It has taken a long time to work through the book of Romans! We started the Bible studies in October 2010 and finished them in March 2012. Admittedly we haven’t done this every week, for often we have held prayer meetings or had holiday weeks with no studies, but even so, it has taken a long time to work our way through one of Paul’s most comprehensive New Testament letters.
It’s perhaps good, therefore, to have a summary at the end of our studies of all we have learned.
Chapters 1-4 look at the seriousness of sin: the pollution of sin, the penalty it carries and the provision God has made for sin. In these chapters, we have seen the pervasive nature of sin and how ultimately all mankind is in the same boat. We are all sinners and all need a Saviour!
Chapters 5 and 6 look at grace – its benefits and our responsibility as a result of grace.
Chapter 7 talks about law and freedom and reminds us that we are now free to choose the right way. Freedom is not a licence to do as we please, but we no longer have to submit to sin’s tyranny. We have a new Master!
Chapter 8, probably the most famous (and most quoted!) chapter in Romans, talks about the ‘goodness’ of the law and about our present suffering and God’s choosing/predestination. Here we see God’s ultimate purpose for mankind: that we should become like His Son.
Chapters 9 – 11 look at Israel and about the nature of faith and God’s purposes.
Chapters 12 – 15 look at worship and its outworking in our ordinary, everyday lives. As Kutless sing, ‘It’s all Yours anyway!’ God has done so much for us that to offer our lives as a living sacrifice to Him is the only right and proper way to live.
Chapter 16 looks at the worshipping church, naming individuals and showing us the importance and value of each person to God (and to each other) and exhorts us to keep to the true faith.
Now all we have to do is live it out!