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Introduction to Romans Part 1

Paul the Apostle
Pauls letter to the Romans has been called by one the most pure gospel, and also a light and a way to the
whole Scripture (William Tyndale). Certainly its true that, the more time you spend in the Word, the
more often you will find yourself detouring to Romans, even when you are not directly reading it. This
gives new meaning to the expression, All roads lead to Rome (!)
Still, it is one thing to read Romans, and another to understand it agreed? But since the Holy Spirit has
taken us to Romans as we study the Bible together, we will trust Him, as we always do, to lead us into all
truth (Jn 16:13).
The beginning of that leading takes us back before the time this letter was written, to the writer himself.
Understanding some things about the apostle Paul will help us in our understanding of his letter to the
Romans.
Turn to Acts chapter 8. Paul is introduced in Lukes account under his Hebrew name Saul. Saul was
from Tarsus, the principal city in the Roman province of Cilicia, in Asia Minor (modern-day Turkey see
map).
Does anyone know what Sauls name means? Requested. Saul was named by his parents after the most
illustrious member of their tribe, the tribe of Benjamin King Saul. This takes us back to the days of the
judges.
The children of Israel had requested to have a king like all the other nations; a rejection of the LORD and
His rule over them (1 Sam 8:5-7). The LORD gave them the freedom to have their king, directing Samuel
the prophet to choose Saul.
Now, this Saul was tall and handsome; he looked impressive, from the outside. But Saul was an
unregenerate man; he was enslaved to his own self-will, on the inside. And eventually, that led to King
Sauls ruin.
Saul of Tarsus, who was named after King Saul, initially shared some of his progenitors attributes. He was
impressive-looking on the outside; not in terms of his physical appearance, but in terms of his credentials.
Although Saul was born in Tarsus, he grew up in Jerusalem from his youth (Acts 26:4). So Saul was born a
Hellenist. In Scripture, Hellenists refer to Greek-speaking, foreign Jews, who had generally been
influenced by the Greek culture. But Saul did not grow up to maturity in that culture. Saul was raised
among the native, Hebrew Jews in Judea. As he would later claim, Saul was a Hebrew of the Hebrews
(Phil 3:5); he was an authentic, orthodox Jew.
Saul was trained as a Pharisee, following in the footsteps of his own father, in this respect (Acts 23:6). In
Jerusalem, Saul was brought up at the feet of the rabbi Gamaliel, a member of the Sanhedrin who was
considered perhaps the most influential Pharisee of that day (Acts 5:34).
The Pharisees were considered the strictest sect of Judaism; the very name Pharisee means separated;
they saw themselves as separated unto God, by their being set apart from anything that was unclean. And
what was it, that they believed set them apart? The Law of Moses; they saw their keeping of the Law as the
means of maintaining their separation unto God.

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Saul was a particularly zealous Pharisee; of himself, he later said that he advanced in Judaism beyond
many of his contemporaries in his own nation, being more exceedingly zealous for the traditions of his
fathers (Gal 1:14). These traditions refer to the oral traditions that had been added the Law by the elders
the religious leaders, in Judaism. What Saul was zealous for, then, was religion; a religious system of
works, by which Saul was made righteous (Phil 3:6) or so he believed.
Saul was a young man during the time of Jesus ministry perhaps in his mid-20s. Living in Jerusalem,
Saul could not have helped but to hear about Jesus and His teaching; he may even had heard and seen Him,
personally. But Saul had bought into a religious way of thinking, and was intent upon advancing in
Judaism. There was no room in Sauls heart for the One who was the way, the truth and the life (Jn 14:6).
Not yet.
Instead, Saul continued in his religious way the way of the Pharisees, in particular. The Pharisees, as a
whole, rejected Jesus. They had changed the Law, with its pictures of the Coming Christ, into meaningless
rituals to be performed. Because the Jews did not see His picture in the Law, they did not recognize Jesus,
when He came, to be their Messiah.
In addition, their selective and colored interpretation of the prophecies concerning the Messiah portrayed to
them the Messiah that they were longing for: a political deliverer, who would overcome their Roman
oppressors for them. Jesus just didnt fit their concept of Messiah.
