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Romans - overview
2020, 7.17 Romans Overview
This is a letter written by Paul to a church (or group of churches) in Rome, probably sometime around 57AD and during his third missionary journey (around Acts 19 in terms of timeline, since we just read that together). Paul probably wrote this from Corinth. And, in terms of a simple summary - the first 4 chapters of Romans, which form the foundation of the entire letter, essentially lay out the following high-level ideas:
1. We are sinful and broken
2. Living life under the law won’t save us
3. Justification is in Jesus
Paul explains these concepts in depth, and Romans certainly isn’t to be classified as “light reading”. It is Paul’s longest and most reasoned account of his faith. That being said, it isn’t a full outline of what Paul believes necessarily, as there are certainly elements we get from other letters of his that are not present here...but he is addressing a church in Rome that seems to have been wrestling with a lot of what we saw in our reading of Acts, and that is the Jewish-Christians and the Gentile-Christians co-existing within the church, trying to work out the tensions between a works-based theology and an theology based on grace alone. This is such a powerful book largely for that reason - because that same tension exists even today within the church.
So, tomorrow we will start the read-through on this. Because of the length and the intensity of this letter, the read-through really is a major contributor to the understanding of this book. In a book where it is easy to get drawn into the weeds, this high level pass-over will be a big help in creating context and a bigger understand of what’s going on; so much so that we MAY actually pull back and do a second read-through part-way through the more in-depth studying.
This morning, I would pray that God would prepare my mind for some intense study. I pray that God would open my mind and my heart to hearing truth that may not be convenient, but that is certainly needed. I pray that God would help me to hear from Him during this process.
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By Steve Anderson2020, 7.17 Romans Overview
This is a letter written by Paul to a church (or group of churches) in Rome, probably sometime around 57AD and during his third missionary journey (around Acts 19 in terms of timeline, since we just read that together). Paul probably wrote this from Corinth. And, in terms of a simple summary - the first 4 chapters of Romans, which form the foundation of the entire letter, essentially lay out the following high-level ideas:
1. We are sinful and broken
2. Living life under the law won’t save us
3. Justification is in Jesus
Paul explains these concepts in depth, and Romans certainly isn’t to be classified as “light reading”. It is Paul’s longest and most reasoned account of his faith. That being said, it isn’t a full outline of what Paul believes necessarily, as there are certainly elements we get from other letters of his that are not present here...but he is addressing a church in Rome that seems to have been wrestling with a lot of what we saw in our reading of Acts, and that is the Jewish-Christians and the Gentile-Christians co-existing within the church, trying to work out the tensions between a works-based theology and an theology based on grace alone. This is such a powerful book largely for that reason - because that same tension exists even today within the church.
So, tomorrow we will start the read-through on this. Because of the length and the intensity of this letter, the read-through really is a major contributor to the understanding of this book. In a book where it is easy to get drawn into the weeds, this high level pass-over will be a big help in creating context and a bigger understand of what’s going on; so much so that we MAY actually pull back and do a second read-through part-way through the more in-depth studying.
This morning, I would pray that God would prepare my mind for some intense study. I pray that God would open my mind and my heart to hearing truth that may not be convenient, but that is certainly needed. I pray that God would help me to hear from Him during this process.