Teach Me The Bible
Romans: Overview
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You're listening to Teach Me the Bible podcast, where we unpack the meaning of books, passages and themes from Scripture. Join us each week as Dr David Klingler walks us through God's Word and teaches the Bible. Each episode has a study guide available in the show notes. This is Teach Me the Bible podcast.
Speaker 2:Hello everyone, my name is Tim Webb and I'm here with Dr David Klingler and we are ready to jump back into our Teach Me the Bible podcast, where just desire to have God's people understand His Word and David. It's been so exciting to see what God's doing through this ministry, so from different parts of the world literally joining in, and so just really excited the doors that God is opening up for this. And today, as we are, we're going to move into Paul's letter to the church at Rome and I know there's some conflicts with understanding Romans and it's been viewed in different ways, and I'm really excited for us to get into this discussion, just follow what Paul's saying, what he's dealing with, and really just come to this by letting the text do the speaking. That's what I'm really excited about. I love Romans, I love what Paul is doing here, but this is a giant. This is a major letter that we're going to walk through.
Speaker 3:It is, yes, it is, and one of the most difficult books, at least for me, to interpret. I think this is true for everyone. But you are the ones that you think you know the best, because so much of what we're taught, I mean you come to faith and then you start to learn some verses, but pretty quickly you'll get to Romans and it's kind of viewed as Paul's premier letter, and so much of our theology or verses that we appeal to theologically come out of the book of Romans, and we are in a long line of theological and doctrinal history that has used Romans in different ways. So much replacement theology, dispensational theology all of these arguments are all around the book of Romans. And so what we want to do, instead of trying to approach the book of Romans and talking about things like, you know, the Calvinist debate and the sovereignty of God and election and predestination often these discussions that go with the book of Romans we're going to set that aside and we're going to try to figure out what was Paul saying to this Roman church and why. Why is he writing this letter, who are the cause and the problems and how does he address them? And so if we can do that, I think it'll guide our way through this text pretty well.
Speaker 3:I want to, by way of introduction, look at a couple of passages here. In chapter one, he says I do not want you to be unaware this is in chapter one, verse 13. I don't want you to be unaware, brethren, that I often plan to come to you and have been prevented thus far in order that I might obtain some fruit from you also, even as among the rest of the Gentiles, for I am under obligation to both the Greeks and to the barbarians, both to the wise and to the foolish. Thus, for my part, I am eager to preach the gospel to you who are in Rome. He's going, he's wanting to come and obtain some fruit from you also. What does that mean? Well, to figure that out, instead of trying to just guess or make fruit mean something or something else, we can turn over and see not only how he begins his letter, but how he ends his letter. This is in chapter 15, picking up in verse 22,. For this reason, I've often been hindered in coming to you. Well, that's a big explanation of why he's hindered in coming to you.
Speaker 3:But now, with no further place for me in these regions, and since I have had for many years, a longing to come to you whenever I go to Spain, for I hope to see you in passing and to be helped on my way there by you when I first enjoyed your company for a while. But now I'm going to Jerusalem serving the saints, for Macedonia and Achaia have been pleased to make a contribution to the poor among the saints of Jerusalem and these this is recorded in some other books as well. Yes, they were pleased to do so, for they are indebted to them. They, the Gentiles, are indebted to them, the Jews. And that becomes clear in how this book spells out and also the next part of this verse. For if the Gentiles have shared in there, the Jews, spiritual things, they are indebted to minister to them and material things. The Jewish church there in Jerusalem is under persecution and the Gentile churches are taking up a contribution to support the saints back in Jerusalem. He continues, therefore, when I have finished this and have put my seal on this fruit of theirs, I will go on by way of you to Spain, this fruit of theirs.
Speaker 3:So what was Paul talking about back in chapter one? He was talking about going, coming to them also, and gathering a contribution from them, a financial contribution for the saints in Jerusalem. And so it just goes to show you that often we read the text and so, you know, obtain some fruit from you and whatever you make it say, whatever, just keep reading. And one of the things we wanna encourage you to do in the book of Romans especially in the book of Romans, if you know the Roman road, or some of these types of things one of the things that I always do, and maybe we do it here, is always ask students is it true that there are none righteous?
Speaker 3:Not one. And always the students say, yep, true, none righteous, not one. And then one student, always. This happens like 30 times. Then one student always goes oh wait, let me think about that. No, there's one righteous, it's Jesus. And then I say, well, is that right? And they go oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, they all concede that. Yeah, jesus was righteous. And I say, well, why do you say that? It says because that's what Paul says there is none righteous, not even one. And they quote Psalm 14 and Psalm 53. And I say, have you ever read Psalm 14? In Psalm 14, there's a whole righteous generation. In fact, in chapter four he's going to argue that Abraham was righteous through faith. Noah was righteous. Lot Peter was going to argue was righteous. He doesn't argue, it, he's just saying it yeah, consider righteous lot.
Speaker 3:And that's clearly the right interpretation because, you'll remember, back in the Genesis and chapters 18 and 19 of Genesis, the Lord reveals to Abraham that he's going to go wipe out Sodom and Gomorrah. And Abraham's responses Lord, you wouldn't destroy the righteous with the wicked, would you? What if there's 100 righteous? What if there's 50? What if there's any negotiates down All the way?