Perhaps the Pharisees would have settled for just ignoring Jesus, had it not been for His condemnation of
them. Jesus was constantly challenging their teaching, upstaging them (as they would have seen it) in
public exchanges, declaring them to be hypocrites, even pronouncing judgment upon them.
This served to undermine their authority with the people something the Pharisees would not tolerate.
Meanwhile, crowds flocked to witness the miracles that Jesus did, and sat at His feet to hear His teaching.
The jealousy and indignation of the Pharisees sought to find a permanent way to silence this upstart teacher
from Galilee. And they thought they found that way when they, together with the other rulers of the
nation, orchestrated His death.
Certainly Saul would have been consenting to the death of Jesus. Saul would have considered Jesus to be a
false prophet, intent on leading the people astray by both His teaching and His example.
Here was someone who healed on the Sabbath! Saul would have viewed Jesus as a Law-breaker. And
not only did Jesus supposedly heal people, but He told them their sins were forgiven. Who did He think He
was God?
Surely, His so-called miracles were no more than a magicians tricks, designed to deceive the people
but Saul was not so gullible. And where was His ceremonial cleanliness, and His separation? Jesus
associated with tax collectors and sinners (Mt 9:11)!
But worst of all, Jesus claimed that God was His Father, and acknowledged that He was Israels Messiah.
How could someone so meek and lowly of heart humble of birth and of character possibly be the Son of
God; the Messiah of Israel?
Surely the Messiah would be a Pharisee! So Saul would have seen Jesus; through his natural eyes, as the
natural, unregenerate man that Saul was.

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Saul would have considered the way in which Jesus died to be the ultimate proof that God Himself rejected
Jesus. According to the Law of Moses, if a man had committed a sin deserving of death, Israel was to put
him to death, usually by stoning. Then the body of the offender was to be hung upon a tree. Why? The
Law indicates that it is to show that the offender was accursed of God (Deut 21:22-23); that is, that God
Himself condemned the offender; that this was the judgment of God.
Hanging the body on the tree made a spectacle of the offender, exposing the shame of his offense, and the
consequence of his sin; and that justice had been carried out.
Roman crucifixion came to be associated by the Jews with this shameful curse, declared by their Law. Saul
would certainly have viewed the crucifixion of Jesus to be Gods judgment on Jesus for being a deceiver, a
false prophet, intent on leading the people of God astray; a counterfeit Messiah, an imposter, who had been
ever so justly accursed by God.
The rulers in Jerusalem, as well as Saul, would certainly have thought that the death of Jesus would bring
an end to His following; that, without their teacher, the disciples of Jesus would simply seek out a new
teacher maybe even come to their senses, and return to the teaching of the Pharisees.
There were two problems with this. First the rulers underestimated the power of what Jesus had
communicated to His disciples. The disciples did not simply have the power of true teaching; they had the
power of new lives. And second, the rulers overestimated the death of Jesus; He did not remain dead.
Three days after He was crucified, Jesus rose from the grave. Well, so His disciples said the only ones
who supposedly saw Him, resurrected from the dead. True, the grave was empty; but the disciples could
have stolen His body even though the tomb was sealed, and there were posted guards, to ensure that the
tomb was not tampered with.
Saul would certainly not have allowed himself to believe that Jesus rose from the dead, even though as a
Pharisee, he did believe in resurrection. Yet there were so many of Jesus disciples who claimed this to be
true; and this went on for a forty-day period.
At the end of that time, these disciples came into Jerusalem from the Mount of Olives, rejoicing, indicating
that Jesus had ascended back to His Father in heaven. Saul must have wondered if that would be the end of
it. It wasnt.
Ten days later, on the feast of Pentecost, there was a strange occurrence in Jerusalem. The city was
swarming with religious pilgrims, Hellenist Jews who had come up to Jerusalem for the feast. There was a
report that the disciples of Jesus had spoken to these pilgrims in many different foreign tongues, telling all
of them in their native languages about the wonderful works of God (Acts 2:11) no doubt, telling them
about Jesus.
How could these mostly Galilean Jews country bumpkins, with no special affinity for languages have
learned to speak in these many foreign tongues? This large-scale deception must have been the devils
work Saul would certainly have thought.
