PREFACE
Today I have completed another exposition, that of the book of Acts. Now I am beginning my exposition of Paul's Epistle to the Church at Rome. I will attempt to keep my exposition as brief as possible as to not get bogged down on any one point, and still bring out what I believe is necessary for us to receive the full benefit of the doctrines Paul is teaching. I will continue to use the same format I have always used in my expositions of writing each verse in the King James Version, and then my LGT (literal Greek translation). As I pointed out before, this practice is for my benefit so that I do not lose what I have studied in the Greek grammar. Sometimes it does help in understanding more completely what the KJV might have overlooked or has presented in the Old English, which we may not be familiar in the twenty-first century. I by no means, say that the KJV is a faulty translation; I simply believe our language changes with our times. May God bless us as we study the Book of Romans, for it is to His honor and glory that my labors are directed; and it is to Him that I am eternally grateful that I belong to Him, and the Holy Spirit superintends my thoughts as I depend on His indwelling presence to keep my ego in check, and allows me to exegete correctly what the Holy Spirit spoke to us through the Apostle Paul.
INTRODUCTION
The Church at Rome had already existed when Paul visited them (Acts 28:15). The Epistle to the Romans was written in the koine Greek (the common language of the people of the western world).
Vincent notes:
"Paul had long desired to preach the Gospel at Rome, but when, apparently, on the eve of accomplishing his wish, his plan was complicated by the necessity of visiting Jerusalem with the collection for the poor saints. He did not, in any event, contemplate a long stay in Rome, intending to take it en route for Spain. Being thus delayed, he determined to write at once, in order to meet the immediate needs of the Church and to prepare the way for his personal presence. The epistle was written during his last visit at Corinth (Acts 20:2,3), and was dispatched by the hands of Phoebe the deaconess, about A.D. 59. Its authenticity is generally conceded, together with the fact that it was written in Greek, though some Roman Catholic critics have maintained that it was written in Latin. There is nothing surprising on its having been written in Greek, since the Greek language was prevalent at Rome, having become indeed the general language of the world, and the composition of the letter in Greek accords with Paul's Hellenic associations and training. The Latin fathers never claim their own language as the original of any part of the New testament, and Ignatius, Justin, and Irenaeus all wrote in Greek to Romans" (Marvin R. Vincent - An Introduction to Romans).
The Catholic Church claims that Peter established the Church at Rome, and was its first Pope. This claim, like most of the Catholic Church's claims, is based on supposition and fable and not fact. As a matter of fact, Paul established the Church at Rome by long distance; his preaching had converted many as their paths crossed as these new Christians went to their homes in Rome; such was the case of Priscilla and Aquila. On this fact of Paul establishing the Church at Rome by "way of long distance", McGee writes:
"We have a very striking example of this in Acts where we find Paul going to Corinth. After these things Paul departed from Athens, and came to Corinth; and found a certain Jew named Aquila born in Pontus, lately come from Italy, with his wife Priscilla; (because that Claudius had commanded all Jews to depart from Rome and came unto them. And because he was of the same craft, he abode with them, and wrought: for by their occupation they were tentmakers (Acts 18:1-3). Paul had met Aquila and Priscilla - their home was in Rome, but there had been a wave of ant-Semitism; Claudius the emperor had persecuted them, and this couple had left Rome. They went to Corinth. We find later that they went with Paul to Ephesus and became real witnesses for Christ. Then, when Paul wrote the Epistle to the Romans, they had returned to Rome, and Paul sent greetings to them. We do have this very personal word in Acts concerning this couple. What about others? Well, Paul did know them. That means he had also met them somewhere and had led them to Christ. Paul was the founder of the Church at Rome by long distance - by leading folk to Christ who later gravitated to Rome."
Calvin states Paul's purpose in writing this Epistle, wonderfully:
"The only remedy, as means for this evil (that man believes he has something to do with his own salvation), is that which we find employed by Paul in this Epistle. He begins by showing what every man, Jew and Gentile, is by nature (totally depraved); he proves by the clearest evidence, that all have sinned and become guilty before God. And having done this, he discloses the way of salvation, which God Himself has planned and revealed; and he teaches us, that it is altogether by grace and through faith that we can be saved, and not by works. In order cordially to embrace this latter truth, it is necessary to know the first, that we are sinners under condemnation. It is impossible, according to the very constitution of man's mind, that we should really and truly accede [agree] to the one, without a real and deep knowledge of the other. The whole need not a physician, but the sick. It is only he who is really convicted of sin who feels its guilt and its burden intolerable, that ever will, or indeed ever can, really lay hold on that free salvation which God has provided. And when this free salvation is really known, all other things compared with it will be deemed as nothing; and then all outward privileges will be viewed only as means, and all outward acts of religion only as aids and helps; and then also all our works, however great and self-denying, will be regarded in no way meritorious, but imperfect and defective, and acceptable only through the merits of our High Priest at God's right hand."
Share freely but cite the source: http://bbbiblehelps.epizy.com