The Normal Christian Life by Watchman Nee

The Sinfulness of Humanity - 1

Note: See the Answer Key at the bottom of this page to fill in the blanks.

Paul’s letter starts out with the ____________ ______________ of the Gospel. He invests the first 81verses of his letter to the Romans in outlining the sinfulness of humanity.

Let’s look at an overview of Romans 1:1-3:20.

Romans 1:1-7	Greetings from Paul	The first 7 verses are a greeting.
Romans 1:8-17	God’s Good News	The next 10 are a brief statement of the Good News.
Romans 1:18-32	God’s anger at sin	The next 15 verses pour out an explanation of God’s anger at ALL sin.
Romans 2:1-16	God’s judgment of sin	The first 16 verses of chapter two establish that God WILL judge sin.
Romans 2:17-29	The Jews and the Law	The final 13 verses of chapter two establish that the Jews though they have the Law of Moses are equally subject to the judgment of God unless they keep the law.
Romans 3:1-8	God remains faithful	In the first 8 verses of chapter three Paul points out the absurd logic of some who say that sin serves a “good purpose” in showing God’s goodness in declaring sinners innocent.
Romans 3:9-20	All people are sinners	In the next 12 verses of chapter three Paul establishes from Scripture that ALL have sinned.

Romans 1:1-7

1This letter is from Paul, Jesus Christ’s slave, chosen by God to be an apostle and sent out to preach his Good News.

“slave” – doulos one _____________ by another.

“apostle” apostolos one who is “sent with a purpose.” The emperor’s messengers were called apostles

Paul’s purpose: to ____________ his Good News.

2This Good News was promised long ago by God through his prophets in the holy Scriptures.

Good News – euangellion (evangelism)

Paul starts at the outset to tie the Good News of Jesus to the PROMISES of God in the ______________ Scriptures. He wants all in the church in Rome to know that Jesus’ heritage is Jewish.

3It is the Good News about his Son, Jesus, who came as a man, born into King David’s royal family line.

The doctrinal nature of Paul’s letter is also seen from the beginning. Paul sets forth Jesus as:

1) One who came as a ______________ (Doctrine of the incarnation)

2) Born into King David’s royal family line. Thus, Jesus fulfilled the prophesies of the promised ___________________.

4And Jesus Christ our Lord was shown to be the Son of God when God powerfully raised him from the dead by means of the Holy Spirit. (or spirit of holiness)

Formal title “Jesus Christ” often used by Paul combines both Jesus’ given name: Jesus - Yeshua - Savior, with His title - Christ - Messiah - “anointed one.”

Lord – Title of respect, some translations “sir” is used. One who is ________________ over.

The Son of God -- Not “a” son of God, but “THE Son of God.

The proof was _________________. (Note that God powerfully raised Jesus, by means of the Holy Spirit---the triune God is seen in this statement.)

What an amazing amount of doctrine for a “greeting”!

5Through Christ, God has given us the privilege and authority to tell Gentiles everywhere what God has done for them, so that they will believe and obey him, bringing glory to his name.

Paul now makes the case for his authority. It comes from God—through Christ. His role, his apostleship is

to tell ________________ ________________ what God has done for THEM

Purpose: So They will BELIEVE and OBEY (trust and obey; have faith and obey). This is consistently the formula for blessing in the Bible – believe and obey.

Trust and obedience also GLORIFIES God!!!

6You are among those who have been called to belong to Jesus Christ,

Paul recognizes that the readers of His letter are included in those who “have been called” to belong to Jesus. This is consistent with Jesus’ own teaching: “You didn’t ____________ me, but I ___________________ you.” (John 15:16)

7dear friends in Rome. God loves you dearly, and he has called you to be his very own people.May grace and peace be yours from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Paul has never met the Roman Christians, but calls them “dear friends.” That is because our relationship with other Christians is not based on familiarity, but on JESUS.

God loves you dearly, and He has called you to be His very own people. This is undoubtedly Paul’s means of indicating that the Gentile believers are part of God’s people (the spiritual Israel.) For Paul, the Gentiles must become part of the “spiritual” Israel, because that is God’s people.

Paul closes this section with His familiar blessing-- May grace and peace….

Grace always precedes peace—until we receive God’s __________ we will never know ___________.

