Day 1: Romans 1, 2

1. What was Paul's purpose and theme in writing this letter to the Christians in Rome?

Paul's purpose, from the first verse, is to fulfill his purpose as ordained by God.  He has heard of the faith of the Roman Christians and he is alerting them to his future visit which will involve preaching to them but also to all Romans (1:4).

2. Paul first condemns godless believers.  For what?

The godless are living their lives as though they belong only to themselves; they are not eternal-minded people.  "The righteous will live by faith," (1: 17c) but the godless refuse to see God's creation as ample evidence of his existence.  "Men are without excuse." (1:20)

3. Paul does not excuse the Jews, but condemns them as well.  For what?

Paul condemns their hypocrisy regarding the Law.  They know the law well and preach it to others, but do not follow it as they should.  "For it is not those who hear the law who are righteous in God's sight, but it is those who obey the law who will be declared righteous." (2:13)  A lot of this is very indicative of the "Sunday morning face" that we all wear at some point or another in our culture.  We isolate our behaviors in life instead of living the Law!

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I found most interesting the section in which Paul discusses man's conscience as evidence of the Law.  This, coupled with Creation as evidence of God, is a very powerful thing.  I remember a lot of discussion in confirmation class many years ago regarding people who have never read a Bible or been exposed to Christianity and the fairness of their judgement, but Paul explains that "Gentiles, who do not have the law, do by nature things required by the law, they are a law for themselves, even though they do not have the law [...]." (2:14)