Romans

THE STRUCTURE OF THE EPISTLE AS A WHOLE

(Alternation and Introversion.)

Romans 1:1-6. THE GOSPEL. PROMISED BEFORE BY THE PROPHETS, AND REVEALED BY THEM. NEVER HIDDEN.

Romans 1:7. SALUTATION.

Romans 1:8-10. PRAYER CONCERNING PAUL’S VISIT TO THEM.

Romans 1:10-13. PAUL’S DESIRE TO VISIT THEM.

Romans 1:14-16. HIS MINISTRY OF THE GOSPEL.

Romans 1:16-8:39. DOCTRINAL.

Romans 9:1-11:35. DISPENSATIONAL.

Romans 11:36. The ASCRIPTION. The WISDOM OF GOD. AS TO THE DISPENSATIONS.

Romans 12:1-15:7. PRACTICAL.

Romans 15:8-12. DISPENSATIONAL.

Romans 15:13-21. HIS MINISTRY OF THE GOSPEL.

Romans 15:22-29. PAUL’S DESIRE TO VISIT THEM.

Romans 15:30-33. PRAYER CONCERNING PAUL’S VISIT TO THEM.

Romans 16:1-24. SALUTATION.

Romans 16:25-26. THE MYSTERY. NEVER BEFORE PROMISED OR REVEALED, BUT KEPT SECRET THROUGH [ALL] THE AGE TIMES.

Romans 16:27. THE ASCRIPTION. TO “GOD ONLY WISE,”

AS TO THE MYSTERY.

NOTES ON THE EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS

1. ROMANS comes first in order of the three great doctrinal epistles (Ap. 192). And rightly so, for it contains the ABC of the believer’s education. Until its lesson is learned, we know and can know nothing. The Holy Spirit has placed it first in Canonical order because it lies at the threshold of all “church” teaching, and if we wrong here, we shall be wrong altogether. The design and scope of the Epistle supply the key to a right interpretation, as is shown by the Structure of the Epistle as a whole. The great subject is the revelation of God’s wrath against sin, and of the ground upon which alone the sinner can stand in righteousness before Him. The fundamental text is “The just shall live by faith” (Romans 1:17), and it shows Jew and Gentile alike short of the standard of God’s glory (Romans 3:23). All alike sinners, shut up under sin, and needing a Divine righteousness, the only difference being that to the Jew had been committed the oracles (utterances or revelations) of God.

2. The prominent feature of the Epistle is the long doctrinal portion from Romans 1:16 to Romans 8:39. This shows that doctrine (instruction, 2 Timothy 3:16) is the important part and dominates the whole. It reveals what God has done with “sins” and with “sin”; and how the saved sinner, taken out from the deepest degradation, is justified by faith, and united to Christ in His death, burial, and resurrection-life. It teaches him that though his “old Adam” nature continues with him till the end, in ever-present hostility to God, yet that for those in Christ there is no judgment and, consequently, no separation “from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord”.

3. Chapters 9:11 are dispensational, and explain to us God’s dealings with “Jew” and “Gentile”. The Jew is for the time being set aside “until the fullness of the Gentiles be come in”, and during this period “blindness (hardness) in part is happened to Israel” (Romans 11:25).

4. The remainder of the Epistle is taken up with practical counsel as to the believer’s life, and closes with the postscript concerning the “mystery” (Romans 16:25,26); for which see Ap. 193.

5. The Epistle was written from Corinth in the spring of A.D. 58, during the fourth year of Nero (see Ap. 180 and 192); probably during Paul’s sojourn in Greece after the departure from Ephesus (Acts 20:2,3). It was sent by Phebe, “a servant of the church…at Cenchrea” (Romans 16:1).

Romans 1:1

1 Paul. Paul’s name heads all his Epistles, except Hebrews.

servant. Greek. doulos. Ap. 190. Compare 2 Corinthians 4:5; Galatians 1:1,10; Philippians 1:1,1; Titus 1:1.

Jesus Christ. Ap. 98. XL

called, &c. Literally a called apostle; called at his conversion (Acts 26:17,18). apostle. Ap. 189. separated = set apart. Greek. aphorizo. Compare Acts 13:2; 19:9; 2 Corinthians 6:17; Galatians 1:1,15; 2:12. Note the three stages in Paul’s “separation” for God’s purpose: birth (Galatians 1:1,15,16); conversion (Acts 9:15); work (Acts 13:2). unto. Greek. eis. Ap. 104.the gospel of God: i.e. the “gospel of the grace of God” (Acts 20:24. Compare Acts 15:7), not the “gospel of the kingdom”. See Ap. 140. God. Ap. 98.(from E. W. Bullinger’s Companion Bible: Notes and Appendices.)

Kindling