The Book of Romans

These summary notes are taken from the four volume expositional commentary of

James Montgomery Boice

· Romans Volume I: Justification by Faith – Romans 1-4

§ Baker Books, 1991 – Grand Rapids, Michigan

· Romans Volume II: The Reign of Grace – Romans 5-8

§ Baker Books, 1992 – Grand Rapids, Michigan

· Romans Volume III: God and History – Romans 9-11

§ Baker Books,1993 – Grand Rapids, Michigan

· Romans Volume IV: The New Humanity – Romans 12-16

§ Baker Books, 1995 – Grand Rapids, Michigan

The Book of Romans

Romans – Introduction 3

Romans 1:1-15 - Greetings 5

Romans 1:16-17 - The Heart of Biblical Religion 12

There is No One Righteous, Not Even One 15

Romans 1:18-1:32 - The Natural Person 16

Romans 2:1-2:11 - The Morally Upright Person 28

Romans 2:17-3:8 - The Religious Person 35

Romans 3:9-3:20 - All People Apart from Christ 44

Salvation by Grace through Faith 54

Romans 3:21-3:31 – Introduction of the Doctrine 55

Romans 4 - Salvation by Grace in the Old Testament 69

The Security of Our Salvation 79

Romans 5:1-11 - Benefits of Salvation by Grace 79

Romans 5:12-21 - Death in Adam, Union with Christ 83

Romans 6 - Freedom from Sin 91

Romans 7 - Freedom from the Law 101

Romans 8 - The Greatest Chapter in the Bible 112

Has God Failed with Israel? 152

Romans 9:1-5 – Paul and His People 153

Romans 9:6-29 – The Justification of God 157

Romans 9:30-10:21 – Jewish Unbelief 171

Romans 11:1-32 – The Times of the Gentiles 191

Romans 11:33-36 – Doxology 204

The New Humanity 209

Romans 12:1-2 - Applied Christianity 209

Romans 12:3-21 – The Christian and Other People 215

Romans 13:1-7 – Church and State 222

Romans 13:8-14 – The Law of Love 225

Romans 14: 1-15:13 – Christian Liberty 229

Romans 15:14-15:33 – Paul’s Personal Ministry Plans 242

Romans 16 – Final Greetings 249

Appendices 255

Appendix: Monopoly Money and Human Righteousness 255

Appendix: Advice for Doing the Right Thing 256

Appendix: Spiritual Warfare 257

Appendix: Give God the Glory 258

Appendix: Love: The Greatest Thing in the World 259

Appendix: The Sad Case of Unbelievers 261

Romans – Introduction

The apostle Paul wrote the letter to the church of Rome nearly 2000 years ago. In any other circumstance and by any other hand, the letter might have been a mere incidental piece of correspondence. But the author of this letter was the apostle Paul, and by his hand and under the guidance of the Holy Spirit this bit of ancient writing became for Christians the most influential document ever penned.

The Epistle to the Romans has been used by God’s people throughout the ages. The most notable is Martin Luther who wrote, “I had no love for that holy and just God who punishes sinners. I was filled with secret anger against him. I hated him, because, not content with frightening by the law and the miseries of life us wretched sinners, already ruined by original sin, he still further increased our tortures by the gospel… But when, by the Spirit of God, I understood the words – when I learned how the justification of the sinner proceeds from the free mercy of our Lord through faith… then I felt born again like a new man… In very truth, this language of Saint Paul was to be the true gate of Paradise.” He called Romans “the chief part of the New Testament and the very purest gospel.”

But can we expect that a study of Romans is beneficial for our day and age? There is every reason to expect it, and the chief reason is that Christianity has been the most powerful, transforming force in human history – and the book of Romans is the most basic, most comprehensive statement of true Christianity. Many disagree with this and say that it is only our behavior, our intentions, or simply knowing that God loves us that is important. These views have a seed of wisdom but they overlook the major issue. The fundamental human problem is not to understand what proper behavior is – we often know right from wrong but fail to do right. The problem is not that we need to know God loves us – we may know this yet we do not love him and do not want him to be Lord of our lives. The Book of Romans shows how God deals with this problem and because this is the basic dilemma of human life, it necessarily unveils the true solution to nearly everything else.

