From My Romans notes

[Roy Heflin]

 

Good reasons to examine Romans

The first word in the book of Romans is the name of the

man God chose to verbally express Gods revealing of Himself

and His relationships with all who dwell on the earth which

live after the first coming of the Messiah the Lord Jesus

Christ.

It is important to understand that Paul did not invent

the concepts he was wisely chosen to communicate. These well

known verses tell us how the word of God on a whole entered

into our world.

2 Peter 1:20,21

2 Tim 3:16,17

Gal 1:10 - 12

Paul was a man of God. Romans 1:1 Continues to define

Paul as "a servant of Jesus Christ" Here lies the nature of

all true men of God. They will always be first and foremost

servants of Jesus Christ.

We are exhorted to imitate Pauls work of service:

1 Cor 11:1

The degree to which any individual person will serve

another is a simple matter of choice. We each chose who to

serve or not.

A vital question is : Will it be wise for me to serve

Jesus Christ or not ?

Personally I have been frightened by statements issued

under the Christian label stating, "You must give your whole

life to Jesus" This seems like a lot to ask ! In fact this

seems impossible to do. Just how is this accomplished ?

As discussed in the following chapters the book of Romans

will reveal the sensible explanation about becoming a servant

of Jesus Christ.

From Romans 1:1 we learn this service had become a way of

life for Paul. This decision to be a servant is a

prerequisite to attain an experiential based understanding

of the truths revealed in the chapters to come.

It is possible for any individual born of body and soul

to become a servant of Jesus Christ. It is not possible for

the whole of mankind to fulfill the work of Paul noted next in

the verse, In addition to being a servant of Jesus Christ

Paul was also called an apostle.

Romans 1:1a

Paul a servant of Jesus Christ Called to be an apostle

"Called" as used here is translated from the Greek word

"kleetos", it is used many times in the New Testament.

Jude 1:1 concludes with the word "kleetos"

Different people are called by God to assume different

roles in this life. God does the calling. It is each person

who decides how he or she will respond.

Jude 1:1

Jude, the servant of Jesus Christ, and brother of James,

to them that are sanctified by God the Father, and preserved

in Jesus Christ, and called.

Jude is addressing the whole church, all are sanctified

all are preserved, all are called. The church made up of

people who have answered Gods call to be servants of Jesus

Christ.

This word kleetos as used in this verse does not mean

labeled. As you or I would give a name to some object, like

a new born kitten we might start calling Bob. Yes, Bob the

cat, I rather like that. In these verses kleetos is more

like a calling to a position, or a calling to an action. As

coming from a loving God the idea included is that related

with the calling comes to the individual the ability to act

in this position or way of life with complete success.

2 Peter Chapter 1 speaks about the calling of God to all.

2 Peter 1:1

Simon Peter a servant and an apostle of Jesus Christ to them

that have obtained like precious faith with us through the

righteousness of God and our Saviour Jesus Christ:

Peter like all called, was also a servant of Jesus

Christ. He also had the unique ministry of an apostle as did

Paul.

2 Peter 1:2,3

Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge

of God and of Jesus Christ our Lord.

According as his divine power hath given unto us all things

that pertain unto life and Godliness through the knowledge of

him who hath called you to glory and virtue.

Two more things we all are called to are glory and

virtue. The one thing that never changes about the many

callings God makes to people is the simple fact that it is

the individuals job to respond to the calling. By the freedom

of their will people decide how to respond.

A calling can be ignored or received. This verse does not

really explain what glory is in a practical sense as we live

our lives. From here all we know is whatever glory is we are

called to it. Same goes for virtue. Other sections of

scripture help to expand our knowledge concerning the Glory

and virtue to which we are all called.

Glory in the bible takes on many forms. The Greek

equivalent is the word "doxa" which is used about 180

times in the New Testament alone. Sometimes it is used to

describe the physical presents of a spiritually originated

light.

Luke 2:8-10

A few verses following this same word doxa is used again but

in a different way.

Luke 2:11-14

Here doxa is directed to God. A Glory to the One who has

sent His angel to announce the birth of our Savior. Here

glory takes the form of praise and adulation, the recognition

of the great and wonderful supremacy and wisdom of God the

creator. The next appearance of doxa in Luke Chapter 2 uses

this word in a different way yet again.

Luke 2:25-32

Jesus Christ the man and Son of God is called "the glory

of thy people Israel". He is the manifestation of the glory

they may attain. Christ is foremost display of the manifested

power of God living in a man.

Many times the word Glory is used to refer to the powers

possessions which display the magnitude or greatness of the

one who has access to these things. Luke 12:27 is an example.

Luke 12:27

God from the beginning planned a glory for Jesus Christ.

God called his firstborn Son to enter into this glory. We

read about this in Luke.

Luke 24:25-27

In 2 Peter we learned that we also are called to a glory.

