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

A review of Romans 1-8.

Photo by Kalen Emsley on Unsplash

Chapter-wise, we’re officially halfway through the book of Romans! This has taken me a lot longer than I thought it would - but the study has benefited me, and I hope it has to you as well.

Let’s review Romans 1-8 and consider what we’ve studied so far.

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)

We must keep the book's theme before our minds as we study together. Everything Paul wrote by inspiration of the Holy Spirit builds upon these two verses.

Outline of Romans 1-8.

Here’s a brief outline review of where we’ve been in the first eight 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).

Some thoughts about Romans 1-8.

The gospel of Christ does not encourage sinful living - in fact, it promotes godly living, even if it means the Christian must suffer.

When we face suffering for following Christ, it’s important to remember how He suffered for us and that God has not forgotten us or abandoned us in our suffering.