Romans Chapter 1: The Power of God is in the Gospel

Romans 1.1-7  “Salutation”

The Signs of the Times : October 17, 1895

Under this heading it is proposed to conduct, as nearly as can be done in writing, a class study of the Epistle to the Romans. It is designed to be literally a study, and it is hoped that the “study” will not be all on the part of the writer, but that the readers of the SIGNS OF THE TIMES will be encouraged to acquire for themselves an acquaintance with an epistle that is doubtless the greatest treatise ever written.

In each number the text for the week will be quoted, in order to facilitate the study. The reader, however, should use his Bible freely. Read the verses to be studied very frequently, and form the habit of questioning each verse, after the manner indicated below, only more closely. In this way the force of the words, used by the apostle will stand out clearly, and the thought will be fixed in the mind, in the exact words of the Scripture.

Inspiration assures us that in all of the epistles of Paul there are “some things hard to be understood.” 2 Peter 3:16. Perhaps this is the case with the Epistle to the Romans in a greater degree than with any other epistle. But they are not impossible to be understood, and it is only the “unlearned and unstable” who wrest them unto their own destruction who thus miss the point of Paul’s writings. But those who have a desire to understand and who read and take the simple promises of the Bible as they are written, will not be among that number.

In beginning this study it will be an encouragement to the reader if he will remember that it is simply a letter written to the church in Rome. We can not suppose that the congregation in Rome differed from the great body of Christians in general, and of them we read that “not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called.” 1 Corinthians 1:26. The truest followers of Jesus have always been among “the common people.” So in the church in Rome there were doubtless shopkeepers, artisans, day laborers, carpenters, gardeners, etc., and many servants in the families of wealthy citizens, together with a few who might hold some position of rank. When we consider that it was confidently expected that people of this sort would understand the letter, we may be encouraged to believe that the same class of people can understand it now.