Romans

Somebody, I think it was Piper, once did a sermon series on Romans entitled, “The Most Important Letter.” For whatever reason, I’ve often agreed with that sentiment. To me, it seems a lot of our foundational thoughts on theology and soteriology come from this portion of Paul’s work. The bad part? I realized I’m actually quite unfamiliar with what this letter actually says.

Yeah, I know “Romans Road” and select passages here and there, but as a collaborative work, my understanding comes up way short. This was surprising to me, especially considering the countless times I referenced it during Bible college. So, starting a few days ago, I committed myself to studying the epistle.

I’m already confused.

I don’t know if its the NASB, or what, but I am having some serious trouble following what Paul is saying. At one point he’s talking about God’s wrath on the unbeliever and then jumps to believers judging others and then onto numerous references (which I only assume are interrelated) to the Law and sin and so forth. My biggest problem is connecting the dots between all the concepts. I can grasp (I think) what he is saying when I separate everything into unrelated sections, but trying to see what the letter as a whole is communicating is really difficult.

So, I write this for two reasons:

1.) If any of you can give me a hand with this, I’d really appreciate it.

2.) If any of you want to study it with me, that’d be really cool too.