But the worst part was that one of them, Peter by name, used the occasion to preach to the many Jews who
had gathered about Jesus; how the Jews had put Him to death, but how Jesus was resurrected, and how He
has now ascended into heaven to the right hand of God and that this was a fulfillment of the OT
Scriptures, concerning Messiah. The word was that three thousand Jews believed into this deception, and
were baptized in the name of Jesus (Acts 2:41). What a disaster!

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More disasters followed. The disciples of Jesus began doing miraculous works magical deceptions, just
like Jesus had done. And thousands more Jews in Jerusalem became persuaded that the dead Jesus was in
fact the living God the Messiah of Israel!
No doubt Saul was in complete agreement with the rulers in Jerusalem to try to crush this apostate
movement. They arrested two of the disciples and threatened them; but they continued to preach about
Jesus, undeterred (Acts 4:1-21). They arrested more of the disciples, and beat them but that didnt do any
good, either (Acts 5:40-42).
And meanwhile, multitudes of men and women Jews in Jerusalem were putting their faith in Jesus as
the Messiah. The whole city was being filled with their doctrine (Acts 5:28). Even a great many of the
priests became obedient to the faith (Acts 6:7). For Saul, all of this must have been intolerable.
It was at this time that a former Hellenist Jew by the name of Stephen, a believer in Jesus, was arrested.
Stephen had been debating with his fellow Hellenists in the synagogues concerning Jesus, and the
Hellenists were losing the debate; they were unable to resist the wisdom and the Spirit by which Stephen
spoke (Acts 6:10).
As the Hellenist Jews were unable to overcome the truth in Stephen, they sought to silence him by force
and guile. False witnesses were produced, and Stephen was seized and brought before the Sanhedrin the
judicial council of the Jews.
But instead of Stephen being on trial, the Holy Spirit spoke through Stephen to present an indictment of the
nation of Israel for their consistent unbelief in God, culminating in their rejection of Jesus as their
Messiah.
For speaking the truth, Stephen was put to death not based on a legal verdict by the court, but by the hand
of the mob; it was a lynching. The fury of the Jews knew no bounds particularly after Stephen was given
to see a vision of the Lord Jesus, standing at the right hand of God to receive him.
The witnesses the false witnesses, that had been produced laid aside their outer garments in order to
facilitate their stoning of Stephen to death. Do you remember who it was who watched over their
garments, while they executed their task? Saul (Acts 7:58).
In chapter 8, verse 1, we read, Now Saul was consenting to his [Stephens] death. Saul would not
consent to what he knew nothing about. We can be certain that Saul had heard Stephen preach; that Saul
had heard his trial, and Stephens inspired indictment of the nation.
Stephens last word concerning Israel was that the nation had received the Law by the direction of angels,
but had not kept it (Acts 7:53) the very Law that Saul and the other Pharisees took such pride in keeping.
It was a stinging rebuke, which Saul would have quickly dismissed as unjustified.
And Saul would have thought the death of Stephen to be completely justified even at the hand of the mob.
After all, Stephen had blasphemed God, with his statement about seeing Jesus at Gods right hand. So Saul
would have been an utterly willing participant in Stephens stoning, in his way. Such was Sauls zeal, for
God.
And now that Sauls zeal had tasted blood, with the martyrdom of Stephen, it sought other ways to be
satisfied.

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[Acts 8:1-4] You can see that it was Saul who spearheaded this persecution in Jerusalem. Now that the tide
of popular favor had turned against the church through the incident with Stephen, the Jewish rulers
unleashed Saul to continue to expand their wave of persecution against the followers of Jesus.
In verse 3, it says that Saul made havoc of the church. In the Greek, this means to ravage as a wild
animal that attacks and tears the body of its victim. One cant help but think of Peters words: Your
adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour (1 Pet 5:8). Certainly, at
this time, Saul was doing the work of Gods adversary, the devil; and doing so, all in the name of God.
Later, Paul would write, For you have heard of my former conduct in Judaism, how I persecuted the
church of God beyond measure to destroy it (Gal 1:13).
Paul would say in his hearing before Herod Agrippa, Many of the saints I shut up in prison, having
received authority from the chief priests; and when they were put to death, I cast my vote against them.
