Paul had not been in Rome yet, he
arrived there three years after he wrote this letter. The heart (or nucleus) of
the Church of Rome probably was formed by the Roman Jews that had been in
Jerusalem at the day of Pentecost, according to Acts 2:10. “10 Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya near Cyrene;
visitors from Rome.”
In the 28 years since then, many
Christians from different parts of the East had, for various reasons, migrated
to the capital, including some of the converts themselves and close friends of
Paul, (see chapter 16). The martyrdom of Paul and Peter probably occurred in
Rome, about eight years after this letter was written.
(Halley 2000).
The context of this letter is very
rich and Paul starts it by introducing himself to all the members of that
church as a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle and set apart for
the gospel of God, (v. 1).
The next thing he tells them is: (v.2
and on)… “2 the
gospel he promise beforehand through his prophets in the Holy Scriptures
3 regarding his Son, who as to his earthly
life[a] was a descendant of David, 4 and who through the Spirit of
holiness was appointed the Son of God in power[b] by his resurrection from the
dead: Jesus Christ our Lord. 5 Through
him we received grace and apostleship to call all the Gentiles to the obedience
that comes from[c] faith for his name’s sake. 6 And you also are among those
Gentiles who are called to belong to Jesus Christ.”
You and I who are reading this letter
that Paul wrote to the Romans, if we are in Christ Jesus, this word is also for
us. So, let’s learn from it, amen?
Based on this fact are you and I
descendants of David as well? Are we descendants of Abraham?
_______________________________________________________________________
Paul explains also that his
obligation is to teach all the people Jews and gentiles, and that he was not
ashamed of it. And he teaches us by this that we should not be ashamed of it
either. God loves us, and this whole letter is addressed to show us how God
loves us even though we were still sinners when God came to show us love. Romans
5:8: “ But
God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners,
Christ died for us.”
Paul was not ashamed to teach
the people around him where ever God sent him. Are we ashamed?
How do you feel
about witnessing to people in our days? ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
So, our question is today:
“Why are we sinners? _____________________________________________________
What does it mean to be a sinner? _____________________________________________________
Paul made an effort to explain to the church
why we need a savior, and how everyone can be saved, and why we are sinners.
A universal
necessity for a Savior.
Ro. 3:23 “for
all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” In chapter 1 of his letter
Paul describes to the church the universal sinfulness of mankind. Paul
describes in chapter 1:18-32 God’s wrath against mankind. Please check this
passage out:
In verse 20 we see that God reveals
himself to every human being.
“20 For since the creation of the world God’s invisible
qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being
understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse. 21 For
although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to
him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened.”
What is the most important
part of this verse?________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
God’s power and divine nature,
has been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people
are without excuse. This is a very important statement. God made the universe
in such a way that it clearly testifies the fact that He created it. And that
we can see and understand God´s invisible qualities. The apostle John writes
about something that I believe fits right into this subject. “And so we know
and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives
in God, and God in them.” (1 Jo. 4:16). If we know and rely on the love God has
for us, is because He has revealed it to us; correct? We can only rely on
something we have knowledge about. This is the reason why Paul writes this
letter to explain to the church why we are sinners, and why we need Jesus.
Chapter 2 Paul explains that
there is no difference between Jews and gentiles, meaning that every human
being is in the same boat, we all are sinners. We are born in sin; but; since,
Jesus came to save us we have an option: we can become saints. Halleluiah.
From the day that Adam and Eve
listened to the serpent that deceived them to go after their own way and eat
from the tree that they were told not to eat; they fell from the grace of God.
To sin means to miss the target, and by doing what they did, Adam and Eve
missed the target what God had prepared for all of us. By this, they died
spiritually. And now they needed to be brought back to life. God, prepared
Jesus, as it says in Hebrews before the foundation of the earth as an offering
for you and me to bring us back in the beautiful relationship God planned to
have with His people.
Hebrews 10: 5 Therefore, when
Christ came into the world, he said: “Sacrifice and offering you did not
desire, but a body you prepared for me; 6 with burnt offerings and sin
offerings you were not pleased 7 Then I said, ‘Here I am—it is written about me
in the scroll—I have come to do your will, my God.’”[a] Refers to what is
written in Psalm 40:6-8.
Paul was trying to show to the Romans
that Jesus was the savior of the world that came to redeem us. And in the next
lesson we will continue to study about this wonderful message, we are born in
sin; but, we have an option that God himself gave to us through His Son Jesus
Christ: we do not need to stay in sin!!! Praise God!!!
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