Romans Devotion #1: Introduction

Thank you for joining me as we take a journey through the book of Romans.  I pray this study will impact your life in the same way it has impacted me.  I want to begin by answering a few questions about the book of Romans that you may have.  

How was the church in Rome started?

Before Jesus returned to heaven, He told His disciples to go to Jerusalem and wait for the Holy Spirit to come.  On the day of Pentecost, believers were filled with the Holy Spirit.  Each believer began speaking in tongues as the Holy Spirit helped them (Acts 2).  The Bible says a large crowd gathered as they heard the believers speaking the Word of God in their own languages.  The map on this page shows where these people were from (Acts 2:5-12).  Acts 2:10 says visitors from Rome were present on the day of Pentecost.  These visitors became Christians and stayed in Jerusalem until persecution forced them to leave.  All the believers except the Apostles left Jerusalem and preached the Word of God wherever they went (Acts 8:1-4).  During this time Christians from Rome returned home and started the church in Rome.      

History books tell us that in A.D. 49 a Emperor named Claudius forced the Jews to leave Rome because they were persecuting Christians.  This fact tells us that by A.D. 49, the church in Rome was well established.

Who wrote Romans?

We learn from Romans 1:1 that the Apostle Paul wrote the book of Romans.  After writing Romans, Paul gave the letter to a woman named Phoebe to deliver to the church in Rome (Rom 16:1).  Imagine being one of the Roman Christians who received this letter.  For some, the last time they saw Paul was when he started the persecution in Jerusalem that forced them to flee for their lives (Acts 8:1).  Now Paul had become a Christian and was leading those he once persecuted.  

Why did Paul write Romans?

Paul had three purposes for writing Romans.  First, he wanted to prepare the church in Rome for his coming.  While Paul was on his 3rd missionary trip, he realized his ministry in the eastern part of the Roman empire was coming to an end.   His heart began to desire to preach in the West (Rom 15:23).  Paul’s goal was to preach the Gospel in places where people had not heard it (Rom 15:20).  By this time, he had already preached the Gospel in all the major cities in the East.  Therefore, Paul wrote Romans to prepare for his coming and his future ministry in the Western part of the Roman Empire (Rom 1:13; 15:22-24).  

Paul’s second purpose for writing was to strengthen the Roman believers (Rom 1:11-15).  Paul strengthened these believers by teaching them the gospel.  The word “gospel” means “good news.”  Paul's gospel can be divided into 5 parts.  These 5 parts make up the book of Romans.  

        Part 1     Romans 1-3:20  Sin

        Part 2     Romans 3:21-5 Salvation

        Part 3     Romans 6-8 Sanctification

        Part 4     Romans 9-11 God’s Sovereignty 

        Part 5     Romans 12-16 Our Service

Exercise:  Open your Bible to the book of Romans and clearly mark it's 5 parts.  For example:  Above chapter 1 write “Part 1: Sin” and next to Romans 3:21 write “Part 2: Salvation.”

Paul’s third purpose was to have the church take a collection to fund his future ministry in Spain (Rom 15:24-28).  

Question: Why did Paul write such a large letter to the Roman church?  Wouldn’t a shorter letter have fulfilled Paul’s purpose?  Answer: If Paul hoped to go beyond Rome and minister in Spain, Paul may have wanted to set up a new mission base in Rome.  Perhaps Paul didn't want to spend much time in Rome, so he wrote the entire Gospel that he had been preaching for the past 20 years.  This would give the church in Rome time to study his teachings before he arrived. 

Another reason for a long letter may have been that Paul did not know if he would live or die as he traveled to Jerusalem (Rom 15:31; Acts 20:3; Acts 20:13-38).  Since Paul wanted to preach the Gospel in the western part of the Roman empire, he may have written a large letter to train the church in Rome so they could reach the West if he died in Jerusalem.  

What was the church in Rome like?

When you hear the words, “church in Rome” you may picture a large group of Christians meeting in a church building.  This was not the case.  The church in Rome did not meet in a church building, they met from house to house in smaller groups (Rom 16:5,14,15).  Though the church met this way, we know it had many members because its influence was large enough to cause the Jews to fight against it and because Paul planned to fund his future ministry to Spain from their giving.  The church had to be large for Paul's mission to be funded from their giving alone.   

Timeline for the church in Rome:

Application: 
The church in Rome was not started by professionally trained preachers.  It was started and run by common, everyday Christians.  These common Christians' influence was large enough that Jews started rioting, catching the attention of the Emperor Claudious, and forcing him to take extreme measures to maintain the unity of his capital city by removing all the Jews.  

Why did Claudious force the Jews to leave and not the Christians? We can only speculate.  Could it be that he saw Christians as peaceful and the Jews as a problem?  Could it be that the Christians outnumbered the Jews and it was easier to remove the Jews?  We don't know.  The only thing we can do is marvel at the tremendous influence these common everyday Christians had for the Kingdom of God.  God wants to use you in the same way.  Will you let your light shine bright so that others may come to know Jesus?

Prayer to pray:
Father, I offer myself to You as a living sacrifices.  The goal of my life is to die unknown after having made You famous.  I want to be a slave of Your wonderful gospel.  Please use me today to make the world around me a better place.  Please use me in the same way You used the church in Rome.  Please help me understand the book of Romans so that I can live its message and so I can help others live it.  Please take note of my life today.  I want to make you smile by how I live.