Romans Chapter 1

Romans 1:1 ~ Paul’s Capacity, Calling, and Consecration

Many of us look back and say, "Wasted years. If I had known what I know today; if I had studied and learned; if I was doing back then what I am doing today in my walk with the Lord." We do not understand we have to go through all of that to arrive where we are today. They are not wasted years. That is how difficult the human heart and man's condition of sin is. The lengths God must go to, to bring us to that place where our hearts are receptive to the gospel of Jesus Christ. It takes a long time. God works with us.

Romans 1:2-4 ~ The Promises and Progress of the Son of God

To be given a mind that will automatically reject the truth of Christ has to be one of the worst judgments a person can experience. Worse than physical affliction. Look at Pharaoh in the Old Testament. God's messenger came and said, "Let My people go," and Pharaoh said, "No." Pharoah made the decision, he revealed what his heart was like. So God hardened his heart to reject God's message. And then, even after Pharoah let God's people go, he sent his soldiers after them to kill them out in the wilderness as they were traveling, so God killed the entire Egyptian army.  Pharaoh's heart was not going to change. A reprobate is not changed.

Romans 1:5-7 ~ The Provision of God

Let me say to you today there is a difference in the Bible between obedience and submission. Think about it. Obedience is the word hupakouō that means put your hearing under, which means every single word that is told to you, you must do. Children are to obey their parents. Whatever words come out of the parent's mouth, they are to obey. But then there are other relationships: between husband and wife, between employer and employee, between Christians and government, that is called submission. That is hupotassō. It is a military term that means to line up with someone. Line up with someone in Christ. For the Christian, it is not just two people, it is three. Have a proper relationship with people. Line up in God's proper order.  But it has nothing to do with dictatorship and word for word obedience. This is a functional relationship.

There is a difference between submission and obedience.

Obedience is putting your hearing under, and that is that word here, for obedience of faith.  God gives us the grace for the purpose of being obedient to the faith. The way the Greek text presents it here is obedience comes out of faith. Faith possesses the obedience. As we put our hearing under the things of the Lord, we are to obey the persuasion of God’s Spirit. Period. No questions asked. It does not make any difference how we feel, or what we think, or what our opinion is - we are to obey.  And God gives us the grace to obey.

Romans 1:8 ~ Faith is our Testimony

We come to realize as we study God's word that God's word magnifies Jesus Christ to our hearts and there is a reason for that. It is because if we know Christ, we do not have to know anything else. I do not have to understand all that He is doing, I just have to understand who He is. He created me. He designed me. He put me here on the Earth at a specific time in history for a purpose that He has, one for my benefit. A restoration project. He saved me out of sin and He is restoring me back to the person that He originally intended me to be. It is a growing process. It is a changing process. And the testimony is faith. No matter what happens, we trust the Lord.

Romans 1:9-11 ~ We Serve God in our Spirit

We spent time studying that it was not their good works, it was not their social events, it was not anything about them that Paul gave thanks for other than their faith. Faith is our testimony. We either trust the Lord or we do not. Paul is not talking about saving faith. He is talking about trusting the Lord in one's life in and through difficult situations and circumstances. They did not proclaim their faith to the world. He says their faith was being spoken of by other people as an encouragement to other Christians.

Romans 1:11-15 ~ To Impart Some Spiritual Gift

We serve Christ in the spirit not the flesh. You want correct Christian doctrine? That is it. It is God’s Spirit ministering His grace, His favor, His blessing upon us because we need it, not because we deserve it. And His grace is ministered from faith to faith. When God’s Spirit is ministering He is persuading us.

Most of the time we are so hard on ourselves and we think of ourselves as no good. You are right, you are no good.  But the truth of Christ is Christ saved you and now you are not worthless, you are worthy. While you are sitting around feeling sorry for yourself the very value of the universe, Jesus Christ Himself is inside of you ready to minister to you, and manifest Himself through you, if you can ever get over yourself.

Romans 1:24-27 ~ God’s Judgment Upon the Gentiles

Paul is ministering to us that God's judgment is being meted out to man. If a human being, in response to the knowledge that God reveals to them, wants to reject it. Block it out and be on their merry way, even to the point of exchanging it for a lie, then God will give them over to it. In fact, He is going to give them over to a reprobate mind. Reprobate means reject. God says, "You choose. You receive, I will give you a mind of reception. If you reject Me, I will give you a mind that rejects all truth.

Romans 1:24-32 ~ God Delivers People into Corruption

Paul says there will be those who will take this enlightenment and they will suppress it; try to block it out, push it aside. It is always there but they just want to get rid of it. And for those people who do that, God gives them over to the very things that they worship. Every single human being worships something, even if it is just themselves. But we all have our idols, the very things that we live for, strive for. Paul says that people who suppress the truth and live for the lie, they make up their own version of who God is. And the psalmist says those who worship them are like them. You become like the one that you worship, or the thing that you worship.