Romans: A Model for Bible Study Methods

WIERSBE

Introduction

With all the books on Romans presently reposing on library shelves and the constant flood of new volumes designed to furnish fresh insights into the apostle Paul’s most profound letter, what necessity, or even justification, can there be for this present volume?

Perhaps the outstanding virtue of this book will prove to be its modest, yet urgent, down-to-earth intent—namely, to provide a provocative and practical study guide that may be used either by the individual as he works his way through the epistle on his own or by various Bible study groups. It is also the authors’ desire that lay leaders and pastors without the benefit of tools and skills to work with the original text will find the volume helpful.

The reader will find a minimum of originality in terms of content, but it is hoped he will note a maximum of design in terms of form and purpose. The overriding intent throughout has been to provide in readily accessible form material that will stimulate the mind, warm the heart, and enable one to share with others the content of this New Testament book, which serves as a key to unlock the entire treasury of Scripture.

Three main approaches are taken to the text. First, the reader is asked to use the telescope to stand back and view from a distance the grand vistas of its content. Then, the microscope is used for smaller segments, and even individual words are examined minutely. Finally, there is the use of the stethoscope, whereby the book is studied to provide nourishment for the soul and encouragement for the heart.

Paul’s epistle to the Romans is commonly regarded to be the most his intended missionary trip to Spain and to solicit help for that venture (Rom. 15:23-24).

Paul’s espistle to the Romans is commonly regarded to be the most complete and logical presentation of Christian truth in the entire New Testament. For centuries it has been regarded as the great defense of the faith.

Chrysostom had this epistle read to him once a week. Luther considered it the chief book of the New Testament. Melanchthon copied it twice with his own hand in order to know it thoroughly, and it was the book he lectured on most frequently.

Many testify to the influence of this epistle in their personal lives. Augustine was converted through reading Romans. Martin Luther launched the Reformation on Romans 1:17, The just shall live by faith (KJV).* John Wesley, founder of the Methodist church, was converted while listening to someone read from Luther’s commentary on Romans.

If a Bible student wishes to master any one book of the Bible, let it be Romans. An understanding of this book is a key to unlocking the entire Word of God. Luther said, This letter is the principal part of the New Testament and the purest gospel, which surely deserves the honour that a Christian man should not merely know it off by heart word for word, but that he should be occupied with it daily as the daily bread of the soul. For it can never be read too often and too well. And the more it is used the more delicious it becomes and the better it tastes.¹

ROMANS IN RELATION TO OTHER NEW TESTAMENT EPISTLES

The letter to the Romans is unique among the New Testament letters in that it is more like a treatise and less like a personal letter than any other, save the epistle to the Hebrews. In writing to the saints at Rome whom he had not seen, Paul set forth truths in a well thought out and carefully organized way, whereas in his other letters he spoke of the same truths in a particularized way as need arose out of the specific circumstances. Consequently, we find in Romans the great themes of Paul’s message and theology as never before coherently discussed in depth, breadth, and carefully considered manner. We read of the wrath and justice of God, justification by faith and by works, Adam and Christ, baptism and the new life, flesh and spirit, Israel’s lack of faith and her final deliverance.

Justification by faith alone, the main theme of Romans, has already been treated by Paul in his letter to the Galatians, but now it is discussed extensively in chapter 4 against the backdrop of the depravity and misery of all men so clearly depicted in chapters 1 through 3.

In the same way, Romans 5:1-11, which speaks of God’s act of reconciliation in Christ, seems to echo 2 Corinthians 5:17. An even clearer example is the way Paul’s teaching about the antithetical typology of Adam and Christ in Romans 5:12-21 appears in 1 Corinthians 15:21, 45. In a similar vein, the thought that the law came to increase trespasses is developed with some fullness in Romans, along with themes such as death in Christ, life in the Spirit, and the freedom of God’s children, which are simply stated or alluded to in earlier letters.

Romans 14 and 15 deal with the same subject matter as 1 Corinthians 8-10—the danger of using one’s faith without consideration for one’s brother. The Corinthian passage clearly reflects the peculiar situation in Corinth, whereas the Romans passage deals with the principle.

It may be helpful to divide the nine church epistles (omitting the personal or pastoral epistles) into three groups: those written first (1 and 2 Thessalonians); the middle group (Romans, 1 and 2 Corinthians, and Galatians); and the later epistles (Ephesians, Philippians, and Colossians). The epistle to the Romans, belonging to the second group of the Pauline epistles, was written about A.D. 55. Both Galatians and Romans were written in Corinth while Paul was there as a guest of Gaius who helped him to the leisure and the conveniences so necessary to the meditation and composition of two such epistles.

