Today’s passage: Romans 3:21-31

Helpful thoughts:

• The Law teaches us about righteousness, but it will not declare us righteous.  We all fall short.
  • Righteousness is given to us through faith in Jesus Christ.
• God is righteous and just.  All sin must be paid for.
  • Christ was put forward as an atonement, paying the penalty of our sin.
  • When we confess our sin and place our faith in God’s work to atone for our sin through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, we are given Christ’s righteous record and are saved!
• Whether a person is a Jew or a Gentile, no matter where they are from, no matter what their social/economic background, no matter what their religious background, all who are saved are saved by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone.

Questions to consider:

1. What is the gospel message?  Do you know that you are saved?  Have you received God’s gift of salvation and righteousness by faith?
2. What does it mean that God is both just and our justifier?  How does that work out?  How might you explain that to someone who has never heard it before?
3. For the Jew who has been working hard to maintain a “righteous” or “righteous enough” standing before God, in what ways do you think they would object to what we learn in this passage?  What offense might they take?  What question do you think the Apostle Paul may answer next?

Today’s passage: Romans 3:9-20

Helpful thoughts:

• Back in verse 1, the Jews were said to have an advantage as it relates to having been given the “oracles of God.”  In verse 9 however, we see that there is no advantage for the Jews over the Gentiles as it relates to sinlessness.  All have sinned.
• Anyone who reads verses 10-18 and says, “That was never me” is mistaken.
  • Verse 20 confirms this.  No one will be declared righteous in God’s sight through their own works.
• Knowing God’s Law does not make mankind become good, it informs us that we are not.  We need saving and Jesus is the Savior!

Questions to consider:

1. Which statements out of verses 10-18 seem the most surprising to you?  Which ones might you be prone to question concerning yourself or other “good people” that you know?
2. When we refer to someone as a “good person” or say that someone has a “good heart,” what does that mean?  To whom are we comparing them?  Is it possible to do something good in a way that is NOT seeking after God?  What does God see (1 Samuel 16:7)?
3. If no person even seeks after God by his own will, why/how did you become a Christian? (John 3:3-8, Ephesians 2:8-9)  How do these truths help us to remember not to think more highly of ourselves than we would other people?

Today’s passage: Romans 3:1-8

Helpful thoughts:

• If a Jew were to think they had been disadvantaged by having been under the Law, they would be thinking more of what they could “Get away with” than the fact that God had revealed Himself to them in a special way.
  • God did not stumble in giving the Jews the Law.  The Jews stumbled over the Law.
• God exercises His righteousness in executing His justice.  Whether a person repents or continues in sin, God will be glorified.
• The portrayed person who is complaining in verses 7-8 is looking at glory as a thing to strive for and obtain.  When glorification (Which, we do not deserve as God does) is a man’s greatest desire, the ends will justify the means.
  • God actually deserves to be glorified.  All that He does is right and true and is worthy of our praise.

Questions to consider:

1. In these hypothetical complaints, what heart desires do we see evidenced?  What is it that these complainers really appear to want?  How will these desires prove to blind them to the truth of the Gospel and the glory of God?
2. How does this passage help us to understand Isaiah 55:11 more accurately?  Is God’s Word only effective when people repent and love Jesus?  What is also revealed when a person hears and rejects?  How is God’s glory perhaps measured differently than the way we would define “Success” down here on earth?
3. If we think God owes us one because our sin made Him look better, what is wrong with our view of the holiness of God?  What is the only right response to His holiness?  Without His love through Christ’s sacrifice, where would we stand?  How does this move us to a heart of worship?

Today’s passage: Romans 2:12-29

Helpful thought:

• Verses 12-15 continue the argument from the preceding passage.
  • Whether you have heard the Law or not (Jew or Gentile) all have sinned and know it.
  • We are not saved simply by going to the “right” church which holds the right doctrinal positions, just as the Jews were not saved simply because they had heard the Law (Verse 13).
  • God does not look at man the way man looks at man.  He knows the thoughts and intentions/motives of our hearts.  Even what people do that is outwardly the right thing will be discerned rightly by God.
• The Jew who believes they know the Law expertly and have kept it and are teaching others to do the same (To arrive at their level of righteousness) is being a hypocrite and understandably turning people away.
  • Except, the people who are turning away from God (The Gentiles blaspheming) are not turning away from God so much as they are turning away from the religion the Jews have exemplified and practiced.
• Circumcision did not save the Jew any more that the act of baptism would save someone today in and of itself.
  • Circumcision (And today, baptism) are outward evidences of something that must happen within…of the heart, by the Spirit (Ezekiel 36:26-27).

Questions to consider:

1. The Jews who were only Jews outwardly and thought they were righteous in keeping the Law would rightly be called Legalists.  What does legalism look like today?  What new laws have “Christians” written over the years?  When people leave legalistic churches, or when children grow up in legalistic churches and leave when they grow up, what did they actually leave?  What faith was it they left?  Was it really Christ and His Gospel?
2. What is the result, or the fruit, of the New Covenant in Ezekiel 36 (See link above)?  When God gives us spiritual birth, what should start happening?  How will we begin to change?  What will motivate us to pursue righteousness?  What place would pride have in the way God works in us?
3. Man can circumcise their sons.  Man can baptize people.  What can’t we do?  What is our role in reaching the lost and what is God’s?  Therefore, what must be our greatest goal in sharing the Gospel with the lost?  Whom do we praise when there is the fruit of repentance?

