The Beginning of a Long Study - Romans Series Overview

Hello, all! 

Welcome to a very long study on Romans.

If this is your first time here, welcome! I'm about to give a short introduction to the study and dive right in. I hate wasting time (as you may find, in my writing style,) so I'm going to get right to the point, and be brief in doing so. I don't believe myself to be 100% correct, the final say-so-er on Romans. I'm not. God is. That said, this study will be an exhaustive one. I plan on going line by line, word by word, and I want to share my most important findings, and rest in what Scripture has said. I recommend reading these articles on Romans a few times - they are informative, and generally relaxed, but dense. I want to share as much as possible with you all, that we may become swiftly enlightened before Christ's return (as I believe that time is near.) This is for the edification of God's chosen - the saints, that is, you all, stemming from what we learn in this grand introduction to God's evangel to us. If you've been here before, I recommend scrolling to the end of the page, where you'll find links to every study in this series. God bless.

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What gives me the right to teach on the Bible?

It’s a fair question, truly! Peter himself tells us to beware, especially in the end days, for false teachers run rampant all over the world (2 Pet. 2:1-3). Surely I, with no professional college degree or credit in religious study, could not have anything to offer to shine light on God’s Word?

Here’s the thing: I agree! I don’t for one moment believe you should speak to any one person on the Bible and take their word as fact. Seriously, you could ask three different wise elderly women (like the kind you see sitting in their rocker over yonder by the house on the prairie) what God says will occur on and after the Day of the Lord, and each of them will reply differently. Hell, they may not even know what the Day of the Lord even is! The only common adjective to define their answers, it seems, would be “magnificent,” or, to some atheists, “improbable.” But you can’t take their word as fact, and the reality is that they are three elderly ladies who have seen the world change in so many ways you simply can’t comprehend yet. What can you do? They made up their minds sixty years ago.

With this notable understanding of human psychology in mind, this study of Paul’s thirteen epistles is not designed with my personal feelings or thoughts on any one matter defined – my simple goal is to study the Word itself, as well as the Word’s context (when was it written, where, and why.)

Before we get into all that, I feel an introduction is due. Hi! My name’s Stephen. I’m not famous, or special by any means. Born and raised in Baltimore, I have a much smaller life down here, making my way through college and looking for an apartment, just like most in their early 20s. I will be honest: I have never been to a church service outside of necessity for school, weddings, or funerals. I have, however, spent my entire elementary and majority middle school years in a Baptist school, where they beat me over the head with the Ten Commandments and grape juice. 

It may sound as though I mock their faith, but I don’t want you to get the wrong idea. I do not mock the faith of any religious person. They believe what they believe and that is their complete right by the Grace of God. However, as a wannabe intellectual I believe it’s fair to challenge common perceptions, because human logic is flawed, but Christ’s is not. Under intense scrutiny, the Word of God can and does hold up flawlessly, and if you can find flaws in the common perceptions (and I know many of you do,) then maybe what’s being taught has less to do with Christ than initially believed. Despite not being a mockery, this is an indictment on many people’s faith, but, more importantly, an indictment on the doctrines they have faith toward. That being said, if you must ask my personal feelings, I’ll say in my opinion, relatively, one is only to blame if they know the following Scriptural teachings (not my personal thoughts, but the words themselves,) and actively teach differently for any reason, knowing these are the just words of God. This teaches stubbornness, not peace.

Why Paul’s Letters? Well, it’s quite simple. Before the death of Christ, God kept the world out of his affairs with Israel. Oh, he used the world to mold Israel, sure (take their deliverance from Egypt, for example, or their multiple raids through the lands of Canaan,) but he never exclusively worked outside of the Jews. Even Jesus, during His Earthly Ministry, says in Matthew 15:24, “I was not commissioned except for the lost sheep of the House of Israel.” He even goes as far as to call a Canaanite woman a “puppy” two verses later.*

*(And anyone who thinks this is harsh misses the point, I think. Have you never heard of a ‘test?’ Would you call Willy Wonka a big meanie because he tests Charlie before deeming him worthy of his factory? Remember, two verses later He heals the woman’s daughter after calling her faith great (Jesus, not Willy Wonka.) He praises her!)

