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.