Romans
The righteousness of God revealed: how guilty sinners are justified by faith, live by the Spirit, and serve God.
Romans is the fullest statement of the gospel in the Bible. Paul wrote it from Corinth near the end of his third journey to a church he had not yet visited, preparing for a trip that would take him to Rome and on to Spain. Having no controversy to address, he laid out the gospel systematically, from man’s need to God’s provision to the believer’s life.
The argument moves in clear stages. All the world is guilty before God, Gentile and Jew alike (1:18–3:20). God’s righteousness is provided through faith in Jesus Christ, whom God set forth as a propitiation through faith in His blood, so that He might be just and the justifier of the believer (3:21–5:21). The justified believer is dead to sin and alive to God, struggles with the flesh, and lives by the power of the Spirit with the assurance that nothing can separate him from God’s love (6–8).
Chapters 9–11 answer a pressing question: if the gospel is going to the Gentiles, what about Israel? God’s word has not failed. Israel’s past election, present rejection, and future salvation display His righteousness, and “all Israel shall be saved” when the fulness of the Gentiles has come in (11:25–26). Chapters 12–16 apply the gospel to daily life: a body presented as a living sacrifice, love in the church, submission to government, and care for the weaker brother.
Writer: Paul, with Tertius as his writing secretary
Written: From Corinth about AD 58, during Paul’s three months in Greece.
Name: Addressed to the believers in Rome.
Title and authorship
The epistle to the Romans, named for its recipients, the saints in Rome. Rome was the capital of the world, a city of perhaps a million people, unmatched in wealth, luxury, and depravity.
Paul wrote Romans (1:1), dictating it to Tertius (16:22). It was carried by Phebe, a servant of the church at Cenchrea, Corinth’s port (16:1–2).
Historical background
Written from Corinth during Paul’s three months in Greece (Acts 20:2–3), about AD 57–58, shortly before he took the relief offering to Jerusalem.
The saints at Rome, a church with both Jewish and Gentile believers, which Paul had long desired to visit.
The church at Rome
The Roman church may have begun with Jews and proselytes from Rome present at Pentecost (Acts 2:10). Claudius expelled Jews from Rome about AD 49 (Acts 18:2), and when they returned the church had become largely Gentile, which helps explain chapters 14–15.
Paul’s travel plans
Paul intended to carry the offering from Macedonia and Achaia to Jerusalem, then visit Rome on his way to Spain (15:23–28). He did reach Rome—but as a prisoner, about three years later.
Chapter 16
Paul greets twenty-six people by name, including Priscilla and Aquila, Andronicus and Junia, and Rufus. The list shows the network of believers who had moved to the capital.
Key passages
Romans 1:16–17
The gospel is the power of God unto salvation, for in it is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith.
Romans 3:23–26
All have sinned; believers are justified freely by His grace through the redemption in Christ Jesus, whom God set forth to be a propitiation.
Romans 8:1
There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus.
Romans 3:21–26
God is just and the justifier of the believer through Christ’s redemption.
Outline
1–3 · Righteousness needed
The Gentile, the Jew, and the whole world stand accountable before God.
4–5 · Righteousness received
Abraham illustrates faith, and Christ answers the ruin associated with Adam.
6–8 · Righteousness lived
Union with Christ, the conflict with the flesh, and the Spirit’s power explain the believer’s life.
9–11 · Righteousness vindicated
Israel’s past, present, and future display God’s faithfulness.
12–16 · Righteousness practiced
The saved life becomes worship, service, submission, and care for fellow believers.
Original language
δικαιοσύνη (dikaiosune, G1343) — “righteousness”
The quality of being right with God. The words righteous, righteousness, and justify (all from the same root) occur more than sixty times. God’s righteousness is both His own character and the right standing He gives the believer.
δικαιόω (dikaioo, G1344) — “justify”
To declare righteous, a legal verdict. God justifies the ungodly who believes (4:5), not by making him sinless in himself but by imputing righteousness to him.