Post Resurrection, the nation of Israel, God's chosen people, are placed on the backburner (see: Romans 9-11,) for killing their Messiah. Paul, being the first member of the Body of Christ, shown the glorified Christ on the road to Damascus in Acts 9, writes letters to Rome, Ephasus, Thessalonica, Corinth, and Galatia – none of which are Jewish nations. The Disciples continued to preach Jesus’ Earthly Ministry – which, again, is clearly divided by Jesus Himself – and Paul began a separate ministry a few short years afterward (Gal. 2:7-8.) He leaves his religious institution to pursue a knowledge in Christ. I plan on doing the same thing. 

By the way, some of that may have sounded a tad weird to you, if it's your first time ever studying the Scriptures, or your first foray into anything written by Paul the Apostle. I'm not making any major attempts to prove my points, in these introductions, because it's not my place. This is supposed to be a bit of a... well, a "dipping your toes in the water" kind of passage. I want you to get a feel for what I'm going to be writing on, my writing style, and most importantly, the location of the proofs I'm going to be writing about.

Anyway, these letters are Paul’s collective knowledge on everything related to the spiritual side of Christ. These letters are written to the nations, and thus, in my state of non-Jewishness, I will be studying the letters written for other members of the Body of Christ. This is not to call the other books of the Bible lesser, or inferior, by any means; on the contrary, a foundational understanding of the Hebrew Scripture is beneficial in understanding the majority of references and arguments Paul makes to, for, and against Jewish law, and while I admit I don’t have all 613 laws memorized, it’s not pertinent for me to do so, nor is it required for salvation (Rom. 3:21a, 1 Cor. 15:1-4.) The reality is that Paul’s letters are a separate divine revelation, apart from Israel, for the Gentiles.

I'm going to explain and go into Scriptural teachings as they are taught. I'm going to let Scripture speak first, before writing any commentary on it. The most I will give beforehand is a bit of contextualization, but I've found that Scripture gives you... pretty much exactly what you need to know, and so long as you have the historical background, you really can't get lost.

Before we dive in, we must know where to dive in, if you understand my meaning. My general plan is to read from Romans to Philemon, comment on some of the language or beauty in the text, maybe compare it with a few verses, and move on. The bigger question, I think, is to ask which translation we should be reading from. As many know today, the original Bible was, for the most part, written in Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek, with Greek being the language of the New Testament. As such, we need a version that will give us a proper Greek rendering of the passages, along with proof for each verse.

Many would assume to read the King James Version, to which I will happily decline. There are far too many oversimplifications in King James, and while I don’t have time to go into every mistranslation in that old thing, I will document a few to prove that the KJV is just that: a version. It’s a perspective from King James and his merry band of translators. I figure if you’re reading this, you’re of the sane disposition that the government is not to be trusted, yes? I think this is further proven by the introduction of tithing in the 10^th century, where it became clear that the rich upper class felt a need to disregard God’s Word in favor of their country or church’s financial success. Terms like aion and hades, Greek words used often in Paul’s letters, are translated in many different ways by these guys with… varying degrees of success. Some translations make sense, while others are a real head-scratcher.            

Others may ask me to study the NIV, or the English Standard Version, or whatever. I’m not a fan of these versions, as they are merely one’s interpretation, or perspective on God. They are called “majority texts,” as they mix multiple translations (or, multiple interpretations) of God’s word into one mash-up in English. Do you see the problem, there? Since 2 Cor. 5:7 claims that we should walk by faith, not by perception, I’m comfortable saying that I’m a fan of God’s Version, which can only be found by reading Greek. As we don’t know Greek, we must find the next best thing. One of the only accurate versions that I’ve found, then, has been the Concordant Literal Version. The primary reason for this version is found in the heavy research compiled by an A.E. Knoch in order to (as accurately as possible) translate the New Testament from its perfect Greek form into a suitable English equivalent. For further Scriptural proof as to why I’m reading from this version, please refer to 1 Corinthians chapter 14 and Psalm 12:6.

