Romans Ch. 1-3

[joseph]

Romans Study Ch. 1 – 3, A very short overview

Chapter 1 through 3 of the book of Romans covers practically the
entire message of Biblical truth: truth about God, truth about
mankind, and truth about the gospel.

In ch. 1 the apostle Paul lays out his credentials as an apostle, “set
apart for the gospel of God.” This truth, and in particular, this
“gospel” that he is about to explain is God’s gospel, “promised
beforehand through the Holy Scriptures” and is therefore universally
true for all people, Jews or Gentiles in Rome and throughout the
world. No one on earth is exempt from the truth Paul is about to
explain. (For the gospel in the Old Testament see the “pages” tab on
the right of the home page).

The first truth is that God has been made known to everyone. Paul
states that his “invisible qualities” have been made known “clearly”
to everyone simply by looking around at the creation so that “men are
without excuse.” A sunset reveals the beauty of God and our conscience
tells us killing our neighbor is wrong. The entire human race knows
this about God, and his “wrath” is “being revealed” to everyone who
suppresses that truth and lives in opposition to it.

He goes on to describe in detail how people reject God and live in
opposition to his plainly revealed truth. The list emphasizes human
sexuality but extends to a much broader list that includes even gossip
and disobedience to parents.

The second truth is that all mankind, both Jew and gentile is guilty
of breaking God’s law. The Jews have the law and can’t follow it; the
Gentiles have a conscience and know right from wrong and can’t follow
it either. The bottom line, “There is no one righteous, not even one;”
The only thing the law or the conscience does is make everyone
conscious of “sin.”

The third truth is the great “But” of the gospel. “But now a
righteousness from God, apart from the law, has been made known…..This
righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who
believe.” This section, Ch. 3 vs. 21-26 is a huge gold nugget in all
of scripture and contains a wealth of gospel explanation and
vocabulary. Words such as: Justified, grace, redemption, sacrifice,
atonement (propitiation, expiation), all appear here to explain how
God is both the “JUST” who is justified in pouring out his wrath on
mankind AND the “JUSTIFIER” who justifies (declares not guilty) “those
who have faith in Jesus.”

Definitions to all those words are found by clicking “pages” on the
sidebar.