Chapter Intro Video

Chapter Objectives

• Characterize the impact of Romans on church history
• Present the purposes of Romans
• Outline the content of the book of Romans
• Explain how Romans encouraged Christian believers to live their lives

Chapter Summary

1. All of the epistles were written in the first century by men who knew Christ or his close associates personally.

2. Romans was the book that changed the course of the early church through Augustine, the medieval church through Luther, and the eighteenth-century church in England through Wesley.

3. Paul wrote Romans in AD 57–58 during a three-month stay in Greece.

4. One purpose of Paul’s Epistle to the Romans was to prepare them for his visit prior to his projected journey to Spain.

5. Romans is about the good news of Jesus Christ.

6. Sinful people receive the salvation made possible by Christ by grace through faith alone.

7. Sharing Abraham’s faith in God does not require sharing his ethnicity.

8. Paul provides a clear prescription for Christian living in his epistle, which addresses worship, the use of gifts, acts of service and hospitality, the role of government, loving one’s neighbor, living in the day, and pursuing peace.

Study Questions

1. Why do some people find Romans boring? Why do you think others do not?

2. Name two ways that Christianity may have first come to the city of Rome.

3. Where did Paul hope to travel after visiting Rome? What did he intend to do there?

4. How is the greeting of Romans different from the usual greetings in letters of that day?

5. What does Paul say the gospel is, and what does it reveal?