Book of Romans: An Overview
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Everyone will be judged according to his or her deeds. After a person is justified by faith, reborn, and freed from the bondage of sin, he is able to carry out the righteousness of the law and live as more than a conqueror.
Introduction
When reading the Book of Romans, we should not forget that the majority of the believers in
Contents
Chapter 1:
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The gospel is the power of God, giving salvation to everyone who believes.
[There is an order in God’s choosing and having compassion, but in terms of His salvation God is impartial!]
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The righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith.
[The righteous shall live by faith, beginning with the initial faith of “believing after hearing the gospel” to the beautiful faith of believing that we can be “more than conquerors” through God who helps us.]
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Man can know the eternal power and divine nature of God through the creation.
[The reason why a person does not know God is not because of God’s predestination, nor is it because God has not chosen him. Rather, it is because that person is himself unwilling to accept God’s eternal power and divine nature, which are exhibited in the creation - this goes against the will of God. Therefore, if anyone does not know God there is no excuse for his sin, for:
1. He can know God through the creation, but does not worship Him.
2. He is not willing to ponder upon the question – “Does God exist?” (1:28).]
Chapter 2:
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God will repay each person according to his deeds (2:6).
[Paul points out at the outset that “God will repay each person according to his deeds”. How then did people end up overlooking the role of deeds in our salvation and focusing entirely on the concept of “justification by faith”? The law is the standard for our deeds. Paul clearly identifies, from the very beginning of the book, the importance of the law and deeds.]
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In the sight of God, “doers of the law shall be justified” (2:13).
[The Book of Romans clearly establishes from the beginning the important role “deeds” play in “justification”. Today people have neglected that message and talk only about “justification by faith” – they even reject the role of deeds in justification altogether. In fact, the messages actually stressed and conveyed in the Book of Romans are: the law is good, and a person will be justified by doing the law. However, it asks how men, who are bounded by sin, can carry out the righteousness of the law. It turns out that they can achieve the victorious goal of upholding and carrying out the law through the salvation grace that comes from justification by faith!]
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“As many as have sinned without law…” (2:12).
[This tells us that even without the law, or where one is not aware of the law, a man will still sin. Man cannot naively grasp onto the belief that “without the law there is no sin”. As a matter of fact, the whole world has been subjected to the dominion of sin since the fall of Adam. As a result,
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God is impartial.
[This is one of the most important messages underpinning the whole book. If predestination were true, then it would bring about the greatest partiality of God towards mankind, meaning that before you and I were born, our “eternal salvation” and “eternal destruction” were predestined by God.]
Chapter 3:
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For when Gentiles, who do not have the law, by nature do the things in the law, these, although not having the law, are a law to themselves, who show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and between themselves their thoughts accusing them or else excusing them (2:14-15).
[This passage often misleads us to think that gentiles can be saved by their conscience. Such an interpretation is very contradictory: God gave the law to the Israelites, but the chosen people were unable to be justified by doing the law. On the contrary, the gentiles who were not given the law can be saved by carrying out the work of the law written in their conscience! This concept neglects the fact that "by the deeds of the law no flesh (including gentiles) will be justified in His sight" (3:20). Hence, even if gentiles carry out all the requirements of the law written in their conscience, they still cannot be justified. Strictly speaking, regardless of whether the law is or is not written in their conscience, they have no hope and are without God in this world (Eph 2:12).]
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The righteousness of God is revealed, by faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe (3:21-22).
[Jesus Christ was appointed as a High Priest, not according to the order of Aaron in the law but according to the order of Melchizedek, offering Himself without blemish to God (Heb Chapters 7-9), and not for his own sins, but for the sins of all mankind.]
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All who believe in Jesus Christ will be justified.
[It is not possible for one to be justified by doing the law before “justification by faith” comes about. “Justification by faith” refers to receiving the salvation of forgiveness of sins by faith. This salvation is received purely by faith, not by doing the law. “Justification by faith” is the beginning of salvation; it is not the complete picture of salvation itself. Salvation must be completed through our “righteous deeds” after justification by faith (Jas 2:14). In other words, without first being “justified by faith”, we cannot be “justified by works of the law”. If, on the contrary, we are justified by faith but have no deeds to support our justification, then such justification would eventually be in vain. Just like Abraham, if he had only remained at the stage of being justified by his belief in God’s promise but had not completed his justification with deeds, i.e. offering up Isaac, his faith would have been dead.]
