Neither Jew Nor Gentile

By Michael Ottlinger

This is a fairly comprehensive Bible study on a very difficult book of Scripture; the book of Romans. This Bible study takes the book of Romans and makes it accessible, and easy to understand for people of all education levels. If you have ever wondered what Paul's letter to the Romans in the New Testament was all about, then this is the book for you!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu.com
• Release date: Sep 7, 2017
• ISBN: 9781387190997

Book preview

Neither Jew Nor Gentile

Neither Jew Nor Gentile:

A Bible Study on Paul’s Letter to the Romans

Neither Jew Nor Gentile:

A Bible Study on Paul’s Letter to the Romans

Michael Ottlinger

Ott Publishing

2017

Copyright

Copyright © 2017 by Michael Ottlinger. All rights reserved.

This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review or scholarly journal.

First Printing: 2017

ISBN: 978-1-387-19099-7

Ott Publishing

[e-mail]

Aiea, HI 96701

Cover  photo by: SRO Photography, LLC. Used with permission.

Dedication

I dedicate this book to God. May it bring Him glory and honor, and may it in some small way convey to Him my profound appreciation for the gift of salvation.

Acknowledgements

First and foremost, I would like to thank God; without His Word and His FREE gift of salvation, I would have had no reason to write this.

Thank you to all of the churches that I have served in over the years. To First Christian Church in Effingham, IL; thank you for giving me the opportunity to cut my teeth in my first youth minister position. To Hindsboro Christian Church in Hindsboro, IL; thank you for being my very first real church family. I miss you and love you all dearly. And to Sunset Beach Christian Church in Haleiwa, HI; thank you for being my church home away from home throughout my time living in Hawaii, and also for letting me preach a few of the chapters in this book in sermon form on Wednesday nights.

I would like to thank all of the people who participated in this study in its original in-person form: Lisa, Timmy, Sandy, Steve, Scott, Heidi, Jeremy, Luke, and Kaley. If it weren’t for you guys and your encouragement, this study never would have made it into book form.

I also want to thank Lisa, Scott, and Sam for editing the first draft and preventing me from looking like someone who writes like a first grader. Thank you to Steve for editing the second draft and catching all of the little mistakes that were missed the first time through, and again for keeping me from looking like an idiot.

I want to thank everyone in my life who has been really supportive and excited for me throughout this process; I never thought I was capable of writing a book, but your encouragement helped me through the frustrating parts when I wanted to quit.

And last, but not least I want to thank Scott Owen for graciously donating the beautiful photograph for the cover of this book, as well as allowing me to come over to his place and blow off some steam when writing got to be too stressful.

You guys are all amazing, and I couldn’t have persevered through this process without each of you. Thank you!

And before I forget, I want to thank you for your interest in this Bible study, and it is my sincere hope that you will grow as a result of your participation!

Introduction

Throughout my years spent in ministry, I have always strived to help people to understand Scripture on a very basic level. One thing I have noticed in my time as a minister is that often times people have a very poor understanding of the original context of Scripture; and the more your understanding of context is lacking, the farther away you will stray from the author’s original intended meaning.

Some of the things that you have to take into consideration when trying to understand what a particular passage, chapter, or book of Scripture is trying to say are historical context (what events led up to this particular book or passage being written), literary context (what type of book is this? Is it a letter? Is it a Gospel? Is it history? Is it poetry? Is this passage prototype or archetype? Etc. etc.), cultural context (who are the people who received or heard this passage initially? Where did they live? What was their day to day life like?); you also must consider the question of who the author is and what he has to bring to the table, as well as deciding why this author addressed this particular group of people. In short; you have to ask yourself certain overarching questions, such as: Why was this passage written? What is this passage actually saying? And finally: How can I apply this passage to my faith and my life?

It is because of the general lack of understanding of context, which leads to a misunderstanding of Scripture, that I have decided to write this book. Not only that, but the other reason I have decided to write this book is because I long to see people grow not