An Overview of Romans: Faith, Righteousness, and Relationships

The book of Romans is one of the 21 epistles, or open letters, in the New Testament. And though it’s an ancient biblical text, it still has significant (surprising, even) relevance for our lives today.

The apostle Paul wrote this letter for the churches in Rome, which at the time was a divided, frequently-arguing community. But his message to them also provides us with a thorough, straightforward breakdown of the Gospel story of Jesus Christ. It also expounds upon what that “good news” truly means for every single human being.

It’s also the longest and most complex of all of Paul’s letters.

So let’s see if we can make the reading and study of this book a little easier by laying out some important contextual details, identifying the main ideas, and unpacking the significance of it all. We’ll cover:

• Who wrote Romans and why
• What was happening in Rome at the time
• The key themes of Romans
• Life lessons from Romans

Let’s start with the most important background details and explore this letter’s purpose.

Who wrote Romans and why was it necessary?

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The book of Romans is one of the 13 New Testament epistles written by the apostle Paul, and it’s unique from his other letters because of its length and its depth. It covers foundational doctrines of Christianity.

For some background, before Paul was a traveling preacher and church planter for Christ, he was a proud Jewish rabbi who belonged to the Pharisees. But that changed after his “Damascus Road” conversion experience, and he became a true Christian evangelist to the Gentiles (the common term for non-Jews) in the ancient Roman world.¹

And it was during Paul’s missionary journeys, and even during his imprisonment, that he wrote several heartfelt letters to different churches he’d visited.

Each letter was named for the geographical areas these faith communities gathered in (Galatians was to the churches in Galatia, Ephesians to those in Ephesus, etc.), and they contained messages that were specific to that very group. So, aptly, Paul wrote Romans “to all those in Rome who are loved by God and called to be saints” (Romans 1:7, ESV).

He wrote Romans while in Corinth on his third missionary journey in AD 57 to Jewish Christians and non-Jewish Christians in small house churches all around Rome.²

Tim Mackie, PhD, a scholar of Hebrew writings and Jewish culture, notes that at the time of Paul’s writing, the Jewish believers and non-Jewish believers within these churches were not getting along. There was frequent bickering over food laws, the practice of circumcision, sacred holidays, and other long-time Jewish beliefs, rules, and customs.

Throughout human history, when two distinct groups become part of the same community, it’s all too common for them to clash due to fear-based identity issues, insecurity, pride, and just the fact that change is always difficult. Even for groups that come together under positive circumstances.

And in this mixed community of believers, some non-Jewish Christians with higher status in the Roman community were treating Jewish Christians with disdain because of the way they held onto their religious traditions. Likewise, some Jewish Christians were treating non-Jewish Christians like they were “second-rate”³ believers for the same reason—differences in worship and spiritual practices.

Even though both groups claimed the same Savior.

We humans often fear things that we don’t fully understand, or things that might threaten the familiar frameworks we live by. And that surely fueled the conflict within the early Christian community in Rome. These two groups were fixated on their differences, rather than trying to unify under a genuine, through-and-through faith in Jesus.

That’s why Paul wanted to encourage this combined group in Rome to move their focus away from their behavior and outward appearances, and back onto the One their behavior was meant to represent and reflect—Jesus Christ, their Messiah and Savior. He advocated that “circumcision of the heart” was much more important than any physical, symbolic representation of faith (Romans 2:29, NKJV).

So when Paul quotes the Old Testament prophet Habbakkuk and says “the righteous shall live by faith”⁴ (Romans 1:17, ESV), he isn’t saying that behavior doesn’t matter. He’s reminding the churches in Rome that Christ-like behavior is an effect of faith in Jesus. It’s not a means to earn favor, status, or salvation.

So how did these things get so out of hand in a fervent, grassroots community of new believers? Let’s get a broader perspective of what else was going on during that time.

What was happening in Rome when Paul wrote this letter?

The 1st-century Roman Empire had successfully done what many powerful civilizations have done throughout history. They’d conquered territories through violence, then oppressed and heavily taxed them.

This created wide economic gaps among the population. The wealthy enjoyed luxuries like running water in their homes, bathhouses, and magnificent villas. For pretty much everyone else, daily life was difficult and burdensome.