The Book of Romans teaches the ruin of the human race in sin and the provision of a perfect and eternal remedy for that ruin through the work of Jesus Christ.

Is Romans relevant today? It is as long as people of every race, culture, and nationality are estranged from God because of sin.

Is Christianity relevant? It is as long as it can redeem us for God, produce holiness in those who are trapped by sin, explain the meaning of life, and change history.

All world religions other than Christianity create a set of requirements and rules that claim to lead a person to God. Although these rules can be heard, understood and memorized, they are impossible to follow 100% completely 100% of the time. If this is your understanding Christianity (following a set of rules to obtain the reward of Heaven), then the gospel of Romans is written for you! Many people believe they must live up to impossible moral standards set by religion and in their frustration abandon all religion altogether. Although this eliminates the burden of moral laws, it does nothing to bring one closer to God. Neither of these paths are good news – one sets standards impossible to achieve and the other path leads to certain separation from God. The Good News of God that Paul is teaching tells the world there is a way by which any and every person can have salvation and life with God without personally achieving impossible moral standards! Christianity is not a theology that says “Do this, don't do that” it good news that says: DONE! The work of salvation has been done by Jesus Christ and only needs to be accepted as a free gift – salvation does not need to be worked for or earned! If you need to know more, simply follow through the masterpiece of Romans.

Romans 1:1-15 - Greetings

1Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God,

Paul was not the “founder of Christianity” as some has called him. Jesus alone deserves that title. Yet Paul is so important as the first and greatest of the church’s missionaries and as the articulator and organizer of its theology that discrediting his claim to have been called and taught by Christ would seriously undermine Christianity itself. If Paul was not converted as a result of seeing the risen Lord while on the road to Damascus, as he claimed, and if he did not receive his gospel by a direct revelation from Jesus Christ, then Paul was a charlatan, his writings are not true, and Christianity is stripped of its single most important teacher after Jesus Christ.

Paul was simply brilliant. He came from the Greek city of Tarsus where we must assume that he received an outstanding Greek education. However, the chief factor in his academic development was is education in Judaism under the renowned Rabbi Gamaliel (see Acts 22:3). The son of a Pharisee, he became a Pharisee himself (see Acts 23:6). Paul thus had the benefits of the best possible secular and religious education.

From the moment Paul met the resurrected Jesus Christ on the road to Damascus, Paul was a changed man. From that moment he became a slave to Jesus Christ – his life was completely devoted to him. He had a devout love for the Lord and it is only his love that explains the nature and rigor of his life’s work. Paul had many accomplishments that he could give as this letter opens, but he chooses to be simply called “a servant of Christ Jesus.” This is Paul.

Paul speaks with the authority of an Apostle. The office of an Apostle is much greater than that of a disciple only. Apostles were taught and used by God for communicating and recording the great doctrines and truths of Christianity. See Galatians 1:1, 11-12.

1Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God, 2which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy Scriptures,

Paul has written the Epistle to the Romans in order to expound God’s gospel – which means good news. Aside from Christianity, the religions of the world are not at all good news. Apart from Christianity all the religions of the world are self-help or “works” religions. That is, they tell you how to find God (or peace, or happiness, or whatever) by human efforts. If this were possible, religion may be good news; however, the task is not possible. A religion based on what you and I can do is comfortless because its requirements become burdens that can never be lifted.

In our day many people have recognized this and have therefore sought happiness in the religion of “no religion.” They see religion as a tool of some people to control others and therefore something that an enlightened society should throw away. At first this seems like good news but this evaporates quickly. If there is no God, then there is no ultimate authority that must hold us accountable. But if there is no God then what we do with this “freedom” is meaningless. Moreover, if what we do is meaningless, we must be meaningless too. We are accidental bubbles upon the great cosmic deep, destined to pop and be forgotten. “No religion” leads nowhere.

