Key Verse: "Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law." - Romans 3:28 KJV
Romans 3 has brought us to a humbling truth: none of us is righteous on our own. We have all sinned. We have all fallen short. And the law cannot save us because none of us has kept it perfectly. So how can a sinful person ever stand righteous before a holy God?
Key Verse: "As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one:" - Romans 3:10 KJV
Paul has spent the first two chapters of Romans showing that both Jew and Gentile have a serious problem. The Gentiles have sinned against the light they received. The Jews possess God's law, but possessing the law does not automatically make them righteous.
Key Verse: "(For not the hearers of the law are just before God, but the doers of the law shall be justified." - Romans 2:13 KJV
Paul now moves from the problem of judging others to a deeper problem: religious appearance without inward obedience. The Jewish people had been entrusted with the law of God. They had God's commandments. They had the Scriptures. They knew what God required.
Key Verse: "Therefore thou art inexcusable, O man, whosoever thou art that judgest: for wherein thou judgest another, thou condemnest thyself; for thou that judgest doest the same things." - Romans 2:1 KJV
Romans 1 gave us a sobering description of humanity's rebellion against God. But as Paul begins Romans 2, he turns his attention toward another kind of sinner—the person who looks at the sins of others and assumes that he is therefore righteous. Paul says: “Therefore thou art inexcusable, O man, whosoever thou art that judgest.”
Key Verse: "For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness;" - Romans 1:18 KJV
After declaring the wonderful news that the gospel is “the power of God unto salvation,” Paul now explains why salvation is necessary. The answer is sin. Romans 1 presents a sobering picture of humanity's rejection of God. Paul says that God's wrath is revealed against “all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men.”
Key Verse: "For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek." - Romans 1:16 KJV
The book of Romans begins with a powerful declaration about the gospel of Jesus Christ. Paul introduces himself as “a servant of Jesus Christ” and immediately identifies the message he has been called to proclaim: “the gospel of God.” The word gospel means good news.
Key Verse: "But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth." - Acts 1:8 KJV
The book of Acts may have ended, but the mission Jesus gave His followers did not. The apostles had witnessed the resurrection of Christ. They had received the Holy Ghost. They had preached in Jerusalem, endured persecution, crossed cultural boundaries, and carried the gospel farther and farther into the world. And now the responsibility of being Christ's witnesses continues with every generation of believers.
Bible Reading: Romans 3:24-31 KJV Key Verse: " Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the l...
