The Importance of the Book of Romans for the Church.

Pastor/Teacher
John Farley
Sunday,
September 20, 2009

Ultimately, the book of Romans and all that it accomplishes has one purpose, and it is the same reason that you and I were created - to glorify the LORD our God.

ROM 1:16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.

The central theme of the book of Romans is the Good News of what God has done in His Son the Lord Jesus Christ. It is the Gospel.

ROM 16:25 Now to Him who is able to establish you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery which has been kept secret for long ages past,

The purpose of the book of Romans is to establish believers in the truth of the Gospel, because this will glorify God.

Sterizo means to cause someone to become stronger in the sense of more firm and unchanging in attitude or belief. It also means to turn resolutely in a certain direction. It describes a settled, stable spiritual condition.

ROM 1:11 For I long to see you in order that I may impart some spiritual gift to you, that you may be established;

“It (sterizo) includes not only a knowledge of the truth, and a settled persuasion in Christ of that truth; but also obedience in the power of the Spirit to the truth.”

ROM 15:13
Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you will abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

PHI 3:20 For our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ;

COL 1:13 For He rescued us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son,

The Book of Romans is the handbook for citizenship in the Kingdom of Heaven.

It tells us how to become a citizen of heaven (justification by faith alone in Christ alone).

It tells us all that God has done for us.

It tells us about all the tremendous blessings that come our way at the moment we become citizens (salvation, becoming born again).

It tells us how to live as Christians, citizens of heaven.

LUK 15:7 “I tell you that in the same way, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.”

Every citizen of heaven is an immigrant!

The book of Romans comes right after the book of Acts in the New Testament. It is the very first epistle that you find.

There have been debates and arguments about books in the New Testament and if they should even be included in the Canon of Scripture - but NEVER about Romans. It was always first on everyone’s list when it came to the epistles.

It’s very well understood that the first letter written by the apostle Paul, his earliest contribution to the New testament, is the First Letter to the Thessalonians.

It’s first because the church under the guidance of God the Holy Spirit has recognized that it is first in importance.

Romans provides the complete basic theological framework for the whole collection of Paul’s epistles.

The book of Romans provides the fundamentals about the Gospel and the plan of God that are absolutely essential for every Church Age believer to master.

Romans has played a truly exceptional role in the history and life of the church through the centuries.

In the fourth century, in North Africa, there was a man named Augustine. He would turn out to be perhaps the most remarkable Christian of that era. But he didn’t start out that way.

The church was saved from something called the Pelagian heresy at that time by the teaching of Augustine. He destroyed the false teaching of Pelagius by simply teaching on the Epistle to the Romans.

In the fall of 1515, Dr. Martin Luther, professor of Sacred Theology at the University of Wittenberg, Saxony, began to expound to his students the Epistle of Paul to the Romans.

ISA 9:2 The people who walk in darkness Will see a great light; Those who live in a dark land, The light will shine on them.

Then there was the conversion of John Wesley on May 24th 1738 in Aldersgate Street in London.