Paul's Letter to the Romans: A Bible Study

By William Flewelling

The Bible studies I chose to do in answer to the request of my first congregation out of seminary sought to present a serious, somewhat-scholarly approach to the interested among my parishioners. In every case, I took a book to study, assuming that it was written to be read from the beginning, and to make sense to the reader in that format. I was most interested in finding what the author or compiler or editor, as the case may be, sought to convey. I have found the studies of value to me personally and professionally and felt that they were generally well received as I led them. Revisiting these studies now finds them again of fresh value to me. I hope they prove to be so for you as well.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: Jan 14, 2016
• ISBN: 9781504973953

William Flewelling

I am a retired minister from the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) living in central Illinois. Led by a request from Mildred Corwin of Manua OH when I arrived there in 1976, I long developed and led a series of bible studies there and in LaPorte IN and New Martinsville WV. These studies proved to be very feeding to me in my pastoral work and won a certain degree of following in my congregations. My first study was on 1 Peter, chosen because I knew almost nothing about the book. I now live quietly in retirement with my wife of 54 years, a pair of dogs and several cats.

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Paul’s Letter to the Romans

A Bible Study

William Flewelling

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Scripture quotations marked RSV are taken from the Revised Standard Version of

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the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA. Used by permission.

© 2016 William Flewelling. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

Published by AuthorHouse 01/14/2016

ISBN: 978-1-5049-7396-0 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-5049-7395-3 (e)

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Contents

Foreword

Notes On Paul’s Letter To The Romans

Introductory Comments

Notes on Romans 1:1-15, for 13 September 1977

Added Note on ‘Gospel’

Notes on Romans 1:16-17 for 20 September 1977

Notes on Romans 1:18-32 for 27 September 1977

Notes on Romans 2:1 – 3:20 for 4 October 1977

Notes on Romans 3:21-31 for 11 October 1977

Notes on Romans 4:1-25 for 18 October 1977

Notes on Romans 5:1-11 for 25 October 1977

Added Note on Paul versus James.

Notes On Romans 5:12-21 for 1 November 1977

Notes on Romans 6:1-14 for 8 November 1977

Added Note on Baptism

Notes on Romans 6:15-23 for 15 November 1977

Notes on Romans 7:1-6 for 22 November 1977

Notes on Romans 7:7-13 for 29 November 1977

Notes on Romans 7:14-25 for 6 December 1977

Notes on Romans 8:1-11 for 13 December 1977

Notes on Romans 8:12-17 for 3 January 1978

Notes on Romans 8:18-30 for 10 January 1978

Notes on Romans 8:31-39 for 17 January 1978

Notes on Romans 9:1-5 for 24 January 1978

Notes on Romans 9:7-13 for 31 January 1978

Notes on Romans 9:14-29 for 7 February 1978

Notes on Romans 9:30 – 10:21 for 14 February 1978

Notes on Romans 11:1-10 for 21 February 1978

Notes on Romans 11:11-24 for 28 February 1978

Notes on Romans 11:26-36 for 7 March 1978

Notes on Romans 12:1-2 for 14 March 1978

Notes on Romans 12:3-8 for 21 March 1978

Notes on Romans 12:9-21 for 28 March 1978

Notes on Romans 13:1-7 for 4 April 1978

Additional Note on Religion 11 April 1978

Notes on Romans 13:8-10 for 11 April 1978

Notes on Romans 13:11-14 for 18 April 1978

Notes on Romans 14:1 – 15:13 for 25 April 1978

Notes on Romans 15:14-33 for 2 May 1978

Notes on Romans 16:1-27 for 9 May 1978

Reflections On Conversion: The New Creation In The Pauline Corpus

Practical Christianity: Life As Church

Foreword

In the days of doing Bible Studies – primarily 1976 through 1989, with some renewed action after 1998 – I would pick something of interest to study. I admit to consciously avoiding the larger Old Testament books and addressed only Luke among the Gospels. Looking back, I find it fortuitous that early in that sequence I opted to do Romans, for this study proved in many ways to be quite formative in my development in ministry.

I recall beginning to look at ‘faith’ in this study, beginning by assuming, as everyone assumes, that we all know what it means. But I found that what is generally used as an understanding of ‘faith’ does not fit well with what Paul is saying. So I began to try the practice I had heard was used by the makers of the first Oxford English Dictionary: study how the word is used by those who use it, in this case Paul in Romans. The results which are unfolded in these pages strongly influenced my further study and reflection; I found that John was quite similar to Paul in understanding and use of ‘faith’ but that the Pastoral Epistles had moved to ‘the faith’ and a concretely content matter understanding, the very sort of faith that James needed to re-expand, using his faith/works language.

