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Overview of ROMANS #1

Mike Middendorf

Christ College

Concordia, Irvine

MN, CSP, StL, ND, TX

The “I” in the Storm: A Study of Romans 7 (1990, 1997)

Concordia Commentaries (2013, 2016)

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• "This epistle [Romans] is really the chief part of the New Testament, and is truly the purest gospel. It is worthy not only that every Christian should know it word for word, by heart, but also that he should occupy himself with it every day, as the daily bread of the soul. We can never read it or ponder over it too much; for the more we deal with it, the more precious it becomes and the better it tastes" (Luther's Works, vol. 35, p. 365).

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As we begin, a prayer for grace to receive the Word

Blessed Lord, You have caused all Holy Scriptures to be written for our learning. Grant that we may so hear them, read, mark, learn and inwardly digest them,…

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For grace to receive the Word

….that, by patience and comfort of Your holy Word, we may embrace and ever hold fast the blessed hope of everlasting life; through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen

(LSB, p. 305; Romans 15:4)

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Title/Theme of ROMANS = 1:16-17

Οὐ γὰρ ἐπαισχύνομαι τὸ εὐαγγέλιον, δύναμις γὰρ θεοῦ ἐστιν εἰς σωτηρίαν παντὶ τῷ πιστεύοντι, Ἰουδαίῳ τε πρῶτον καὶ Ἕλληνι. ¹⁷ δικαιοσύνη γὰρ θεοῦ ἐν αὐτῷ ἀποκαλύπτεται ἐκ πίστεως εἰς πίστιν, καθὼς γέγραπται· ὁ δὲ δίκαιος ἐκ πίστεως ζήσεται.

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The Title/Theme = 1:16-17 �(cf. Psalm 98:2)

¹⁶ For I am not ashamed of the Good News, because it is [the] power of God into salvation for everyone who believes, to Jew first and also to Greek. ¹⁷For [the] righteousness of God is being revealed in it from faith[fulness] into faith, just as it stands written, "But the righteous person will live from faith."

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English is deficient with the BIG Romans words�

• Righteousness, Righteous, Justify? Why are “make just/justification” misleading? Why is “declare righteous” better?
• Faith, faithfulness, believe(?); potential problem with “have faith?”
• Life, Alive, Live

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Watch the preposition and pronouns!

Habakkuk 2:4b Yahweh declares that, in contrast to the wicked, “the righteous person will live in/with/by his faithfulness” (emunah)

In the Septuagint, the LORD declares, “The righteous person will live from MY faithfulness” (ἐκ πίστεώς μου)

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Lamentations 3:22-24

Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. ²³ They are new every morning;�    great is your faithfulness.�²⁴ I say to myself, “The Lord is my portion;�    therefore I will wait for him.”

(See commentary, pp. 97 and 108!)

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Great is thy faithfulness, O God, my Father;

There is no shadow of turning with Thee,

Thou changest not: they compassions they fail not;

As thou hast been, Thou forever wilt be.

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Refrain: Great is thy faithfulness! Great is thy faithfulness!

Morning by morning new mercies I see;

All I have needed Thy hand hath provided;

Great is thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me! (LSB, #809)

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C. Paul’s quote adopts the LXX Greek preposition, but omits any pronoun! "But the righteous person will live from faith” (in contrast to??? See Gal. 3:11-12)

This allows Paul some “deliberate ambiguity” in order to expound these 3 aspects of his theme:

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“The Righteous of God is being revealed in it ἐκ πίστεως” (1:17)

1. From [the] faithfulness of God; his promise is steadfast, reliable, and certain
1. Dominant OT sense of emunah and common elsewhere for πίστις, (e.g., Greek Words and Hebrew Meanings; Paul and the Language of Faith)

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From [the] faithfulness of God

B. The LXX rendering of Hab. 2:4

C. The next use of the word group in 3:3

μὴ ἡ ἀπιστία αὐτῶν τὴν πίστιν τοῦ θεοῦ καταργήσει;

D. And other debated texts like 3:22(?)

δικαιοσύνη δὲ θεοῦ διὰ πίστεως Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ εἰς πάντας τοὺς πιστεύοντας.