The population at the time was estimated to be one million people, many of whom were slaves and noncitizen immigrants. Thomas R. Schreiner, PhD, says that Rome was “a severely overcrowded, loud, and smelly city—a place that provided every virtue and vice known to mankind.”⁵

Within this backdrop, Roman society was very hierarchical, with educated men having the most influence and power, and women, children, and the poor having the least (or none at all).⁶

Most of the people in Rome were not followers of Jesus, but there was a sizable Jewish population and a growing Christian presence as a result of the spreading Gospel from Jerusalem (Acts 2:41, 47).

One big disruptor for the community of believers in Rome was when Emperor Claudius ordered the Jews to leave Rome completely (Acts 18:2). But five years later, Jews were allowed back into Roman territory.⁷

So for several years, the Christian church in Rome grew without the influence of Jewish culture or the emphasis on the Mosaic law. When the Jews returned, they likely found a church that, to them, felt uncomfortably far-removed from (or even devoid of) the traditions, rituals, and methods of worship that had been so central and deeply meaningful to their lives.⁸

And so, understandably, the culture clash gave way to defensiveness and bickering. The Jewish Christians probably felt like they were returning to a church they didn’t recognize, and the non-Jewish Christians may have felt like the Jews were imposing their unique traditions onto the whole community.

It’s tough when things change, and something that once made us feel safe and valuable now makes us feel out of place. It can often feel like part of our identity is being threatened, especially when things that have always been meaningful to us are hardly even acknowledged. It might feel like we need to “fix” things so our community can feel like “home” again.

We can still see this all over the place today. Whether it’s at work, in a neighborhood, in a faith community, or even a rapidly growing extended family, when people come along who disrupt the status quo or don’t value what we value, fearful tension usually follows. Then it might take common forms like gossip, avoidance, arguing, or even physical altercations.

Differences can divide us in many ways and make us feel vulnerable or threatened. So Paul knew he needed to remind the churches in Rome that people from all nations and backgrounds were under God’s grace, and that means no room for judgment or comparison between human beings.

He says pretty plainly in Romans 1:14-16 that he feels compelled to preach to everyone because salvation is a gift of God for everyone.

“I am under obligation both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to the wise and to the foolish. So I am eager to preach the gospel to you also who are in Rome. For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek” (ESV).

The same is still true for us today. Even though differences can make us feel worried or put on the defensive, they don’t have to be…if we remember who Jesus is in our lives and that His love binds us all together.

In fact, that’s one of the themes of Romans.

What are the dominant themes in Romans?

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Paul had to communicate with a diverse community that wasn’t getting along, and that also contained many who were being oppressed by high taxes in an overcrowded city. But he understood that, even though Jesus died for the sins of the world, sin itself would still present a constant battle in daily life.

Sin, with its roots in fear and selfishness, directly opposes God’s character of love, trust, and selflessness. Like the two ends of a magnet. So, naturally, sin separates us from God.

And because all of us humans live with a sinful nature, or an innate tendency toward fear and selfishness, that means we live in a constant tension, a push-pull, between God’s will and our own wills. Paul wanted to make sure that the Christians in Rome fully understood this, as it would need to be the framework upon which they could mature in their perspectives.

Paul bravely addressed his audience with understanding, compassion, and spiritual truth as he covered important points about salvation through Christ, righteousness by faith, and love for one another.

Let’s look at each of these more closely.

Salvation through Christ

“Sanctification,” “holy,” “righteous,” and “unrighteous” are a few words that might feel uncomfortable to hear about because we often associate them with their imperfect representation in humans, which is often more pride-like than actually holy, sanctified, or righteous.

But in its purest definition, sanctified means the process of being made clean from sin. Which is already an uphill battle, since sin is a part of the nature of humanity.

“For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23, NKJV).

Since God’s very essence is an opposing force to sin,⁹ the only way draw closer to Him is if we are made holy, or pure. But we can’t do this on our own.

Paul explains in Romans that through the death and resurrection of Jesus, we are sanctified and saved from sin because He paid the price of sin for all of us.

“…but God shows His love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8, ESV).

Sin doesn’t have to rule us anymore.

God created a way for us to be saved through His Son, Jesus, who offers salvation, or safety from sin’s ultimate consequences (destruction), to anyone who believes in Him.

