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Why Romans Stands at the Heart of Christian Doctrine | R. C. Sproul · Reformed Thinking

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  Welcome to the deep dive in a particular welcome to this
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  session of Reformed thinking. Our purpose here is always to
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  give you the most direct path to being well informed.
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  Today we're taking a shortcut right through the introduction
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  to the book of Romans, using the Reformation Study Bible as our
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  guide. Our mission is to really get at
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  the vital knowledge Nuggets in as well probably Paul's grandest
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  letter. If you want a master key to
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  unlock biblical theology, this is very likely it.
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  That's a great way to put it, a master key, because when you
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  look at the historical weight of Scripture, Romans really does
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  have a unique place. It's the book that has
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  repeatedly set off these intellectual virtual earthquakes
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  throughout history. You're.
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  Talking about figures like Augustine.
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  Exactly. Augustine who was turned around
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  by his teaching on grace. And then of course Martin
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  Luther. His entire life hinged on a
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  verse from Romans about justification.
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  And Wesley too, right? The heart strangely warmed
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  moment. John Wesley Yes, hearing the
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  preface to Romans read aloud. So there's this, you know, long
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  standing historical consensus that if you can grasp this one
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  letter, you really have the architecture to understand all
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  of Scripture. OK, so let's get into this.
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  Let's set the coordinates for this monumental document.
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  Who are we listening to? Who actually wrote this and how
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  sure can we be about that? The sourcing on this is
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  unusually strong. The letter opens Romans 1.1 and
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  it identifies the author right away as Paul, a servant of
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  Christ Jesus called to be an apostle.
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  And that's backed up elsewhere in the text.
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  It is. You see it corroborated all
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  through the letter, especially when he starts detailing his
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  travel plans and greetings in chapters 15 and 16.
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  It's clearly Paul talking about his own life in ministry.
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  And it seems like the early church accepted it without
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  question, which you don't always see with ancient letters.
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  No, you don't. By the 2nd century, it was
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  already being widely cited as authentically Pauline by
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  Christian writers. Any academic challenges to that
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  have been pretty few and far between.
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  So we can be confident this is exactly what it claims to be.
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  The title Romans just comes from the greeting in the first few
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  verses. Right, taken from the initial
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  address. It's been fixed from the
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  earliest days. OK, so we know who wrote it, but
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  what about when and from where? That context is so important for
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  understanding Paul's his urgency.
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  We can place him pretty accurately through some internal
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  clues in the letter itself. Paul writes this just before
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  he's about to head to Jerusalem. He was carrying that collection,
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  right? The gift for the believers
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  there, yes. The gift from the Gentile
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  churches for the poor Jewish Christians in Jerusalem.
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  He brings it up in chapter 15, and that timeline lines up
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  perfectly with what's recorded in the book of Acts.
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  So this is a specific moment in his ministry.
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  A very specific moment. It suggests he'd finished a
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  major phase of his work and was getting ready for the next one.
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  And the sources point to a single city where he was when he
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  wrote it. They do all the evidence points
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  very firmly to Corinth, the Greek city in the region of
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  Ikaya. Well, in his closing remarks he
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  lists a few people that connect him to that specific place.
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  He mentions Phoebe, who was a deaconess from the church at
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  Syncray. Which was the port of Corinth.
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  Right. He also mentions Gaius as his
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  host, and we know what guy is from the Corinthian church.
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  And then Erastus, who was likely the city's director of public
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  works. So all those names converge on
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  one location. They do.
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  They all point straight to Corinth as the place he was
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  writing from. OK.
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  And we know from acts that he was in Greece for about 3 months
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  around that time. So what's the calendar window
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  for this letters composition? That three month visit would
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  place the writing late in his third missionary journey to fit
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  in his three years in Ephesus, his other travels, and the time
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  it took to gather the offering. We'd place Romans somewhere
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  between the end of 8055 and the early months of 8057.
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  So it's a very deliberate piece of writing.
