First of all, the Roman church was not
founded by Paul. The reason we know this is because he had not been to Rome at
the time he wrote this letter. In verse 13 of chapter 1 he says “I planned many
times to come to you, but have been prevented from doing so”… The Roman church
was also not planted by Peter because we know from the Book of Acts that Peter
never strayed far from Jerusalem. In
fact, it is believed that the church in Rome was not started by any of the
Apostles, but rather as the result of the witnessing Roman Jews who were in
Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost. (Acts 2:10-11 ) They were there when the Holy Spirit gave his
first “Hell fire and brimstone” sermon through Peter, and 3,000 were added to
the church that day. Now, what do you
suppose they did or said when they got back home to Rome and people began to
ask, “So, how did it go in Jerusalem?”
Although Paul did not have a part in
establishing this Roman church, there are three leading theories as to why Paul
wrote this letter. One says that there was a crisis in the life of the church
because of heretical teaching - which was also the problem in Galatia. A second
theory was that Paul planned to visit Spain and felt he needed to win the
support of the Roman church for that mission. And, a third view is because of
Paul’s personal conviction and conflict with unbelieving Jews. The conclusion of most Theologians is that
all three reasons are probably true and make sense in light of the entire letter.
The main purpose of course, is stated in
verses 14-17… “I am obligated both to Greeks and non-Greeks, both to the
wise and the foolish. That is why I am so eager to preach the gospel also to you
who are in Rome. For 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. For in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed—a
righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written:
“The righteous will live by faith.”
The key word and
focus of the Book of Romans is “righteousness”. The root word of course is “right”.
To be right means to be in accordance with truth or fact or to be conformed to
a certain standard. For instance, if I was to say “this (whatever) is
(whatever) color”…you could say “That’s (right) because it is true and a fact
and meets the standard for (that color).
So, if I was to say (whoever) is a Christian, how would you know if I
was right or if he or she was “right”? Well, their life would be in accordance
with the truth, with the facts, and with the standard - set by whom? God of
course.
So, part of Paul’s letter is written to
give them “God’s standard” for righteousness. However, Paul also writes to let them know that
there is a “wrong righteousness”. Although there is a righteousness revealed in
the scriptures by God, there is also a “self-righteousness” and there is a
“legalistic righteousness” and Paul points out how far they are from the
standard that God requires.
Let me say this; no matter how we see or
think we can obtain a righteous life, whether by faith or by the law, God’s
Word says that we will be ultimately judged accordingly.
Remembering that the word “therefore” means
“for this reason” – referring to something previously stated, we must therefore
look back to what precedes Paul’s use of the word.
Continued
next Sunday…
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