Romans is placed as the first epistle in the New Testament. The order of the New Testament letters follows the order given in 2 Timothy 3:16:

Doctrine—Romans (the great doctrinal book of the New Testament)

Reproof—1 and 2 Corinthians (where Paul reproves sin)

Correction—Galatians (where Paul corrects false teaching)

Instruction in Righteousness—Ephesians, and following (where Paul teaches holy living based on Christian doctrine).

It is significant that in our New Testament, Romans stands first among the epistles even though it was by no means the first to be written. J. Sidlow Baxter notes that each of Paul’s letters has a distinctive emphasis and that each stands in relation to the others with Romans as the foundation:

Romans—The gospel and its message

1 Corinthians—The gospel and its ministry

2 Corinthians—The gospel and its ministers

Galatians—The gospel and its mutilators

Ephesians—The gospel and the heavenlies

Philippians—The gospel and the earthlies

Colossians—The gospel and the philosophies

1 Thessalonians—The gospel and the church’s future

2 Thessalonians—The gospel and the Antichrist.²

Again, the same author locates each of the letters of Paul with a particular relation to Christology:

Romans—In Christ—justification

1 Corinthians—In Christ—sanctification

2 Corinthians—In Christ—consolation

Galatians—In Christ—liberation

Ephesians—In Christ—exaltation

Philippians—In Christ—exultation

Colossians—In Christ—completion

1 Thessalonians—In Christ—translation

2 Thessalonians—In Christ—compensation.³

The words which Mr. Baxter selects as key words of the various letters likewise illustrate the relationship which is maintained between the epistles:

Romans—righteousness

1 Corinthians—wisdom

2 Corinthians—comfort

Galatians—faith

Ephesians—blessed

Philippians—gain

Colossians—filled

1 Thessalonians—working

2 Thessalonians—waiting.⁴

THE ROMAN CHURCH

Paul wrote this epistle to the Christians in Rome. Although we may refer to the church at Rome, Paul does not address his letter to the church at Rome, but rather to all that be at Rome (Rom. 1:7). In chapter 16 it becomes clear that there are different groups of believers (house churches) rather than one local assembly (vv. 5, 10-11, 14-15).

As far as we know, none of Paul’s immediate associates in missionary labors had preceded him to Rome to found the church under his immediate direction and delegated authority. Although he did come to Rome later, he had nothing to do with the founding of the church. If neither Paul nor Peter, nor any other of the apostles or more prominent evangelists or missionaries can claim the honor of laying the foundation of the Christian church at Rome, how did the church come into being? We do not know, and are left to conjecture at this point.

Acts 2:10 does indicate that there were people from Rome in Jerusalem during Pentecost. We also know that Priscilla and Aquila were Roman Jews who knew the gospel. Note that the names in chapter 16 are largely Gentile, indicating that Gentile Christians from other cities had gravitated to Rome and carried the gospel with them. These were probably converts of Paul from other churches. Rome was the great center of the world in that day. It was not unlikely that thousands of pilgrims made their way over Roman highways to the Imperial City every year.

Romans 1:14-15, 11:13, and 15:14-16 all indicate that the majority of the believers who received the letter were Gentiles. There was also a Jewish element in the Christian community, as well as many Gentiles who were Jewish proselytes.

In spite of the fact that in the salutation Paul numbers the Romans among the Gentiles for whom he had been given the grace of apostleship (1:5-7), a large part of the epistle would be of chief interest to the Jews since it discusses the value of the Mosaic law and the dealings of God with the chosen people of Israel.

Both Jews and Gentiles, then, are in the church, and Paul addresses now one and now the other in the course of the epistle. There is no way of determining the exact proportion of those two classes, but the prevailing tendency at the present time is to conclude that the church was a Gentile church with a large and influential Jewish minority.

In Paul’s day, the makeup of the church mirrored that of the city as a whole, and there were only fifty or sixty thousand Jews among them. The slaves outnumbered the freemen two or three to one.