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The grace of salvation through “justification by faith” came to “uphold the law” (3:31), not to abolish the law.
[The grace of salvation through “justification by faith” was, in the first place, intended to enable those who have been “reborn” to act out the righteousness of the law (8:1-4). Thus, grace came not to abolish, but to uphold the law.]
Chapter 4:
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“Believing” comes from “hearing” (10:14). Upon hearing God's promise that his descendants would be as numerous as the stars in the sky, Abraham believed. As a result, God counted it to him for righteousness (Gen 15:15–16) and used circumcision as a sign of his being justified by faith while he was not circumcised.
[Today, God justifies those who hear the gospel and believe, and He gives them, as a sign of their justification by faith, baptism for the forgiveness of sins through His blood. Therefore, the Lord told us: "He who believes and is baptised will be saved" (Mk 16:16; Rom 5:9). If the descendants of Abraham had not been circumcised, they would still have been cut off (Gen 17:14). Today, if a person only believes but refuses to accept baptism for the forgiveness of sins, then such faith is far from salvation and cannot be justified.]
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“Justification by faith” means we believe that the Lord Jesus was delivered for the sake of our transgressions, and He resurrected for our justification (Rom 5:1; 4:24-25); we should have this faith before baptism. From here we see that the faith justified by God occurs before baptism, just like Abraham was justified by faith before circumcision.
[Abraham's “justification by faith” refers to the “faith” before circumcision. However, faith alone was not sufficient, God required him to be circumcised as a sign of “becoming the people of God”. Likewise, it is not sufficient for us to just believe, we must be baptised to become the sons of God (Mk 16:16; Gal 3:26-27).]
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The Book of James uses the example of Abraham offering Isaac to explain that "by deeds faith is made complete", "man is justified by deeds, and not by faith alone", and that "faith without deeds is dead" (Jas 2).
[When the Book of Romans talks about Abraham’s “justification by faith”, it is referring to his faith before “circumcision” (baptism), which had nothing to do with deeds. When the Book of James talks about Abraham’s deeds of offering Isaac, it is referring to the deeds of faith after circumcision (baptism). After “justification by faith” we must use deeds to manifest that faith, otherwise "faith without deeds is dead", for after baptism our faith is completed through the manifestation of our deeds. That is to say that those who have been reborn through baptism must “carry out” the words of God in order to manifest a lively faith. In the past our “old selves” could not overcome sin, but now through the precious blood of Jesus Christ we have become “new creations” who are more than conquerors. It is no longer difficult for the “new selves” to do the good the “old selves” could not do, because anyone born of God (through baptism) has overcome the world, and our faith is the victory that has overcome the world (1 Jn 5:3-4).]
Chapter 5:
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Man is justified through the precious blood of Jesus Christ.
[From a sinner to a man free of sin, from a sinner to a son of God, this process of justification is not achieved through carrying out the law. Rather, it is through believing and accepting the baptism of the precious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ so that our sins can be washed, and we are sanctified and become children of God (Gal 2:16; Acts 2:38).]
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Through one man sin entered into the world, and the wage of sin is death; therefore, death reigned from the time of Adam to that of Moses.
[Why did death only reign until the time of Moses? It is because through the Mosaic laws, God not only allowed man to “know sin” but also gave man the grace and promise of the “remission of sins”. Since the people in the ancient times were able to know sin through the law, they strove to be free from the control of sin, following the laws and offering the blood of bulls and goats before the presence of God to seek the grace of “forgiveness of sins”. And with the forgiveness of sins, death could, of course, no longer reign! From here we see that the giving of the law was a great grace from God, for the law stopped the reign of death.]
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Through one man sin entered into the world, and the wage of sin is death.
[This statement is related to the issue of infant baptism: Everything that will “die” was born under the dominion of sin. If man, including infants, is to escape death, he must go through the baptism of “forgiveness of sins”. Only then can he escape from death and enter into His wonderful light out of darkness (Acts 22:16; Jn 5:24; 1 Peter 2:9).]
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Sin is not imputed when there is no law.
[This verse, along with Romans 4:15: "where there is no law, there is no transgression", often leads people to think that man would not commit sins without the law, or that even if man does sin his sins would not be imputed. If this were true then the existence of the law actually causes what was once considered innocent to become guilty! Thus, one would argue, from the fall of Adam until the time the Mosaic Law was given, whatever mankind did there could be no transgression - because the law did not exist. Even if they sinned their sins would not be imputed. On the other hand, after the law was given, only the Israelites who were given the law became guilty. As for the people that were not chosen, they remained innocent and without transgressions since they did not know the law.