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“The Righteous of God is being revealed in it…εἰς πίστιν” (1:17)

2) Into our passive faith which receives the declaration of righteousness which grants life (NOT by/from our works of the Law; 3:20, 28; Hab. 2:4 in Gal. 3:11)

3) This then results in faithfulness to God in our lives (originally in Hab. 2:4 AND Heb. 10:36-39)

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Word Counts of the Key Terms from 1:17 in Romans 1-8

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Word Counts of the Key Terms from 1:17 in Romans 9-16

DO YOU 1) agree, 2) probably agree, 3) not sure, 4) probably disagree or 5) disagree with…

• Can a good person earn their way to heaven?
• God is satisfied if a person lives the best life one can.
• The main emphasis of the Gospel is on God’s rules for right living.
• People can only be justified before God by loving others.

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Romans 1:18-3:20 �should fix this!

• “Let the righteousness of God be a holy flame that burns” (Tomlin, All to Us). Is that good or bad news?
• “Indeed the wrath of God is being revealed from heaven upon every ungodliness and unrighteousness of people….” (1:18; cf. 1:32;3:19-20)
• The Righteousness of God: Is it wrath OR salvation? OR BOTH?

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What is Romans About?

• Lenski, "The great theme of Romans is the Sinner's Personal Justification by Faith" (The Interpretation of St. Paul's Epistle to the Romans, 84).
• Note anthropocentric and individual terms
• Influence of Luther’s search for a gracious God solved in Romans!

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N. T. Wright calls us to rethink “those traditions of reading the letter that assume its central question to be that of Martin Luther: ‘How can I find a gracious God?’” The flow of thought through the letter as a whole makes far more sense if we understand the statement of the theme in 1:17 as being about….

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……God and God’s covenant faithfulness and justice, rather than simply about “justification” … Within this larger theme there is still all the room required for that which other readings have traditionally seen as the other major subject—namely, the justification and salvation of individual human beings” (Wright, Romans, 403-4; cited in Middendorf, p. 803).

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A BRIEF LOOK: Paul’s Conclusion in Each “Section” of Romans 1-4 �1:1-16 -17 (done)

^1:32such ones who, even though they recognize the righteous decree of God that the ones who practice things like these are deserving of death,

^2:11For there is no partiality in the presence of God.

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Paul’s Conclusion in Each “Section” of Romans 1-4

^2:16in [the] day when God judges the hidden things of people,…

^2:29but the Jew is in what is hidden, and circumcision is of [the] heart, in Spirit not in written letter, whose praise is not from people but from God.

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3:1-8 is really all about God!

³What then if some were unfaithful? Their faithlessness will not make the faithfulness of God ineffective, will it? ⁴May it never come to be! But let God be true, and every person a liar, just as it stands written:"In order that you might be righteous in your words and you will overcome when you judge."

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3:1-8 is really all about God!

⁵But if our unrighteousness demonstrates God's righteousness, what will we say? God, the one who brings wrath, is not unrighteous, is he? (I am speaking in a human way.) ⁶May it never come to be! If that were so, how will God judge the world? ⁷ But if the truth of God increased in my lie to his glory, why am I still being judged as a sinner?

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Joy to the World

He rules the world with truth and� grace, �and makes the nations prove �the glories of his righteousness, �and wonders of his love, �and wonders of his love, �and wonders of his love. 

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Paul’s Conclusion in Each “Section” of Romans 1-4

^3:19with the result that every mouth might be silenced and all the world might become accountable to God. ²⁰Consequently, from works of the Law, every fleshly person will not be declared righteous before him, because through the Law [is] a recognition of sin.