And I punished them often in every synagogue and compelled them to blaspheme (Acts 26:10-11).
This means that Saul forced believers to bear false witness against themselves. And how did Saul manage
to do that? Torture? Threats against their families? But Saul would have rationalized his actions; the end
justifies the means. And that end was the zealous protection of the glory of Sauls God wasnt it?
Saul had never really seen that glory. But one day, the Lord revealed Himself to Saul and once Saul saw
the glory of the true and living God, he was forever changed.
Turn to Acts chapter 9. The persecution of believers in Jerusalem by the Jews produced an unexpected
result; in fleeing from the persecution, believers were carrying the gospel out of Jerusalem, preaching the
Word wherever they went (Acts 8:4).
This was not unexpected by the Lord, of course; things were going exactly according to His plan, as
believers witnessed in Jerusalem, then into Judea and Samaria. Eventually, the gospel would go to the
uttermost parts of the earth (Acts 1:8). But there was one who was determined to stop it, at all costs: Saul.
One of the principal places that the persecuted Jewish believers tended to go was the city of Damascus,
because it contained a large Jewish community, and was within walking distance of Jerusalem (see map),
five or six days.
But this also put it within reach of Saul. Saul obtained letters of authorization from the high priest in
Jerusalem to extradite any believing Jews that fled to Damascus, to bring them back to Jerusalem in chains
for trial.
[Acts 9:1-8, 15, 22-25]
v. 1-2 This is the first place in Lukes account where he uses the term the Way, for those who were the
followers of Jesus. It may well come from the words of Jesus concerning Himself: the way, the truth and
the life (Jn 14:6). But right now, Saul was still continuing to pursue his own way. It seemed right to him,
but its end was the way of death (Prov 14:12).

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We can see later in the account that Saul was accompanied on his journey to Damascus, most likely by
Levitical guards, who were to help him with his prisoners. As Saul approached the city, he would have had
time to formulate his plans on how to take his prisoners. Little did Saul realize that those plans would
never be realized, and instead, he would be taken prisoner for Saul was about to become the bondservant
of Jesus.
v. 3-4 What dispels the darkness? Light. This light from heaven, as later described by Saul, was brighter
than the sun a supernatural light and it shone all around Saul, enveloping him. Into Sauls dark
existence had come the Light of Life, Himself.
All of the men saw the light, but only Saul saw the source of the light: the Lord. This light was the
outshining of His glory. The light was so powerful, so penetrating, that it knocked all the men to the
ground (Acts 26:14).
Then Saul heard a voice; all of the men heard it, but only Saul heard what the voice was saying. This
revelation was personal; it was for Saul alone.
And what did the voice say? Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me? Whom had Saul been
persecuting? The disciples of Jesus. Saul realized, by the nature of the revelation, that the One speaking to
him could be none other than the Lord from heaven; and He was identifying Himself with the disciples of
Jesus. Now it is Saul who must ask a question; and he must have been dreading the answer.
v. 5 The answer must have been shattering to Saul. The Lord from heaven who was revealing Himself to
Saul was Jesus. Jesus the One whom the Jews had put to death had crucified was alive
resurrected, as they had said and was the Lord - God.
And Jesus was speaking to Saul the one who had been persecuting His disciples who was on a mission
to murder more of them. Saul must have wondered why Jesus didnt just strike him dead on the spot. But
Jesus had not come to judge him. He came to save him.
To kick against the goads is a proverbial expression, alluding to a rebellious ox that would kick back at
the goads, which were sharp spikes that were meant to be his guide, to show him the way of the master. In
kicking against the goads, the ox would only hurt himself.
The goads are like the Law, which God had given Israel, to show them the way of salvation through faith
in their Messiah. Jesus was showing Saul that he had been that rebellious ox, resisting the true way of
salvation, in Jesus Himself.
But like so many of his Jewish brethren, Saul had turned the Law, which pictured Christ, into a set of rules
to be performed. That was the way of religion, not the way of God; it never justified a man, but only
served to injure him - just like the ox injured himself, in kicking against the goads.