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  It's not a quick note. Not at all.
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  It's composed at a time when Paul felt his work in the whole
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  eastern half of the Roman Empire was essentially finished.
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  That timing is so crucial because it defines who he's
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  writing to. This isn't a new church plant.
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  He's writing to a congregation that's been around for a while.
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  A. Long time.
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  He says their faith is known everywhere and that he's been
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  wanting to visit them for years. Which brings us to a really
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  fascinating historical point. This powerful church in the
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  capital of the empire was not founded by Paul, and probably
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  not by Peter either. That's a vital point to grasp.
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  Paul makes it very clear he had never been to Rome when he wrote
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  this letter. Which immediately undercuts some
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  of the later traditions about Peter or Paul founding that
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  church. It does.
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  It suggests the church. There was a more a natural
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  outgrowth of the gospel spreading.
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  So how did the Message get to the heart of the Empire without
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  that kind of official Apostolic oversight?
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  Well, the most likely theory is that the first missionaries were
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  just ordinary people, visitors who were in Jerusalem on the day
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  of Pentecost. Acts mentions that, doesn't it?
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  That there were visitors from Rome there.
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  It specifically notes that travelers from Rome were present
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  and were among the first converts to hear Peter's sermon.
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  These were probably Jewish residents of Rome, or maybe
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  proselytes who just brought the gospel message back home with.
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  Them So a grassroots, spontaneous beginning.
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  Yes, which would mean by the time Paul's writing, that church
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  could have been around for a couple of decades already.
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  And there's external history, Roman history, that confirms
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  Christ was a known figure in Rome very early on.
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  Yeah, and a disruptive 1. There is.
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  The Roman historian Suetonius gives us this this chilling
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  little detail. He notes that Emperor Claudius
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  expelled all the Jews from Rome around 8049.
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  That's years before Paul wrote this letter.
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  Several years before, and the reason Suetonius gives is that
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  they were causing disturbances at the instigation of Crestus.
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  Clearly a reference to Christ. Without a doubt, it shows that
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  arguments about the Messiah had already arrived in Rome, taken
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  root and become volatile enough to trigger an imperial decree
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  and a mass expulsion. That expulsion and the later
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  return of Jewish believers must have really shaped the church
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  Paul was writing to. What was the internal makeup of
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  that community? It would have been a challenging
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  mix. The first converts were almost
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  certainly Jewish, but when Claudius kicked out the entire
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  Jewish population, the church would have become, by default,
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  predominantly Gentile. And then the Jewish Christians
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  like Priscilla and Aquila were eventually allowed back.
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  Yes, after Claudius died, right? And they would have come back to
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  a Christian community that had developed for years under
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  Gentile leadership and Gentile customs.
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  That sounds like a recipe for some serious internal tension.
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  Absolutely. Paul's greetings in chapter 16
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  hint that the community might have been meeting in a number of
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  smaller house churches, which. Could have just made the
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  tensions worse. It could have.
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  Magnified them. You have these returned Jewish
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  believers and this established Gentile majority.
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  And you see Paul addressed this dynamic head on, especially in
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  chapters 14 and 15 where he. Talks about the strong and the
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  weak. Exactly.
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  He's telling the strong, who are probably the Gentile majority,
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  you know, not worried about kosher laws, not to judge the
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  weak, who were likely Jewish Christians still holding on to
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  some of of those traditional dietary observances and.
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  All of that internal friction, it seems to feed directly into
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  why Paul felt he needed to write such a detailed theological
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  argument in the 1st place it. Does Paul really had two main
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  concerns? One was personal and strategic
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  for his ministry and the other was theological and communal for
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  the church itself. Let's start with the strategic
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  one. Where was Paul at in his own
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  mind? He saw his ministry at a turning
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  point. He felt his work in the eastern
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  Mediterranean was, as we said, complete.
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  He says as much in Chapter 15. His new focus was entirely
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  westward. He was.