You can read from the version, as well as look into its validity as one of the most definitive versions of Scripture here:

Read Concordant New Testament Online - Concordant Publishing Concern

Furthermore, I'm going to be using two major appendices in my studies. I won't, like, go into a bunch of linguistic detail on every verse, giving you Greek words that you and I can hardly pronounce and getting super technical. This is designed to help you, not wear you down or exhaust you. The two appendices I will be using are both the English-Greek Keyword Concordance, which A.E. Knoch provides with his translation to give complete proof of his literal translation, and Strong's Concordance, which can be found at the following link online:

KJV Search Results for "Jesus" (blueletterbible.org)

These tools should help us substantially in learning the context for many of these Greek words and concepts, despite not knowing the actual language itself.

Lastly, I would like to say that there is nothing tangible that I am getting out of this. These are merely musings I’ve gathered while reading the most important documents ever written. I am not receiving money from this, and in fact I could be working in the time I spend writing this, but I don’t. I’ve reached a point where this stuff is too important to ignore and my heart yearns for more members of the Body of Christ to reach their understanding and realization in Him.

I said earlier that I believe many members of today’s organized religions have a faith. That is a fact. Faith in what, I suppose, will only be revealed on Judgment Day, but in the meantime I would like to shine a light on any inconsistencies that these modern doctrines contain, and how they impact the world today.

I know that this is a big thesis statement, but I think I’m comfortable with such a large project. I don’t know how long it will take, and I plan on taking an entertaining journalistic approach to everything, but it must be made clear that this project has nothing but Christ in mind and is driven by faith the Lord has given me in His Grace. That being said, I hope you enjoy, and we all come to a better understanding of Paul’s original Greek Scripture.

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I don't want to leave this introduction without really giving context on the first book of the evangel that we will be studying, which is Romans. So, here's a little forward that I think briefly touches on all the context we need.

Romans is one of my favorite books of the Bible. This book is the book that, upon my first reading back in 2020, showed me the extent of God’s Grace and Love. I’m not sure I myself can fully comprehend the extent of God’s Grace and Love, but I can say with absolute certainty that Romans sure told me about it! It’s a wonderful look into the technicalities of salvation, and introduced me to the notion that the Bible was more than a Christian’s guidebook to being good or something. This was a real letter written by a human being to other people seeking understanding of the world, the same way we hunt for meaning today.

First and foremost, this is a letter to the Roman people, particularly the Roman church. Many people drift past this fact in favor of fire and brimstone preaching, so I’ll say it now: Paul is writing with the spirit of Christ. Having read many of his epistles, I am not convinced that Paul (through Tertius) was a practiced writer. I’ve never looked into this, but you will be able to see, very quickly, in his rough style, that the Holy Spirit ties these writings together and gives them structure.

Despite being first on the list of letters, Paul actually wrote Romans in 56 A.D. while in Corinth, during his third missionary journey. God anointed as the first member of the Body, and He chose someone once so full of vile hatred and murderous intent so as to display His Mercy – completely through the justification of Christ’s faith. He chose a morally ambiguous person to contain a strong level of His faith in Christ’s Promises. This is to visually show us that faith justifies works. On a broad overview, this justification is broken down in Romans chapters 1-4. Paul explains afterward what this justification means for humanity (chapters 5-11.) He then tells people how to carry themselves while waiting for the return of our Lord (chapters 12-16.)

This is also the book of the Bible that taught me about God. Remember, while Jesus’ words are perfect, He had only arrived for the sheep of Israel to herald the arrival of their promised kingdom, not tell you or me how to handle our morning routine. This is the book of the Bible where an in-depth picture of God’s Grace and Love are on complete display for all of humanity to see. All we have to do is read it!

What surprises me most about this book, however, would be the realization that we are not the main focus (Rom. 1:3.) Humanity is the audience of Paul’s letters, while Christ is the priority. Holding this perspective through this book, as well as the following books, will help us gain a better understanding of what Paul is saying.

