Ch.1-3

1:18-23

1:24-32

2:1-8

2:9-16

2:17-29

3:1-8

3:9-20

Recap

N.T. Contents

1:18-23

1:24-32

2:1-8

2:9-16

2:17-29

3:1-8

3:9-20

Recap

A. Find Out:

1. What do men do? v.18c

2. What 2 ways are they described? v.18b

3. Why and where is the truth made plain? v.19,20

4. What didn't men do? v.21a

5. What happened to them? v.21b, 22

6. What did they do? v.23

B. Think :

1. How is "wickedness" generally described here?

2. Why does Paul say there is no excuse for it?

3. What results does Paul say it has had?

C. Comment :

     Having spoken about believers receiving life from God, Paul shows the other side of the coin, the foolishness of unbelievers. First he declares GOD'S ANGER over it. The Lord does not just sit back and let it happen, He FEELS strongly about it and DOES something about it. We will see that it is not something to destroy men but to bring them to their senses and back to Himself.

     Second, he reveals the NATURE OF FOOLISHNESS.  He describes men as a) godless and b) wicked.  Godlessness comes before wickedness. Men are evil because they are first godless (i.e. rejecting God from their lives).

     Third, he reveals the EXPRESSION OF FOOLISHNESS. Men suppress the truth about God which is plain to see through the Creation. They don't do what is natural to do, i.e. praise and thank God for the wonderful provision of His world. Instead they become confused and mixed up in their thinking and end up creating 'gods' (idols) of their own making, in the image of what they can see. When men don't do what is natural they can ONLY do what is unnatural. Man's sin is clearly revealed here: it is the rejecting of God. All other evil acts and their consequences flow from that.

D. Application?

1. Read Psalm 14:1a.    Look for this in people around you.

2. Declare YOUR faith in Him today!

Chapter: Rom 1

Passage: Rom 1:24-32

A. Find Out:    

1. What did God let them loose to do? v.24

2. Why? v.25

3. How was that release of v.24 expressed? v.26,27

4. What else did God let them go into? v.28

5. How was this expressed? v.29-31

6. How was there a downward progression? v.32

B. Think :

1. What are all these sins shown to be?

2. Why did they happen?

3. What does it say about so much of the world's activity today?

C. Comment :

      Verse 18 spoke of the wrath of God being revealed. These verses show HOW it is revealed. We see first of all, that so many of the degrading and debasing sins of modern society are in fact the judgement of God on mankind. He lifts off His restraining hand from society so that they do every wrong thing they can think of.

     We need to be quite clear about this: this passage declares that "God gave them over" to these things. The Living Bible says, "So God let them go ahead into every sort of sex sin" (v.24). Instead of striking them down with fire of judgement, God allows them to move deeper and deeper into sin where they destroy themselves. Some, in the depths of that sin, will cry out to God to have mercy and save them.

     The principle behind this is the same as that shown in 1 Corinthians 5:5, that when man's self confidence is destroyed by the evil he has got into, he will come to his senses and cry out to God and be saved. Some of course will not and will therefore destroy themselves. AIDS across the world today, is a fruit of these verses and many die unnecessarily, because they refuse to turn to God.  Remember the primary reason for it - that men and women reject God, and all else follows from that!

D. Application?

1. Thank God for the wisdom that lets men bring judgement on

     themselves.   Free will to sin!!!  

2. Thank God that Jesus has freed us from sin's power.

Chapter: Rom 2

Passage: Rom 2:1-8

A. Find Out:

1. Why do we have no excuse to judge others? v.1,3

2. God's judgement is based on what? v.2

3. What is God's kindness seeking to do? v.4

4. What 2 things provoke God's wrath? v.5

5. What will each person receive? v.6

6. Who will receive eternal life? v.7

7. Who will receive wrath and anger? v.8

B. Think :

1. How does Paul show that ALL men are guilty?

2. What does it say about the Lord that eternal judgement comes at the

     end and not during life?

3. How is eternal destiny shown, at least in some measure, to be in the

     hands of individuals?

C. Comment :

      Having shown how God's wrath against ungodliness and wickedness is revealed in day to day life in the previous chapter, Paul now challenges those of his readers who might think it didn't apply to them. We all have the tendency to think, "It doesn't apply to me, I'm not like that!". 

      None of us is perfect and therefore when we judge others, we forget our own failings. The Gospel is first bad news; it makes us face who we are.  Until we come to Christ, every person is godless and therefore unrighteous.

      Next Paul lays down some guidelines: if you whole-heartedly seek after God and good, you will receive eternal life.  However, if you (a) put self at the centre of your life and (b) reject the truth, and thus (c) follow evil,  you will receive God's wrath.

      Every one of us will have to stand before God to account (2 Corinthians 5:10). Failure, sin, wrong etc. WILL be punished.  Either we must take the punishment for our actions or we must let Jesus take it.   We NEED the Cross!

D. Application?

       Thank the Lord that Jesus died to take YOUR sin, guilt, shame & punishment and now you are free.

Chapter: Rom 2

Passage: Rom 2:17-29 

A. Find Out:

1. What are the 4 "ifs" in verse 17-20

2. What 5 things does he ask the Jews? v.21-23

3. What is the result of them doing these things? v.24

4. When did circumcision have value? v.25

5. How is the Gentile sometimes better? v.26,27

6. Who does Paul say the true Jew is? v.28,29

B. Think :

1. How would you summarise what the Jews felt about themselves?

2. How were the Jews not being a light to the Gentiles?

3. How were they relying upon outward signs and not inner heart  

     relationship?