So, Jesus did His part…how should we respond?

Righteousness by faith

Salvation is a gift, and faith in the Giver, Jesus, is the gateway to the righteousness of God Himself. Paul says,

“If you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. One believes with the heart, resulting in righteousness, and one confesses with the mouth, resulting in salvation” (Romans 10:9-10, CSB).

Accepting salvation through Christ means we can trust Him and put our full faith in Him. When we do this, we become righteous, just like Jesus!

But…yikes, there’s another one of those words: “righteous.” Unfortunately, that word is often associated with pride-infected “holier than thou” attitudes, but in Paul’s time it simply meant being in “right standing” with God. So the biggest clue to the word’s true meaning is in the word itself.

But remember, since we are sinful, there’s no way for us to be righteous on our own, no matter how many Mosaic laws or religious rules we follow. The prophet Isaiah says, “We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment” (Isaiah 64:6, ESV).

This truth is what liberated Martin Luther when he was a monk and being trained in righteousness. At the time, he was trying to gain righteousness through religious practices like fasting, praying, and continuously confessing his sins. But he was frustrated because these practices, or “works,” weren’t making him sinless or more righteous.

In his own words, he said, “Though I lived as a good monk and no one could criticize my actions, I felt and knew that I was a sinner before God. I had an extremely disturbed conscience. . . . I hated the righteous God who punishes sinners.”¹⁰

But later he started to study Romans as a university professor and learned that we gain righteousness through faith in Jesus, not through the things that we do. His new understanding through Romans led to his leadership in the Protestant Reformation, a significant Christian movement that changed “what people believed, how they worshiped, and how they lived.”¹¹

Martin Luther learned that without Jesus, what we have to offer is as good as filthy rags. But with Jesus and His righteousness, we are seen as pure and whole before God and our relationship with Him becomes healthy without the “disease” of sin on us (Romans 3:21-26).

This is the great news of the gospel of God’s Son that Paul was sharing with the Romans, and we can benefit from the knowledge, too.

Knowing is wonderful, and doing can be great, too, as long as our doing first begins with faith in Jesus.

So how did Paul explain to the Romans that they could show their faith in Christ and demonstrate His righteousness?

Love for one another

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It seems like the answer is always love, doesn’t it?

Love is easy when we like the people we’re loving. But when people are very different from us in ways that clash with ours, love becomes a whole lot harder.

It helps to remember what “love” really is. It’s not the same as liking something, or getting a good feeling from something, or even having great respect for something. It’s a whole lot more.

Love is selfless, and to “love our neighbors as ourselves” means that the same good things we want for ourselves (acceptance, opportunity, dignity, understanding, etc.), we also want those for others. Even those who oppose us (our enemies).

So when we read Bible verses like 1 Corinthians 12:12-13 (and the whole chapter, for that matter) and Galatians 3:28 (also written by Paul), we can clearly see that these differences between human beings can be a beautiful thing.

And because differences are part of the fabric of God’s community, growing in Christ and aligning with God’s will includes accepting others’ differences for what they are…advantages in God’s kingdom.

Romans 12:4-5 says, “Now as we have many parts in one body, and all the parts do not have the same function, in the same way we who are many are one body in Christ and individually members of one another” (CSB).

When it’s grounded in faith in Jesus, this subtle but powerful shift in perspective strengthens God’s family. We can love each other more deeply for who we are in Christ, differences and all. Paul knew that, which is why it’s a major theme.

Paul’s letter to the Romans, and all of his letters, were “countercultural” because they broke down barriers between people.¹²

And even though Paul was writing about issues happening thousands of years ago, it’s not too hard to see how these same issues of group behavior, interpersonal communication, and fear-based thinking are still all around us today.

What life lessons can I get from Romans?

Romans is meaty! It’s wording can be a bit theologically-focused and dense at times, but there’s so much in this letter that speaks directly to many spiritual and social challenges we face in our own lives, in our own corners of the world.

Here are some highlights.

God’s Sovereignty

God is in charge of all creation, and He loves everything and everyone that He created. Because He has all power and is in charge, or sovereign, He can save whomever He wants.

