By Audrey Bauman

The Book of Romans in the Bible outlines the Christian faith in the most thorough way.  Paul wrote the book to make sure Christians, especially those who were Gentiles and didn’t have the background of the Jewish faith, understood what Christianity was all about.  There are some difficult passages in this book, but I’ll do my best to help you understand them, and more importantly, know how they apply to your everyday life. Some of you may have never read Romans all the way through.   You will likely find verses that you know since there are many verses in this book that are quoted a lot.  But I hope that after we walk through this book over the next while, that you will understand your faith in a more complete way.

Romans 1: 1 - 17     (NLT)

“This letter is from Paul, a slave of Christ Jesus, chosen by God to be an apostle and sent out to preach his Good News. ² God promised this Good News long ago through his prophets in the holy Scriptures. ³ The Good News is about his Son. In his earthly life he was born into King David’s family line, ⁴ and he was shown to be the Son of God when he was raised from the dead by the power of the Holy Spirit. He is Jesus Christ our Lord. ⁵ Through Christ, God has given us the privilege and authority as apostles to tell Gentiles everywhere what God has done for them, so that they will believe and obey him, bringing glory to his name.

⁶ And you are included among those Gentiles who have been called to belong to Jesus Christ. ⁷ I am writing to all of you in Rome who are loved by God and are called to be his own holy people.

May God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ give you grace and peace.

⁸ Let me say first that I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith in him is being talked about all over the world. ⁹ God knows how often I pray for you. Day and night I bring you and your needs in prayer to God, whom I serve with all my heart by spreading the Good News about his Son.

¹⁰ One of the things I always pray for is the opportunity, God willing, to come at last to see you. ¹¹ For I long to visit you so I can bring you some spiritual gift that will help you grow strong in the Lord. ¹² When we get together, I want to encourage you in your faith, but I also want to be encouraged by yours.

¹³ I want you to know, dear brothers and sisters, that I planned many times to visit you, but I was prevented until now. I want to work among you and see spiritual fruit, just as I have seen among other Gentiles. ¹⁴ For I have a great sense of obligation to people in both the civilized world and the rest of the world, to the educated and uneducated alike. ¹⁵ So I am eager to come to you in Rome, too, to preach the Good News.

¹⁶ For I am not ashamed of this Good News about Christ. It is the power of God at work, saving everyone who believes—the Jew first and also the Gentile. ¹⁷ This Good News tells us how God makes us right in his sight. This is accomplished from start to finish by faith. As the Scriptures say, “It is through faith that a righteous person has life.”

That is the introduction to Romans. When Paul wrote this book, he had never been to Rome, although that would happen eventually when Paul was sent there to stand trial for his religious convictions and supposedly threatening to overthrow the Roman government.  In the Book of Acts we can read the account of Paul’s conversion to Christianity as the resurrected Jesus stopped him on the road to Damascus where Paul planned to arrest and persecute the Christians there (Acts 9: 1 – 22).   Paul had been raised in the Jewish faith and studied under famous Jewish theologians, and was on the warpath to eliminate this new religion that claimed Jesus was the Messiah promised in the Torah (Old Testament).  Paul’s life was completely changed and as he states in the first verse, he is now a “slave of Christ Jesus”.  

One thing I notice in these introductory verses is Paul’s passion to talk about the gospel to everyone.  He is so anxious that everyone should hear this amazing news – that they can belong to Jesus.  They are loved and called by Him.  That is a huge challenge to me, and I suspect to you also.  I have to confess that I hesitate to talk about my faith to people I don’t know well.  This political correctness era tends to make me nervous about talking about religious things.  Yet my faith is absolutely the most important thing in my life. I’ll talk about my family, the weather, sports (especially the Windsor Spitfires or the Toronto Raptors) but I don’t talk about my faith.  That is just so wrong, but it scares me to talk about it freely and I would guess I’m not alone in that.

Paul also says, “God knows how often I pray for you. Day and night I bring you and your needs in prayer to God”.  That is another challenge for us. How much do you pray? Does your mind wander all over the place when you try to pray? Have you ever made a list of things you want to pray for to help keep you focused? Do you actually pray throughout the day as you encounter various situations?

Another thing I noticed is Paul’s desire to share the gospel with everyone - “people in both the civilized world and the rest of the world, to the educated and uneducated alike”.  Do we welcome absolutely everybody in our churches, no matter what their background is like? Paul is a leader and teacher, but he also wants to learn.   I love this verse – “When we get together, I want to encourage you in your faith, but I also want to be encouraged by yours”. (v.12)  Sometimes older Christians can get caught up in “serious” Bible study and commentaries, but listening to new Christians share their faith is so exciting.  We can all learn from each other.

Then those final two verses summarize why Paul is so excited to share the gospel. ‘This Good News tells us how God makes us right in his sight. This is accomplished from start to finish by faith. As the Scriptures say, “It is through faith that a righteous person has life’.  (v..17)  There is really no better news than that.  We can be accepted by God through faith in what He has done.  We don’t have to get things right by ourselves.  We don’t have to pass any tests or accomplish great things.  We just have to accept God’s gift to us.  

So that‘s the start to Romans – Paul’s enthusiasm to share the Good News.   The book will go on to explain all the “ins and outs” of what that Good News is all about.  

Our song for today is God You Are by The Messengers and Josh Baldwin.