I cannot imagine what my ministry would have looked like had I not so immersed myself in Romans. Revisiting this study after 38 years renews my appreciation for the rich value in thinking along with the Apostle. And I am offering these again as a tease that my readers, whoever they may prove to be, might have some of that sense of exciting engagement themselves.

I remain appreciative of the impulse Mildred Corwin gave me when she asked in the summer of 1976 if I would give Bible Studies, and agreed that I could do it my way. She was more helpful to my development in ministry than she would ever have guessed.

William Flewelling

Notes On Paul’s Letter To The Romans

***

Bibliographic References:

Barrett, C. K., The Epistle to the Romans, Harper & Row, Publishers, New York, 1957.

Barth, Karl, The Epistle to the Romans, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 1968.

Blass, F, and Debrunner, A., translated by Funk, Robert A., A Greek Grammar of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 1961.

BDB = Brown, Francis, Driver, S.R. and Briggs, C.A., Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament, Oxford, Oxford University Press. 1972.

Cranfield, C. E. B., A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on The Epistle To The Romans, Vol. I, T. & T. Clark Limited, Edinburgh.1975.

Liddell, Henry George and Scott, Robert, A Greek-English Lexicon, revised and augmented by Sir Henry Stuart Jones and Roderick McKenzie, Oxford University Press, NY, 1968.

Nygren, Anders, Commentary On Romans, Fortress Press, Philadelphia, 1975.

Sanday, William and Headlam, Arthur C., A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on The Epistle To The Romans, Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York, 1896.

Schütz, John Howard, Paul And The Anatomy Of Apostolic Authority, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1976.

Note: Anders Nygren’s Commentary on Romans was used as a supplementary text for this study.

Introductory Comments

Some Thoughts from the Introduction to Nygren’s Commentary on Romans.

Note his questions on p.8. What is the new that entered with Christ? What is it that the congregation has faith in Him? And what is the relation between the new way of salvation, the way of faith, and the way in which the people of God had hitherto walked, the way of works?

P.10 It is not through human achievements that the kingdom of God comes, but by God’s wonderful intervention. It comes as a gift from God.

The kingdom of God is approaching, and in it they will receive God’s righteousness as a gift from Him.

P.11 But what is the inner content of that righteousness of God" which is so inseparably joined with the kingdom of God? That is Paul’s problem. Above all it is his problem in the Epistle to the Romans."

P.12 Paul had been under the law, knowing the righteousness which may be found/attained under the law. Therefore he was in a unique position to clarify and attack this problem. He knew both ways of salvation.

P.13 What is Paul’s attitude to the law? The works of the law were a genuine achievement, a sacrifice which was required to follow Christ.

P/14 "In the last analysis, it is the antithesis between his own righteousness and the righteousness of God. He had sought to establish his own righteousness by way of the law; but God had rejected that and established a new righteousness when He sent Christ. The new righteousness is not a righteousness that comes from us, but one that can only be characterized with the word "righteousness from God.

Here a totally new kind of fellowship with God has appeared, a fellowship with God in which it is not man and his works but God and His work that stands at the center.

P/15 Note the antithesis between the egocentric and the theocentric fellowship with God, between the righteousness which we ourselves offer and the righteousness which comes from God.

The two aeons: a basic idea in Paul. Note this section carefully.

Note the problems Nygren anticipates for us on pp. 18-19.

[eg., ‘psychologizing’ or ‘historicizing’ – p.21]

Two aeons – two realms standing ‘over against each other’

p.20; "two different orders of existence.

On the gospel in contrast to secularized Christianity, see

p.25.

See the quick outline for meaning of living in Christ, p.32.

P.37 A Christian is nothing by himself. What he is he is in Christ. … It is the Christian’s responsibility, in the midst of the present age and its orders, to live the life of the new aeon.