The fact is however that since ancient times, if a man commits what is forbidden, "though he does not know it, …he is guilty and shall bear his iniquity" (Lev 5:17). In other words, though people sin unknowingly without the law, God will still punish them. For “until the law sin was in the world and reigned” (Rom 5:13-14). Therefore, everyone is “dead” in sin! Verse 12 of Chapter 2 says more clearly: "for as many as have sinned without law will also perish without law". This was the case with Sodom and Gomorrah; despite not having or knowing the law, the people of these cities still sinned and were destroyed by God, both young and old.]
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The law was added so that trespass might increase. But where sin increased, grace increased all the more.
[The law enables men to know sin. The more a person knows about sin, the more he realises that he needs the help and salvation of God. In this way, God’s grace on him abounds all the more. Likewise with Paul, because he knew clearly that he was the worst sinner, he could appreciate how truly abundant the grace of the Lord was to him.]
Chapters 6-8:
These three chapters summarise the central theme of the Book of Romans – “God will render each according to his deeds” (2:6). Although man understands that God will judge each according to his deeds, he cannot carry out the goodness of the law to be justified in God’s sight (7:14-17; 2:13). The Lord therefore came to die for us and to destroy the dominion of sin so that our sinful bodies may be destroyed and we can be rescued from the body of death (6:6; 7:14, 24)! Thus, all sinners who are justified because they believe in redemption from the blood of Jesus Christ are able to “carry out the righteousness of the law” by relying on the Holy Spirit after they are reborn. This is a stark contrast to the past when, faced with the difficulties of “doing the law”, our old self could only sigh about its wretchedness. The newly created self, however, can loudly sing triumphant songs as more than conquerors (8:31-37; 7:24-25). Thus, “baptism for the remission of sins” fulfilled the grace of “justification by faith”; it gives man the power to “carry out the law”. Baptism is the most important turning point in the grace of salvation.
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Do you not know that as many of us as were baptised into Christ Jesus were baptised into His death? Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life (6:3-4).
[Before baptism we are dead in sin and cannot carry out the righteousness of the law.
Now through baptism our “old self” is destroyed, and we resurrect as a “new person”. With renewed strength and a new likeness, we become different from our formal self which was wretched and weak. Through our transformation, together with the help of the Holy Spirit and the prayers of Jesus Christ, we are able to carry out the righteousness of the law. (8:1-4)]
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Knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin (6:6).
[A person’s failure to “carry out the righteousness of the law” lies not in any fault with the Law itself, but rather with the fact that our bodies have been sold, as slaves, to sin (7:14). We are therefore unable to respond easily to the callings of God.]
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After baptism death no longer reigns. From then on, we should consider ourselves dead to sin, and alive to God in Christ Jesus (6:11).
[After being reborn through baptism, death no longer reigns. Since we have escaped from the control of sin and entered into life from death, it would be impossible for us to sin provided we constantly keep the words of God in our hearts (1 Jn 3:9).]
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During baptism if we are united in the likeness of the Lord's death, in the future we will be united in the likeness of His resurrection (6:5).
[In the likeness of the Lord's death, we bow our heads when receiving baptism so that our body of sin is destroyed and we are delivered from the bondage of sin. Having been resurrected and transformed, we then have the strength and power to overcome the attacks of the evil one so that we can fulfil the last salvation – the “redemption of our bodies” (8:23). From this concept we can see that baptism brings about two types of resurrection: 1) the immediate resurrection of our spiritual life (
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Is the law sin? Certainly not (7:7)! The commandment brings forth life (7:10). The law is holy; the commandments are holy, just and good. The law is of the spirit and is good (7:12-17). Thus, do we then make void the law by faith? Certainly not! On the contrary, we uphold the law (3:31).
[If so, how can the law which gives life condemn me to death? This contradiction lies not with the law itself, which is good, but rather with “me who have been sold to sin”. Therefore, what the salvation of Jesus Christ was to destroy and change is my “sinful body”, not the law! Once my “sinful body” is destroyed (free from the bondage of lust), I am able to carry out the righteousness of the law (7:24-25; 8:1-6).]
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Those who have been baptised and are led by the Holy Spirit are sons of God (8:14). The Holy Spirit will surely help them (8:26), and within God’s plan of saving them till the end (8:30) they are more than conquerors (8:37).
