Part 70 of the David Pawson 'Unlocking the Bible' Podcast series
In Part 1 of Romans, David Pawson showed that the reason for Paul to write to the Roman church was the tension between Jew and Gentile within the fellowship. Because of their different backgrounds, he deals specifically with the issues confronting them – whether to eat food offered to idols, keeping one day special each week. David shows that the keyword in Romans is ‘God’, occurring more than any other. Paul had to discuss the Law for the sake of the Jews and license for the sake of the Gentiles. The main theme is the righteousness of God, and David says their own good deeds are more likely to keep people out of Heaven than anything else. Salvation is a process that must continue to the end. God justifies us before he sanctifies us. David’s brief outline of the book: Chapters 1-4 Faith which looks to the past; chapter 5 Hope which looks to the future; chapters 12-16 Love which is concerned with working out the present. Chapters 9-11 dwell on the Jews. Paul communicated the Gospel by word, deed and sign. David encourages us to examine a book to break it up to find the structure to aid our understanding.