Hi James and Ellen,
Romans is an apologetic for Christ-follower guys and gals. The guy who told Tertius what to pen in a letter to send to Christ-follower guys and gals who were living in the city of Rome persecuted and executed guys and gals before he became of Christ-follower after God blinded him with a bright light as he was walking on the road to the city of Damascus. The guy – whose name was Saul, first appeared on the scene around 34 A.D. Saul was born in the city of Tarsus – in the region of Cilicia. Saul’s heritage was part Jewish. Saul was an intelligent guy who had been rabbinically educated on the Torah through the teaching of Gamaliel. After an incarnate Man – whose name was Jesus Christ, was inhumanly hung on and nailed to a cross, a new belief paradigm began to take root that was built on Jesus Christ’s teachings, life, death and resurrection. Guys, gals and kids who were accepting unconditionally this new faith norm were called Christ-followers. As the Christ-follower community of guys and gals grew, so did the number of gals within the Christ-follower community grow who desperately needed financial assistance. The guys who had been personally coached/mentored by Jesus Christ decided to select seven guys to be deacons to take on the fair distributing of donations that were being given by Christ-follower guys and gals for Christ-follower gals who needed monetary aid. Stephen was one of these seven guys. Because of his totally unabashed assurance in his Christ-follower faith, Stephen fearlessly became a spokesman in the city of Jerusalem for unreservedly accepting Who Jesus Christ was, is and forever will be. Because what Stephen was stating as truth to whoever would listen to him conflicted with laws that are in the Torah, some Jewish traditionalists who were living in the city of Jerusalem became so irate with Stephen that they had Stephen martyred by stoning him to death. Luke in the Acts letter that he sent to his friend Theophilus asserts that Saul held cloaks of the guys who threw stones at Stephen. Your grandpaa believes that Saul had a decision making role in having Stephen stoned to death. It was probably not long after Saul watched Stephen being buried under a salvo of rocks – which was around 34 A.D., that Saul – on his way from the city of Jerusalem to the city of Damascus – where he was going to to round up as many Christ-follower guys and gals as he could find to bring back to the city of Jerusalem to be imprisoned or killed as Stephen was, was literally blinded by a God-emitted bright light. This seminal incident in the life of Saul – who had God change his name to Paul, led Saul to become a Christ-follower and then later as be an accepted, well-known itinerant sent one – who are known today as a missionary, who was used by God to impart the Good News message wherever he went. Paul – as he was doing ministry in the city of Corinth – in the country of Greece, dictated to Tertius the letter that he sent to Christ-followers in the city of Rome between December 56 A.D. and February 57 A.D.
Your grandpaa thinks that Paul’s dictation of his Romans Letter that was sent to the embryonic Christ-follower community of guys and gals in the city of Rome came from his Tyrannus Hall teaching syllabus. Before Paul left on his third missionary journey to go on to the city of Corinth – where he spent December 56 A.D. to February 57 A.D., Paul spent at least two years in the city of Ephesus during which time your grandpaa believes that Paul established a standard that is germane today when he took on the challenge of enabling guys to be elders in house churches that were in the city of Ephesus. Paul uses his Romans Letter to make an unambiguous theological positional statement that faith alone – because of God’s unmerited grace, is what justifies the born again relationship that a guy, gal or kid has in and with Christ Jesus after he or she has been led by God – as the Holy Spirit, to make a decision of faith to personally accept Jesus Christ as being his or her Lord and Savior. Paul begins his Romans Letter by establishing a mindset among his readers – who were both Jew and Gentile Christ-followers, that the world that they are living in is a lost world. Your grandpaa reads into what Paul is conveying in his letter to the Christ-follower guys and gals who were living in the city of Rome that God will continue to let evil usurp good so that in His perfectly ordered schematic, every guy, gal and kid who continued, is continuing and will continue to walk Satan’s enticing dark path will have no excuse after passing through death’s door into the pit of fire for having to suffer the consequences of refusing to heed the Holy Spirit’s quiet whispering call to walk hope’s narrow faith path. Paul informally finishes the sixteen chapters in his letter with greetings to Christ-follower guys and gals who were living in the city of Rome.
Your grandpaa has identified a portion of the Romans Letter to be the matrix for how to live a Christ-follower life. Paul’s exhortation of the Jew and Gentile Christ-follower guys and gals in the city of Rome who were meeting together was to give their lives as a shared goal as living sacrifices to God applies as much today as it did going on 2,000 years ago. Paul knew that no matter what experiences that a Christ-follower guy, gal or kid has had, that it is always important that a Christ-follower guy, gal and kid maintain a singular focus to listen constantly, obediently and proactively to the non-stop prompting of God – as God the Spirit, versus defying God by trying to use his or her own ability to try to do what God is able to do for him or her through His unrestrained power and undeserved mercy.
Romans