[i) Our salvation comes from justification by faith (baptism and transformation), and then, by the help of Holy Spirit (gaining strength), carrying out the righteousness of the law to strive towards the goal of the “resurrection and redemption of our bodies” (8:23-24); with the intercessions of Jesus Christ we will gain strength upon strength… After being reborn we live under such tremendous grace; “what else shall we say?” (8:31). We have God to help us; Jesus died for us, and is interceding for us at the right hand of God; can we still say that we “do not have the strength to carry out the law” and cannot be “more than conquerors”?
ii) The definition of grace is not constantly sighing “what a wretched man I am! I cannot do the good I want to do. Please forgive me, Lord!” On the contrary, grace gives us the strength of victory. The Lord has destroyed our sinful bodies through baptism in His precious blood so that we can enjoy the joy of being more than conquerors. Thus, the Holy Spirit said: "The victorious (not, the wretched) will be rewarded (Rev 2 & 3)!]
Chapters 9 -11:
As it finishes with the words of thanksgiving: “those who are reborn can be more than conquerors”, Chapter 8 concludes the theme of the Book of Romans – “After man is justified by faith he can surely carry out the righteousness of the law”.
From Chapters 12 to 16 Paul talks about how one should conduct himself after being reborn. Since God will render each according to his deeds, one who has been justified by faith ought to rely on the Holy Spirit to carry out things pleasing to God.
As for Chapters 9 to 11, Paul discusses “a special issue”, focusing on the Israelites, the chosen people. He explains in these three chapters that since we are justified by faith, what then is the purpose of the Israelites being chosen and receiving the law? Why does it seem like the chosen Israelites are rejected? Did the word of God fail? (9:6) Has God rejected His people? (11:1) "My heart's desire and prayer to God for
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The election of God does not depend on man’s deeds, but rather on the Lord who calls. The Lord said: "Jacob I have loved, but Esau I have hated”; “I will have mercy on whomever I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whomever I will have compassion" (9:11-18).
[i) First and foremost, we must take careful note that the “choosing” and “having mercy” referred to here bears no relation to each individual's “eternal salvation”. That is to say that the statement "Does not the potter have power over the clay, from the same lump to make one vessel for honour and another for dishonour?" (9:21) does not refer to an unchanging “predestination”; rather, it is talking about the works of God which are changeable within time and space. And it is because of this changeability that we have “you (nations outside of
ii) We cannot take the passage “I will have mercy on whomever I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whomever I will have compassion" (which in fact reveals the changeability of God’s will) to expound that whatever a man's deeds, God has already used his absolute sovereignty to predestine who will and will not be saved before their birth! We must remember that God shows no partiality (2:11); God's nature is just! To claim that “it does not matter what man does, as long as God wishes it”, however, is to attribute God with an immense partiality since it implies that He has already predestined a man for eternal life or eternal death before his birth! Moreover, it is contradictory to the justice of God, who “will repay each according to his deeds” (2:6)!
iii) The Israelites were chosen by God. They received circumcision as a sign and became the chosen people. Their greatest advantage is that “they were entrusted with the oracles of God (the law)” (3:1-2) so that the door of salvation for all mankind could be opened and the blueprint of the redemption plan shown. From then on, death could no longer reign due to the coming of the law (5:14)! Unfortunately, the chosen Israelites could not believe that God became flesh and brought truth and grace to the world; as a result, they were rejected (11:20). Instead, the gentiles who were not chosen and given the law were justified by God because they believed that the Lord's death fulfilled the law (Gal 3:8).
iv) In order to understand the real meaning of “being chosen” and “receiving mercy” in this passage, we can look at how the true church was chosen and received mercy today: We have been chosen, not because of our deeds, but purely because of God’s will (loving this and hating that). However, just because God chose us, it does not mean that we are destined to be saved eternally. The purpose of our being chosen is for the true church to receive God’s oracles so that we can preach the gospel to the world. If we do not believe or keep the truth ourselves while preaching, we will be cut off. As for those who were not chosen at first, they will be accepted by God and will receive salvation if they repent and believe after hearing the gospel. That is why Paul said: "I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, lest when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified" (1 Cor 9:27).
v) In conclusion, the election referred to in Chapter 9 has nothing to do with predestination for salvation! What it is saying is, whilst the whole world was under the dominion of sin, God could hand out His oracles to whomever he chose; this is God's own choice, and bears no relation to the deeds of that particular individual. However, it does not mean that those who were not given the law will not be saved, and that those who were given the law are predestined to be saved. For whilst God first chose the Jews then the Greeks, His plan was to save all mankind (Rom 11:32; 1:16; 2:9-10)! Likewise, the death of the Lord Jesus was not to save the predestined few, but to release all who live under the dominion of sin (1 Jn 2:2). More concisely, salvation depends not upon the “partiality” of God, but on man’s believing or not believing, as well as his righteous deeds after believing (Rom 11:20-24; Mt 25:31-46).]
