Where We've Been Through the First Ten Chapters of Romans

A review of Romans 1-10.

Photo by Georgia de Lotz on Unsplash

We are ten chapters into our study of Romans!

We are nearing the end of the “theological section” of Romans (chapters 1-11) and will soon begin the “practical living section” of the book.

Remember the Theme of Romans.

For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, “The just shall live by faith.” (Romans 1:16-17)

Paul’s theme is the gospel of Christ - and it’s something we must remember as we keep going in our study of Romans.

Outline of Romans 1-10.

Here’s a brief outline of where we’ve been in the first ten chapters of Romans.

Romans 1

• Paul’s greeting to the church in Rome (Romans 1:1-7).

• Paul’s desire to see the church in Rome face-to-face (Romans 1:8-15).

• The gospel of Christ is the theme (Romans 1:16-17).

• God's wrath and righteous Judgment upon the Gentile’s sin (Romans 1:18-32).

Romans 2

• God's righteous, impartial Judgment will be according to everyone’s deeds (Romans 2:1-16).

• The Jews’ knowledge of the law and circumcision would grant them no special treatment at the Judgment, for they, too, had sinned (Romans 2:17-29).

Romans 3

• God is the faithful Judge, so His justice can be trusted (Romans 3:1-8).

• All have sinned, so all stand guilty before the Judge (Romans 3:9-20).

• The guilty ones can be justified by Christ Jesus, demonstrating God's righteousness (Romans 3:21-26).

• Justification through Christ eliminates any boasting in self on the part of the justified ones (Romans 3:27-31).

Romans 4

• Abraham and David were justified by faith (Romans 4:1-8).

• Abraham is the father of the faithful to the Jew and the Gentile (Romans 4:9-12).

• The promise to Abraham is through the righteousness of faith, not through the law (Romans 4:13-25)

Romans 5

• We have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, and it’s through His death for us that God demonstrates His love for us (Romans 5:1-11).

• While death reigned through the abounding of sin, life reigned through the abounding of God’s grace through His Son, and His grace far exceeds sin (Romans 5:12-21).

Romans 6

• We shouldn’t sin that God’s grace may abound because we have been set free from sin and died to it (Romans 6:1-14).

• We shouldn’t sin to take advantage of grace because we serve a new Master now (Romans 6:15-23).

Romans 7

• The necessity of being set free and delivered from the Law through the body of Christ Jesus (Romans 7:1-6).

• The relationship between the Law and sin, and while the Law was good - it could not set a person free from sin (Romans 7:7-25).

Romans 8

• The Christian’s new life in Christ means no longer living according to the ways of the flesh but according to the way of the Spirit - which includes suffering with Christ (Romans 8:1-17).

• The future glory of the Christian far outweighs the suffering in this life, and God concerns Himself with His people’s suffering and continues to love them through their suffering (Romans 8:18-39).

Romans 9

• Paul is deeply grieved by Israel’s rejection of Christ and the gospel despite receiving many benefits and blessings from God (Romans 9:1-5).

• A misconception among many of the Jewish people was that they were “God’s nation” simply because they were physical Jews. Paul reminds them that this is not the case - and that God’s decision on this matter is just and consistent with the Scriptures (Romans 9:6-29).

• Many Jews failed to attain righteousness because they did not pursue it by faith but by works of the law (Romans 9:30-33).

Romans 10

• Paul’s desire and prayer to God for the nation of Israel is that they may be saved (Romans 10:1).

• But they are not saved because they tried to establish their own righteousness rather than submit to God’s righteousness in the gospel (Romans 10:2-17).

• Their stubborn refusal to obey the gospel was foretold by the prophets (Romans 10:18-21).

Some thoughts about Romans 1-10.

Just like Romans 9, Romans 10 begins with Paul’s sorrow over Israel's rejection of the gospel, and he expresses his deep desire that they would obey the gospel and be saved.

I was struck by Paul’s intense grief over the lost condition of many of his fellow countrymen. Even though they tried to kill him on multiple occasions, he still earnestly desired their salvation.

His understanding and appreciation of the gospel of Christ is what motivated him to desire and put forth the effort to reach his would-be-killers with the good news of Jesus Christ.

For the church to be a “going” people with the gospel of Christ (Matthew 28:18-20), we too must understand who the Lord is and what He has done for us.