romans

1. Romans Chapter 1-5

3. Chapter 1:16-32 That all men are without excuse His invisible attributes are seen in creation They decided to worship creation instead of creator God gave them up to their own passions and they get what they deserve because of their choices.

4. Chapter 2:1-11 Judgment on all those that do such things as previously mentioned-to the Jew first and then the Gentile. 7 eternal life to those who by patient continuance in doing good seek for glory, honor, and immortality;

5. 12 for as many as without law did sin, without law also shall perish, and as many as did sin in law, through law shall be judged, This does not mean that those that have sinned without the Law of God will not be judged rightly or legally. It just means that they will be judged by what they already know of right and wrong, for their conscience will bear them witness (vs. 15)

6. Chapter 2:13 13 For it is not the hearers of the law who are righteous before God, but it is the doers of the law who shall be justified. Paul is again rebuking anyone who would condemn the gentiles for not being perfect in the law of God. For the simple reason that they themselves do not and cannot keep all of the laws themselves and are hypocrites in many areas of their spiritual lives. And he says here that it is not those that profess to follow God that are righteous in His sight, but ONLY those that actually DO what He says. And what He says is in the Law according to this verse. This verse is a clear indicator that the Law of God cannot possibly be done away with as �righteousness� will be measured by how much we do it.

7. Chapter 2:14 14 For if the Gentiles, who do not have the law, do by nature the things contained in the law, these having not the law are a law to themselves. 15 And they show the work of the law written on their hearts; and their conscience also bears them witness, when their thoughts either rebuke or defend one another, Paul continues to pound the fact that it is more important to God for one to be obedient and to exemplify the point and principles found in the law and not even have possession of the law than for one to know all of the law and not obey it. This is what the Gentiles were doing. These relatively new congregations did not apparently have the written law in their possession and some of the Jewish leaders and congregants were very bothered by the fact that these new believers were not keeping every part of the law (especially circumcision). Up until this point it was the WRITTEN part of the law that people were led by. But the gentiles who did not have the written part were being led by the Spirit of the Law (YHVH). And the Spirit of God will not lead them into anything but how to please the Father. And we know that the Father is pleased by those that �are doers of His Word�.

8. these having not the law are a law to themselves. Not that they are a different law but that they, because of their inward obedience to the Spirit and that of which they do know about the Law, they ARE the law. And because they ARE the Law because they are walking in the Spirit of it, they will condemn those that actually possess it but don�t keep it (vs. 27).

9. Chapter 2:15 15 And they show the work of the law written on their hearts; and their conscience also bears them witness, when their thoughts either rebuke or defend one another, 16 In the day when God shall judge the secrets of men according to my gospel by Jesus Christ. What is the �work of the law�? The work of the law is like the final product of a painter. It is the end result of the purpose of it, and so the purpose of God--Which is righteousness. But not righteousness that is gained from just the mere keeping of the law: For no one is made righteous by just keeping the law (Rom. 7), for it is not the Law that is the giver of righteousness, but it is YHVH Himself who is the giver of all things that are spiritual. And this is why righteousness can ONLY come through faith in the one who is the giver. For if you trust and believe that you are righteous because you �keep the Law�, you are receiving the �righteousness� that comes from God, but a new and foreign �righteousness� that is created by man, a pseudo-righteousness, or what we call self-righteousness.

10. Keeping the Law is like building up �credits� or �points� in a game. They are in your account, but you cannot receive them unless you show your id. And the only id that is accepted is the one that says �Faith in Christ�. Up until this point most people tried to please God, or become righteous, by keeping the Law as it were just some spiritual formula to attain what you want in the after life. Few (Abraham being one of them), actually attained righteous that was from God as few people ever listened to the voice of God first, then did what He said for the purpose of glorifying Him, and not for what they THOUGHT they could attain from it.

11. Chapter 2:17- 17 � Indeed you are called a Jew, and rest on the law, and make your boast in God, 18 and know His will, and approve the things that are excellent, being instructed out of the law, 19 and are confident that you yourself are a guide to the blind, a light to those who are in darkness, 20 an instructor of the foolish, a teacher of babes, having the form of knowledge and truth in the law. 21 You, therefore, who teach another, do you not teach yourself? You who preach that a man should not steal, do you steal? 22 You who say, "Do not commit adultery," do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples? 23 You who make your boast in the law, do you dishonor God through breaking the law? 24 For "the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you," as it is written.

12. 25 For circumcision is indeed profitable if you keep the law; but if you are a breaker of the law, your circumcision has become uncircumcision. 26 Therefore, if an uncircumcised man keeps the righteous requirements of the law, will not his uncircumcision be counted as circumcision? 27 And will not the physically uncircumcised, if he fulfills the law, judge you who, even with your written code and circumcision, are a transgressor of the law? 28 For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is circumcision that which is outward in the flesh; 29 but he is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the Spirit, not in the letter; whose praise is not from men but from God.