This gospel was not first preached by Paul or the other disciples. Jesus himself even refers to Scripture and the prophets as pointing toward his work long before his earthly ministry (see Luke 24:25-27). The entire Old Testament from Genesis 3:15-Malachi 4:5 speaks of God sending one to come and redeem his people.

The last thing to note in these verses is that is it the gospel “of God.” That is, he is the author and owner. He “promised beforehand through his prophets in the Holy Scriptures (v. 2).” He has sent his Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, to accomplish the work thus promised (v. 3). Finally, it is “through him and for his name sake” that Paul and the other apostles were proclaiming the gospel to men and women everywhere (v. 5).

The gospel is this: Through Jesus Christ, God is making right what sin has made wrong.

2which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy Scriptures, 3concerning his Son, who was descended from David according to the flesh 4and 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,

Unlike other religions, Christianity cannot be separated from its founder, the Lord Jesus Christ. In Buddhism, it is primarily the principles that are paramount. Even in Islam with the towering figure of Mohammad, the primary importance is the revelation itself – not Mohammad the prophet who received it. By contrast, Christianity is Jesus Christ – if he is removed, there is nothing of substance to the religion. If Christ is not who he said he was, then the whole system collapses and is meaningless. So who was Jesus Christ?

These early verses of Romans provide us with the declaration that Jesus Christ is unique in that he is fully God and was fully man during his earthly ministry. The term “Son of God” has been watered down in our day although the New Testament authors used this as a distantly divine title. See how Christ is set apart from other prophets in Matthew 16:16. See how Christ sets himself before Father Abraham and equal with God in John 8:53-58 and John 5:18. See also how he accepts the title of God from Thomas in John 20:28. See also Hebrews 1 where Christ is shown to be superior to all prophets and angels. In these verses we also see that he became the Son of David according to the flesh – that is, he is a physical descendent of King David. His ancestry from David also shows a specific example of things “promised beforehand” by God in “the Holy Scriptures.” (See Jeremiah 23:5-6)

We also see that this introduction ends with “Jesus Christ our Lord.” This is very important because it implies two things: Jesus is God and Jesus is the Savior.

Lord: In the Greek version of the Old Testament (the Septuagint), the word kyrios (“LORD”) was used to translate the Hebrew name for God: Yahweh, or Jehovah. The disciples of Christ knew this word was repeatedly used to translate the great name for God yet they did not hesitate to transfer the title to Jesus. See other examples such as 1 Corinthians 8:4-6, Luke 2:11, Philippians 2:5-11.

John Stott gives six implications of Christ being Lord of our Lives:

An intellectual implication: Christ must be Lord of our thinking. Jesus teaches us through the Scripture and transforms our minds from thinking as the world.
An ethical implication: Christ is Lord of our wills and our moral standards. This means that we must reject relativistic morals and accept the absolute morals set forth in scripture.
A vocational implication: Christ is Lord of our time; this means that he is Lord of our professions, ambitions, hobbies, and free time. Only a few are called to what we term “religious work.” But whether we work in a church, factory, hospital, law firm, corporation – whatever our calling, we must regard it as a form of Christian service and know that we are obeying our Lord Jesus as we pursue it.
An ecclesiastical implication: Christ is head of the church and gives us guidelines for orderly worship, church leadership, and church doctrine.
A political implication: We fight daily against a growing population of non-believers who do not openly reject religion but feel it is to be kept inside the walls of the church. We must bring the message to the world that all will be held accountable to Jesus and is not to be disregarded. This must be done in humility remembering that people are not answerable to us but to him. We must also know that our mission is to lead by example and word rather than force.
A global implication: This implication flows from the Great Commission by which the Lord sent disciples into the entire world to make disciples everywhere.

5through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith for the sake of his name among all the nations,