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The following links can connect you to the rest of this study (ongoing):

#1. Romans 1:1-7 - What's Going On?

#2. Romans 1:8-13 - Paul's Prayer and Desires

#3. Romans 1:14-17 - Let's Get This Thing Started

#4. Romans 1:18-23 - Indignation

#5. Romans 1:24-32 - The Effect(s) of Ignorance

#6. Romans 2:1-4 - Tywin Lannister (Judgment Series, Part I)

#7. Romans 2:5-10 - How to Piss Off God (Judgment Series, Part II)

#8. Romans 2:11-16 - Extensive Elaborating (Judgment Series, Part III)

#9. Romans 2:17-29 - Let's Talk About Jews!

#10. Romans 3:1-8 – Let’s Invalidate Objectors!

#11. Romans 3:9-20 - Concluding God's Sick Burn

Concerning Justification:

#12. Romans 3:21-23 - No Greater Relief (Justification Series, Part I)

#13. Romans 3:24-26 - What was Accomplished at the Cross? (Justification Series, Part II)

#14. Romans - Are All Currently Justified? (Justification Series, Part III)

#15. Romans 3:27-31 - Objections from the Pews- er, Jews (Justification Series, Part IV)

#16. Romans 4:1-8 - The Jews Heckle Paul about Shit They Don’t Know (Justification Series, Part V)

#17. Romans 4:9-12 - The Chicken or the Egg? (Justification Series, Part VI)

#18. Romans 4:13-16 - Law vs. Grace, Not Law And Grace (Justification Series, Part VII)

#19. Romans 4:17-25 – Faith’s proven Prominence, By Grace (Justification Series, Part VIII)

Concerning Conciliation:

#20. Romans 5:1-2 – Conciliation, Proclaimed (Conciliation Series, Part I)

#21. Romans 5:3-5 - Expectation (Conciliation Series, Part II)

#22. Romans 5:6-9 - The Love of God Presents... (Conciliation Series, Part III)

#23. Romans 5:10-11 - For the Love of God Overflows… (Conciliation Series, Part IV)

#24. Romans 5:12 - How Sin Rolls (Conciliation Series, Part V)

#25. Romans 5:13-14 - Elaborating on How Sin Rolls (Conciliation Series, Part VI)

#26. Romans 5:15-17 - Elaborating on the Opposite of Sin (Conciliation Series, Part VII)

#27. Romans 5:18 - Concluding the Broken Parallel (Conciliation Series, Part VIII)

#28. Romans 5:19 - Elaborating on the Consequence, Part 1 (Conciliation Series, Part IX)

#29. Romans 5:19 – Elaborating on the consequence, Part 2 (Conciliation Series, Part X)

#30. Romans 5:20 - The Final Contrast (Conciliation Series, Part XI)

#31. Romans 5:21 - The Final Comparison (Conciliation Series, Part XII)

Concerning the Eons:

#32. Romans - Let's Talk About the Eons

#33. Romans - Let's Talk About the Eons, Part II

#34. Romans - Let's Talk About the Eons, Part III

#35. Romans - Let's Talk About the Eons, Part IV

Concerning Conciliation:

#36. Romans 6:1-2 - Zoning in on Believers, Now (Conciliation Series, Part XIII)

#37. Romans 6:3 - How to Piss Off an Entire Religion (Conciliation Series, Part XIV)

#38. Romans 6:4 - That's Right, Paul was Going Somewhere With That (Conciliation Series, Part XV)

Concerning Death to Sin:

#39. Romans 6:5-6 - Our Flesh? That Silly Old Thing? (Conciliation Series, Part XVI)

#40. Romans 6:6 - Our Flesh? That Silly Old Thing? Pt. 2 (Conciliation Series, Part XVII)

#41. Romans 6:6-7 - Our Flesh? That Silly Old Thing? Pt. 3 (Conciliation Series, Part XVIII)

Concerning Conciliation:

