A Walk...Through Romans: (An Exposition)

By Thomas Rowan

When we think about Bible studies, we often pull topical aspects and devotions. There is nothing wrong with this method, of course, but sometimes in doing so, we miss some of the key pieces that bind the Scriptures together.

This book, while similar to a full commentary in nature, is meant to help you in your personal study of the Bible,

• Language: English
• Publisher: Trilogy Christian Publishing
• Release date: Aug 4, 2023
• ISBN: 9798887388236

Thomas Rowan

Thomas Rowan is a father of three and an Air Force veteran who lives in Wisconsin. Apart from reading and writing, Thomas spends most of his free time on various hobbies, including painting, fitness, and Martial Arts.

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Dedication

This book is dedicated to the following:

Pastor David Gough, who reignited a fire for learning and studying the Bible through his wonderful expositional preaching.

And to:

Pastor Omar Johnson and Christopher Lawrence, whose godly character and friendship I have cherished for so long and who, collectively, encouraged me to continue writing from small thoughts to short essays, all of which have led to this.

Thank you.

Introduction

This book was written to be an aid for those who may be searching for something more within the pages of the Scripture. While it’s true that the Bible is complete within itself and needs no additional material, sometimes, it is nice to have someone’s thoughts or ideas to compare to your own or to help extrapolate and define the truth as you read. I am not a Doctor of Theology, and while I have preached on several occasions, I am not an ordained pastor. But I believe that each Christian has the ability, and should be, a well-studied theologian in his/her own right. To be as well versed in the Bible as it was meant to be, as God intended for each saint in Christ.

This book is a means to have my thoughts and interpretations through prayer and careful study put into pages for others who may be curious about Christianity or those who wish to take it further. This book should not be taken as a complete commentary on Romans but, rather, an exposition. If I were to write all that I could on the book of Romans, it would take several years and multiple volumes to encompass all the material within. I’m sure some more mature and well-versed Christians may find that this book is missing information or perhaps feel that I should have expounded more on one thing or another. But I wanted this book to be able to be used by those who are new to Christianity, that they may find this helpful as they begin to enter the depths of the gospel of Christ. Furthermore, I hope that those who may already be well-seasoned Christians may use it to help with a fresh perspective on Romans or even to remind them of the truths that they may have forgotten over the years.

So, whether you just read this book as a book to be read or use it as an aid with your own study time in the book of Romans, I hope that you find it helpful to your growth in Christ. Romans is such an amazing book and truly one of the gems of the New Testament with the gospels of Christ. The truth in Romans is so deep and broad that if I had to choose one book above all the others and only use that book to explain my faith, I would pick Romans.

As the Lord leads, I follow; and though I am not perfect myself, I push evermore to be closer to Christ and His Word. With this book finished, I have not decided which one to explore next; I hope to continue exploring the books of the Bible and, as the Lord directs, write more of the same for those books as well.

Forever in Christ,

Thomas Rowan

Chapter 1:

The Wrath of God

The book of Romans is one of my favorite books in the New Testament. This letter was the fifth letter written by Paul, but I appreciate that Romans is the first book of Paul’s letters to be read if you read through the New Testament because Romans is what I like to call a foundational overview.

By that, I mean that Romans gives us an excellent overview of Paul’s teachings as he touches on several subjects throughout the book. Yet, reading it in conjunction with Paul’s other letters is foundational. Because to better understand the other letters is so much easier when you do it with the knowledge and comparison of Romans.

Many theologians refer to Romans as the most world’s important letter, as it fully exposes several core concepts of our faith and the gospel of Christ. John Calvin said, When anyone understands this Epistle, he has a passage opened to him to the understanding of the whole Scripture. Martin Luther’s successor Philip Melanchthon called Romans the compendium of Christian doctrine. A Swiss theologian, Frederic Godet, referred to Romans as the cathedral of the Christian faith.

It’s commonly believed that Paul wrote the book of Romans while on his third missionary journey in Corinth. But who was Paul? And why did he write Romans? The life of the apostle Paul, who used to be Saul of Tarsus, is recorded in Acts Chapters Eight through Twenty-Eight, Galatians Chapters One and Two, and 2 Corinthians Chapters Eleven and Twelve.

When he had gone through those regions and had given them much encouragement, he came to Greece. There he spent three months, and when a plot was made against him by the Jews as he was about to set sail for Syria, he decided to return through Macedonia.