This promise is from His own mouth:

“I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion” (Exodus 33:19, NKJV).

God is just and hates sin (Proverbs 6:16-19; Proverbs 8:13), but He is also merciful and full of compassion. He shares His love graciously.

In fact, “nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:28, CSB).

Have you ever felt closer to someone after they made a promise to you? Even if the promise hadn’t been fulfilled yet, the fact that a promise was made and you believed it made a difference in your relationship.

In Christ, when we believe, we become. That means our faith makes us part of His family because “the children of the promise [made to Abraham] are counted as offspring” (Romans 9:8, ESV).

When we believe in the same promise God made to Abraham, we automatically get to enjoy the results of that promise because we’re part of the same family. It’s like we get to enjoy an inheritance when we believe in Jesus, the one who fulfilled the promise to Abraham.

And we don’t get that inheritance by doing anything…it’s just passed down to us because our belief makes us part of the family, sometimes even in spite of what we’ve done. God shows mercy and compassion to those who accept His Son, not based on who behaves the best.

“So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy” (Romans 9:16, ESV).

God wants to be in right relationship with us again, so He wants to save all of us. And all we have to do is believe and accept the gift of God. That’s why Paul says, “The righteous shall live by faith” (Romans 1:17, ESV).

When we really think about all this…what an indescribably meaningful gift this is! One we don’t deserve, but the God of love gives it to us freely, graciously, and abundantly (Romans 6:23).

How can we possibly thank Him? For starters, we can keep growing in Him and serve others around us. And Paul talks to the Romans about that, too.

Growing in Christ

Here’s another fun word: “justification.” Being “justified” in the sight of God is about who Jesus is rather than who we are or what we do.

Think about it like this. It’s like Jesus takes the “file” of our life and stamps “justified” on it. So regardless of what’s in the file, it’s already categorized. The death and resurrection of Jesus provide this “justified” categorization when we turn our file over to Him.

But it’s hard not to want to “fix” things ourselves, or to exercise a degree of control over how we make ourselves “righteous.”

Even when we know we want to place our lives in God’s hands, it’s hard to fight against that inner nature that is hesitant to trust anyone but ourselves. Because of this, sometimes we end up acting in ways we don’t ultimately want to, but that “feel” right in the moment. Sometimes we even hate what we’re saying or doing while we’re saying or doing it!

Paul understood this thoroughly, which is why he wrote, “For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate…but it is sin living in me” (Romans 7:15, 17, CSB).

That weird impulse that we sometimes give in to is the sinful nature within us. So we might naturally try to change our own behavior to be “good people.” But then we give in to self-centered impulses again and again, we go in circles. We keep trying to change our behavior to counteract our previous behavior.

And this is the war we live in. We might understand and even totally agree with the law and God’s word, but our actions don’t always follow. That’s why Paul encourages us to “be transformed by the renewing of your mind” (Romans 12:2, ESV). Faith happens in the mind and heart, and behavior comes next.

We have to start with our relationship with Christ instead of self-motivated behavior modification. As Dr. MyRon Edmonds puts it, stop trying to fix yourself. Real freedom comes when you align yourself with God’s Spirit and let Him do the heavy lifting.¹³

“Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (Romans 5:1, CSB).

As we grow in Christ, we become more and more free from sin with the help of the Holy Spirit. But even as this is happening, we already are stamped “justified” in God’s eyes because Jesus’ sacrifice covers us.

When we start with faith in Jesus, our behavior follows. But when we start with our behavior, things just get more frustrating.

Have you ever heard the phrase “justified while being sanctified”? That phrase comes from this process—being credited as sinless and pure (justified because of Jesus’ sacrifice) even while we are still becoming sinless and pure (sanctified through the Holy Spirit’s power).

In another letter written by Paul, he says, “But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God” (1 Corinthians 6:11, ESV).

Paul breaks this down even further in Romans 8:1-4.

“Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus, because the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and death.

 

“For what the law could not do since it was weakened by the flesh, God did.

 

“He condemned sin in the flesh by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh as a sin offering, in order that the law’s requirement would be fulfilled in us who do not walk according ot the flesh but according to the Spirit” (CSB).

When we believe in Jesus and get help from the Holy Spirit, our relationship with Him just goes deeper and deeper. And then it starts to show up in the ways we behave and interact with others.