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  Aiming for the very edge of the known world, he.
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  Was his goal was to evangelize and plant churches in Spain, and
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  he saw Rome, the capital of the empire, not as his final
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  destination, but as. A base of operations A.
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  Temporary logistical hub. A staging ground for the next
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  massive phase of his ministry. And to make that happen, he
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  needed the Roman church to get on board.
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  He needed their support. Precisely he hoped to visit
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  Rome, fulfill his long held desire to see them, and then
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  this is the crucial part get their financial and personal
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  backing as a sponsoring church for that huge Spanish mission so
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  to. Get that support.
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  He had to prove himself. He had to.
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  Prove two things, his Apostolic credentials and the truth of the
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  Gospel he was preaching, which? Brings us to that second
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  motivation he needed to lay out his gospel.
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  He. Had to present his message which
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  he even calls my gospel Heckle of times.
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  And this wasn't just a courtesy, it was really a pre emptive
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  defense. A.
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  Defense against what? Well, by.
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  This point Paul was famous or maybe infamous depending on who
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  you asked. His reputation for teaching
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  Gentile inclusion and you know, the end of the ceremonial law,
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  it preceded him so he. Was dealing with rumors and
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  misrepresentations of his teaching almost.
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  Certainly you can see a hint of this in chapter 3, where he has
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  to push back against the accusation that his teaching on
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  grace leads to the conclusion that believers can just do evil,
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  that good may come. That's.
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  The classic charge of antinomianism.
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  If grace covers everything, why not just sin freely?
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  Exactly. So he has to write this grand
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  systematic letter not just to introduce himself, but to prove
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  that the true gospel actually produces holiness, not a license
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  to sin. It was a defense of his whole
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  ministry. So.
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  Let's connect that strategic vision, moving W to his main
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  theological purpose, which he said was the unity of Jew and
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  Gentile. This.
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  Connection is really the hinge for the entire letter.
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  Paul was burdened with this need to show that the church is one
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  single body with both Jew and Gentile as equal members that.
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  Gift he was taking to Jerusalem wasn't just about money then,
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  no. It was deeply symbolic.
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  That Gentile love gift was proof that the Gentiles understood
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  their spiritual debt to Israel. It was a tangible symbol of that
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  unity and. That unifying principle shows up
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  in the core theological theme of the letter.
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  It's. Rooted in their shared
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  experience, both Jew and Gentile have the same problem, universal
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  sin inherited from Adam, so they.
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  Need the same solution they have.
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  To receive salvation in the exact same way, through grace
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  alone, by faith alone in Christ alone.
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  The saving righteousness of God is for every one, because the
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  curse of sin is on everyone. That's the grand argument he
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  builds, starting with that indictment of all humanity.
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  Let's. Talk about the structure of the
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  letter itself. This is not a quick memo.
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  It's an organizational masterpiece.
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  What do we even call this literary form?
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  Well. It follows the standard pattern
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  of a 1st century letter. You know, an opening, a body, a
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  conclusion, but it's sheer scale is what makes it different.
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  It's. Just so much longer than a
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  typical letter from that period. Vastly.
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  Longer, which is why scholars call it a letter essay a.
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  Letter essay so using the frame of a personal letter to deliver
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  what is essentially a long formal instructional document
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  precisely. It's a doctrinal treatise
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  disguised as a friendly letter. Paul needed to lay out
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  systematic theology for a church he'd never met.
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  This format let him do it with authority and scope, but still
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  keep a certain conversational warmth which.
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  Makes sense he's an outsider trying to win their support,
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  right? It's less confrontational than
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  just showing up and delivering a formal proclamation and it.
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  Doesn't read like a dry textbook.
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  The source material points out that Paul uses these specific
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  rhetorical tools to pull the reader in.
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  He does. And the most obvious one is his
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  constant use of rhetorical questions.
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  You see it everywhere. What?
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  Then are we to sin because we are not under law, but under
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  grace or? What shall we say then?
