Romans 15:7-13 Paul closes off his discussion about differing opinions in the church by returning to the idea of acceptance that he introduced at the beginning of chapter 14. Does Paul mean we are to merely tolerate others with differing opinions, or does he mean something much more profound? What often actually lies at the heart of what we think are doctrinal differences between ourselves and others? What does communion or the Lord's Supper have to do with this passage? What is the particular sin that Paul is concerned could hinder the Corinthians' taking of the Lord's Supper? What two groups did Christ intend to benefit when He became a servant of the circumcision? What is significant about the particular passages from the Old Testament which Paul chooses to prove his point? What is significant about the order in which he quotes them? Why is Christ referred to as the "Root of Jesse?" What is the hope of the Gentiles? (62 min)

Keywords Unity, Communion, Acceptance, Gentiles, Jews, Weak, Strong

Romans 11:33-36 In this lesson we first review Paul's explanation in chapters 9-11 of how God has worked through salvation history. He culminates this masterpiece with a hymn of praise of God. What are the two different ways this passage might be translated? What are three things about God that are infinitely deep? What does Paul have in mind when he speaks of the riches of God? What is God's wisdom? What is God's knowledge? Why can no one be God's counselor? What are two things we must keep in mind about knowing the mind of God in view of what Paul says here about it being unsearchable? How do the "mystery" of Romans 9-11 and Jesus himself relate to the matter of knowing the unknowable mind of God? If everything is from, through, and to God, how can we be comforted while realizing that God's mind is so unsearchable? (52 min)

Keywords Mercy, Israel, Gentiles, Omniscience, Wisdom, Knowledge

Romans 11:26-32 Picking up from where we left off two weeks ago, Paul explains how it is that all Israel will be saved. With what does he say that Israel's spiritual renewal will be associated? Why does Paul apparently make an alteration in his quotation of Isaiah? What is it about the gifts and calling of God that is the basis for Paul's confidence? What gifts and calling does he appear to have in mind? If the Gentiles to whom Paul writes are inclined to be skeptical about Paul's expectations of a great salvation of Israel, what experience does Paul offer as evidence? How does God's use of Israel's disobedience and His use of the mercy shown to Gentiles bear on the subject of the problem of evil? In all of the hardening of both the Jews and the Gentiles, indeed of all people, what is the overriding purpose of God? How can we be sure this verse does not teach universalism (that all people will be saved)? (56 min)

Keywords Israel, Gentiles, Mercy, Hardening, Salvation, Mystery

Romans 11:25-27 Paul now begins to summarize all that he has taught us in chapter 11, and also to conclude his entire argument in chapters 9 thru 11. He begins by saying that he does not wish us to be uninformed or ignorant. What is the significance of Paul's repeated use of this phrase in his writings? What is the relationship between knowledge and actions? If we are unaware of the mystery he speaks of here, what is a possible consequence? What are the two ways that the concept of mystery was viewed within the culture of the first century. What were the mystery religions, and how are they manifest in contemporary culture. How does the accessibility to "truth" become a "seller's market," and why is that not good? How does Paul use the concept of mystery? What are some of the many mysteries of which Paul writes? What is the mystery he speaks of in this chapter, and what are its chief elements? What are the three questions that confront us when Paul says "So all Israel will be saved"? (55 min)

Keywords Israel, Gentiles, Mystery

Romans 11:22-24 The subject which Paul introduced in the verses in our last lesson raises a subject he enjoins us to give careful thought to: the kindness and severity of God. This is the subject of the present verses we consider in this lesson. How are we to understand Paul's discussion of groups or nations, as opposed to individuals? What is a common error people make in their view of God? What is an "eccentric" Christian? What is Paul's point in bringing up the subject of God's kindness and severity? How does this truth about God have bearing on Gentile Christians? What personal application can we make from God's kindness and severity? Do God's forgiven people ever encounter the severity of God? What can one who is encountering the severity of God do to experience God's kindness? (62 min)

Keywords Grafted In, Broken Off, Israel, Gentiles, Kindness, Severity

Romans 11:16-17 How can it be that if Israel has failed that Paul can expect that at some time in the future it will once again be included among God's people? This a question Paul now sets out to answer. But it is important to remember that in these verses he is addressing himself to Gentiles particularly, because he has something very important to say to Gentile believers. What does he mean by referring to Gentiles as being of a "wild olive?" Who are the ones with whom those of us who are grafted in are partaking? What is it we are partaking of? What warning does Paul give to the Gentiles regarding how they view Israel? Why is this warning necessary? Why were the "natural branches" broken off? How is it significant that Paul's use of the pronoun "you" when referring to Gentiles is always in the second person singular rather than plural? How do we know that, as severe as Paul's warning is, it does not teach that an individual believer can lose his or her salvation? How does the history of the Gentile church validate Paul's warning about being broken off? (53 min)

Keywords Jews, Gentiles, Security

Romans 11:11-15 Understanding now that, except for a small remnant, Israel as a whole has refused the Gospel and been hardened, another question arises. Has Israel's stumbling over the Stumbling Stone been a total falling from which there will never be a recovery? It is this question Paul addresses in the verses in this lesson. Paul's emphatic response is negative, but what is the basis for his confidence that they have not permanently fallen? Why does Paul speak of the Gentles experiencing salvation due to Israel's transgression? What does Paul expect the Gentiles' salvation to do to the Jews? How is Paul using the idea of jealousy here? What two aspects of Israel's stumbling does Paul mention? What is the impact of these two aspects? Why does Paul make a point that he is addressing himself to Gentiles in these verses? What is the rejection and acceptance that he speaks of here? What is the "life from the dead" that he refers to? What is the wonderful future that we can expect for Israel, and why does it matter to Gentile believers? (54 min)

