Romans 1 Bible Study

Topic: Man in his sinful state

Introduction and Overview

What many people are not aware of is that the letter of Paul to the Romans is a guided journey. It is the path Christians ought to know and follow from the state of sin to walking in godliness and the love of God.

Paul has mapped out this journey in this letter to the Romans, and it appears from the way the first fifteen verses are written, that Paul had not visited Rome at the time he wrote this letter. That would explain why he mapped out the Christian journey, firstly for them to learn in preparation for his visit, and second for those who were to come after, and that is you and I.

The first chapter looks at man in his sinful state, which is where we all started when we first came to Christ. He explains that God gave up on man and would have nothing to do with man in his sinful state. But this is to lay the ground work for what is to follow as the journey progresses.

So, let us begin…

Reading: Romans Chapter 1

Key points from reading:

  1. The power of God for salvation is in the Gospel of Jesus Christ
  2. Man is a creature of sin, always opposing the will of God
  3. God gave up on man because of sin

Discussion:

  1. Scripture: Romans 1:16-17
    • The power of God is in the Gospel to save those who have faith.
    • The Gospel reveals the righteousness of God to those who have faith
    • Those who have righteousness through faith will receive life eternal.
  2. Scripture: Romans 1:18-23
    • God’s wrath will be revealed against all the ungodly in this world
    • God’s Creation is evidence of His existence, power, deity
    • But man in foolishness rejects the Creation choosing to worship idols, and today they idolise science to try to reject the Creation account
    • They claim wisdom, but are foolish for rejecting God.
  3. Scripture: Romans 1:24-26
    • God gave up on man first because of the lustful ways of their hearts and their pursuit of immorality and idolatry
    • He gave up on man because man chose to worship and serve the creation, especially man’s own creations, rather than worshiping the Creator who is God
    • Man accepted and perpetuated lies rather then the truth, and is still doing so today.
    • Even in the church there is evidence that lies have entered into the ministry of many churches because they do not study or follow God’s words of truth.
  4. Scripture: Romans 1:26-27
    • Here Paul shows some of the immoral practices of mankind and again states that God gave up on man because of these things.
    • He condemns mankind for practicing sexual immorality, especially homosexuality of both men and women.
    • It is interesting that Paul also shows God’s judgement on those who practice such acts. He says that they suffer the penalty for their actions in their own bodies.
    • This is interesting as it is a documented fact that the LGBT community suffers more venereal diseases, more mental issues, more depression, more psychiatric issues, more alcohol and drug related dependencies than the heterosexual community. The order of magnitude is significant as in all of these there is a four to ten times higher rate of these issues in the LGBT community.
  5. Scripture: Romans 1:28-32
    • Again Paul shows God gave up on mankind for all of the evil practices that mankind indulges in.
    • And even those who do not follow Christ or God know that these things are evil and should not be done. All of the things listed in these verses are condemned by the communities of the world, but people still do these evil things.
    • And today we see the fulfilling of the prophetic words of the last verse that says, “…they not only do them, but approve those who practice them.”
    • The world approves greatly of the LGBT actions, even holding major festivals applauding their lifestyles. There are psychic expos that laud the values of the New Age movement. People approve of the arrogance we see in some business people with their, “Greed is good” philosophy. And then there are the atheists, haters of God, who will fight, argue against, and mock the very existence of God.

Key Takeaways:

  1. Man has gotten worse since the Fall in the Garden when sin began. And man is getting worse. It is foolish to believe, as some do, that man can fix his problems. Consider the words of Romans 3:9-18, and Romans 3:23.
  2. Because of the level and depth of sin, God has given up on man. He gave up on man for immorality, idolatry, and the evil ways of mankind. Unrepentant man is doomed to destruction because his sin is so great, and man does not even know it. All have sinned and none are righteous, and so they will suffer the consequences of their actions.
  3. But all is not lost because God sent His Son and gave us the Gospel of Salvation through faith. The Gospel is not something to be ashamed of, but rather celebrated as through the Gospel we shall be reconciled to God and saved from this sinful world to live in His glorious and eternal kingdom.

Prayer Points

  1. Pray for the evildoers as they are to be pitied rather than scorned. These are the people Jesus came to save, as He said, “For I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.” (Matthew 9:13).
  2. Do not hate the evildoers, greedy, idolaters, immoral, murderers, thieves, or the LGBT community. Some will see the light and turn to Christ, and there are some who have done so already (search the web and you will find their testimonies). Instead pray that they WILL see the light and receive the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
  3. Pray also that you and those around you can find the fullness of the Gospel and gain the victory over sin and the passions of your flesh that lead to sinful ways.