 

C. Comment :

      Paul now focuses on the Jew's position. The Jew epitomises the religious person who relies on "good deeds" or religious ritual to win God's approval. The Jews were proud of their name, proud of the Lord, proud of their unique relationship with God, proud of knowing His will, of being instructors of the Law, of being light to those in the dark.

    None of that is wrong in itself but, says Paul, if you do any wrong you are not being a light to the Gentiles, but are instead a stumbling block to them, and will have made God's name a laughing stock. The Jews were also proud of being circumcised, of having that sign of a special relationship with God but, says Paul, if you don't keep the Law you might as well be a Gentile. If the Gentiles obey the Law, it's as if they are Jews. Being a Jew isn't a matter of having the signs of a relationship with God, it's about actually having a relationship with Him!

     Today we might say being a Christian isn't going to church, praying, singing, etc. (which are all good outward signs), but it's whether you genuinely have a living daily relationship with God through Jesus.  That's what counts!

D. Application?

1. Are we "proud" (rightly) of God's goodness to us?  

2. Do we have that real daily relationship with Him that is the inheritance

     of  the Christian?

Chapter: Rom 3

Passage: Rom 3:1-8

A. Find Out:

1. What advantage DID the Jews have? v.2

2. Why doesn't man's unfaithfulness annul God's faithfulness? v.3,4

3. What did man's unrighteousness do? v.5a

4. What were some of them saying? v.5b

5. How were others putting it? v.7

6. What were others claiming Paul was saying? v.8

B. Think :

1. What problem was Paul highlighting first of all in this passage in respect of

     the Jews? (v.3)

2. How was God glorified by people sinning?

3. How was twisted thinking saying we ought to sin more?

C. Comment :

     Paul moved from stating that Jews were sinning (in Ch.2), and were thus the same as Gentiles, and starts using a question and answer approach to make his point.  Wouldn't it be better if they weren't a chosen people at all, because their failure merely shows God up in a bad light. He is of course using the things that some of them were actually thinking and saying.  But, Paul responds, merely because man fails that doesn't make God a failure!   God is still righteous and just, even if His chosen people aren't!

      Well, comes back the imagined answer,  if our unrighteousness only goes to accentuate God's righteousness, aren't we doing Him a favour,   helping everyone else see Him as He really is?  That's silly, counters Paul, if sin helped Him be glorified, He wouldn't be able to judge it.  No, that's a silly argument, because we know He does.

        Paul confronts this stupidity head on.  God didn't make a mistake making the world knowing that sin would come in.   God didn't make a mistake making Israel, knowing they would fail.  He has a way of bringing righteousness out of all this through Jesus Christ, His Son;  that is His plan, and there was no error in it!

D. Application?

1. Thank the Lord that He doesn't make mistakes!

2. Thank Him for redeeming you from sin.

Chapter: Rom 3

Passage: Rom 3:9-20

A. Find Out:

1. Who are under sin? v.9

2. Who is righteous? v.10

3. Who understands & seeks God? v.11

4. What have their words & actions done? v.13-18

5. What does the Lord do? v.19

6. What effect does it have? v.20

B. Think :

1. How have man's actions towards God seen to be sin?

2. How is the world's behaviour characterised?

3. What is the point, therefore, of the Law?

C. Comment :

     Paul has gone to some lengths to show that all men are godless and unrighteous. He showed that godlessness led to God's wrath releasing unrighteousness on mankind (Ch.1).   He proceeded to show that there were no exceptions and Jew was as bad as Gentile (Ch.2).   He then showed up the fallacy that sin could be good and now he comes to the climax: everyone is guilty!

     Everyone, says Paul, is under (the power of)  sin.  You see it in the way people don't seek God, in the way they speak and the way they act.  And as for the Jews with their Law, all that does is highlight their predicament, they try to keep it but they can't keep it all and they are, therefore, sinning as well.

      At the beginning of the Gospel is man's predicament: man is a sinner and therefore under God's righteous judgement!  Every man is a sinner!  There are NO exceptions except Jesus Christ. This is the MAJOR problem of mankind that the Gospel addresses.

      If you don't recognise the problem you won't need a solution, you won't need the work of Jesus Christ on the Cross. That is why Paul has taken so long at the beginning of this letter to deal with this matter.  This must be the starting point before the solution can be considered.

D. Application?

1. Ask the Lord to help you face the truth: you NEED a Saviour!

2. Thank Him that Jesus has done everything for your salvation.

RECAP:  "All are Lost!"  - Rom 1:18 - 3:20

SUMMARY :  

In these next 7 studies we have seen Paul saying:

  - that God is angry over men's sin

  - their foolishness means they have no excuse

  - that God gives men up to unrighteous behaviour as the expression of

     His anger

  - that all men will be judged on what they have done

  - this applies to Jews as well as Gentiles

  - God's method of assessing men is their response to Jesus

  - that the Jews were just as guilty of failure

  - that God is faithful even if men aren't

  - that EVERY man is a sinner and needing salvation

COMMENT :

      This Part reveals the need for the Good News about Jesus: every man and woman on earth is guilty of sin,  and all have failed to maintain either God's declared standards or their own inner standards.

      The need is therefore very clear. Unless some way can be found to save men they are all liable to God's judgement!

LESSONS :

      The lessons in this Part are really the same as we have noted above in the Summary. We need to take in and accept this as the truth. When we do we will see more clearly the need to preach the good news of Jesus.

PRAY :

1. Ask the Lord to burn these truths upon your heart.

2. Thank Him that you cannot strive to earn His acceptance because HE has already

     provided for it.

PART 3 : RIGHTEOUSNESS THROUGH FAITH

      In this next Part we will see Paul first of all reveal the righteousness that comes from God and then go on to show that it was first revealed in Abraham, and that justification through faith was always part of God's plan for our salvation.