Notes on Romans 1:1-15, for 13 September 1977

V.1 Paul offers for us his self identification. Paul, a slave of Jesus Christ, a called apostle [or one sent forth], having been set aside into the gospel [evangel = beautiful message] of God …. In Romans 6:16ff, Paul clarifies the slave as one who shows obedience to his/her master, be that the power of Sin or Christ. We early get this sense of the importance of obedience – a sense one writer expands as a central theme of Romans [Paul Minear: The Obedience of Faith, SCM Press, no longer available to the author: he takes Chs. 14-15 as the central message and develops the rest as support]. Paul also introduces himself as called and as apostle: called and sent forth. One might note in this context the introductory call reports in the prophets [Isaiah 6; 40; Jeremiah 1:5-10; Ezekiel 2:1 – 3:3; etc.: the reports are shorter in the Minor Prophets]. Apostle recurs as self identification in 11:13 and among men of note in 16:7. In 1:5, apostleship is linked to bringing the obedience of faith. In 10:15, being sent is linked to preaching and believing. Paul is also one who has been set aside for the gospel of God.

Recurrent motifs are those of slave [with obedience], called, gospel. As we meet these, we should note them and attempt to see how Paul is using them, and how we fit into them.

V.2 The gospel is a thing of promise from God, revealed by/through the prophets and in the Holy Scriptures. Let us recall that scripture at that time was limited to the Old Testament, particularly in the Greek version [Greek was the common language of the ancient world; Latin was confined at that time to Italy and Rome; Paul, of course, was conversant with the Hebrew text as well.]

Vv3-4 ‘Gospel’ is repeated from v.1 in English; it is not in the original text. Yet the verse identifies the gospel: it concerns His Son:

[1] He was descended from David according to the flesh.

[2] He was designated Son of God in power … by his resurrection from the dead.

Upon this content we might note the Davidic line [in this, the earliest ‘gospel’ which is free from conflict [see Nygren’s introduction], there is no necessity seen to comment on the mode of birth; that occurs only in Luke, implicitly, and Matthew, explicitly. I believe that the concern there is confined to the birth narratives alone. The doctrinal excitement of the centuries used this material but stemmed from other concerns, which picks up in Jesus’ person the Davidic promises and royal mystique. Secondly, note the central importance of the resurrection as the one, single, defining element in Christ’s being declared Son of God. Finally, the arch-title is given: Lord, Our Lord.

C.K. Barrett’s commentary argues that [1] and [2] above give a pre-Pauline Christological couplet. The antithetical sides are complementary, referring to Christ belonging wholly to two orders of existence. The temporal sequence concerns Barrett, as it has exegetes/interpreters for many years. I suspect that the concern of Paul and of the formula [whether it was traditional already or composed originally by Paul] is to emphasize the human link of Jesus to Israel and to David and to concentrate the energy of faith upon the risen Lord.

Vv.-6 Christ is the focus of faith and life for the Christian – Paul is addressing the Christian community [see v.7]. It is through [by means of] Christ that we receive [1] Grace and [2] Apostleship into obedience of faith, in all the nations for the sake of His name. We, in all the nations, receive that we might move into obedience [again, the servant/slave motif] of faith for his name’s sake. The shifting and handling of this phrase is important for it gives us importance, but not of central importance, a feature which may be seen in some popular and well supported theological positions today – positions which flourish in spite of the utter lack of New Testament support. Paul includes those in Rome – all, indeed, who have been called to belong to Jesus Christ [literally, called ones of Jesus Christ].

V.7 Paul’s greetings to the ‘called saints’ in Rome, God’s beloved. His greeting and his gift [a real giving of what he had to give]: grace and peace. Grace is the gift of God, the One who grants favor as He wishes, in the favor of an overlord; peace includes wholeness, integrity, completeness within itself. Note the repeated reference to ‘called’.

V.8 This begins the traditional Pauline Thanksgiving, modeled after traditional Greek letter form. He refers to giving thanks for the Roman Christians because of their faith. [The verb ‘to give thanks’ later became a technical term to denote the prayer of the Lord’s Supper, always a prayer of thanksgiving; the name ‘Eucharist’ for the Lord’s Supper comes from the word group.] The thanksgiving is to my God, through Jesus Christ on account of y’all, because your faith is proclaimed in all the world. The faith is something worthwhile. Barrett, among others, feels this must be a special form or expression of faith; others, as Cranfield and Nygren, argue that this is unfounded. Karl Barth comments Paul does not thank God for the piety of the Roman Christians, or for any other observable human advantage they may possess. He simply gives thanks for the fact that there are Christians in Rome.