Acts 20:2–3

The book of Romans is genuinely life-changing in our understanding of the gospel. Unlike some of Paul’s other letters, which directly focus on the church he is writing to and its problems, Romans focuses more on God and His sovereignty and His plan of redemption.

Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God (Romans 1:1).

The first thing we see here is that unlike our letters today, this one starts with who is writing it, whereas we would address the person to whom the letter is written first, then sign our name at the end as the writer. Here Paul introduces himself as was the custom of the time.

Next, a servant of Jesus Christ. Paul states his name and then starts describing who he is and his credentials. The ESV version states it as servant, whereas the New King James version uses the word bondservant, This, I think, is the better translation based on some other of Paul’s writings.

Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own (1 Corinthians 6:19).

Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood (Acts 20:28).

Here we see that we are not our own; we are purchased. So, if we are purchased, we are not servants but enslaved people. Additionally, we are born with a sinful nature that we cannot be rid of. Paul talks about us being slaves to sin in Romans Chapter Six, which we will get to later.

So here, if we are slaves to sin, then we are bought with the blood of Christ; we are slaves of Christ. Now, we are, as Christians, adopted into the family of Christ, as He is our Father. The slave terminology here is that we acknowledge that God is Lord over our lives in liberty from our slavery of sin.

Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom (2 Corinthians 3:17).

We are free from the slavery of sin, Christ bought us with His blood, and we call Him Master and Lord as we acknowledge His Lordship over our lives. We are now free and called to liberty of slavery to Christ as part of the adopted family.

Called to be an apostle—Paul uses the term apostle here, and it is not by accident. Apostle and disciple are two separate things. I know we can often use them interchangeably, but they are different. A disciple is a student. At one point in Jesus’s ministry, He sent out seventy disciples. Disciples are just people who study under someone. An apostle is one who speaks for, and an apostle has the authority to be the mouth of the one they represent. Apostles are very similar to ambassadors. Ambassadors represent and speak on behalf of a person or country to another person or country. Paul is saying here that he has been called to be an apostle. He states that he has the authority to speak, teach, and preach the gospel of Christ, from whom he has been called.

Now the original apostles needed to meet a few requirements. Firstly, they needed to have witnessed the resurrected Christ.

Am I not free? Am I not an apostle? Have I not seen Jesus our Lord? Are not you my workmanship in the Lord? (1 Corinthians 9:1).

Secondly, they needed to have been directly chosen by the Holy Spirit. In Acts, the author, Luke, tells us how God chose then Saul, now Paul.

But the Lord said to him, ‘Go, for he is a chosen instrument of mine to carry my name before the Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel’ (Acts 9:15).

Thirdly, they had the ability to perform signs and wonders.

And awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles (Acts 2:43).

The signs of a true apostle were performed among you with utmost patience, with signs and wonders and mighty works (2 Corinthians 12:12).

These traits, combined with the responsibility of laying the foundation of the church, are what made up the requirements of the unique apostles, which Paul uses to verify his title here.

[W]hich he promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy Scriptures, concerning his Son, who was descended from David according to the flesh (Romans 1:2–3).

Paul states here that his message isn’t new. Having been a student of the Old Testament, Paul understands that the gospel of God that he is preaching has been in the Bible the whole time. From the curse in Genesis, the gospel has been and is the central theme throughout the Bible, and in verse three, he affirms that Jesus is who the Bible was talking about.

The first time the gospel was promised in the Old Testament was in the context of the curse. As a result of the fall, God cursed Adam and Eve and the serpent. The woman’s seed would crush the serpent’s head, and in the process, the serpent’s seed would bruise the man’s heel. Salvation has always been a part of God’s plan.

[A]nd was declared to be the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord (Romans 1:4).

Paul says that this is the one who prophets spoke about. Jesus is the Son of God and was made man, yet still, God, who came to save us from our sins.

[T]hrough whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith for the sake of his name among all the nations, including you who are called to belong to Jesus Christ (Romans 1:5–6).

Paul switches it up here, and after stating that he was called and who called him, affirming Jesus’s identity, Paul then tells us that we are all called. We are all apostles now, set to preach and teach the world about the gospel of Christ. Once you are a Christian, you are an apostle for Christ, period. The Great Commission given by Christ before His ascension into heaven is that command that provides us with our authority. We are to preach and teach the gospel to all nations.

To all those in Rome who are loved by God and called to be saints (Romans 1:7).

