Romans: Paul's Masterpiece

If Revelation is near the bottom of my list of favorite books in the Bible, Romans is near the top. If I'm not mistaken, it was written as a thoughtful, purposeful treatise explaining Christian faith. It certainly delves into the most important issues that a growing Christian (and wouldn't that be all of us?) ought to think about.

It starts by carefully presenting the message of the gospel. First, every human is sinful. Romans 3:23: "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." Then it explains that the ONLY way to overcome sin is through God's grace "...and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Chtist Jesus" (Romans 3:24).

There's much more, of course. Paul fleshes out this theology carefully and in easy-to-understand terms. I love chapter 7 where Paul goes personal and describes his struggle with disobedience: "For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do--this I keep on doing" (Romans 6:18-19). I thought I was the only one who did that!

Chapters 9-11 have more theology about salvation. Chapters 12-16 are more practical, with a discussion of how one's faith should guide one's daily living.

Romans is packed with wonderful stuff, and lots of underline-able passages. My Bible has all kinds of markings in Romans.

But my favorite chapter in Romans is one of my all-time favorites for the whole Bible: Chapter 8. This chapter resounds with encouragement and comfort. It's great to read when we are discouraged or frightened or grieving. "I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us" (8:18). "In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God's will" (8:26-27).

"And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose" (8:28). "If God is for us, who can be against us?" (8:31)

And the great triumphant passage, "No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord" (8:37-39).

That, my friends, is the Living Word of God.
Amen.