13. Again, the main focus of the Jews was circumcision, as circumcision was THE SIGN of being part of the �chosen people�. Paul makes the argument here that if God�s purpose is for all men to be obedient to His Word and the gentiles are doing that and are not circumcised, won�t they actually be treated as part of the �chosen people�. For the �chosen people� are not those who just have the word of God and boast in it, but those that actually do what HE DESIRES, BUT� through FAITH.

14. Chapter 3 1 � What advantage, then, is there in being a Jew, or what value is there in circumcision? 2 Much in every way; because the Jews were the first to believe in the words of God. 3 For what if some had not believed, could their unbelief nullify the faith of God? 4 Far be it; only God is true and no man is wholly perfect; as it is written, That you may be justified by your words, and triumph when you are judged. As far as the advantage goes, the Jews certainly have the advantage. They already have the foundation and the scriptures. To a first century Jew, adding the Messiah is like building the rest of the house. Their advantage is like knowing how to speak Spanish before going to Mexico on vacation. If I know Spanish and you do not, there is no difference in personhood, for we are both just human beings, but I certainly have the advantage when it comes to understanding things.

15. Chapter 3:5-8 5 But if our unrighteousness brings out God�s righteousness more clearly, what shall we say? That God is unjust in bringing his wrath on us? (I am using a human argument.) 6 Certainly not! If that were so, how could God judge the world? 7 Someone might argue, "If my falsehood enhances God�s truthfulness and so increases his glory, why am I still condemned as a sinner?" 8 Why not say�as we are being slanderously reported as saying and as some claim that we say�"Let us do evil that good may result"? Their condemnation is deserved. The more haneous the sin, the easier it is to see the truth. When we sin against God as a believer, His mercy and grace cover us when we should really be punished. In this light, He is given glory because of His amazing grace. Paul is simply saying that some people are reported of using rediculous arguments such as �Let�s just sin so that grace may abound!� And are accusing him of saying just that.

16. Chapter 3:9-18 9 What shall we conclude then? Are we any better? Not at all! We have already made the charge that Jews and Gentiles alike are all under sin. 10 As it is written: "There is no-one righteous, not even one; 11 there is no-one who understands, no-one who seeks God. 12 All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no-one who does good, not even one." 13 "Their throats are open graves; their tongues practise deceit." "The poison of vipers is on their lips." 14 "Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness." 15 "Their feet are swift to shed blood; 16 ruin and misery mark their ways, 17 and the way of peace they do not know." 18 "There is no fear of God before their eyes.� Bottom Line: Nobody is better than anyone else. Everyone stands on level ground at the cross. Advantage? Yes. Better than? No.

17. Chapter 3:19-20 19 � Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God. 20 Therefore by the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified in His sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin. You cannot be saved by just merely keeping God�s word. Why? Because everyone has broke His Law and are guilty before him. Keeping God�s Law does not lead to salvation. It�s purpose is to show us and define for us exactly what sin is.

18. Chapter 3:21-26 21 But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, 22 even the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe. For there is no difference; 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, 25 whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed, 26 to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. Again, a false system of righteousness was set up in ancient Judaism that was based on the keeping of not only God�s rules but hundreds of other rules that they made up along the way.

19. True righteousness has always been through faith in God and desiring to please Him with the heart. And at the advent of the Messiah, faith in God was to believe on His Word, which He sent through His Son, Yahshua. A mediator, so to speak, between us and God. Even though some believed that the Law was the mediator between God and man and that by merely �following the rules�, you would become righteous, it was never to be that way from the beginning. It was always through faith. From the Garden of Eden, to today. The Law of God was added at Mt. Sinai through Moses to show us through instructions of how to please Him and define when we offend Him.

20. Chapter 3:27-30 27 Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? Of works? No, but by the law of faith. The Jewish people at that time were always trying to point to a law for this or that. And if you couldn�t find a law for it, don�t bother with your argument. Paul sarcastically lets them know that no one has the right to boast because the law of faith says everyone is equal at the cross. 28 Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith apart from the deeds of the law. This verse highlights Paul�s main point for almost all of his letters. Man can only be saved through the HEART that is turned toward God through Christ regardless of how many good works he does. They don�t count unless your HEART is turned toward Christ first. 29 Or is He the God of the Jews only? Is He not also the God of the Gentiles? Yes, of the Gentiles also, 30 since there is one God who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through faith.

21. Chapter 3:31 31 Do we then make void the law through faith? Certainly not! On the contrary, we establish the law. He cannot get any clearer than this statement. He is making sure that he is not misunderstood. That no one takes him as saying that the Law of God is not important anymore just because salvation comes by faith in Christ. Remember, to the first-century Jew, righteousness, salvation, justification and pleasing God was all tied to the Law of God and to the oral law that they added. So for Paul to suggest that their thinking was wrong on what it meant to be saved, to them, it sounded like he was taking the Law away from them. He sternly corrects them.

22. Chapter 4:1-8 1 � What then shall we say that Abraham our father has found according to the flesh? 2 For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. 3 For what does the Scripture say? "Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness." 4 Now to him who works, the wages are not counted as grace but as debt. 5 But to him who does not work but believes on Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness, 6 just as David also describes the blessedness of the man to whom God imputes righteousness apart from works: 7 "Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, And whose sins are covered; 8 Blessed is the man to whom the LORD shall not impute sin."