Speaker 3:down I would not destroy the righteous with the wicked. And then the two angels go and they deliver lot. He wasn't righteous through his actions, he was righteous through faith, and that's Paul's argument. That's Paul's argument that all who call upon the Lord will be saved, that there's only one way to be declared righteous in this story and it's through faith, through faith in the one who makes righteous. And so there are none righteous, not one. No, there's a bunch of righteous, but they're not righteous through law keeping, and that's Paul's argument.
Speaker 3:Paul is taking on this Jewish mentality that says that we are righteous because we keep the law and because we have the law. And he says his argument, basically, is going to say look, creation has revealed that you know this sinfulness, and so if you, being a Jew, do the things that the Gentiles do, how does that make you righteous? It's not those who receive the law who are righteous, but those who do it. So if you have it but don't do it, how does that make you righteous? This is going to be his argument in chapter two and chapter three. And so the law was given to condemn Israel, to drive them to faith, so that they would be righteous. Not through works of the law, not through a righteousness of their own, but through faith in Christ. That was the whole goal. And so he's going to walk into chapter five and chapter six and chapter seven. All this is going to fit together. And so Paul is making his argument against the Jews who are holding to this doctrine, this belief that righteousness comes through the law, either through having the law or through having the law or through doing the law. And he says just because you have it doesn't make you righteous, and if you don't do it, that certainly doesn't make you righteous. And so that's gonna consume his argument all the way up until chapter 11.
Speaker 3:And in this group called Israel, there are two groups. There is what he's going to call not all Israel is Israel, because not all Israel believed. And so, yes, you may have the DNA, you may be a Jew in the flesh, but that doesn't make you a son, an heir. And so this is going to be his argument. So we're gonna walk through this and see if we can't track the logic train of what he's saying. Why he's arguing his gospel to these Jews. And so when he says you, he's talking to the Jews. What advantage then does the Jew have? Great in every respect. That's chapter three and chapter four. What shall we say? That Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh. Abraham is not my forefather according to the flesh. I think I had done the what's the?
Speaker 2:No, I think you're a Gentile. I don't think you're Jewish.
Speaker 3:Yeah, but I was thinking you're probably some German or something.
Speaker 2:Oh, absolutely, I can see that yeah.
Speaker 3:And so, yeah, abraham is not my forefather according to the flesh. We are sons of Abraham by faith, but he's not my forefather according to the flesh. In chapter seven for I am speaking to those of you who know the law he's talking to this Jewish audience. In the early church, there was always this concern by the apostles and carries into the apostolic fathers for the church to be led astray and back to Judaism. And this is Paul's argument. So, from chapters one through chapters 11, he's arguing for his gospel against this Jewish mindset of lawkeeping. And then he's going to turn his focus in chapter 11, verse 13. He's going to start to explain why he is taking this ministry to the Gentiles. I'm speaking to you who are Gentiles In so much as I'm an apostle to the Gentiles, I magnify my ministry. This is 11, 13 and 14.
Speaker 3:If somehow I might move to jealousy my fellow countrymen and save some of them, for if their rejection, if Israel's rejection of their Christ, has resulted in reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead? And so his whole argument is to explain that he's right. The Jewish lawkeeper is wrong. They've rejected their Christ, and not only rejected their Christ in the gospels, but have continued to reject their Christ after his resurrection. And so now he's taking the gospel to the Gentiles in order to make them jealous, to move them to anger, as was foretold by Moses. He's appealing to the story and in so doing he's going to help us understand not only the story but what he's doing in the book of Romans, and so we're not just going to talk about theology and theological verses and the Roman road and for knowledge and predestination and election.
Speaker 3:We'll cover those things in passing, but I'm reminded of what is it? Prince of Biden? You keep using that word. I don't think it means what you think it means, and what we're going to see is the language that he's using, he's introducing and he's using in chapter eight. He's going to continue that same logic trail through chapter 11. And for God has not rejected his people whom he foreknew, has he? He's not rejected his people, israel, for I'm to him in Israel. So the people he foreknew was Israel, and we're going to see this just clearly play out in the argument. So stick with us. It's going to be a good study. It'll be a long one, it'll be different than probably what you've heard, because we're going to try to track the argument, not the theology of the book.
Speaker 2:So that's our goal, okay well, it's going to be exciting and I hope everyone just buckles in because it's going to be a great, interesting, rather lengthy, but we're going to break it apart along the way, so bite-sized pieces, and so I think it'll be a powerful, powerful time together. So looking forward to it, as always. And so, david, thank you, thank you for today and want to encourage everyone Just keep reading the word, just keep reading this story. And I was encouraged, david. I was visiting with someone who doesn't live in our area and they said you know, I just I'm so thankful that I can just tune in on this on my way to work. He said, you know, first I thought, man, this is going to just be too much, I'm just, he said, but I just committed and as and he was telling me, as David has been saying, just stay hooked up, you're going to hear this over and over and it'll sink in. And he said, man, I got it.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I got it. Stay the course, stay the course, stay the course. So I want to encourage everyone.
Speaker 2:So, as always, to our listeners, viewers, just stay connected that local body of believers, encourage them to faith, support your pastor, any pastors out there. I just want to thank them for what they do, and this is a great battle to be in, and we're on the right side, amen. There's only one team that you should be concerned about being on, and one leader. That's Jesus Christ. Amen.
Speaker 1:Thank you, David. Thanks for listening to Teach Me the Bible podcast. Our desire is to use the power of God's word to change lives. For more information, download our app. Join us next week for another episode of Teach Me the Bible.