Study series · 14 of 14 published
Through Romans. Romans in order, chapter by chapter.
Fourteen studies through Romans — how a person is made right with God, and what changes afterward. It runs from the introduction through chapter nine, with two companion studies along the way on the offerings and on adoption.
- 01Romans overview — how to be right with GodWho Paul was, who the church at Rome was, what Nero's Rome looked like, and the four words that unlock the whole letter: righteousness, law, faith, and justification.
- 02Romans 1:1–17 — a servant, a promise, and a gospel worth not being ashamed ofPaul calls himself a slave of Jesus Christ, says the gospel was never plan B, and tells a church in the capital of the world why he isn't ashamed of a message about a crucified Jew.
- 03Romans 1:18–32 — what happens when people push God awayEveryone knows there's a God. Paul traces what happens when a person suppresses that knowledge: empty thinking, idolatry, and a God who finally says, 'Have it your way.'
- 04Romans 2 — judging others, the goodness of God, and religion that doesn't reach the heartThe person who condemns the sins of Romans 1 while doing the same things in private. Why God's kindness is meant to lead to repentance, and why knowing the Bible was never the point.
- 05Romans 3 — none righteous, and justified freelyPaul answers five Jewish objections, proves from the Old Testament that no one is righteous, and then delivers the heart of the gospel: justified freely by His grace through the redemption in Christ Jesus.
- 06'It is finished' — Jesus and the five offerings of LeviticusWhen Jesus said 'It is finished,' He used a merchant's word: paid in full. Here's how the burnt, grain, peace, sin, and trespass offerings were all pictures of what He did on the cross.
- 07Romans 4 — how Abraham was saved (and how you are too)Abraham believed God and it was counted to him as righteousness — fourteen years before circumcision and four centuries before the law. Paul calls two witnesses, Abraham and David, to prove salvation has always been by faith.
- 08Romans 5:1–11 — peace with God, and why we can rejoice in hard thingsJustified by faith, we have peace with God. Paul lists the benefits of that standing, explains how tribulation produces hope, and proves God's love by the timing of the cross: while we were still sinners.
- 09Romans 5:12–21 — two men, two kingdoms: Adam and JesusWhy we die, and why it isn't because of the law. Paul sets one man's disobedience against one Man's obedience, and shows that in Jesus we gained much more than we ever lost in Adam.
- 10Romans 6 — dead to sin, alive to God: what changed when you were savedJustification is what God did for you; sanctification is what He's doing in you. Seven things that happened at salvation, why grace is not a license, and what it means to be a slave of a new Master.
- 11Romans 7 — free from the law, and the war inside every believerDead to the law like a widow is free to remarry. Why the law is good even though it exposes us. And Paul's honest account of wanting to do right and finding himself doing wrong.
- 12Romans 8:28–39 — if God is for us, who is against us?All things work together for good — for whom, and how. What predestination actually means in this passage. And the security of a salvation that God settled in court and nothing can reopen.
- 13What the Bible means by 'adoption' (it isn't what you think)Romans 8:23 says we're still waiting for the adoption. If we're already God's children, what is it? A look at the Roman coming-of-age ceremony Paul had in mind — and why our adoption is glorification.
- 14Romans 9 — has God kept His promise to Israel? (and what election means)What a Jew actually had, whether God's promises failed, what 'election' means in the Bible, whether God hates unborn babies, and how God works His plan with us or in spite of us.
All writing · Bible studies in Big Rapids · Read Romans on TheWay Bible
Be here early
Work through a book with people.
These started as studies with a few people in a living room. That's still the best way to read one.