Faith is another key word in Romans. We will watch for it. In the meantime, consider S. T. Coleridge’s comment: "But faith is a total act of the soul; it is the whole state of the mind, or it is not at all! and in this consists its power, as well as its exclusive worth." [The Friend, vol. 1, p. 315 edited by Barbara E. Rooke in The Collected Works of Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Princeton University Press, 1969.] Hence does Paul give thanks to God that there is faith.

Vv.9-10 His theme of longing to see Rome for the sake of the Church and the gospel. Note here that service is in the gospel of His Son. The gospel:

[1] is something into which Paul had been set aside

[2] is of God,

[3] concerns His Son, Jesus Christ Our Lord,

[4] is something Paul is in, and serves with his spirit in.

Vv.11-12 The reason he wishes to go: ‘in order that I might give/impart to you, toward strengthening/setting firm you [plural] through the in one another faith, yours and mind too.’ Note that the action is always mutual and reciprocal among the brethren; one receives only as one gives. The soul is faithful; it receives upbuilding through the mingling with other faithful souls [both of the strong in faith and the weak in faith]. One who would only receive gets fat, but does not grow in faith.

Vv.13-14 First, Paul wishes to reap some harvest, to be a part of the growth in faith which is in Rome. Secondly, ‘I am under obligation …’, which stresses the necessity, in faith, of obedience to faith and calling. God has acted upon Paul, setting him aside; Paul has accepted and now is obliged to be what he must be, a preacher of the gospel in which he is.

V.15 He is eager to meet necessity among the Romans: ‘to preach the gospel’ or ‘to evangelize’ or ‘to state the beautiful message.’ This is the verb which says what is done with/in the gospel.

As we read Romans, let us notice: faith, obedience, gospel, call.

Added Note on ‘Gospel’

We will be dealing with the notion of ‘gospel’ in the course of our study of Romans. The term is rather elusive. Therefore, I thought that a few comments and idea which I have found helpful might be shared with you.

Paul is concerned with the gospel, as we see already in the first part of the Letter. We see in 1:16 that the gospel is the power of God for salvation to everyone who has faith [RSV]. [The ending is more properly ‘all who believe’.] However Paul avoids making ‘the gospel’ the object of faith. [The quotations not from the Bible are from John Howard Schutz, Paul and the Anatomy of Apostolic Authority, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1975.] That is, ‘gospel; is not that at which faith is aimed, nor that from which faith derives. The gospel is the power of God; Paul interprets this as his authority.

Even where Paul in some extended fashion considers [gospel] as a body of content, there is a dynamic characteristic in the word which lies just below the surface and is essential for determining in what way the gospel is ‘true’. Schutz finds in ‘gospel’ three categories of meaning. One is the fixed object of preaching, one is the act of preaching, and one is something rather more elusive, the gospel as an on-going entity ‘in’ which one can ‘be’ or ‘stand’!

The word ‘gospel has what has been called a ‘pregnant’ sense. That is, the noun exhibits its significance as an ‘effective force’. This concept of the noun not being static but including within it the element of effective force of power is important to us in our search. The effectiveness of the gospel lies in its being the vehicle through which God brings about a possibility and a reality.

The purpose of the gospel is salvation, a role which Paul links closely with righteousness. Righteousness is not quality but event. The gospel seems … to be the ‘field’ in which God chooses to act. The gospel seems to be the structure of man’s life responsive to God’s will.

Included in this force of the gospel is the activity of the forces which God has begun in Christ and in which the Christian seeks to participate. ‘Fulfilling’ the gospel is not having finished an assignment so much as having participated in the full inauguration of those forces which Paul has mentioned as characteristic of the way Christ wins obedience from the nations, through him. ‘Preaching the gospel’ implies setting in motion these forces. The result of this setting in motion is the fact that the power of the gospel becomes a power in the community.

We must imagine the gospel as a force or agency able to accomplish something, having a purpose toward which it proceeds. Being in the gospel, then, implies that we become a participant in the gospel’s own work. Hence, the gospel may be legitimately classed as ‘my gospel,’ as Paul does repeatedly [see Rom. 2:16]."

Schutz’s comments on gospel cited here come from Chapter 3, particularly that part on pages 35-53.

Notes on Romans 1:16-17 for 20 September 1977

Literal translation: For I am not ashamed of the gospel; for power of God it is, into salvation to all the believing ones, so Jews first, and Greeks. For righteousness of God in this is revealed out-from/by-means-of faith into/toward faith, just as it has been written: The righteous/just one by-means-of faith, he shall live.

In Chs.