#42. Romans 6:8-9 - Life, Life, Life (Conciliation Series, Part XIX)

#43. Romans 6:9-11 - More Life, Life, Life (Conciliation Series, Part XX)

#44. Romans 6:12 - Holy Sh… (Conciliation Series, Part XXI)

#45. Romans 6:13 - Ranting for a Bit (Conciliation Series, Part XXII)

#46. Romans 6:13-14 - Back to the Study (Conciliation Series, Part XXIII)

#47. Romans 6:15 - Yeah, So Let's Talk About Conduct (Conciliation Series, Part XXIV)

#48. Romans 6:15-18 - Love is Not Weak (Conciliation Series, Part XV)

#49. Romans 6:16-18 - You're Always Obeying Something (Conciliation Series, Part XVI)

#50. Romans 6:19-23 - Right, But Should We Be Sinning, Paul?? (Conciliation Series, Part XVII)

Concerning Death to Law:

#51. Romans 7:1-3 - Dead to Sin; Thus, Dead to Law - Pt. 1 (Conciliation Series, Part XVIII) 

#52. Romans 7:4 - Dead to Sin; Thus, Dead to Law - Pt. 2 (Conciliation Series, Part XXIX)

#53. Romans 7:5-6 - Dead to Sin; Thus, Dead to Law - Pt. 3 (Conciliation Series, Part XXX)

Concerning Law:

#54. Romans 7:7 - A Mini Education on the Law: A Broad Scope (Conciliation Series, Part XXXI)

#55. Romans 7:7 - A Mini Education on the Law: Its Penalty (Conciliation Series, Part XXXII)

#56. Romans 7:7 - A Mini Education on the Law: Christ, Our Lord (Conciliation Series, Part XXXIII)

Concerning Conciliation:

#57. Romans 7:7-8 - You Have Been Raped By Sin (Conciliation Series, Part XXXIV)

#58. Romans 7:9-11 - A Lot of Different Topics Smushed Into One Article, So That it Somehow Makes Sense (Conciliation Series XXXV)

#59. Romans 7:12-13 - The Complement of the Previous Article, So That All Those Different Topics Smushed into One Article Now Make Sense (Conciliation Series, Part XXXVI)

Concerning Experience Under Law:

#60. Romans 7:14 - Experience (Conciliation Series, Part XXXVII)

#61. Romans 7:14 - Experience - Thesis (Conciliation Series, Part XXXVIII)

#62. Romans 7:15-17 – Experience – Paul’s First Wave of Lament (Conciliation Series, Part XXXIX)

#63. Romans 7:18-20 – Experience – Paul’s second Wave of Lament (Conciliation Series, Part XL)

#64. Romans 7:21-23 – Experience – Paul’s Third Wave of Lament (Conciliation Series, Part XLI)

#65. Romans 7:24-25 - Experience - Paul's Cry (Conciliation Series, Part XLII)

#66. Romans 7:25 - Experience - Conclusion (Conciliation Series, Part XLIII)

Concerning Conciliation:

#67. Romans 8:1-2 - No Longer Condemned, Part 1 (Conciliation Series, Part XLIV)

#68. Romans 8:1-2 - No Longer Condemned, Part 2 (Conciliation Series, Part XLV)

#69. Romans 8:3-4 - Here’s a Big Ass Run-on for Ya (Conciliation Series, Part XLVI)

#70. Romans 8:3-4 - Here’s More of that Big Ass Run-on for Ya (Conciliation Series, Part XLVII)

#71. Romans 8:3-4 - Levitical Offerings Fulfilled in Romans (Conciliation Series, Part XLVIII)

#72. Romans 8:3-4 - Anyway, Let’s Wrap Up That Big-Ass Run-On (Conciliation Series, Part XLIX)

#73. Romans 8:5 - Are You Still Living In Accord with Flesh? After All We’ve Learned?? Why, Homie!? (Conciliation Series, Part L)

#74. Romans 8:6-7 - Seriously, Why?? (Conciliation Series, Part LI)

- GerudoKing