Lecture 7 – Romans and 1 Corinthians

Comments on the Imagine you Were Papers

 Some really great efforts which used both imagination and research.
 Some of you used a lot of imagination, but not much research.
 Some of you used little imagination, and often just rewrote paragraphs from
your research.
 If I make comments, I am not criticising you, I am trying to tell you the reason
for my mark.
 Many of you had a bibliography, but it was hard to tell where the reading had
specifically influenced you (i.e. footnotes, or Author-Date references in
brackets).
 Many of you just used websites, even though the CUO said to avoid them, and
the handout recommended actual books.
 Spelling and Writing.

The Book of Romans (AD 57)

God doesn’t love us because we are good.

 Made to be like him in character

 So what does God do when we fail to measure up?

God didn’t start becoming gracious in the New Testament

The problem with the OT is not that God lacks grace, but that the solutions are
deliberately incomplete.

The NT is about God fulfilling his OT promises and turning what was foreshadowed
into a reality.
Lecture 7 – Romans and 1 Corinthians

Romans as a book which changed the world.

If the gospel is not by grace, it is no longer good news.

But does grace do anything more than account for my sins? Does it change me?
Lecture 7 – Romans and 1 Corinthians

Why Romans was written

Why did people need to be told a message of grace?

Jews and Gentiles both trying to claim that God loves them more than the other guy.

The response:

Chapters 1-3 establish that everyone has sinned – both Jews and Gentiles.

You, therefore, have no excuse, you who pass judgment on someone else, for at
whatever point you judge the other, you are condemning yourself, because you who
pass judgment do the same things (2:1)

So the climax of the first section comes in 3:9-11:

We have already made the charge that Jews and Gentiles alike are all under sin. 10
As it is written:
“There is no one righteous, not even one;
11 there is no one who understands,
no one who seeks God.

3:21-26

But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which
the Law and the Prophets testify. 22 This righteousness from God comes through faith
in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, 23 for all have sinned and
fall short of the glory of God, 24 and are justified freely by his grace through the
redemption that came by Christ Jesus. 25 God presented him as a sacrifice of
atonement, through faith in his blood. He did this to demonstrate his justice, because
in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished— 26 he did
it to demonstrate his justice at the present time, so as to be just and the one who
justifies those who have faith in Jesus.
Lecture 7 – Romans and 1 Corinthians

Why the cross doesn’t just melt the divide between God and me

Chapters 5-8 – Transfomation of life through forgiveness and the Spirit

The problem with the law in the OT

 Not a means to salvation

 A means to holiness

In Romans - no longer being under law is not just about our forgiveness but also our
hoiness.

The law commands

Yet finds me neither feet nor hands:
But sweeter news the gospel brings,
It bids me fly and lends me wings.

Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, 2 because
through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and
death. 3 For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful
nature, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin
offering. And so he condemned sin in sinful man, 4 in order that the righteous
requirements of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the
sinful nature but according to the Spirit.

The NT demands greater holiness than the OT.

Lecture 7 – Romans and 1 Corinthians

Liberated from sin through the forgiveness of Jesus

Liberated from sin through the indwelling Spirit

The remainder of Romans.

Chapters 9-11 - God’s inclusion of the Gentiles does not mean his exclusion of the
Jews,

Romans 12-16 - Series of instructions on how to live as God’s people – Jews and
Gentiles together.

Let us therefore make every effort to do what leads to peace and to mutual edification.
20 Do not destroy the work of God for the sake of food. (Rom 14:19-20)

Romans is about creating a united people of God who are united because together
they have experienced God’s grace in Christ, and together they are being formed into
one body by the Spirit.
Lecture 7 – Romans and 1 Corinthians

1 Corinthians (AD 53-54)

Explaining the ordering of the books by Paul.

Hard to explain 1 Corinthians, because it is not so much an argument (like Romans),

but a series of responses to various behavioural issues going on in the congregations.

1:11 - My brothers, some from Chloe’s household have informed me that there are
quarrels among you.

1 Cor 7:1: Now for the matters you wrote about….

1. triumphalism – 1 Cor 4:8

Already you have all you want! Already you have become rich! You have become
kings—and that without us! How I wish that you really had become kings so that we
might be kings with you!

2. dangerous over-focus on spiritual gifts – see 1 Cor 12-14

3. licentious behaviour – 1 Cor 6:12-20

4. idolatrous behaviour – 1 Cor 8-10

5. rejection of bodily resurrection for believers – 1 Cor 15

Corinthians as super-spiritual people

Lecture 7 – Romans and 1 Corinthians

1 Corinthians as a manifesto for a Spirit-filled church

1 Cor 1:18-2:5 – A Spiritual church places a central focus on Christ crucified.

1 Cor 3 – A Spiritual church promotes loving unity, not petty elitism.

Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit lives in
you? 17 If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him; for God’s temple is
sacred, and you are that temple. (1 Cor 3:16-17)

1 Cor 4 – A Spiritual church learns to suffer for the gospel, and doesn’t just fall in
love with success stories

1 Cor 5-6 – A Spiritual church does not stay tolerant of sin

1 Cor 7 – Spiritual people can choose to marry or not marry, basing their decisions on
the gospel

1 Cor 8-10 – Spiritual people use their wisdom serve one another with regard to
contentious issues.

1 Cor 11 – Spiritual people do not recognise status or wealth within the community

1 Cor 12-14 – Spiritual people use their gifts to serve one another – rather than
serving themselves
Lecture 7 – Romans and 1 Corinthians

Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good (1 Cor
12:7)

1 Cor 15 – Spiritual people long to have a redeemed and resurrected body – they do
not long for life without a body.