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  Is the law sin? He's constantly posing these
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  questions. And what?
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  Does that do for you as the reader it?
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  Creates a kind of dynamic tension.
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  By asking the questions, Paul anticipates the mistaken
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  conclusions that his audience might jump to like that.
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  Antinomian charge we just talked about exactly.
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  He asked the question, immediately corrects the false
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  idea, and then moves his argument forward.
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  It makes you feel like you're listening in on a live debate
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  between Paul and his opponents. It gives the whole thing a sense
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  of drama and urgency. Another.
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  Technique he uses is that first person device in Chapter 7, that
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  famous passage about the struggle between wanting to do
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  good and doing evil chapter. 7 verses 7 to 25.
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  It's one of the most debated and most personal feeling sections
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  in the whole Bible. When he says I do not understand
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  my own actions, he brings this abstract conflict between the
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  law and sin down to a very recognizable personal level.
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  Whether he's. Talking about his own Christian
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  experience. We're just personifying the
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  human condition under the law, right the.
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  Effect is the same. It describes that deep
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  frustration of knowing God's perfect standard but not being
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  able to meet it. It has this enormous
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  gravitational pull and it sets. Up the solution perfectly.
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  It leads you right. Into the answer presented in
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  chapter 8, which is the liberating work of the Holy
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  Spirit. He uses these literary forms to
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  guide the reader step by step in the Gospel solution.
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  Let's get into. What is maybe the biggest
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  feature of Romans? Its relationship with the Old
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  Testament. The sheer number of citations
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  and illusions is just staggering.
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  It's the foundation. Of his entire argument, Paul
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  isn't inventing something new here.
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  He's demonstrating that his gospel is the fulfillment of
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  what God has been doing for centuries, and he uses.
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  It in different ways very different.
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  Ways. Sometimes it's a long string of
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  quotes to prove a point, like the list of verses in chapter 3
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  that show universal sin and other.
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  Times. It's the entire backbone of a
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  section. Like chapters 9 through 11 on
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  Israel, correct? Or you look at chapter 4, which
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  is his deep dive into the story of Abraham.
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  He dissects that narrative to prove that justification was by
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  faith before the law was even given so.
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  He's securing the principle of solified right there in Genesis.
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  He is. So his point in using the Old
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  Testament isn't just for decoration or proof texting.
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  He's trying to show that the Gospel doesn't abolish the old
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  system, as he says. It upholds the law.
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  Precisely. It shows that the Law and the
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  prophets were all pointing toward this moment, toward the
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  saving mission of God's Son. The Old Testament is the
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  promise. Christ is the fulfillment so
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  moving. To the grand vision, when you
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  look at Romans as a whole, it really is the closest thing to a
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  systematic theology that we have in the New Testament.
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  It is. Paul's most comprehensive, most
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  architecturally sound statement of the good news.
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  The truths in this letter so compressed when they're unwound,
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  they really do redefine your whole relationship with God you
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  mentioned. Martin Luther.
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  Earlier we hear about his breakthrough with Solified in
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  Romans. Can you just walk us through the
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  context of that moment? Luther's.
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  Struggle was one of just profound spiritual anxiety.
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  He was a monk trying to earn his own righteousness through
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  extreme discipline, prayer, confession.
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  And it wasn't. Working the harder he.
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  Tried the more he felt the weight of God's judgement,
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  especially when you read about the righteousness of God in
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  Romans 1.17. He saw that phrase and only
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  thought of God's active judging justice, which he knew he could
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  never satisfy. He hated it.
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  He was terrified. Of God's righteousness, yes.
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  But then, while he was studying that very passage, he saw the
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  second-half of the verse, The righteous shall live by faith,
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  and it clicked completely. Different meaning, he realized.
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  The righteousness of God revealed in the gospel isn't
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  just the standard God uses to judge us.
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  It's the righteous status that He gives to us as a free gift
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  when we trust in Christ, that one.