λογίζομαι (logizomai, G3049) — “count, impute, reckon”
An accounting term: to credit to someone’s account. Used eleven times in chapter 4 of righteousness imputed to Abraham and to us; in 6:11 the believer reckons himself dead to sin.
ἱλαστήριον (hilasterion, G2435) — “propitiation”
The place or means of appeasing wrath; in the Greek Old Testament, the mercy seat. God set forth Christ as the mercy seat where His justice and mercy meet (3:25).
υἱοθεσία (huiothesia, G5206) — “adoption”
The placing of a son in the full rights of an adult heir. Believers have received the Spirit of adoption and await the adoption, “the redemption of our body” (8:23).
Doctrinal study
Justification by faith
Justification is God’s legal declaration that the believing sinner is righteous, based on the redemption in Christ and received by faith alone, apart from the deeds of the law (3:28). Abraham is the proof: he was justified by faith before circumcision and before the Law (4:1–25). The results are peace with God, access, and hope (5:1–5).
Position, problem, and power
Romans 6 teaches the believer’s position: crucified, buried, and risen with Christ, so sin shall not have dominion. Romans 7 exposes the problem: the flesh cannot keep the law. Romans 8 supplies the power: the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus. Victory begins with knowing, reckoning, and yielding (6:6, 11, 13).
Israel past, present, and future
Romans 9 shows Israel’s past election by God’s sovereign choice; Romans 10, Israel’s present rejection through seeking righteousness by works; Romans 11, Israel’s future restoration. Blindness in part has happened to Israel until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in, “and so all Israel shall be saved” (11:25–26). God has not cast away His people.
Commentary notes
The Romans road
Romans 3:23 (all have sinned), 6:23 (the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life), 5:8 (God commendeth His love), and 10:9–13 (confess, believe, call) form a simple path for leading someone to Christ.
Doctrine first
Of Paul’s epistles, Romans supplies doctrine, Corinthians reproof, Galatians correction, and the rest instruction in righteousness—the order of 2 Timothy 3:16. Romans stands first because every other truth rests on it.
Present your bodies
The mercies of God explained in chapters 1–11 are the basis for the appeal of chapter 12: present your bodies a living sacrifice and be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Duty follows doctrine.
Christ in the book
- The last Adam, whose obedience made many righteous (5:12–21)
- The propitiation through faith in His blood (3:25)
- The Deliverer who will come out of Sion (11:26)
- The Son declared with power by the resurrection (1:4)
Applications
Historical
- Paul writes to the saints at Rome to set out the foundational truths of the Christian faith in a complete and thorough doctrinal treatise, preparing for his visit and his mission to Spain.
- Paul had not yet completed his intended visit to Rome. His letter prepares the believers with a full statement of gospel truth.
- Tertius identifies himself as the writer who took down the letter; Phebe is commended in its closing section.
Doctrinal
- A complete exposition of salvation through Jesus Christ alone: God’s righteousness is attainable only through Him. Romans also defines God’s dealings with Israel in the present age and the future, when the Deliverer comes out of Sion.
- Justification is received by faith in Jesus Christ apart from the works of the law or human moral achievement.
- The believer’s position in Christ is the basis for victory over sin; the Spirit supplies the power for the life God commands.
- Israel’s present condition does not cancel its future place in God’s purpose.
Devotional
- Our need for God’s righteousness, how to receive it, and how to live after receiving it—reckoning ourselves dead to sin, yielding to God, and walking in the Spirit.
- Offer the body to God and allow renewed thinking to govern conduct.
- Practice liberty with love, remembering the conscience and growth of weaker believers.
Answering the critics
Few serious critics dispute Paul’s authorship; debates concern the destination of chapter 16 and the unity of the letter.
Romans has been left almost untouched by critics—perhaps God’s way of saying the foundation is not to be tampered with. The greetings of chapter 16 fit Rome, where travelers from all the empire gathered, and the closing doxology belongs to the epistle as received.