Week 27, June 29–July 5: Romans 1–16; Jeremiah 1–2

• Sun      Jun 29 Rom. 1–3
• Mon     Jun 30 Rom. 4–6
• Tue      Jul 1    Rom. 7–8
• Wed     Jul 2    Rom. 9–11
• Thu      Jul 3    Rom. 12–14
• Fri        Jul 4    Rom. 15–16
• Sat       Jul 5    Jer. 1–2

This week we move back into the NT and pick up where we left off there. Romans begins the section of the NT that is made up of epistles, or letters, from the apostles to the churches and groups of churches in the first century world. These were the local congregations and gatherings that began the earliest stage of the Church era after Jesus’ resurrection and ascension. Many of these epistles were written by the apostle Paul.

Romans stands at the beginning of this collection as the most comprehensive explanation and explication of the gospel of Christ. Paul wrote this letter to the Christians in Rome sometime towards the end of his life and ministry, after he had been evangelizing and preaching and planting and ministering to churches for probably about 25 years. He wanted to go to Rome on his way to Spain, where he hoped to begin a new missionary endeavor (15:24, 28). Part of his reason for writing Romans was to garner support from the Roman church for his missionary effort to Spain. He wanted their financial support, but more importantly, he wanted them to understand and support the gospel message he was preaching.

The letter is addressed to Christians in Rome, “all those who are loved by God and called to be saints.” (Rom. 1:6) This includes both Jewish and Gentile believers, and this point is important to understand the letter’s message and the gospel itself. We do not know a lot about the church in Rome, but one thing we do know is that Paul did not plant it. While we don’t have a lot of information as to when Christianity first came to Rome, in Acts 2 it does tell us there were Jewish people from Italy present in Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost. Some of these Italian Jews likely responded to the coming of the Holy Spirit and Peter’s gospel message. These new Christians then presumably were the ones who brought the message of Jesus the Messiah back to Italy, and thus the Christian church in Rome began.

These Christians who had come to saving faith in Christ while in Jerusalem for Pentecost, were Jewish Christians. If we assume the spread of the gospel in Rome was similar to what we see throughout Acts, Gentiles would have been added to their community too. Then in AD 49 there was a significant event that changed the situation. The Roman Emperor Claudius expelled all Jews from Rome. We read of this in Acts 18:1–2, where it mentions that Paul met Aquila and Priscilla, Jews who had recently come to Corinth from Italy, because “Claudius had commanded all the Jews to leave Rome.”

This left the Gentile Christians alone in Rome to continue the church there. Later, when Nero was emperor, the edict of Claudius expired, and the Jews were allowed to return to Rome. In Romans 16 Paul sends his greeting to Priscilla and Aquila, who have moved back to Rome. What this means then is that, for some time the church in Rome would have consisted of Gentiles only. When the Jewish Christians came back to Rome, there may have been tension between the two groups related to their understanding and practice of the Mosaic law. This would explain why Jew-Gentile issues are prominent in Romans, all through the letter but particularly in chapters 9–11.

The book opens with a greeting from Paul that opens the book and functions as an introduction to the whole book. We can see this by comparing it with the end of Romans, the doxology that concludes the letter.

Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God, which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy Scriptures, concerning his Son, who was descended from David according to the flesh and was declared to be the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord, through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith for the sake of his name among all the nations, including you who are called to belong to Jesus Christ, To all those in Rome who are loved by God and called to be saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. (Rom. 1:1–7)

Now to him who is able to strengthen you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery that was kept secret for long ages but has now been disclosed and through the prophetic writings has been made known to all nations, according to the command of the eternal God, to bring about the obedience of faith— to the only wise God be glory forevermore through Jesus Christ! Amen. (Rom. 16:25–27)

Notice the repeated words and ideas in these opening and closing sections: gospel, Jesus Christ, Scriptures/prophetic writings, obedience of faith, nations, for his name/glory. As you read through Romans this week, be looking for those themes and how together they contribute to the gospel message Paul is unpacking. Also keep in mind that Romans is written to Christians, to those in Rome who have put their faith in Christ and for us today too. This is a book of rich theology as well as immensely practical encouragement for us to live in light of the grace we have received through Jesus.

We will also return to the OT at the end of the week and pick up where we left off after reading Isaiah. Jeremiah is the next book of the Latter Prophets, and by word count it is the longest book of the Bible. We will say more about Jeremiah in next week’s write up, but for now it might be helpful to go back and review some of the principles that can guide our reading of the Bible’s prophetic books. These were covered in the posts week 23 and week 24.