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  Insight changed everything. It flipped God's righteousness
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  from being a terrifying demand to a gracious gift it.
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  Unlocked his entire understanding of the Bible.
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  And that's why Calvin said that Romans opens up a passage to
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  understanding the whole of Scripture.
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  It just systematically defines that core relationship between
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  God and humanity and the list. Of topics it covers is just,
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  It's all-encompassing. It's everything.
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  You need for Christian doctrine, life, sin, law, judgement,
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  faith, grace, justification, sanctification, election, the
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  work of Christ, the Spirit, Christian hope, the church, how
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  Jews and Gentiles fit together, Christian morality.
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  It's all there and. Right at the center of it all is
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  that one thing we just touched on, the righteousness of God
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  that. Phrase from chapter 1 is the
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  gravitational core of the whole book.
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  Everything Paul discusses has to do with how God reveals his own
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  perfect righteousness in the gospel.
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  And he starts. By showing why we need it so
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  badly, he starts with the bad news, right the.
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  First 3 chapters are a detailed indictment showing that
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  everyone, Jew or Gentile, is universally sinful and falls
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  short since we're all under the wrath of God.
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  The whole point of the gospel is to show how God provides the
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  righteousness we lack. So the whole.
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  Arc of the Letter moves you from being under Wrath to having.
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  Peace with God and that. Transition introduces us to
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  these foundational doctrines, starting with justification.
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  Yes. The heart of the gospel is
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  justification by faith alone solified, and it's secured
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  through substitutionary atonement.
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  As Paul says, we are justified by his grace as a gift through
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  the redemption that is in Christ Jesus and that gift.
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  Is received only through faith. No human works or effort
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  contribute to it, that is. The immovable pillar.
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  But to get the full picture you have to look at the the legal
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  and sacrificial language Paul uses.
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  He introduces this concept of propitiation.
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  That's one of. Those big theological words.
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  Why is propitiation necessary and what does it actually
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  accomplish propitiation? Gets at the need to satisfy
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  God's justice. Because God is holy, His
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  righteous wrath is revealed against unrighteousness.
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  He can't just ignore sin. So propitiation means that Jesus
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  acts as the substitute, the sacrifice, who bears that
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  necessary wrath in our place. So it's not.
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  Just a pardon. It's the actual legal removal of
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  the debt. It is the.
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  Removal of divine hostility toward the center.
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  Paul says in chapter 3 that God put Christ forward this way to
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  show his righteousness so that he might be just and the
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  justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.
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  God remains. Perfectly just even while
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  justifying the ungodly. Exactly.
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  He doesn't compromise his own holiness.
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  Christ's sacrifice satisfies the demands of justice, which allows
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  God to be both perfectly holy and perfectly merciful at the
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  same time. And that.
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  Leads to the concept of imputation, which is so central
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  to Reformed thought. How does Christ's righteousness
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  become ours? Imputation.
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  Is a legal declaration. Think of it like a courtroom
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  verdict. When a person trusts in Christ,
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  God credits the perfect righteousness of Christ to that
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  believer's account. It's an external, objective
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  crediting. So you're.
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  Declared righteous in God's sight, even while you're still
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  internally struggling with sin. That's it.
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  We are justified because we receive Christ's perfect
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  standing, and Paul proves this by going back to Abraham, who is
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  declared righteous simply because he believed God's
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  promise and the immediate. Result of that declaration is
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  peace. Peace with.
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  God and that peace comes from our union with Christ, who Paul
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  sets up as a second Adam, undoing the condemnation that
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  came through the 1st Adam. Now this.
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  Is a critical distinction. Justification is by faith alone.
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  But the Reformers are clear that saving faith is never alone.
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  It has to lead to sanctification, yes.
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  And that's where Paul pivots immediately in Chapter 6.
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  Justification is the once for all declaration.
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  Sanctification is the lifelong process of becoming in practice.
• 19:17
  What we already are in our legal standing, we're saved from.
