside Rome and you enjoy an extrvagant life surrounded by servants and slaves. As with all classes you make a point of visiting the baths each day and until more recently you have also enjoyed popular entertainment like watching chariot races or gladiators fighting for their lives, fame and fortune.
Something else you have done until recently is seek the blessing of Roman gods like Jupiter and Mars which required stringent religious rituals. Jesus Christ has put an end to all that however. Although Jesus was executed by Rome at any early age, He continues to have a massive impact and since His death His message of hope and eternal life has spread across the empire with missionaries like the Apostle Paul whom you have never met but you have recently read a letter from him that he sent to your church.(1)
Your church is a mixed community of Jews and Gentiles and truth be told there has been a lot of conflict between the two groups. The conflict has not been over ethnic issues as one might expect, but theology. The Jewish Christians have been proud of their favoured status before God and the Gentile Christians of their freedom from the law. Paul wrote his letter to your church to try and reconcile the two groups and he did this by developing two themes and interweaving them together.
The first theme is the justification of guilty sinners by God’s grace alone in Christ, irrespective of status and works, and this is the most humbling and equalling of all Christian truths. The second theme is that the people of God are no longer defined by descent, circumcision or culture but according to faith in Jesus, so “there is no difference” now between Jews and Gentiles (Romans 3:22).(2)
On that note maybe you would like to open your scrolls/Bibles 
and read the introduction to Paul’s letter to your church with me. Romans 1:1-17,
“Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God, which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy scriptures, the gospel concerning his Son, who was descended from David according to the flesh and was declared to be Son of God with power according to the spirit of holiness by resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord, through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith among all the Gentiles for the sake of his name, including yourselves who are called to belong to Jesus Christ.
“First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is proclaimed throughout the world. For God, whom I serve with my spirit by announcing the gospel of his Son, is my witness that without ceasing I remember you always in my prayers, asking that by God’s will I may somehow at last succeed in coming to you. For I was longing to see you so that I may share with you some spiritual gifts to strengthen you – or rather so that we may be mutually encouraged by each other’s faith, both yours and mine. I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that I have often intended to come to you (but thus far have been prevented), in order that I may reap some harvest among you as I have among the rest of the Gentiles. I am a debtor both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to the wise and to the foolish – hence my eagerness to proclaim the gospel to you also who are in Rome.
“For I am not ashamed of the gospel; it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who has faith, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed through faith for faith; as it is written, ‘The one who is righteous will live by faith.’”
At this point I would like to invite you to return to 2009 and participate in a Bible study type discussion with not the church at Rome but the church at Chatswood. Over the next few months I will be facilitating a similar discussion at 9.45am on Sabbath mornings and this Bible study is not meant to detract from our current Bible study class but simply be an opportunity for those who want to explore Christian beliefs further or those who aren’t sure they truly understand or experience what it means to be saved by grace through faith.
If you happen to be one of those people, no book of the Bible or passage of Scripture explains the plan of salvation – the teaching of righteousness by faith – as clearly as Romans does. That’s why Martin Luther described Romans as the “clearest Gospel of all” and some of you may know that it was through Romans 1:17, the last verse we just read, that Luther was delivered from the bondage of legalism and subsequently became the leader of the Protestant Reformation. As a result of Luther’s teaching, John Bunyan, who you may know as the author of Pilgrims Progress, was later converted, and John Wesley, the founder of the Methodist church, birthed the revival in Britain in the 18th Century after hearing Luther’s teaching.(3)
According to Jack Sequeira, a retired Adventist pastor, Romans has been the basis of most revivals in the history of the Christian Church and he says there are two good reasons for this. The first is a general reason and that’s because Romans was written by Paul, the theologian of the New Testament; God’s chosen vessel for expounding the gospel to the world. The second is a more specific reason and that’s because unlike every other letter Paul wrote, for example his letter to the Corinthians or Ephesians, Paul had neither established nor visited the church in Rome before he wrote this letter which means when he wrote it he had to spell out the gospel in such a way that it made sense to people who had never heard the gospel before.(4)
This of course is why it’s easier for us to understand righteousness by faith from Romans today than from any other letter Paul wrote and to help us do that this morning I’ll be using a Bible study guide John Stott wrote called Romans: Encountering the Gospel’s Power.(5)
To start us off, I’m wondering if there might be a few people who are willing to share when and how they first came into contact with the power of the gospel . . .
What information do we find about the gospel in verses 1:1-7?
In verse 5 Paul speaks of “obedience that comes from faith.” Is there someone who can tell us how obedience and faith are naturally connected?
What do we learn about Paul in verses 1:1-7?
. . . about the Romans?
Paul says in verse 6 that through the gospel we are “called to belong.” How have you experienced this sense of belonging?
Have a look at verses 8-17. In what ways does Paul express his affection for the Romans?
Paul is obviously aware of the reciprocal blessings that come with Christian fellowship and although he is an apostle he is not too proud to acknowledge his need for it. In verse 12 Paul says that he hopes that he and the Romans will be “mutually encouraged by each others’ faith.” Why is mutual encouragement so valuable to Christians?
What do verses 8-17 reveal about Paul’s relationship with God?
Look at Paul’s declaration in verses 16-17. What do these verses reveal about the power of the gospel?
In his Bible study guide, Stott says he once heard James Stewart make the perceptive comment that “there’s no sense in declaring that you’re not ashamed of something unless you’ve been tempted to feel ashamed of it” so Paul obviously knew this temptation. How do you think Paul overcame/we can overcome the temptation to be ashamed of the gospel?
How do we know this?
How have you seen the power of the gospel in your own life?
How would you like to see the power of the gospel in your own life?
Paul says in verse 15-16, “I am so eager to preach . . . I am not ashamed of the gospel.” What could you do that expressed a similar enthusiasm for Christ?
Endnotes
(1) www.pbs.org/empires/romans/empire/index.html
(2) Stott, John. Romans: Encountering the Gospel’s Power (Intervarsity Press, 1998): pp 5-6.
3) www.jacksequeira.org/romans01.htm
(4) Ibid.
(5) Stott, pp 10-12.
