TO THE KNIGHTHOOD OF ST.PAUL, USELU DEANERY.

A SPIRITUAL
RFLECTION ON ST.
PAUL’S LETTER TO
THE ROMANS.
CHAPTERS 1-7.
LIFE APPLICATIONS.

Rev.Fr.Michael Achile Umameh

4THAPRIL,2010
I AM NOT ASHMED OF THE GOSPEL OF CHRIST, FOR IT IS THE POWER OF GOD TO
SALVATION.
INTRODUCTION

The letter to the Romans was written by Paul about sixty years after the
death of Christ. Paul is the servant of God and an apostle chosen by God to take the
Good news to the Gentiles; the non-Jews and all the nations.

Paul preached the Good news of God becoming man for our sake and salvation out
of his own personal experience. God gave Paul the privilege of being an apostle to
all the nations of the world.

The letter to the Roman was Paul’s immediate response to the threat the world held
against the Church and Christians of his time. Today in our own time where values
are being turned upside down, where churches and the Christians are faking and
failing Christ the letter to the Romans becomes a great antidote to the poison of sin
and a shield against worldly influences.

THE SUMMARY OF CHAPTERS 1-7 OF THE LETTER TO THE ROMANS.

Rome was the greatest city in the world and the capital of the greatest empire ever
known. In writing to such a city it was fitting that he should set down the very
centre and core of his faith and belief in Christ.

Paul had seen too often what harm and trouble could be caused by wrong ideas,
twisted notion of Christianity, misguided conception of the Christian faith and belief.
He therefore wished to send to the Church in the city which was the centre of the
world a letter which would so build up the structure of their faith that , if infections
should ever come to them, they might will in the true word of Christian doctrine a
powerful and effective defense. He felt that the best protection against the infection
of false teaching was the antiseptic of truth.

In our own day of many prophets, evangelist and senior apostles, this letter
becomes a lifejacket, a wall of defense against sin and the misleading of false
religion.

They key concepts addressed by Paul in these chapters hinge on the issues of
Righteousness, the power of the Gospel, salvation, God’s love and sin, Law, faith
and life in Christ.

Righteousness means man’s right relationship with God. The man who is righteous
is the man who is in a right relationship with God and whose life shows it. If we try
to achieve righteousness through meticulous obedience to the laws it leads only to
frustration and regret. The only sure way to become righteous is to take God at his
word, cast oneself on his mercy and love. To take the way of faith and grace in the
Spirit that helps us in becoming Christ-like.

Like Paul we are called to be apostles by God and set apart with a task to save
ourselves, our family and our world from evil, sin and death.

I am proud of the good news, for it is the power of God which produces salvation for
anyone who believes.(1:16). Men universally are seeking salvation from tyranny of
the devil, other men and their sins. It was this final salvation, a hand let down to lift
us up, that power, that escape route that Christianity came to offer mankind. And
the Christian salvation was fully, freely and wholly given to those who believe.

1. It was a salvation from physical illness.

2. It was the salvation from danger, a security of soul no matter what happens.

3. It offers man salvation from the infection of sin providing a divine antiseptic.

4. It was salvation from lostness; an unsaved man is on the wrong road.

5. It was salvation from sin.

6. It was salvation from the wrath of God.

Without this salvation and the acceptance of it everyman stands condemned.

Faith therefore becomes that absolute trust and total acceptance that Christ is true
and that one can stake all time and eternity on that assurance of salvation. This
faith justifies and when we are justified we enter a new relationship with God, a
relationship of love and confidence and friendship. This is the faith which takes God
at his word.

In the age when most things seem to have gone out of control, the age of unparallel
luxury in sin, the age of immorality, strife, murder and the world become more
Christ-less even in the face of great growth in Churches and number of Christians.
The way out of this dilemma remains the way of Christ, the way of all grace in the
Holy Spirit.

We must believe in God who makes the impossible possible and a Church that is
alive in Christ dares to do anything. That daring only becomes possible to a man
and to a Church who take God at his word.

The final proof of the love that does the impossible is that while we were still sinners
Christ died for us. Death has no more power over him. He died our death so that we
can live for him. We are dead to sin but alive to God in Christ. The man who enters
the Christian way has chosen to live differently. The acceptance of Christ makes all
the difference in the world for all who accepts him.

WHAT WILL THESE DO FOR OUR CHRISTIAN LIFE.

The man who accepts Christ absolutely becomes a Christian.

For Paul therefore, the Christian is the man who has given complete control of his
life to Christ, holding nothing back. H e cannot give a part of his life to God, and
another part to the world. With god it s all- or nothing. As long as a man keeps some
part of his life without God, he is not really a Christian. We are our master’s
exclusive possession, every single moments of our life belong to him. Our new
allegiance to Christ becomes a rule for obedience and a way of life. The questions
we must ask ourselves are these; Am I really a Christian? Is my life a witness to
what Christianity stands for? Is my family life Christian enough? In my working Place
or business is my Christianity revealed? What values has Christianity brought to my
life? Is the fire of your Christian life affecting the world around you? Why are you a
Christian?

IN CONCLUSION.

St. Paul is the apostles of the gentile and wish that all men be saved like himself
and come to the knowledge of the saving truth. Today we are all called to become
apostles of Christ. Like him our prayers must be…… All I want is to Know Christ and
to share in the power of His resurrection. (Phil.3: 10). And his letter remains a safe
road man into the task of conversion. May this Easter season make us Christian
worth the name. Amen.