• 19:20
  Wrath, but also to a new way of life.
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  Exactly. It means we are dead to the
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  ruling power of sin and alive to God.
• 19:27
  It's a struggle that Chapter 7 makes so clear, but chapter 8
• 19:30
  gives the answer The Holy Spirit now lives in the believer,
• 19:34
  empowering that struggle for holy living and chapter. 8 is
• 19:37
  where Paul gives that incredible assurance that anchors the whole
• 19:40
  Christian life it culminates. In that monumental promise that
• 19:43
  absolutely nothing in all creation can separate the
• 19:46
  believer from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord, that
• 19:50
  security rests entirely on God's work, not our own.
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  We have to. Turn now to Chapters 9 through
• 19:56
  11, which have generated, well, so much heat and light over the
• 20:00
  centuries. Paul's discussion of Israel and
• 20:02
  God's sovereign plan, these three.
• 20:04
  Chapters are tackling a huge theological problem.
• 20:08
  If God made all these unbreakable promises to Israel,
• 20:11
  but most of Israel rejected the Messiah, does that mean God's
• 20:13
  plan failed? So, Paul?
• 20:15
  Has to defend God's integrity, He does.
• 20:18
  And he starts by redefining what Israel means.
• 20:21
  He explains that just being a physical descendant of Jacob
• 20:24
  doesn't automatically make you part of the spiritual Israel he
• 20:27
  uses. Jacob and Esau as an example,
• 20:29
  Yes. Even in the Old Covenant, God
• 20:31
  showed He was choosing some descendants over others.
• 20:34
  It proves that membership in the true covenant community has
• 20:36
  always been according to God's sovereign purpose, which leads.
• 20:40
  Right to the doctrine of divine sovereignty, which is so
• 20:42
  critical to our tradition it's. Fundamental Paul is clear.
• 20:46
  God has the sovereign right to extend mercy to whomever he
• 20:49
  chooses. He is the Potter.
• 20:50
  We are the clay. For Reformed thinkers, Chapter 9
• 20:54
  has been central to understanding election and
• 20:56
  balancing divine sovereignty with human responsibility.
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  But even. With this strong theological
• 21:02
  explanation, Paul doesn't just write off the nation of Israel.
• 21:05
  He still has this profound personal grief for them.
• 21:08
  Oh. Absolutely.
• 21:09
  He talks about his constant prayer and desire for their
• 21:12
  salvation, and then in Chapter 11 he clarifies that God has not
• 21:16
  rejected his people entirely. There's always a remnant of
• 21:19
  Jewish people being saved. But what?
• 21:21
  About the nation as a whole, What does Paul see for Israel's
• 21:24
  future? He.
• 21:25
  Paints this incredibly hopeful picture.
• 21:27
  He says their current stumbling, which has allowed the gospel to
• 21:29
  go out to the Gentiles, is temporary.
• 21:31
  He suggests God has a future widespread work of grace planned
• 21:35
  that will turn the heart of the nation back to their Messiah.
• 21:37
  He uses that analogy. Of the olive tree he does, which
• 21:41
  is. Such a vivid picture.
• 21:43
  Israel is the root and the natural branches.
• 21:45
  The Gentiles are wild olive branches that have been grafted
• 21:48
  in. He warns the Gentiles not to be
• 21:50
  arrogant because if God can graft in wild branches, he can
• 21:53
  certainly graft the natural branches.
• 21:54
  Israel back in. So Romans?
• 21:56
  Really. Documents the fulfillment of
• 21:58
  everything God had promised Israel.
• 22:00
  It closes the loop. Christ is the descendant of
• 22:02
  David. He's the one the prophets
• 22:04
  pointed to, and through him the Gentiles are finally receiving
• 22:07
  the blessing that was promised all the way back in the covenant
• 22:10
  with Abraham. The deep theological.
• 22:12
  Argument basically ends with Chapter 11.
• 22:15
  Then in chapter 12 there's a major shift.
