A short introduction:

Verses for this coming week: Romans 1:1-15

INTRODUCTION TO THE BOOK:

When studying any book of the bible, it's obviously great to ask the questions: Who wrote this? Why did they write it? When was it written? Who was receiving the letter? Answering these questions helps us think of the book in it's original context which helps us understand it best. So, without being too detailed, here's a couple of the answers:

1. WHO: Fortunately, there has been little argument about who wrote this book, it's clear from early church History and from the book itself that it was written by the Apostle Paul. Remember that Paul (previously called 'Saul') was a devout Jew who persecuted the Christians until Jesus confronted Him on the Damascus road (Acts 9:1-9.) As a devout Jew, the emphasis of his life before He came to Christ was spent on studying the law (the Old Testament) and trying to be right with God through it.  Paul knowledge of the Old Testament and his former way of life will play a big part in how He presents His arguments in Romans.

2. WHEN: This book was probably written in the winter/spring of A.D.57...that would be twenty some odd years since Christ was resurrected and ascended into heaven. He was probably in Greece when He wrote it, most likely in the the city of Corinth or Cenchrea. We know this because of references in the book to people like Phoebe of Cenchrea (16:1) and Gaius, who was probably a Corinthian (1 Cor. 1:14.) Most people would say Romans was written during Paul's third missionary journey. 

3. WHO'S READING: It seems the letter was written to Christians in Rome (1:7). Because of different ancient copies of the book excluding small parts, many have suggested that because the letter is such a clear statement of the gospel, it may have been passed around to many other places excluding the personal notes attached. The church in Rome probably had both Jews and Non-Jews (Gentiles), but much more predominately was Gentile. 

4. WHY IT WAS WRITTEN: Paul wanted to visit the Roman church (1:11-12; 15:23-24) but was in the middle of taking money from other churches to help the financially struggling church in Jerusalem. Paul seems to have been planning to take the gospel into Spain and was hoping to establish a base of support in Rome with the Christians there (15:23-24.) Since He didn't know many of the people in the Roman church and hoped to have their support in the future, He doesn't say many personal messages, but instead clearly lays out his teaching and the gospel He preaches. 

5. WHAT'S IT ABOUT: People mention different themes in the book, but it's clear a lot of the focus is on what the gospel really is and how it affects and applies to our lives: Here's a rough outline on the book by a guy named F.F. Bruce:

PROLOGUE (1:1-15)

THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO PAUL:

1. The Theme: The righteousness of God revealed (1:16-17)

2. Sin and Retribution: The universal need diagnosed (1:18-3:20)

a. the pagan world (1:18-32)

b. the moralist (2:1-16)

c. the jew (2:17-3:8)

d. all mankind found guilty (3:9-20)

3. The way of righteousness: The universal need met (3:21-5:21)

a. God's provision (3:21-31)

b. Two old testament precedents (4:1-8)

c. The faith of Abraham (4:9-25)

d. The blessings which accompany justification: peace, joy, hope, love (5:1-11)

e. The old and the new solidarity

4. The way of Holiness (6:1-8:39)

a. Freedom from sin (6:1-23)

b. Freedom from law (7:1-25)

c. Freedom from death (8:1-39)

5. Human unbelief and divine grace (9:1-11:36)

a. The problem of Israel's unbelief (9:1-5)

b. God's sovereign choice (9:6-29)

c. Human responsibility (9:30-10:21)

d. God's purpose for Israel (11:1-29)

e. God's purpose for the world (11:30-36)

THE CHRISTIAN WAY OF LIFE:

1. The living sacrifice (12:1-2)

2. The common life of Christians (12:3-8)

3. The law of Christ (12:9-21)

4. The Christian and the State (13:1-7)

5. Love and duty (13:8-10)

6. Christian life in days of crisis (13:11-14)

7. Christian liberty and Christian charity (14:1-15:6)

8. Christ and the Gentiles (15:7-13)

EPILOGUE (15:14-16:27)

So, it would probably be helpful as we go through the book to check back at the outline every couple of weeks to see where we're at in the big picture. 

Well, we have 15 verses for this week so you might want to chop in into just a couple a day. You could read the whole section each day and then really zoom in on the couple verses. Don't be afraid to take it slow, think about why each word is there. Could you reconstruct the meaning of the passage in your own words? Check out the cross-references in your bible, look up key words in a bible dictionary online or in a greek tool and read other translations of the verses (biblegateway.com). If you need help learning how to do any of those shoot me an e-mail.

When you're picking apart the verses, you might find it most helpful to read a more literal translation of the bible if you don't already (like New American Standard Bible OR New King James version.)  This will help if you're really focusing on each word and why it's there. 

And of course DON'T FORGET TO PRAY. You cannot understand the things of God without help from His Spirit. Ask Him and He will help you. Remember the goal is to understand what it says first, and then to see how it applies to your life. 

Hope you guys are blessed this week...excited to dive in!

I & K 

Getting Ready for Romans

Hey guys, 

We're trying to stay in the habit of studying verse-by-verse through books of the bible a little each day. 1 Peter was our last book and now we've decided to go through the book of Romans. We've come across several people who'd like to do a bible study, but schedules and distance make it unreasonable so we're doing this blog for anyone who'd like to join us. 

 What's great about studying this way is that since we're studying books from beginning to end...we're getting the context of everything being said and listening to all of what the bible has to say instead of just going to our favorite parts. The great thing about doing it together is; each one of us notices different things as we study and we're able to help each other see how it applies to our life at the given moment. 

 If you'd like to follow along: HERE'S HOW IT'LL WORK:

 -Starting THIS WEEK we will post the section of scripture we'll be covering over the next 7 days (For example Romans 5:1-10). You can tackle that however you want...we usually break it down into a couple verses a day so we can really think over it and look up words we want to know more about in the original languages. There are also several websites with helpful commentaries and study tools that help to dig deeper (I will post that at the bottom.)

 -The following week, we will post what we discovered during our study: What the passage means / Things we learned / How it can be applied. 

 -YOU post: Things you learned / What God's teaching you / Questions you're trying to answer / or whatever. 

 -ON WE GO: If any of us can give insight to each other's thoughts or questions that's great. When we post the blog of what we learned, we will also post how far we will continue on the following week.

 HERE'S THE POINT: To KNOW what God's word says, to UNDERSTAND what it means, and to APPLY IT to our lives. 

 So, if you're in, look for our first post later this week...we're going to try to include a general introduction to the book and you're welcome to post thoughts on that. Also, check out the sites below to see all the tools available...if you have questions about them let us know.  Let's pray God would help us understand Him and His communication to us better and pray that it would change our lives. 

Looking forward to it,

I & K

 

Sites to check out: 

Bible.org:     http://bible.org/category.php?scid=5&category_id=71&parent_id=0

Bible Gateway:     http://www.biblegateway.com/

Blue Letter Bible:      blueletterbible.org