OCCASION OF WRITING

What motivated Paul to write this letter? He may have wanted to warn and teach the Christians at Rome lest false teachers arrive there before him and upset his plans. In Romans 3:8 Paul mentioned some false accusations certain men had made about him. The reasons, then, for the letter may be summarized as follows:

1. To prepare the Christians for his planned visit, and to explain why he had not visited them sooner (1:8-15, 15:23-29)

2. To instruct them in the basic doctrines of the Christian faith lest false teachers upset them

3. To explain the relationship between Israel and the church, lest the Judaizers lead them astray with their doctrines, and the Gentiles fail to appreciate their indebtedness to Israel

4. To teach the Christians their duties to one another and to the state

5. To answer any slander they may have heard about Paul (3:8).

THE HEART OF THE EPISTLE

The Greeks sought after wisdom, and when Paul wrote letters to the Corinthians and to the Ephesians he laid great emphasis upon the acquisition of the true wisdom. Macknight calls it a writing, which, for sublimity and truth of sentiment, for brevity and strength of expression, for regularity in its structure, but above all, for the unspeakable importance of the discoveries which it contains, stands unrivalled by any mere human composition, and as far exceeds the most celebrated productions of the learned Greeks and Romans, as the shining of the sun exceedeth the twinkling of the stars.⁵

Rome was not seeking wisdom so much as the universal recognition of law and order. Her mission was to establish justice throughout the length and the breadth of the earth. That may account for the fact that in writing this theological treatise for the Romans, Paul chose to give it a legal, forensic framework throughout.

In the term, the righteousness of God (1:17), the very foundational thought of the epistle to the Romans is encompassed. Here, in verse 17, Paul states the theme for his letter: The righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, ‘BUT THE RIGHTEOUS MAN SHALL LIVE BY FAITH.’ As the epistle proceeds it amplifies and clarifies the contents of this righteousness of God. It includes the consequences for the Christian life of the new righteousness of God, which was revealed through Christ and is shared by everyone who believes in Him.

Every doctrine of the epistle is shown to have Old Testament authority behind it. There are more than fifty quotations from the Old Testament in these sixteen chapters—more than in all the other Pauline epistles put together. The phrase, as it is written, occurs fourteen times as Paul, in this unique epistle, draws on the Old Testament Scriptures as background and foundation for his Magna Carta of the Christian faith.

NOTES

1. Frederick L. Godet, Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1956), p. ix.

2. J. Sidlow Baxter, Explore the Book (London: Marshall, Morgan & Scott, 1955), 6:64.

3. Ibid.

4. Ibid.

5. William S. Plumer, Commentary on Romans (Grand Rapids: Kregel, 1971), p. 30.

__________

*King James Version.

Part I

Using a Telescope to Survey the Epistle

Romans, among the epistles of the New Testament, stands out like an imposing Cathedral. Its symmetry of form, its logically developed structure, its evidence of plan and design, its wide sweep of thought, its sublimity and grandeur of revelation, all combine to make it one of the loveliest edifices of truth in existence.¹

William G. Coltman

1

General Bible Study Methods

A serious study of the Bible requires concentration of the mind upon a specific passage. It involves giving careful consideration to words and phrases. The best available tools of biblical scholarship must be used in an honest attempt to learn as precisely as possible what the writer intended to communicate in the historical situation within which he wrote.

INDUCTIVE METHOD

The inductive method of Bible study is scientific in approach. It is the logic of discovery, whereas deduction is the logic of proof. Inductive Bible study involves four processes:

1. Observation (What does it say?)

2. Interpretation (What does it mean?)

3. Application (How does it relate to me?)

4. Communication (How do I give it to others?)

The inductive method places the emphasis on the process of reasoning or drawing conclusions from particular cases.

The Word of God must be given careful attention. It must be interpreted in full harmony with its literal, historical, and grammatical meaning. Full attention must be given to the inspired writer’s purpose. When the student is face to face with the minute parts of Scripture, he must seek to know the intent of that Scripture in its context.

Robert A. Traina emphasizes the fact that the student should give special attention to the connectives within a passage. The following types of connectives are found in the New Testament:

1. Temporal or chronological connective: After (Rev. 11:11)

2. Local or geographical connective: Where (Heb. 6:20)

3. Logical connectives:

Reason—Because (Rom. 1:25); For (Rom. 1:11)

Result—Therefore (1 Cor. 10:12)

Contrast—Nevertheless (1 Cor. 10:5)

4. Emphatic connective: Only (1 Cor. 8:9).²

Traina also suggests that special attention be given to the structural relations between paragraphs and sections of the book. Out of his more extended list, we have selected five:

1. Comparison—the association of like things

2. Contrast—the association of opposites

3. Repetition—the reiteration of the same terms, phrases, and clauses

4. Climax—the arrangement of material in such a way as to progress from the lesser to the greater and ultimately to the greatest

5. Causation and substantiation—the progression from cause to effect and from effect to cause.³

SYNTHESIS

Synthesis is the "putting together