Page 25 - Romans Student Textbook.doc

I. Know the Wonder of Your Salvation in Christ. (Foundation for the Instructions that follow.)
(1:18-11:39)

A. Salvation expounded and explained. (1:18-8:39)

1. The Context for Christ’s Redeeming Ministry. (1:18-4:24)

a) Man’s sin deserves God’s wrathful, impartial judgment. (1:18-2:16)
b) God’s law to Israel revealed sin but did not save from sin. (2:17-3:31)
c) Abraham as the example of faith in God’s promises. (4:1-24)

2. The Explanation of Christ’s Redeeming Ministry. (5:1-8:39)

a) The big picture of what Jesus has done. (5:1-12)
b) How Jesus compares to Adam. (5:13-21)
c) Questions about the relationship between sin and grace. (6:1-23)
d) Questions about the relationship between sin and law. (7:1-25)
e) How the Holy Spirit works with Christ in the word of salvation. (8:1-30)
f) A Concluding Doxological Homily. (8:31-39)

4.4 Chapter 3 – For ALL have sinned.

As Paul finished making his case that the sin of mankind deserves the wrathful,
impartial judgment of God, he touched on the reality that one of the ways that
God has chosen to make His will known to people is through a special revelation
of Himself to Israel called the law. As he continued to set the context in which
Christ’s redeeming ministry must be understood he anticipated a question from
the people to whom this letter was being read. The question would have been expressed something
like this. “Doesn’t the law save the Israelites?”

This is actually a question that was at the heart of the problem that occasioned the writing of this
letter. It was written to address the rift that had developed between those who were focused on
the keeping of the Old Testament law (called “the weak” by Paul) and those who were focused on
showing their freedom from the Old Testament law (called “the strong” by Paul). What Paul did
next, as he set the proper context for understanding and appreciating Christ’s ministry of
redemption from sin, was answer that question by carefully examining the relationship between
faith and the keeping of the law. His answer to the question is “God’s law for Israel revealed sin but
it did not save from sin.” Let’s notice how he unpacked that answer in Romans 2-3.

Physical circumcision (law-keeping) is of no value unless it is combined with faith that comes from the
Holy Spirit’s circumcision of a person’s heart. (2:17-19)

The first part of Paul’s answer to the question of the relationship between the law of God given to
Israel and salvation focused on the inconsistent history of Jewish believers when it came to living out
the law of God in the world in which they lived. He did that with a series of rhetorical questions

24