23. Chapter 4:9-13 9 � Does this blessedness then come upon the circumcised only, or upon the uncircumcised also? For we say that faith was accounted to Abraham for righteousness. 10 How then was it accounted? While he was circumcised, or uncircumcised? Not while circumcised, but while uncircumcised. 11 And he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had while still uncircumcised, that he might be the father of all those who believe, though they are uncircumcised, that righteousness might be imputed to them also, 12 and the father of circumcision to those who not only are of the circumcision, but who also walk in the steps of the faith which our father Abraham had while still uncircumcised. 13 For the promise that he would be the heir of the world was not to Abraham or to his seed through the law, but through the righteousness of faith. What could I add?

24. Chapter 4:14-25 14 For if those who are of the law are heirs, faith is made void and the promise made of no effect, 15 because the law brings about wrath; (when you break it, of course) for where there is no law there is no transgression. 16 Therefore it is of faith that it might be according to grace, so that the promise might be sure to all the seed, not only to those who are of the law, but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all 17 � (as it is written, "I have made you a father of many nations") in the presence of Him whom he believed��God, who gives life to the dead and calls those things which do not exist as though they did; 18 who, contrary to hope, in hope believed, so that he became the father of many nations, according to what was spoken, "So shall your descendants be." 19 And not being weak in faith, he did not consider his own body, already dead (since he was about a hundred years old), and the deadness of Sarah�s womb.

25. 20 He did not waver at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God, 21 and being fully convinced that what He had promised He was also able to perform. 22 And therefore "it was accounted to him for righteousness.� 23 � Now it was not written for his sake alone that it was imputed to him, 24 but also for us. It shall be imputed to us who believe in Him who raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead, 25 who was delivered up because of our offenses, and was raised because of our justification.

26. Chapter 5:1-5 1 � Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2 through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. 3 And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; 4 and perseverance, character; and character, hope. 5 Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us. The starting point is faith in God through Christ. Then, it is all about creating in us more of the character of Christ, which comes through tribulation and the resistance of sin. This is what brings hope to the believer.

27. Chapter 5:6-11 6 � For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. 7 For scarcely for a righteous (this word is supposed to be �wicked�, not righteous. This was a translation mistake from the Aramaic.) man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die. 8 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. 9 Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him. 10 For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. 11 And not only that, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation.

28. Chapter 5:12-21 12 Therefore, just as through one man sin (Adam) entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned�� 13 (For until the law sin was in the world, but sin is not imputed when there is no law. 14 Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those who had not sinned according to the likeness of the transgression of Adam, who is a type of Him who was to come. 15 But the free gift is not like the offense. For if by the one man�s offense many died, much more the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one Man, Jesus Christ, abounded to many. 16 And the gift is not like that which came through the one who sinned. For the judgment which came from one offense resulted in condemnation, but the free gift which came from many offenses resulted in justification. 17 For if by the one man�s offense death reigned through the one, much more those who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.)

29. 18 Therefore, as through one man�s offense judgment came to all men, resulting in condemnation, even so through one Man�s righteous act the free gift came to all men, resulting in justification of life. 19 For as by one man�s disobedience many were made sinners, so also by one Man�s obedience many will be made righteous. 20 Moreover the law entered that the offense might abound. But where sin abounded, grace abounded much more, 21 so that as sin reigned in death, even so grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

30. Review Bottom Line: Salvation can come through no other source than through 100% surrendering of your heart to God through Christ. You cannot please or appease God by following ANY religious system as if credits were given out for each good deed. There is no cosmic scale of righteousness of good deeds out-weighing the bad. The Law was given for the purpose of defining what sin was. There is righteousness that does come from the law, but that is called boasting. It is not from God. True righteousness comes only from God when someone realizes their spiritual condition is weak and turns to God through faith in Christ. None of us are better than any other person in Christ. There are only advantages based on your background. �The ground at the cross is level�. Character is built as we go through trials in our life and respond in a way that is pleasing to the Father The sin of Adam caused all of us to be born into sin and condemned to death because of the breaking of God�s Law. The obedience of Christ causes all those that believe to be forgiven from that condemnation. SIDE NOTE: To �believe�, means to �Trust and Obey�. It is a commitment of one�s life. A handing over of the reigns, so to speak.

31. In a �Nutshell� In a �nutshell�, chapters 1-5 state that the only way to God is through Christ and that those of that time who were trusting in the Law to save them were going to be sorely disappointed at the end of time. Paul continues to point out to them that they have misunderstood the purpose of the Law.

32. God�s laws are not meant to burden us, but are meant to 1. protect us from ourselves and the world. 2. To put our souls in a position to be used by God. By denying ourselves, humility is gained. And where there is humility, there the Spirit can do all of His glorious works. The Law of God is not a salvation issue but of an aid to help us conform to who He wants us to be in Him. To do what WE want to do, is to not do what HE wants us to do. Jas 4:17 Therefore, to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin.