Essentials Of The Faith / Sunday Morning Sermon Series / Romans

Introduction Part 2

INTRO: I was flipping thru the TV channels  on afternoon this past week when I came across the movie 'An Officer and a Gentleman' with Richard Gere and Debra Winger. They were at the part in the movie where Gere's character, a naval officer candidate was given his first liberty or time off from training. He along with his friend attend a USO type dance with women from the community. But before they could dance with the girls they had to be formally introduced by one of the chaperones.

         Today that sounds foolish but I understand that was the way it was not only for the military and it's USO dances but also for men and women in general . They were not supposed to speak to each other until they had been properly introduced. A formal introduction was necessary before their relationship could go any further. Anyone remember that?

EXP: We are about to develop  a relationship with the Letter to the Romans. I hope to  begin this relationship  with a proper introduction. This morning we will look at 4 questions necessary to be answered before we can get into the text itself. Some of you may be asking why such a long and thorough introduction, lets just get to the book.  Let me try to address that.

        We live in a world of fast everything...fast food, fast cars, fast money from MAC machines ...we have bought into the idea that fast is better. Well there are some things that just can't be done fast: Peking Duck for instance, making those intricate model  sailing ships and developing a relationship. They all take time.

         Rom. 15:4 'For whatever was written in earlier times was written for our instruction, that thru perseverance and the encouragement of Scriptures we might have hope.' -Perseverance ..... encouragement of Scripture

        We are not going to plow our way through the Book of Romans, in fact we are not going to study a book at all,  we are going to take the time to taste and feast on the Word of God. - Ps. 34:8a 'Taste and see that the Lord is good'

         Ezek. 3:1-3 'Then He (God) said to me 'Son of man, eat what you will find; eat this scroll, and go, speak to the house of Israel' So I opened my mouth and He fed me this scroll. And He said to me, 'Son of man, feed your stomach, and fill your body with this scroll which I am giving you' When I ate it,  it was sweet as honey in my mouth.'

         It is not my desire to fill your head with a lot of information . It is my intent however  to feed  your soul with life giving nutrition, with the sweet taste of the Word of our Lord as found in the Letter to the Romans.  Are you hungry? Let's eat.

I. Who wrote the Letter to the Romans?
    A. The Holy Spirit
         2 Peter 1:21 'For no prophecy ever came by the will of    man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the HS.' The author of Romans and all of  Scripture is God Himself thru the ministry of the HS.

   B. Paul, the Apostle
       The human instrument, the holy man God chose to use to write the letter to the Romans was the Apostle Paul. We are told this is the very first verse. While Paul was the human author of this letter, there was  another who actually penned the book. His name was Tertius. We find this from Chapter 16:22. It seems Paul had a secretary.

   C. Paul the Roman Jew
         What about Paul? Isn't he an unlikely candidate to write the letter to the Romans.

 1. Although he knew some of the Christians in Rome, he did not  start or plant this church.

 2. Philippians 3:5-6 'circumcised the eighth day, of the nation of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to
     the Law, a Pharisee; as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to the righteousness which is in the Law, found blameless.'

     -Why is this a problem? We'll find out later that the churches in Rome were made up mainly of Gentiles.
     -Paul's resume seems to make him the least likely to write this letter.....or does it?
     -What else do we know  about Paul?

    D. Paul  the missionary to the gentiles.
         Paul valued his Roman citizenship. He was brought up in Tarsus one of the three main Greek cultural centers. He knew the ways of  Greek society. Rom. 11:13 'But I am speaking to you who are Gentiles. Inasmuch then as I am an apostle of Gentiles' You see, Paul in a very unique way was qualified to write this letter, because
              -He was a knowledgeable , and righteous Jew
              -He was a cultured Gentile
              -He was  a willing  follower of JC.
              -There is no dispute among  scholars. Paul of Tarsus, the Apostle wrote this letter.

NOTE: Just a brief aside. Isn't it interesting how God took Paul's life situation, his own individual background, and used him for His glory and purpose. Well, God wants to do the same thing with you. Just as you are and living, working where you do, you  can be uniquely used by God. If you will surrender to Him, as Paul did.

II. To whom was the Letter to the Romans written?
This is not a trick question.
    A. To the Believers living in Rome.
         Chapter 1:7a 'to all who are beloved of  God in Rome, called as saints'. Paul was writing to the Believers who lived in Rome.

    B. To the churches which were in Rome.
         As I mentioned before the church in Rome was not started by Paul but may have been either started by believers from churches established by Paul in Asia on his first two missionary journeys or by people who had returned to Rome after the Day of Pentecost as mentioned in Acts 2:10. By the time of this letter the church in Rome had been established for several years. (Rome. 14:14; 15:23) and was well known (1:8).  The Believers were numerous and met in several places, there was most likely no one central church in Rome. (16:1-16) One of the house churches is believed to have been led by Paul's friends, Priscilla and Aquilla.

    C. To the Gentile and Jewish Believers
        One other thing to remember about the makeup of the church in Rome was that it consisted primarily of  Gentile Believers. And as we will find out later, this caused problems with the Jewish Believers which Paul addresses in his letter. But the joining of these two different people into one church was I believe the physical representation of what God was doing on a spiritual plane. This is one of the keys to the letter and we will talk more about that later.

III. When was the Letter to the Romans written?
       It is believed that Paul wrote this letter while staying with Gaius in Cornith, perhaps in the year AD 57. This would have been near the end of Paul's 3rd missionary journey. (Acts 18:23-21:14; Rom. 15:19) Paul was leaving Cornith to take the offerings from the churches he had been collecting back to Jerusalem. As he went thru Cenchrea, he asked Phoebe , a servant or deacon, (Diakonon) in the church there to deliver the letter to the Believers in Rome.

IV. Why was the Letter to the Romans written?
    A. Possible Reasons scholars have suggested
         1. Personal: Paul wanted to tell them of his desire to visit  them. He was excited about their faith and wanted to  fellowship with them. Perhaps he received a letter from Aquilla and Priscilla asking him to visit.

         2. Theological: Paul wanted to give them a full view of the Gospel. Chapter 1:11 tells us Paul wanted to 'establish'  them in their faith. He was saying that it was not enough just to be  saved, that is only the beginning. Paul wanted to share with them the fullness of the Christian  life, of following Christ.

         3. Logistical: Paul was discovering his support for his proposed missionary trip to Spain. (15:22-24, 28-29) Rome was the farthest west of all the churches. If  he was intending to go to Spain  he would need a new home base. A place of prayer and financial support for his missionary endeavors. He also  would need workers and Rome was the closes to Spain. It would be easier for Believers from Rome to go to Spain than for those in  Cornith or Philippi  to go.

         4. Practical: Paul was coming to the end of his career, and his life . He was just summarizing all his teachings into one nice neat package. Romans, then, is a retrospective of Paul's theology set up systematically and logically.

    B. Personal beliefs
         What are by personal beliefs? Why do I think Paul wrote this letter to the Believers in Rome? Well, I think it included parts of all the above...plus something special. Something really big that God was doing that Rome was the place to display it to the world.  This is GREAT, wait till you hear ... and wait you will till next week.

Conclusion
 Next week I will answer the final question. 'What is the message of the letter to the Romans?' I will also define some words that are key to the letter. I will give you a road map, outlining our journey thru the letter. And I will talk about why our study of this letter is so important to our lives today.  May I introduce you to the letter to the Romans? Come back next week as we continue our journey along the Romans Road.