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Since salvation was fulfilled, only those born of the promise are the true Israelites (9:8). Does this then imply that God has forsaken the “physical” Israelites? Paul’s answer was: “Certainly not!" (11:1)
[When the gentile Church reaches perfection, the remnants of the house of
Chapter 12-16:
After discussing the teachings “God will render each according to his deeds” (ch 2), and “after man is justified by faith and reborn, he is free from the bondage of sin and can surely carry out the righteousness of the law, living a life as a more than a conqueror” (ch 8), Paul then explains that although the Israelites were chosen and given the God’s oracles, they were forsaken because of their unbelief. On the contrary, the gentiles who were not chosen were saved because they believed in the oracles. Thus, all those who were saved by faith must take heed that they continue to live in His goodness. Otherwise, they will be forsaken by God like the Jews before them! (11:21-22)
From Chapter 12 till the end of the book, Paul lays down some “behavioural guidelines”, which he requests the disciples to follow; thus, he returns to the principles that “God will render each according to his deeds”, and “those who are justified by faith and reborn must carry out the righteousness of the law”.
Paul's guidelines in the last 4 chapters comprise the following: to offer ourselves as a living sacrifice; work with those with different gifts; love without hypocrisy; rejoice in hope; not repay evil with evil; obey the rules of the country; not harm others; be alert and not indulge; put on Christ; live for Christ; not judge brethren in matters of food and drink; the strong to support the weak, pray for one another always, flee from false teachings, etc.
From Paul's requirements to do good in this passage, a key message emerges: the difficulties mentioned in Chapter 7 such as "the good that I will to do, I do not do; but the evil I will not to do, that I practice" no longer exist because our sinful bodies have been destroyed. Henceforth, those who are reborn will be able to live a life where they can do the good they want to do and not do the evil they don’t want to do, thus enjoying the greatest freedom of soaring above sin (Jn 8:32)!
Conclusion
The Book of Romans can be summarised into 4 sections:
Chapters 1-5:
Salvation is for all - there is no distinction between the Jews and the Greeks. God will render each according to his deeds! God's law is the standard and guidelines by which man should live. Through the teachings of the law I came to know the presence of sin, but since I am bounded by sin I cannot carry out the righteousness of the law to overcome sin. What a wretched man I am!
Chapters 6-8:
Man is justified by faith. Our sinful bodies are destroyed through the salvation of Jesus Christ, and we are reborn as a new person (6:6). During baptism a sinner is united in the death, burial, and resurrection of the Lord, his spiritual life is revived and his body redeemed. From then on if we can follow the guidance of the Holy Spirit, we can surely carry out the righteousness of the law (8:1-4).
Chapters 9-11:
Discusses the purpose of the “election of the Israelites”: God wants to save everyone, which is the reason why He first entrusted His oracles to the Israelites. However, the Israelites did not believe and were forsaken. On the other hand, the Gentiles who were not chosen believed and were saved. Nevertheless, the whole household of
Chapters 12-16:
Paul returns to the theme of “those who are saved can surely carry out the righteousness of the law by their faith and reliance on the help of the Holy Spirit”. He also lists out the basic principles of how a reborn person should live his life, asking the disciples to carry it out so that they can glorify God and benefit men, finding the pleasure of the Lord.
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In this way, the book of Romans resolves the perplexity of why the original chosen people were “powerless to carry out the Word” under the good law. Paul sets out the salvation process from being “powerless to carry out the Word” to being “more than conquerors”: We are “justified by faith”; through baptism that unites us in the likeness of the Lord’s death, burial, and resurrection, our sinful bodies are destroyed so that the new creations can be filled by the Holy Spirit. By the promise of God and the intercession of the Lord, the “new selves” can uphold the law, filled with power to carry out the Word, and living life as more than conquerors. Amen.