We are all called to be saints. When we accept salvation, we are then justified. After we are justified, during our lives here, we are sanctified. It is during this time that we are called saints. Through the Holy Spirit as the Sanctified One, Jesus Christ is sanctifying us as we live until our death or rapture, when we will be wholly sanctified. Being wholly sanctified is a process that many theologians place into these eight steps.

Foreknowledge/Predestination/Election

Effectual Call/Regeneration (new birth)

Conversion (repentance & faith)

Justification (declared of right legal standing)

Adoption (placed in God’s family)

Sanctification (progressive/ongoing growth in holiness)

Perseverance (staying in Christ)

Glorification (receiving our new body in heaven)

These eight points are grouped together in a more straightforward form which is sometimes referred to as:

Charles Spurgeon said, You notice that the words ‘to be’ are put in by the translators, but though they are supplied, they are not really necessary to the sense. These believers in Rome were ‘called saints.’ They were not called because they were saints, but they became saints through that calling.

First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you because your faith is proclaimed in all the world. For God is my witness, whom I serve with my spirit in the gospel of his Son, that without ceasing I mention you always in my prayers, asking that somehow by God’s will I may now at last succeed in coming to you. For I long to see you, that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to strengthen you—that is, that we may be mutually encouraged by each other’s faith, both yours and mine. I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that I have often intended to come to you (but thus far have been prevented), in order that I may reap some harvest among you as well as among the rest of the Gentiles. I am under obligation both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to the wise and to the foolish. So I am eager to preach the gospel to you also who are in Rome.

Romans 1:8–15

Firstly, Paul thanks them for who they are and what they’ve done in spreading the Word of God. Then, Paul swears; this is interesting because we know what Jesus said in Matthew.

But I say to you, do not take an oath at all, either by heaven, for it is the throne of God, or by the earth, for it is his footstool, or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King. And do not take an oath by your head, for you cannot make one hair white or black. Let what you say be simply Yes or No; anything more than this comes from evil.

Matthew 5:34–37

Here Jesus says we shouldn’t swear, that our word should be sufficient in the context of what we say, and again, in James, we see that it’s repeated:

But above all, my brothers, do not swear, either by heaven or by earth or by any other oath, but let your ‘yes’ be yes and your ‘no’ be no, so that you may not fall under condemnation (James 5:12).

Yet, we understand that sometimes we are supposed to swear. Swearing in for military service, marriage vows, or in a court of law are all biblical reasons for swearing. So, I tend not to get too hung up on whether or not we can and merely take this as an example that there is a time and place for it. Here, Paul uses it to emphasize his statement in verses nine and ten that he is indeed praying for those in Rome.

Then Paul says that he seeks to be in person for mutual encouragement. How are you as church members today? Do you encourage the pastor? Do you encourage each other? We, as church members, should be studying and teaching each other, encouraging those older than us, and inspiring those younger than us. Paul says it is necessary and wishes he could be in Rome with them.

Paul understood the importance of fellowship within the church body. Studying from home is okay, and watching sermons when you can’t make it to church or during the week is good. But going to church, that fellowship makes a difference in our walk with Christ.

Here, we can also see God’s providence. Paul talks about trying to get to Rome for some time but being prevented. However, God controls all things. How often have you thought that you could do more if you were [insert here]? But God’s timing is perfect. I think we, as Christians today, often know God’s will but not His timing. We attempt to move in the direction of God’s will for our lives but forget that perhaps the timing isn’t right.

If Paul had made it to Rome when he planned on it, I believe that we wouldn’t have the book of Romans. He wouldn’t have needed to write it. Thankfully, as in God’s divine plan, Paul didn’t make it to Rome when he wanted to, so he did write the letter to the church in Rome, which gave us this significant book that Christians have used to understand better the basis on which our faith rests.

Charles Spurgeon said,

I do not suppose that Paul guessed that he would be sent there at the government’s expense, but he was. The Roman Empire had to find a ship for him and a fit escort for him, too, and he entered the city as an ambassador in bonds. When our hearts are set on a thing, and we pray for it, God may grant us the blessing, but it may be in a way that we never looked for. You shall go to Rome, Paul, but you shall go in chains.

Paul finishes this statement by saying that his obligation is to everyone, not only Jews, not just particular churches, to everyone, which is why he is eager to reach Rome as a place to preach.

For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, ‘The righteous shall live by faith’ (Romans 1:16–17).

Paul is stating his belief system and defending his stance by God’s grace through the gospel. He didn’t say that the