ROMANS Study Guide

Introduction The purpose of this manual is not to do an exhaustive verse by verse exegesis of the book of Romans but to grasp firmly the key truths that are essential for successfully “living out” the life of Christ here and now. There is not a more comprehensive book in the Bible that deals with the meaning of “being in Christ” and “what we have in Christ” than this amazing book by Paul the Apostle. One of the major issues in the Church today, especially in America, is that so many Christians do not comprehend what “full” salvation is in Jesus Christ. Many have enough understanding to enjoy what Paul calls “justification” (our forgiveness and acceptance by God) but not enough to enjoy sanctification (living the life given to us in Jesus Christ). The results are that many believers live an exhausted and frustrated cycle of sinning, repenting, being forgiven, trying to be good, sinning… over and over again until finally they give up ever expecting anything more than this defeated cycle in their Christian walk. Also, many Christians today continue to live under God’s law rather than his grace resulting in their feelings of constantly not being good enough to personally enjoy what they see in the Bible or what they hear being preached from the pulpit. And most tragic of all, many know enough about Jesus to think they are saved but their lives clearly show they are not. In the book of Romans, we find a clear and full understanding of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. More than ever, the church today needs to recapture what our decision to receive Jesus Christ as our Savior really means and what living out our salvation looks like. These issues and concerns will be the focus of this class as well as a good all- around understanding of this amazing book. F.F. Bruce, a British theologian that I have enjoyed over the years, said of the Book of Romans… “time and again in the course of Christian History it has liberated the minds of men and brought them back to an understanding of the essential Gospel of Christ, and started spiritual revolutions.” Both Augustine and Martin Luther were such spiritual giants whose lives had been utterly turned around because of the impact of the book Romans on them. It is universally agreed among Bible Scholars that Paul the Apostle was the author of this book. The book has been found written in different forms in some early manuscripts but these variant forms most scholars believe were changes to the original letter trying to edit out the specific references to the Roman church so it could be used as a more general letter to other churches. Looking at the books content, the letter appears to have been written at the end of Paul’s third mission journey around 57 to 59 A .D. as Paul was considering new territories to go to where Christ had not yet been preached. Background on the Book of Romans

The purpose of the letter seems to be two-fold (1) to alert the Roman Church to his coming and desire to build a partnership with them as he began his new gospel campaign into Spain (2) and to