“The letter to the Romans is a book that repeatedly changes the world, by changing people” says Timothy Keller, best-selling author and pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in Manhattan. Here he explores the letter’s powerful place in church history, and explains how it has also profoundly influenced him.
Why should Christians study the book of Romans today? All I have to do is point to history.
Saint Augustine, the fourth-century bishop of Hippo (in what is now Algeria), was converted by reading the book of Romans – a passage from Romans 13. Augustine had a Christian mother, but he turned his back on her faith. He sought truth elsewhere, decided to live however he felt, and fathered a child out of marriage. But while living in Milan, he heard the preaching of Bishop Ambrose, a towering figure in the church. And he found himself unable to shake off what he had heard:
“[I took] the book of the apostle [ie: Romans], opened it and in silence read the first passage on which my eye lit: ‘Not in riots or drunken parties, not in eroticism and indecencies, not in strife and rivalry, but put on the Lord Jesus Christ and make no provision for the flesh in its lusts’ (13:13-14). … At once, with the last words of this sentence, it was as if a light of relief from all anxiety flooded into my heart. All the shadows of doubt were dispelled.” (Confessions, Book VIII, chapter 12)
Augustine went on to change the course of church history as one of the most powerful theologians in the history of the church.
Over a millennium later, Romans changed another man, in a way that would again completely transform the church.
Martin Luther was a German monk who had been taught that God required him to live a righteous life in order to be saved. And so he had grown to hate God, for first requiring of him what he could not do, and then for leaving him to fail. Then Luther read and finally grasped the meaning of Romans 1:17—“In the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed—a righteousness that is by faith from first to last.” Luther later wrote:
“Then I grasped that the righteousness of God is that righteousness by which through grace and sheer mercy God justifies us by faith. Thereupon I felt myself to be reborn and to have gone through open doors into paradise.” (Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans)
Luther’s breakthrough in Romans 1 would lead to the recovery of the gospel in Germany and throughout Europe, and so to the Protestant Reformation.
Augustine, Luther, John Calvin, John Wesley, George Whitfield – so many people who came to grips with the message of Romans had their lives changed by it. And through those great figures the church was changed and history was changed. What is it about Romans that has proved so life-changing and history-shaping? How in the world can we summarize the greatness of this book?
Many people point out that it’s the most sustained exposition of the heart of the gospel: of justification by faith alone; of union with Christ; of adoption into the family of God; of salvation through Christ alone, not through our works. Romans has it all there, and in great depth.
As both Luther and Calvin describe so powerfully, the “gospel” message of Romans is a declaration about God’s righteousness. It is the message that the perfection and holiness of God has been seen in the life and death of Jesus Christ; and that this perfection is offered to us, as a free gift, through the life and death of Jesus Christ. Paul shows us not only how God in the gospel makes sinners righteous, but also how this most precious gift of God is enjoyed in our lives.
For me, perhaps the most wonderful part of the book of Romans is in chapter 8, where Paul summarizes how you change from the inside out; how you change deeply. We have to put to death that which is earthly in us: “If by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live” (Romans 8:15). Yet we have to set our minds on things which are above; on spiritual things. “Those who live in accordance with the Spirit,” Paul says, “have their minds set on what the Spirit desires.” We need to learn how to meditate and think about the gospel until it becomes real to our hearts and the foundation of everything we do.
I have always believed that at the heart of Romans 8 you have the secret to really using the gospel in your heart to change yourself in a profound way.
This article is taken from an interview with Tim Keller about Romans 8-16 For You. Written for people of every age and stage, from new believers to pastors and teachers, this flexible resource is for you to:
