Christianity: God's Grace

Introduction

Authored by the apostle Paul, the first eight chapters of the book of Romans contain a vastly descriptive and profoundly authoritative message, which summarizes and encapsulates the message of God’s grace. This letter written to the church in Rome is the “most systematic of Paul’s letters,” with an emphasis on the doctrine of Christianity, “reads more like an elaborate theological essay than a letter.” The book of Romans presents the Gospel of Christ as a sure and sound foundation of personal, relational, and cultural beliefs along with supporting those principles with significant revelations of nature and world the reader lives in.

Natural World

In the early chapters of Romans, several key points give clear indication of God’s influence and obvious involvement in the natural things of the world, but also show the sin of man’s impact on the natural world. From the first, Paul explains that no one is with excuse for the sins in their life due to the fact that God is evident, present and clearly shown from the creation of the world (Rom. 1:18-20 [NIV]). Donald Barnhouse explains this concept as, “nature reveals the fact of God and calls upon the mind of man to acknowledge the Godhead and to submit to Him.” The entire natural world is impacted and fallen through the first man, Adam, and through him the death caused by sin was passed to all (Rom. 5:12-14). The weight of this sin is so great that even all of creation “groaneth and travaileth in pain” (Rom. 8:22). God provides knowledge and wisdom of His power and His existence through nature; however, the evil of man is at odds to God’s divine plan. This wickedness has saturated to the point where, for many, God has allowed for “their foolish hearts to be darkened” (R...

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...daily burdens of this world fall away when understanding that there is nothing that “will be able to separate us from the Love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rom. 8:37-39).

Works Cited

Barker, Kenneth L. Zondervan NIV Study Bible: New International Version. 2008 update. ed. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Zondervan, 2008.

Boyer, Mark, Kaethe Ellis, Dolores Harris, and Anne Soukhanov, eds. The American Heritage Dictionary (Based On the New Second College Edition). New York, NY: Dell Publishing, 1989.

Gray, Barnhouse Donald. Romans: Expositions of Bible Doctrines (2 Volumes); Chapters 1:1-5:11. Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishers, 2013.

Heritage, American. The American Heritage Dictionary (Based On the New Second College Edition). United States of America: Laurel, 1987.

Wilkinson, Bruce, and Kenneth Boa. Talk Thru the Old Testament. Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1983.