• 22:17
  He moves from pure doctrine to practical application.
• 22:21
  That word. Therefore, at the start of
• 22:23
  chapter 12 is one of the most powerful hinges in the Bible,
• 22:25
  because everything in chapters 111 is true.
• 22:28
  Here is how you must now live and the first command.
• 22:31
  Is to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, which is such
• 22:35
  a. Paradox.
• 22:36
  Instead of a dead animal on an altar the Christians worship is
• 22:40
  their ongoing daily life of obedience.
• 22:42
  And that requires a total change of mindset.
• 22:45
  Yeah, be changed by the renewal of your mind.
• 22:49
  He then breaks. Down what this looks like in the
• 22:50
  church and in society, What does that conduct look like inside
• 22:54
  the community, internally? It's about living in harmony,
• 22:57
  blessing those who persecute you, and crucially, given the
• 23:01
  tensions in Rome, how you treat each other over matters of
• 23:05
  conscience, the weak and the. Strong again in chapters 14 and
• 23:08
  15. Right, the strong.
• 23:10
  Must not look down on the weak, and the weak must not judge the
• 23:13
  strong. The main rule is to not put a
• 23:15
  stumbling block in another believer's way.
• 23:17
  You prioritize your brother's conscience over your own
• 23:20
  personal liberty. That's a powerful.
• 23:22
  Application of self denial and what about their civic duty?
• 23:25
  Chapter 13 is the key. Text for that Paul instructs
• 23:28
  believers to submit to the governing authorities, arguing
• 23:31
  that the state is established by God.
• 23:33
  Resistance to lawful authority is resistance to God's order.
• 23:36
  So that covers things like. Paying taxes and showing
• 23:38
  respect, yes. And beyond that, he urges them
• 23:41
  to live holy lives, making no provision for the flesh, always
• 23:46
  in light of the Lord's return. It's all the moral outflow of a
• 23:49
  justified life. And Christ is the.
• 23:51
  Example for all of this always Christ.
• 23:53
  Is presented as both fully divine and fully human.
• 23:56
  His own sacrificial life is the model for how the Church should
• 23:59
  order its life together, and the ultimate hope is that believers
• 24:03
  will one day be fully conformed to His image.
• 24:06
  This has been an. Incredibly systematic look at
• 24:09
  the introduction to this letter. We've covered the history Paul
• 24:12
  in Corinth aiming W. We've dissected the letter essay
• 24:15
  format the doctrine of justification and the call to
• 24:19
  sanctified living. And we can't finish without.
• 24:21
  Noting its legacy, especially for the Reformation Romans gave.
• 24:24
  Lucier, the theological firepower he needed, it did it
• 24:27
  championed. Salvation by grace alone,
• 24:29
  through faith alone and for those in the Reformed tradition
• 24:32
  specifically, Chapter 9 has been just critical.
• 24:34
  It provides the biblical. Arc texture for understanding
• 24:37
  divine sovereignty and election concepts that are right at the
• 24:40
  heart of the Westminster Confessions view of God's plan.
• 24:43
  It clarifies that. God's plan of redemption is
• 24:46
  purposeful from beginning to end, ensuring his own glory.
• 24:49
  We learned Paul. Saw the Church in Rome, the
• 24:52
  capital of the known world, not as his final goal, but as a
• 24:55
  strategic supply station for his mission to Spain.
• 24:59
  So here's a final thought for you to consider.
• 25:01
  What does it say about the expansive nature of the gospel
• 25:04
  itself that Paul viewed the pinnacle of earthly power as
• 25:07
  simply a place to refuel before pushing even further to the
• 25:10
  edges of the map? It speaks to the.
• 25:11
  Universal scope of the Commission.
• 25:13
  The gospel is uncontainable. It must always press onward.
• 25:17
  A compelling question. To hold onto this has been the
• 25:19
  deep dive. We appreciate you driving us for
• 25:22
  this essential analysis of Romans.