Keywords Jealously, Jews, Gentiles, Reconciliation, Remnant

Romans 10:18-21 Picking up where we left off three weeks ago, we find Paul answering the question of why it is that the Jews have not believed the Gospel. Have they never heard? Have they not understood? To each of these questions Paul answers emphatically that those were not the problem. When God says that he will provoke the Jews to jealousy, is this some random judgment of God, or is there some precedent why He has chosen this particular course? How does Paul know that the Jews have heard the gospel? Why does Paul use the verse from Psalm 19 the way he does? Had the Gospel really been preached in all the world, as Paul claims? How do we know, according to Paul, that the Gospel was not too difficult for the Jews to understand? If the Jews had heard and had understood the word of faith, what explanation does Paul give for their not believing? What does this tell us about the grace of God? (57 min.)

Keywords Gospel, Faith, Jews, Gentiles

Romans 10:11-13 In this lesson we are wrapping up our study of verses 5-13, in which Paul sets out how the righteousness of faith differs from the righteousness of the Law. How do we know that Paul is not intending to make a strong distinction between the faith of the heart and the confession of the mouth? When Moses speaks of the mouth and the heart, what is his point? How do we know that Paul does not intend us to see the acquiring of righteousness as distinct from salvation, or confession as distinct from believing? What is the underlying foundation to the assertion that whoever believes will be saved?. In what way is there no distinction between Jew and Greek (Gentile)? On what basis does Paul claim there is no such distinction? How did the Jews view the difference between themselves and the Gentiles? If the objective universal lordship of Jesus is the basis of Paul's argument about Jews and Gentiles, what else can we infer from it? (57 min.)

Keywords Lordship, Confession, Faith, Righteousness, Salvation, Jews, Gentiles

Romans 9:27-33 In our previous lesson we discovered that God freely chose to call the Gentiles, who were not his people, his people. In today's lesson we find that in contrast only a few Jews, only a remnant, are among the people of God. This is the conclusion of the point Paul made in the early part of the chapter about not all the descendants of Abraham being true Israel. Is this point of Paul's something new, or does he have biblical warrant for his argument? What is the significance of Paul's use of the Greek word for seed? If God had not left such a seed, what would have happened? Paul begins to tell us now what it is that defines this remnant, as well as what constitutes the true people of God. How does Paul contrast the Gentile and Jewish approach to righteousness? What is important about the words "pursue" and "attain?" How did Gentiles attain righteousness? What hindered the majority of Israel from attaining righteousness? Why is the stone of Romans 9, I Peter 2, and Isaiah a stumbling block to some, but precious to others? What is the promise to those who believe in the stone? (59 min)

Keywords Remnant, Israel, Gentiles, Stumbling Stone, Faith

Romans 2:25-29 After getting our bearings once again in the flow of Paul's case, we consider in this lesson his response to the Jew's reliance on circumcision. What was the purpose of circumcision? What value did Paul see in circumcision for the Jew who kept the Law? What value did it have for the one who transgressed the Law? What are the two "hypothetical" characters Paul sets before us in this passage? What essentially happens for the uncircumcised person who keeps the Law of Moses? What becomes the relationship of the uncircumcised keeper of the law with the circumcised transgressor? What are the four distinct ways that scripture speaks of someone being the descendant of Abraham or the "seed" of Abraham? How is the fourth way both a new and old way of looking at things? What is Paul saying, and not saying, when he speaks of being a Jew as an internal thing? What implications does Paul's dismissal of circumcision as effective for redemption have upon us today? (58 min)

Keywords Jews, Law, Circumcision, Gentiles

Romans 1:16, 17 In this lesson Rick discusses why Paul is not ashamed of the Gospel. It is the power of God to salvation. What does Paul mean by "salvation" in this passage? Who are the beneficiaries of this remarkable power? What is it that makes the Gospel powerful? Why was verse seventeen such a troublesome verse to Martin Luther? What did Paul mean by the "righteousness of God?" How is that righteousness revealed in the Gospel? What does Paul mean by the phrase "from faith to faith?" What is the significance of Paul's quotation from the prophet Habakuk? (62 min)

Keywords Righteousness, Salvation, Faith, Jews, Gentiles

Romans 1:13-16 In these verses Paul continues his introductory remarks, but is moving into the substance of his letter. His remark that he does not want the Romans to "be unaware" is not a throw away line. It introduces an important subject to the Romans and to Paul. Though Paul claims to have been hindered in coming to Rome, he does not explain here what hindered him. There is something far more important for the Romans to know, and that is what did not hinder him. Did Paul ever face the temptation to be ashamed of the Gospel? Why does he emphasize here that he is not ashamed? Why might someone be ashamed to take the Gospel into Rome? What was the view of both Gentiles and Jews to the preaching of the cross? What was the "scandal of the cross?" (52 min)

Keywords Romans, Gospel, Cross, Greeks, Gentiles, Barbarians