Growing in God’s family

When we’re part of God’s family, He is the center of everything, not money or status or intelligence or any difference that can separate us from other members of the family.

All other barriers that could separate God’s children are broken in Him because “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23, ESV) and our faith in Jesus makes us whole again (verse 22).

And we can demonstrate this wholeness by

• Adjusting our perspective to align with God’s (Romans 12:2)
• Being humble (Romans 12:3)
• Embracing our uniqueness and others’ differences at the same time (Romans 12:4-5)
• Using our God-given gifts in service to others (Romans 12:6-8)
• Loving and honoring one another (Romans 12:10)
• Rejoicing and even crying together (Romans 12:15)

And so much more. For a more complete list, check out Romans 12—it’s amazing!

Each of us needs Jesus, and we’re all on a journey to grow more like Him. That similarity binds us all together. We’re all in the same boat.

Valuing relationships above our differences

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But we can’t just ignore the differences that we see. Those differences really do have an impact.

And that impact can be positive when we put the relationship before the differences we encounter.

For example, the Jewish Christians followed different food laws than the non-Jewish Christians did, and this difference was causing bickering between them. Paul responds by reminding both groups, “For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. Whoever thus serves Christ is acceptable to God and approved by men” (Romans 14:17-18, ESV).

Paul encouraged them all to put their relationship with one another above the food rules, or traditions, that they followed and not to “quarrel over opinions” (Romans 14:1, ESV) or “put a stumbling block or pitfall in the way of a brother or sister” (Romans 14:13, ESV).

These differences were culturally important to both groups and could have served as a bridge of learning about one another rather than a chasm that separated them.

Think of it this way: no two pieces of a puzzle are exactly the same, but they all fit together to create one beautiful picture.

Or think of a choir or band that has multiple members, sometimes hundreds. And different sections sing or play different notes, have different timing, and serve different roles in the story of the song being played.

Without those different parts playing in harmony, the song just doesn’t make as much sense and it isn’t as powerful.

Every person in God’s family is valuable, and every person comes with differences that strengthen the entire chorus “so that you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ with one mind and one voice” (Romans 15:6, CSB).

In other words, many voices come together to make one cohesive song. So unity doesn’t mean we all have the same voice or part, but that we’re all singing the same song together.

So, while prioritizing a relationship with a person over the differences in how they express their beliefs can be difficult, Paul emphasizes how much more spiritually meaningful that is (Romans 14-15).

Here’s the really hard part…our nature is sinful, so we can’t always trust it, even when it “feels right” to do so. Paul goes as far as to say “not to please ourselves” but to instead “please his neighbor for his good, to build him up” (Romans 15:1-2, ESV).

Paul does not mean that we shouldn’t ever do anything just for enjoyment. He’s talking about when we’re having disagreements with those around us. When we prioritize relationships and unity in mission, it changes an argument from “who is more right” to “how can we work this out as a Christ-centered community.”

John Nixon, Sr., DMin, puts it this way: “The nature of sin is ‘my claim to my right to myself’…and righteousness isn’t about dismantling or conforming my old nature. [God] discards it altogether and gives us His nature.”

19th-century theologian Oswald Chambers says that one of the greatest acts of devotion toward God is to submit “our right to ourselves” to Him.¹⁴

If we look at Scripture as a whole, and especially in the book of Romans, we’ll find that the idea of individual “rights” isn’t really mentioned at all. The Bible, in reflecting a relational God, is more about love and community than what we have “rights” to in the world.

So accepting Jesus as our Savior means we lay down our rights and even our preferences, placing them in God’s hands, and vowing to respect each other’s differences. Because in the big picture, the relationships with those around us here and now are more important than our individual rights and preferences.

When we start to live like this, serving others and seeking understanding become more important than judging others. And that makes for a happier, healthier community.

Serving others

We can love one another better through service, and our differences should be valued and celebrated in this way.

So we are individuals with differences, and those differences are important in God’s family. Embracing them is one way we can reflect the Trinity….three distinct individuals (God, Jesus, Holy Spirit) who are unified as One.

And service to one another is an action-packed way to live as Jesus lived.