Lets us continue the search through the scriptures to uncover

the details about our calling to glory.

Psalm 84:11

1 Cor 2:7

1 Thes 2:10-12

2 Thes 2:13,14

We were called to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord

Jesus. This brings up some interesting questions. To what

degree can this glory be manifested in the day to day world

in which we live ? What do the people living this glory

produce ? The book of Romans becomes our valuable assistant

to answer these questions. The word doxa appears 16 times

spread through out the book of Romans, (each to be covered in

detail) overall we learn that the Christian believers are to

both seek the glory of God in their actions and to glorify

God in their words thus being servants of Jesus Christ.

Romans 6:4

Many times in the N.T. the phrase glory of God is used

to indicate "the manifested power of God". Gods spiritual

power, His glory, is being shown in this world in some

particular way. When we are reading the context of the

surrounding truths in the bible tell us how Gods glory is

being made known. Gods glory was shown in a specific way when

he raised Jesus from grave Gods glory is shown yet in other

ways when a member of the Church makes the decision to "walk

in newness of life". Therefore there are ways to show Gods

glory now. 1 Cor exhorts:

1 Cor 10:31b - do all to the glory of God.

Quite a challenge and an impossible feat without a

knowledge of Romans. In contrast to the glories we are called

to be proclaiming as we await the return of our Lord and

Savior Jesus Christ , the book of Romans progresses and we

learn of still another category of glory

Romans 8:18

Here it speaks of the glory "which shall be revealed in

us". This type of glory differs from the glory which is NOW

revealed by us ! Failing to realize this may lead to an

underestimation of the power in Gods calling to glory that

can be brought forth as part of our current life on earth.

One might limit the phrase "Called to glory" to always equal

"going to heaven" While at times the call to glory does refer

to the wonderful experiences to come with Christs return, a

careful study shows the fullness within the call to glory.

It is invigorating to realize the call to glory is

eternal. The benefits begin to appear to each one who answers

the call at the moment he responds by believing, then

continue unfold for all time.

2 Tim 2:10

The glory we are called unto certainly has many marvelous

individual attributes given in detail throughout the New

Testament. In addition to glory, virtue is another part of

Gods call to all mankind. Within virtue there exist many

positive aspects to explore.

2 Peter 1:2,3

Virtues are good qualities of every kind. To be in

harmony and alignment with Gods will we must desire to aspire

to be people who are actively living the good qualities as

defined in his word, the foundation for this way of life is

spelled out in Romans the book placed first in all texts

among the Church epistles.

Why is It first ? Because Romans is the starting point

for all Christian instruction. The most basic and necessary

concepts and truths about the Christian life are given in

Romans. It must be read and understood first to understand

the new covenant God has made with His people. Romans gives

to us the beginning of the revealing of the gospel. It is the

first of seven books in the bible addressed directly to the

Church of the body of Christ that came in to being on the

first Day of Pentecost after the resurrection of Jesus Christ

about 2000 years ago. The next six church epistles,

Corinthians Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians and

Thessalonians all build upon the bedrock truths established

in the book of Romans. We must be correct in the

interpretation of the book of Romans or we will be lost in

our search for truth a amiss in our attempts to live a Godly

life.

Before beginning the detailed study of the book of Romans

let us continue with the section of scripture in the Peters

second epistle as Peter continues to help us, revealing what

we need to do in light of Gods calling.

2 Peter 1,4-11

These verses contain a great deal of things for us to

carry out. Verse 10 focuses on the need to give diligence to

the end our calling becomes sure. To make our calling sure we

determine to live within the promises of the calling. This

requires action. We are not just reading about the written

definitions of glory or virtue we are experiencing the events

associated with the words. This obviously this is Gods will

in making his callings. God already has done His part and

here in 2 Peter it tells of the activities we must undertake

to see our calling manifest now.

One thing that might not be too obvious is this truth:

To do what it says in Peter we must know about what Paul

was inspired to write in Romans. Trying to live a Christian

life with out understanding the foundation Romans states is

impossible. Just as is building a skyscraper with no

foundation, lacking a firm base the edifice will topple in

the process of being built.

Verse 12 sheds some light about the kind of people this

letter was sent to originally. A key word is "remembrance".

Consider this, He says : I will not be negligent to put you

in remembrance of these things. What things ? All the things

spoken of since the opening of the epistle. His audience was

instructed. Peters message was a brief yet great stir up to

the converted. His audience was for the most part instructed

already in the knowledge found in the book of Romans, to be

they were the ones who could really comprehend was he was teaching.

2 Peter 1:12,13

Peter was given God inspired wisdom. He glorified God as

his life matured. He understood that Paul wrote at times by

way of divine revelation and in the close of the epistle of

2 Peter we find these words:

2 Peter 3:14-18

With this exhortation the detailed study of Romans moves on.