Paul's Lessons to the Romans

In one of Peter’s epistles he spoke about his “beloved brother Paul” and how he “hath written unto you,” presumably speaking to many of the members of the Church.  He then made this comment about the epistles that Paul had written up to that point: “As also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things; in which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction” (2 Peter 3:16).  So on the one hand Peter said that the epistles of Paul contained “things hard to be understood,” but in the same breath he also condemned the “unlearned and unstable” that wrest the epistles of Paul and try to make it mean something other than what is was intended for.  For me there is certainly much in his epistles that are hard to understand, but there are also countless gems of wisdom and testimony of the Savior that make our possession of his words priceless. 

One of the hardest epistles of Paul’s for me to understand is the book of Romans.  So I thought rather than focus on those things in this epistle that are confusing to comprehend, here is a list of powerful statements and teachings from Romans:

“For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.  For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith” (Romans 1:16-17). We who have the blessings of the gospel must not be ashamed of our faith in Christ. 

“Thou therefore which teachest another, teachest thou not thyself? thou that preachest a man should not steal, dost thou steal? Thou that sayest a man should not commit adultery, dost thou commit adultery? thou that abhorrest idols, dost thou commit sacrilege? (Romans 2:21-22)  In other words, one of the most important part of teaching is to ensure that your own life conforms to the principles you teach. 

“For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood” (Romans 3:23-25).  Perhaps one of the most famous verse in Romans, I love the simplicity of Paul’s testimony about our need for Jesus Christ—we all need the grace and redemption of the Savior.

“And being not weak in faith, he considered not his own body now dead, when he was about an hundred years old, neither yet the deadness of Sara’s womb: He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God; And being fully persuaded that, what he had promised, he was able also to perform” (Romans 4:19-21).  I love the way that Paul summarizes the faith of Abraham.  We too must live with the trust that what God promises he will perform—we cannot “stagger” in the sight of seeming impossibilities. 

“We glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience; And patience, experience; and experience, hope: And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us” (Romans 5:3-5).  To be able to say that he gloried in tribulations, Paul shows that he was completely devoted to the work of the Lord no matter what the obstacles that he faced.  We must also trust that the trials we face will bring us patience, experience, and hope through the love of God which He will give to us. 

“Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life” (Romans 6:4).  Paul’s analogy here does much to teach us about the significance of baptism and how we are following after the life of the Savior as we are baptized.  Our faith in Christ should bring to us significant change in that we have “newness of life” as we seek to live after the manner of the Lord. 

There are many more gems of insight and inspiration throughout the book of Romans and the writings of Paul in general.  Even though he may at some points be difficult to understand, that fact alone is no excuse for us not to spend significant effort seeking to both comprehend and commit to action the teachings of Paul.