• We can serve by (Romans 12:6-8)
• Being generous
• Being a team player
• Teaching
• Listening to one another
• Encouraging one another
• Acknowledging the good qualities of others
• Servant leadership
• Offering assistance whenever possible
• Showing mercy
• Being cheerful

Paul says we can “serve in the newness of the Spirit and not in the old letter of the law” (Romans 7:6, CSB). The law, or 10 commandments as Paul means here, is useful because it shows us the standards for loving God and loving people—which also allows us to see when our behaviors fall short of those standards.

But we shouldn’t serve others based on the shortcomings we see in them. We should serve others simply because our Savior Jesus served with love and compassion, indiscriminately, even when people around Him were clearly “breaking the law.”¹⁵

And it’s only through Jesus’ strength and love that we can truly “Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them. Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep” (Romans 12:14-15, ESV).

With all these things in mind, maintaining a loving community of human beings isn’t some abstract concept that doesn’t apply to modern life. And Romans, one of the most intricate books of the Bible, is full of messages and lessons that we can use in our lives and our communities right now.

Mackie calls Romans “Paul’s fullest explanation of the Gospel, the good news about Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection.”¹⁶ So returning to Romans often can be an important Bible study or devotional practice to keep us aligned with God’s word and His plan for us, no matter where, or when, we live.

It can be helpful to read Romans knowing that the epistles were meant to be heard through spoken word, since a lot of people didn’t read back then. So, try reading Romans the way Pastor Mackie suggests reading any of the New Testament letters:

1. Break it down into smaller parts (to see the message of each paragraph)
2. Trace repeated ideas and transition words (to see how they all connect back together)

With this process, it’ll become clearer how Romans and all of the New Testament letters spoke to Jesus’ first followers, and still speak to us today.¹⁷

Interested in learning more about the apostle Paul

12 Most Popular Verses in Romans (ESV)

1. “For I am not ashamed of the Gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek” (Romans 1:16).
2. “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by His grace as a gift, through redemption that is in Christ Jesus” (Romans 3:23-24).
3. “But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8).
4. “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 6:23).
5. “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1).
6. “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose” (Romans 8:28).
7. “What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?” (Romans 8:31)
8. “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? … No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us” (Romans 8:35, 37).
9. “For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:38-39).
10. “If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved” (Romans 10:9).
11. “I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship” (Romans 12:1).
12. “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect” (Romans 12:2).

1. Mackie, Tim and Jon Collins “Book of Romans Summary: A Complete Animated Overview (Part 1),” BibleProject, 2016. [↵]
2. Schreiner, Thomas, PhD. “Notes on Romans,” ESV Study Bible, 2008, pg. 2151. [↵]
3. Mackie, Tim and Jon Collins. “New Testament Letters: Historical Context,” The Bible Project, 2020.[↵]
4. Habakkuk 2:4 [↵]
5. Schreiner, Thomas, PhD. “Notes on Romans,” ESV Study Bible, 2008, p. 2154. [↵]
6. Mackie, Tim, PhD, and Collins, Jon. “New Testament Letters: Historical Context,” BibleProject, 2020. [↵]
7. Keener, Craig S. “Notes on Romans,” NIV Cultural Background Study Bible, 2016, p. 1945. [↵]
8. Schreiner, Thomas, PhD. “Notes on Romans,” ESV Study Bible, 2008, p. 2152. [↵]
9. Psalm 5:4; Habakkuk 1:13 [↵]
10. Kennedy, Jared. “The Story of the Monk Who Changed the World,” Crossway, 2024. [↵]
11. Ibid. [↵]
12. Mackie, Tim and Jon Collins. “New Testament Letters: Historical Context,” BibleProject, 2020. [↵]
13. Edmonds, MyRon, PhD. United Youth Congress, 2025. [↵]
14. Chambers, Oswald. “Consecrated to Him,” My Utmost For His Highest. [↵]
15. John 8:2-11 – An Adulterous Forgiven [↵]
16. Mackie, Tim, PhD, and Collins, Jon “Book of Romans Summary: A Complete Animated Overview (Part 1),” BibleProject, 2016. [↵]
17. Mackie, Tim and Jon Collins “New Testament Letters: Literary Context,” BibleProject, 2020. [↵]

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