Romans 1:8-17

Paul now moves to his understanding of who the Roman Christians are and what they are doing for the cause of the Gospel (the Good News of Jesus), as well as a very basic presentation of the content of the Gospel.

8Let me say first of all that your faith in God is becoming known throughout the world. How I thank God through Jesus Christ for each one of you.

0000As an “unknown” quantity to the Roman Christians, Paul starts off by praising the Romans’ reputation, which is becoming “known throughout the world.” As is typical of the letters Paul wrote to churches he had established he also offers thanks to God for the believers in Rome.

Gratitude is a very important part of our __________________ with other Christians

9God knows how often I pray for you. Day and night I bring you and your needs in prayer to God, whom I serve with all my heart£ by telling others the Good News about his Son.

Paul’s constancy in prayer is amazing! He has never met the Roman Christians and yet he tells them that he prays for them that he prays for them and their needs “day and night.”

This reminds us of how superficial our prayer lives often are. Paul believed in the power of prayer, and therefore, practiced prayer constantly!

The Greek for “all my heart” is literally in my spirit. Paul held to the “tri-partate” nature of human beings, which consists of body, soul and spirit. Thus, modern translation misses this when it translates “heart” in place of spirit.

NOTE: Paul serves God in his spirit by TELLING others the Good News about his Son. Our external actions spring from our inner ______________, when our spirit is under the control of the Holy Spirit.

10One of the things I always pray for is the opportunity, God willing, to come at last to see you.

Paul’s vision for ministry was “big picture.” His goal was for EVERYONE, everywhere to hear the Good News of Jesus. Visiting the Romans was an opportunity for which he prayed, leaving the fulfillment to God’s will.

Often we want to know God’s will for our lives, Paul lived daily in a life of prayer, and spirit-guided activity. Thus, he knew that God’s will would come about as a result.

11For I long to visit you so I can share a spiritual blessing with you that will help you grow strong in the Lord.

Paul knew that he had something worth offering to the Roman Christians—a _______________ blessing. The ultimate result of this would be that they would grow STRONGER in the Lord. Paul’s frame of reference was always the advancement of the ______________ _____ ________, not his own advancement.

12I’m eager to encourage you in your faith, but I also want to be encouraged by yours. In this way, each of us will be a blessing to the other.

Paul recognized the principle of “reciprocity” in our relationships as Christians. We always have something to offer other Christians, but they also have something to offer us. In this way as Paul put it each of us is a blessing to the other.

What would change in our relationships if we saw every other Christian as a potential source of blessing and we sought to be a blessing to them?

13I want you to know, dear brothers and sisters,£ that I planned many times to visit you, but I was prevented until now. I want to work among you and see good results, just as I have done among other Gentiles.

The original text always reads “brothers” – adelphos. However, the Greek language is the same as Spanish in that when one speaks of an individual brother or sister the words have distinct “gender” endings, while when speaking of “brothers and sisters” one may use the masculine plural to include both. More recent translations take into account that churches consisted of both men and women.

Paul does not give any reason for being prevented from visiting Rome, however, in other places it is recorded that the Holy Spirit prevented Paul from going certain places.

14For I have a great sense of obligation to people in our culture and to people in other cultures,£ to the educated and uneducated alike.

“other cultures” – Greek – “Greeks and barbarians

15So I am eager to come to you in Rome, too, to preach God’s Good News.

16For I am not ashamed of this Good News about Christ. It is the power of God at work, saving everyone who believes—Jews first and also Gentiles. 17This Good News tells us how God makes us right in his sight. This is accomplished from start to finish by faith. As the Scriptures say, “It is through faith that a righteous person has life.”£

The Scripture quoted at the end of verse 17 is Hab. 2:4

This is one of the most powerful and succinct statements of faith offered in the Bible. Paul wants the Roman Christians to understand that the Good News of Jesus Christ IS the power of God to save everyone who believes.

Paul makes his first distinction between Jews and Gentiles here. The Jews are saved “first.” What does this mean? That Jesus came first to the Jews, as Savior of the Jews. Only after His death and resurrection did the Good News extend to the rest of the world!

Paul points out that we become right with God – are justified, in theological terms by ______________.

ANSWER KEY: bad news, owned, preach, Jewish, man, Messiah, master, resurrection, Gentiles, everywhere choose, chose, grace, peace, gratitude, spirit, spiritual, kingdom of God, faith

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