Where We've Been Through the First Thirteen Chapters of Romans
A review of Romans 1-13.
Well, it didn’t take us very long to get through Romans 13!
Some chapters are a bit easier to move through than others, and Romans 13 broke up quite nicely into several bite-sized chunks.
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)
The gospel is still Paul’s theme. Romans 12 and 13 show what it means to live as a “living sacrifice” to God.
Outline of Romans 1-13.
Here’s a brief outline of where we’ve been in the first thirteen 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).
Romans 11
God has not rejected His people - which refers to the remnant of the faithful, not the entire physical nation of Israel (Romans 11:1-10).
Paul warns the Gentile Christians not to be arrogant toward the Jewish people - whom God still desired to save (Romans 11:11-24).
God’s mercy is freely offered to everyone who will turn to Him through His Son (Romans 11:25-32).
Who can fathom the depths of God’s wisdom and ways? (Romans 11:33-36).
Romans 12
Christians are to be living sacrifices for God, transformed by Him and not molded by this world (Romans 12:1-2).
Christians must not think too highly of the gifts God has given them, but they also must use the gifts God has graciously given them (Romans 12:3-8).
What genuine love looks like among Christians (Romans 12:9-16).
How Christians ought to treat those who persecute and mistreat them (Romans 12:17-21).
Romans 13
Paul discussed the importance of Christians submitting to the governing authorities (Romans 13:1-7).
Christians owe a continual debt to love one another (Romans 13:8-10).
Christians ought to live as those who have put on Jesus Christ and are walking in the light (Romans 13:11-14).
Some thoughts about Romans 1-13.
If we’re honest with ourselves, we’ll admit that not everything the Holy Spirit commands us to do as “living sacrifices” for God in Romans 12-13 is easy.
But that’s the idea of a sacrifice - it costs something; it’s not the easiest thing in the world to do.
Living for God takes intentional effort on our part. It requires us to deny ourselves, take up our cross, and follow Him (Luke 9:23).
