We begin a new book today—Romans! Normally, our readings are assigned Monday-Friday, but since today is the first day of a new month, it seemed appropriate to kick off our Romans study today. Each day’s post will go live at 3:30 AM and—for those of you on my email list—will be emailed out at 4:00 AM.
The opening letter below appears in the print version of this reading guide. We include it here. (Today’s scripture reading can be found after the SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 1 header below.)
AROUND THE YEAR AD 57…
Around the year AD 57, a Christian missionary pastor and leader named Paul wrote a long letter to a network of house churches that had formed in Rome. Paul had never been to Rome (though he had met some of the Roman Christians previously), so he wrote his letter to introduce himself and his message to the Roman church.
Paul wrote his Letter to the Romans during one of his missionary journeys around the eastern Mediterranean. (He was probably in the city of Ephesus—which is in modern-day Turkey—when he wrote Romans.) At the period in which he wrote, Paul had been a missionary church planter for about twenty-five years, and he was planning to return to Jerusalem with a major financial gift he had collected from among his Gentile churches to give to the poor and persecuted Jewish church in Jerusalem. Paul intended that gift to be a sign of the unity of the church, since Paul understood that the church of Jesus was open to both Jews and Gentiles—“to all who believe.” [Romans 1:1] After delivering the gift, Paul’s plan was to stop off in Rome on his way to Spain, where he wanted to continue his church-planting ministry. By sending his letter, Paul hoped to make himself more familiar to the Roman Christians before visiting them in person.
WHAT IS PAUL’S LETTER TO THE ROMANS ABOUT?
Romans is a long, complex letter that is the result of Paul’s decades-long thought about Jesus and his missionary work for Jesus. In it, Paul explains what the Gospel means and how it should affect the everyday lives of the Roman Christians. In his letter, Paul is answering the question, “What does it mean that a Jewish man named Jesus was crucified and raised again?”
WHAT IS THE “GOSPEL”?
“Gospel” is the Old English translation of a Greek word that we transliterate as euangelion—pronounced “you-ahng-GELL-lee-on”—which means “good news” or “good tidings.” You know the story of the Battle of Marathon, how the messenger ran 26 miles to Athens to bring the breathless news of the great Greek victory over the Persians? The message he was bringing was euangelion—it is good news about something that has happened in the world, and it wasn’t originally a religious word, but a political word. In fact, the early Christians adopted it for their purposes because they understood that what had happened with Jesus was news about something amazing that had taken place, that it was (to quote the angel in Luke’s Gospel),
“Good news of great joy that will be for all the people!” [Luke 2:10]
This good news was carried from Jerusalem by followers of Jesus all over the world. When it came to the Anglo-Saxon people in what we now call England, the martyrs and missionaries translated it into the tongue of that place. They called their message “gospel.”
The early Christians called the Jesus news “gospel,” and they also came to call the documents that contained that news “Gospels.”
For Paul, the Gospel is the news that God has been faithful to His promises to Israel and that Jesus has carried those plans to fulfillment. Now, because of Jesus, the blessings of God are available to everyone who trusts God, both Jew and Gentile.
WHAT IS “ISRAEL”?
When Paul uses the term “Israel” he is not referring to the modern nation-state of Israel. Rather, when Paul uses the term, he is referring to the covenant people of God, descended from Abraham. Israel is God’s special people, and the story of Israel is told in what we call the Old Testament. The story of the Old Testament is that God chose one man—Abraham—and his family—Israel—to be His special representatives to the world. In shorthand, when Paul used the term “Israel,” he means “people of God.”
WHY IS THE OLD TESTAMENT KEY TO UNDERSTANDING ROMANS?
You cannot understand Romans if you don’t understand the story of Israel in the Old Testament. This is because Paul—who knows the Old Testament backwards and forwards—believes that Jesus is the fulfillment of everything the Old Testament was about, even and including undoing the effects of Adam’s sinful choice in Genesis chapter 3.
IF GOD KNEW THAT ISRAEL WOULD SIN, WHY DID HE CHOOSE THEM?
Paul wants the Romans to understand that the Lord did not make a mistake when He made Israel the chosen nation. Yes, Israel sinned, but Paul will explain in his letter how God was using Israel the entire time to prepare for Jesus and to bring blessing to the entire world.
SALVATION IS NOT ABOUT GOING TO HEAVEN WHEN YOU DIE
In his letter, Paul will explain that God’s ultimate plan is to fix everything that’s wrong with the world. Yes, the sacrificial death of Jesus means people can be forgiven of their sins and escape the consequence of their sins, but forgiveness is the means to the end God has in mind, not the end in itself. In fact, the end God is working towards is to restore humanity to its original, God-given position: to rule over Creation in God’s name. This is deep stuff, and Paul won’t get there until chapter 8. In this commentary, which I am calling Romans Part 1, we will cover chapters 1-7. (Chapter 8 will have to wait until Part 2.) Here, Paul is going to explain how all of humanity—including God’s people, Israel—was actually enslaved to sin, and that Jesus came to save everyone who would believe, both Jews and Gentiles. By doing what no one else was able to do, Jesus permanently defeated the power of sin and death and has inaugurated the New Creation that God is working towards.
Romans Part 1 will not be an easy read, but it will be worth it.
WHY READ ROMANS?
Because Reading Romans Will Help You Know God’s Will for Your Life
In Romans 12:1-2, Paul says that if we want to know God’s will for our lives, we need to have our minds transformed:
Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. [12:2]
We are all affected by ideas, and the way to transform your mindset—your thought-patterns—is to focus the right ideas.
Romans, in all its depth and complexity, is exactly the kind of thing that can transform your mindset, if you are willing to put in the work and seek to first understand and then to think about what Paul is saying. We are going to take the next several months and work through this life-changing letter bit by bit.
Be consistent.
Be curious.
If you do those things:
1. You will understand both what Paul is saying and why the early church was unstoppable;
2. You will be different because you’ll see the world and your place in it according to God’s point of view.
Let’s GO.
Andrew Forrest
