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Brief Bible Study Notes from our Thursday Fellowship

Book of Romans

Chapter 1 --

The Gospel is an important message—that Christ died for our sins and rose from the dead. We must not be ashamed of sharing this message, because it is not a false message like other religions have. It is a true message. The gospel is God's power to save everyone who believes. Everyone who trusts Christ as Savior, from every people group on earth, will be saved.

God's wrath is deserved by all on the earth, and He is revealing that, convicting the world by the Holy Spirit. God made it clear that He is there to every person who has ever lived. The world and universe He created shows every person that He is there, because for anything to exist, something had to always exist. That something is God.

However, people universally did not want to acknowledge, worship, and obey God. So they turned aside to false beliefs, including idolatry and false worship of gods that are not real at all. Because people worshipped creation instead of the God who created all things, God gave them up to destroy themselves with their sin, since that is the way they chose, and His wrath awaits them in the end, if they do not believe the gospel and find salvation.

God revealed Himself through nature, leaving mankind without excuse for not worshipping Him.

Chapter 2--

God also left mankind without excuse for sins, by giving us a conscience—an ability to discern the fact that our actions are sinful, even though we choose them. When we pass judgment on other people who sin against us, we prove that it is wrong when we do the same things and sin. Both the religious people with God's law, and pagans who have not read God's law have this within them—the ability to realize that we are sinners in need of salvation.

Chapter 3--

Everyone of us is utterly sinful, by our nature and by our choice. We were all born in sin and we all have chosen to sin when we didn't have to. If we are judged by our actions, we will be condemned by God, and that is what we deserve.

However, God has provided a way for us to be made righteous, so that we can have eternal life in heaven, instead of eternal suffering in hell. This is that we would be given the righteousness of Christ through faith in Him. He lived a perfect life without sin, in our place. Then He died in our place, absorbing all of the punishment for our sins. By trusting in Him, we can have complete forgiveness and be made righteous, despite our sinful acts.

Chapter 4, part 1

Here in Cluj, we have the teachers of various religious traditions, including the orthodox priests, the 7^th Day Adventists, and the group calling themselves Jehovah's Witnesses. These three all have told me that they value and follow Old Testament law, and that their traditions can supersede the grace of God in the New Testament.

Here in Chapter 4, we learn, though, that salvation by grace through faith was not a new idea for God when Jesus came. It was always the only basis for faith. Abraham was saved by his faith, that God counted for righteousness, before there even was a religious law sent by God. That law was sent to show us how we need faith for salvation. Keeping the law for righteousness is impossible for us, because we are not righteous—we are sinners. The law, and our failure to obey it, shows us that. And our salvation is a work of God in us that we do not deserve, so that we cannot boast.

Chapter 4, part 2

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