As we begin our new small group series on the Book of Romans I thought it might be important to ask, ”Why did Paul write this letter to the church at Rome in the first place?” Paul writes to the church that consisted of both Jewish and Gentile believers to explain the gift of salvation through Jesus.
Both groups rightly believed that Jesus was the true Messiah but the Jews struggling with their old prejudices were having a hard time accepting the Gentiles’ claim to equal privilege in the Church. The Jews were continuing to be adamant that the Gentile believers also be circumcised, thus Paul writes to clarify.
According to Wikipedia an interesting historical fact is that the church in Rome was probably founded by Jewish Christians or Jews who had embraced Jesus as Messiah. These Jewish Christians spread their belief to the Gentiles but remained in leadership of the Church. In AD 49 the Jews who did not believe in Jesus and the Jewish Christians were involved in such bitter fighting over whether Jesus was the Messiah that both groups were expelled from Rome. This expulsion left the Gentile Christians to take over. As you can imagine, it’s one thing to accept the Gentile Christians’ belief in Jesus; it’s another to allow them to be full equal partners in the church given the Jewish Christians’ heritage as the exclusive “people of God.” In 54 AD the Jews and Jewish Christians returned to Rome and encountered a vastly different Church. So the problem that this book addresses may have been that the old Jewish Christian leadership wanted to clean things up by requiring the Gentile believers to be circumcised which confused the Gospel of Jesus with Judaism.
Paul then begins the book of Romans by clearly stating he was not only a believer but a servant of Christ Jesus. He supports his belief in Christ Jesus stating that the messiah was promised in the Holy Scriptures which would have been important to the Jewish believers. Paul in verse 3 makes a theological comment about the nature of Jesus as being both fully human as a descendant of David and also fully God by his resurrection.
The statement “Jesus Christ our Lord” was how the early believers referred to Jesus which was equivalent in their minds to the Old Testament Shema or foundational statement of faith found in Deuteronomy 6:4 “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one.”
So Paul makes the statement that Jesus is Lord, the promised messiah, the one true God in flesh. This does not allow for any belief that Paul thought Jesus was just a good man or a great prophet with some good ideas about life. No Paul clearly thought that Jesus was the Savior of the World the fulfillment of all of God’s promises about salvation.
Next Paul clearly states that this Salvation was not just for the Jews but he states in verse 5 that this message was to “call all the Gentiles to faith and obedience for his name’s sake.” This letter was to establish all believer’s equal rights in Christ, both Jewish and Gentile.
I also wanted to mention that when Paul states we are called to belong to Jesus given the audience he is writing to he is expanding the definition of “people of God.” Now the chosen ones were all who believe. This is clearly in contrast to the Old Testament teaching that only the children of Israel were considered the “people of God.” Here Paul declares to the rest of us the amazing opportunity afforded to us by the gospel of Jesus.
In a world where it is nearly impossible to change one’s status or class, Christ offers s something much more than riches or fame but the opportunity to be a child of God. (1 Peter 2:10)
I also want to share this cool verse that gives Paul’s desire to come and visit the church at Rome “that I may impart some spiritual gift” as well as “that I may be mutually encouraged by each other’s faith.” This appears to be a great reason for fellowship amongst believers: the sharing and imparting of spiritual gifts and mutual encouragement of the faith. Hopefully this semester our small groups will reflect Paul’s desire as we meet with each other. Let us come prepared to both impart and be encouraged by each other.
“I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes, first to the Jew, then to the Gentile.” Romans 1:16
“The righteous will live by faith” will be one of the foundational themes throughout this book and means that both the Jew and Gentile believers will approach and receive God’s salvation through Jesus the same way: BY FAITH.
