May 5, 2024

God’s Righteousness and God’s Gift of Righteousness

Passage: Romans 1-5

Since we have been away from Romans for so long, I thought it would be good for us to do a refresher summary of the first five chapters.

You may remember in my first sermon I waxed eloquent on how great a book Romans is, the Mount Everest of the books of the Bible.

John Knox said, “It is unquestionably the most important theological work that has ever been written.”

“Arguably the most influential book in Christian history” (Doug Wilson).

The great English poet Samuel Coleridge said, “Paul’s Epistle to the Romans is the greatest piece of literature ever written, the most profound work in existence.”

“One of the greatest documents ever written by a human being” (N.T. Wright).

It’s been called “The cathedral of the Christian faith,” “The Magna Carta of the human soul.” It is in reality the Declaration of Independence, Constitution, and Bill of Rights of the Christian faith. Romans is the most complete summary of Christian doctrine. If all the Bible were lost except Romans, almost no fundamental doctrine would be lost. This is the Gospel according to the Apostle Paul.

This is the book the Church of the 21st century needs to discover all over again. We all need reformation, renewal, revival. May it begin here in our study of Romans.

Let’s sink our teeth into Romans again, read it, reflect on it, pray for the Spirit to open our hearts and apply it. Make real work of knowing and living this truth. And the offer still stands, $200 to the person who memorizes it. It’s a little over 7,000 words, about 15 pages.