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Paul’s Conclusion in Each “Section” of Romans 1-4

^3:26in the delaying of God, toward the proof of his righteousness in the present momentous time, with the result that he is righteous even while declaring righteous the one from faith[fulness] of/[in] Jesus.

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Paul’s Conclusion in Each “Section” of Romans 1-4

^3:30Since God is one, who will declare the circumcised righteous from faith and the uncircumcised through the same faith.

Paul’s key concluding points are always something about God

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What Abraham believed about God in Romans 4 (fides quae)

^4:5Believing on the One who declares the godless righteous,

4:17 Before whom he believed God, the one who makes the dead alive…

^4:21And, after being fully convinced that what was being promised [by God] and still in effect, he is powerful also to do.

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Word Counts of the Key Terms from 1:17 in Romans 1-8

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Romans 5-8 �“Jesus/Christ Our Lord” �6 times strategically �and 48 1^st person PLURALS

^5:1“Therefore, after being declared righteous from faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,

5:11 “…through our Lord Jesus Christ.”

5:21 “…through our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Romans 5-8

6:23 “…in Jesus Christ our Lord.”

7:25 “…through Jesus Christ our Lord.”

8:39 “…God’s love which is in Christ Jesus our Lord!”

THE LIFE TOGETHER GOD GIVES US IN AND THROUGH JESUS CHRIST OUR LORD

Romans 8:31-39

• A great mountain peak on which to rest and look back,
• But the hike through Romans is only half over!
• 229 verses done, 205 left!
• Proportionate attention should be given to 9-16, but often isn’t (see p. 805 and note 15!)
• Note the lectionary back-dating

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Word Counts of the Key Terms from 1:17 in Romans 9-16

3 Themes in Romans 9-11�Pages 817-26; Session #3

1. God (26 times) = It’s still “not about you” but GOD.

2) God’s Word –Within 90 verses are 35 OT quotes! = 39% of the verses!!!

3) God’s People e.g., λαός (6x) Israel (11x), etc.

A key is the paradox of �

• Monergism – Romans 9
• Who chooses, works, calls, pursues, mercies?
• a one-way street, an either/or
• and Resistability (e.g., 10:16, 21)
• How does God respond to those who resist, reject?
• 11:32 = All in order that All

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Word Counts of the Key Terms from 1:17 in Romans 9-16

Romans 12-16�(Session #4)

Romans 5-8 = The LIFE God gives in Jesus Christ our Lord

Romans 12-18 – The LIFE a believer lives

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Imperatives in Romans�(and in our teaching/ proclaiming/living)

Romans 1-11 has 13 imperatives. But aside from the 5 in 6:11-19, Romans 1-10 has only 1, with God as the subject (3:4)!

Romans 12-16 has 49 imperatives (see pp. 1193-1202)

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Other Imperative Counts

• Ephesians 1-3 (1)

Ephesians 4-6 (40)

• Colossians 1-2 (4)

3-4 (26)

• Philippians 1-2 (7)

3-4 (18)

• Galatians 1-4 (7)

5-6 (13)

• 1 Thess. 1-4 (1)

5-6 (18)

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Walther on Romans �(up to chapter 6)

“What do we find in the first three chapters? The sharpest preaching of the Law. This is followed, towards the end of the third chapter and in chapters 4 and 5, by the doctrine of justification—nothing but that. Beginning at chapter 6, the apostle treats nothing else than sanctification….

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….Here we have a true pattern of the correct sequence: first the Law, threatening men with the wrath of God; next the Gospel, announcing the comforting promises of God. This is followed by instruction regarding things we do after we have become new man” (Walther, Law and Gospel, 93; see Koontz, “How Our Preaching Changed,” CTQ 85 (July/October 2021, 193ff.).

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Romans is more about the community than the individual. Even more important, Paul's main emphasis is not upon humanity. Instead he directs our attention primarily toward God, his righteousness, and our Lord Jesus Christ. In other words, IT’S NOT REALLY ABOUT YOU….AND THAT’S A GOOD THING!

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