Today’s passage: Romans 2:1-11

Helpful thoughts:

• If the end of chapter one had made us feel like we were better than other people, chapter two puts that to rest.
• God’s gracious kindness toward us is not a license to continue in sin, but is a path leading to repentance and growth.
  • To continue in sin is to show contempt for God’s grace.
• Verses 6-11 contain a literary pattern called a chiasm.  There is an order to Paul’s statements in order to emphasize an important truth:
  • God will judge everyone according to their actions
    • If you have a clean record of good, you deserve eternal life
      • If you have sin, you deserve judgment
      • If you have sin, you deserve judgment (Whether Jew or Gentile)
    • If you have a clean record of good, you deserve eternal life (Whether Jew or Gentile)
  • God will judge everyone according to their actions (Whether Jew or Gentile)

Questions to consider:

1. Given the statements of verses 1-5, should a person read verses 6-11 and come away thinking they are in pretty good shape given their own record of sin and/or righteousness?  Where do we all land in this chiasm (Romans 3:9)?
2. When does the “well-doing” come?  Christians should have a growing amount of “well-doing” in their lives, but when and how does it come about?  (2 Corinthians 5:17, Ephesians 4:17-24)
3. How do these truths produce in us a right humility?  How does it give us a right view of other people who (Also) have sin in their lives?  How does it encourage us in how we can help them (As we have been helped)?

Today’s passage: Romans 1:18-32

Helpful thoughts:

• Every single soul on the face of the earth knows enough about God through general revelation to be able to reject Him.  They do so by suppressing the truth and turning to other things.
  • Every person who has seen and perceived God’s creation is without excuse.
  • Psalm 14:1 – The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.”
    • Disbelief is not enlightenment, it is darkness.
• Darkened minds want dark things and do dark things…and approve (Or even expect the approval/affirmation) of others who do the same.
  • We should not be shocked by what we see in the world today.
• We have all committed at least some of the sin in this list from verses 26-32.
  • The Gospel reminds us that people who are in bondage to these sins need the same rescue that we have received.  We don’t look down on them, we point them to our Savior.

Questions to consider:

1. What does the whole world know about God?  Which attributes does this passage say are clearly on display (Vs. 20)?  How does the world see these attributes on display?  What has the world done to explain these truths away to justify their rejection?
2. How might the first few verses of this passage fit into an argument about the eternal destiny of those who died in the womb or before they were able to see and perceive these attributes of God in creation?
3. All the sins listed in this passage, from homosexual sin to disobedience to parents, all started with an exchange of glory (Verse 23).  Who is our Lord?  Who is worthy of all honor, praise, and our whole-hearted love and obedience?  How does a right view of the glory of God and the Lordship of Christ change/correct our perspective on life and result in fruitful repentance?

Today’s passage: Romans 1:8-17

Helpful thoughts:

• As Paul often does, he includes early on in this letter a thanksgiving and prayer to God for the church to whom he is writing (Verses 8-15), along with a purpose statement for the letter (Verses 16-17).
• Paul is not the giver of spiritual gifts, that’s the Holy Spirit’s job (1 Corinthians 12:4-11).  His desire is to exercise his gifting from God for the benefit of the church in Rome.
• In the Jewish perspective, the world was divided between Jews and Gentiles.  In the mind of the Greeks, the world was divided between the Greeks and barbarians…or the Romans and the barbarians.  Christ came to save people from every tribe, tongue, and nation (Revelation 7:9-10).
• God’s perfect righteousness is revealed in the Gospel.  Knowing the Gospel deeply is to know God more deeply.
  • Studying this book will give us a greater understanding of the Gospel, the God who designed it, and we who so desperately need it.

Questions to consider:

1. If Paul used the terms, Greeks and barbarians instead of Jews and Gentiles, what must be true of his original audience?  When you think of yourself and others, what designation(s) do you make?  What identifies you first?  What is the difference between you and those who differ from you in this primary identification?  How does that affect how you treat others?
2. If the Gospel teaches us about who God is, why is it only right to not be ashamed by it?  If we are ashamed of the Gospel, what else are we ashamed of?  What does the Gospel teach us about ourselves (And God) that would cause us to despise any shame we might feel?
3. How are you using your spiritual gifts to strengthen others in your local church?  Think of real examples.  What could you do today, this week, moving forward to give of yourself for the benefit of others?

Today’s passage: Romans 1:1-7

Helpful thoughts:

• The Apostle Paul wrote this letter to the Romans from Corinth near the end of his third missionary journey around AD 57.  He did not plant the church there and had not yet personally been to Rome.
• The word for “servant” could be translated as “slave.”  Paul (As all Christians do) belongs to God and has been given work to do.
  • Paul was given the task of serving as an Apostle to preach the Gospel (Good news) primarily to the Gentile peoples.
• Jesus, the son of David, also proved to be the Son of God through His resurrection from the dead.

Questions to consider:

1. Do you see the Trinity in this passage?  Where are the Father, Son and Spirit in these verses?  What are they doing?
2. What is Paul’s view of himself in relation to his Lord and Master?  We have not been called to be Apostles, but we have been called, to whom does this day belong in “your” life?  How does this truth actually reduce your stress and give you focus and purpose?
3. What does faith in the Gospel message result in (Verse 5)?  Are we doing “good” to get into God’s favor…OR…Has God shown us unmerited favor in saving us, and in the aftermath and continual enjoyment of that favor, we are growing in “goodness”?