That was hard, as Jesus told Saul; that was a grievous thing to do - the ox got nowhere, it accomplished
nothing, it did not serve the purpose for which it was created, and it only hurt itself. In persecuting Jesus,
Saul was only hurting himself; storing up wrath for the day of judgment (Rm 2:5). And that would be very
hard for Saul.
How stunning it must have been for Saul, that Jesus would not only speak to him, but implore him to repent
of what he had been doing. Such love and longsuffering! And Sauls heart was being changed, even as
they spoke. His next question was very characteristic of his zealous character.

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v. 6-8 Sauls head must have been spinning, but he was sure he was ready to carry out the Lords
instructions whatever they might be. But what the Lord instructs Saul is to go into the city, and wait.
Waiting on the Lord was the first thing that Saul must learn how to do. Saul needed time to meditate on his
experience, on his conversion for the Holy Spirit to shine His light upon what had just happened to Saul.
Saul needed time to consider the past, and contemplate his future, with the Lord. Saul needed time to learn
how to just be in Christ.
During this revelation, the eyes of Saul were shut; but as he arose and opened his eyes, he saw no one; he
was blind. Later he would say that he could not see for the glory of that light (Acts 22:11). The eyes of his
understanding would begin to be enlightened during these next few days, while he remained physically
blind.
His companions realized that Saul had been blinded by the light, and so they led him by the hand into
Damascus. This was certainly a new experience for Saul; the one who had always taken charge, being led
like a child, trusting others to take him where he should go.
What a great preparation for Sauls future ministry, in which he would need to trust all the Lord, as the
Spirit led Saul in the way the Lord desired him to go.
For three days, Saul fasted and prayed. The Lord prompted His disciple Ananias to go to Saul, and lay
hands on him, that he might receive his sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit the anointing,
empowerment, for his ministry. In verse 15, the Lord revealed to Ananias what that ministry would
involve.
v. 15 Notice the order in which the Lord names these three things. The focus of Sauls ministry would be
as the apostle to the Gentiles; additionally, he would bear the Lords name before kings. Lastly, Saul would
minister to his own people, the Jews; but as his ministry unfolded, it would be seen time and again that the
majority of the Jews rejected the gospel not unlike Saul himself.
After Saul received his sight, he arose and was baptized by Ananias (Acts 9:18). Remember that Saul had
come to Damascus with some attendants from Jerusalem, planning to arrest the disciples of Jesus. But here
he was now, being baptized in the name of Jesus. This powerful transformation, from religious persecutor
to fervent believer, was Sauls first witness that he gave to Jesus as His Lord.
Saul spent some days with the disciples of Jesus in Damascus. Those disciples had heard that Saul had
come to arrest the refugees from Jerusalem; now, here he was in their midst, fellowshipping with them.
Then Saul began to preach in the synagogues; but the Lord needed to empower His witness, by opening up
his understanding of the Scriptures, as He had for His other disciples (Lk 24:45).
For this purpose, the Lord had Saul spend three years in Nabatean Arabia, during which time God revealed
His Son in Saul (Gal 1:16); that is, the Spirit revealed to Saul how Jesus fulfilled all of the ceremonial Law
and the prophecies of the OT Scripture, which Saul knew ever so well, as a Pharisee.
When Saul returned to Damascus with his new found understanding, he began to share it in the synagogues.
Skip down to verse 22.

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v. 22-25 Saul showed the Jews how Jesus fulfilled their Scriptures, and they were unable to refute him. So
the Jews in Damascus plotted to silence him permanently. But Saul managed to escape, with the help of
the disciples in Damascus. Here was a little retributive justice for Saul, the persecutor.
Saul decided to head back to Jerusalem at this time, but the disciples there were afraid of him they
remembered Saul only too well, and thought he was just pretending to be a disciple, in order to entrap
them.
Barnabas, a Hellenist Jew from Cyprus, who had from the earliest days been associated with the apostles,
happened to be in Jerusalem at this time, and was somehow aware of the truth concerning Saul.
Barnabas brought Saul to the apostles only Peter and James, the Lords brother, were there at the time
(Gal 1:18-19). It soon became evident that Saul had indeed become a follower of Jesus.
For two weeks, Saul ministered with the apostles in Jerusalem, disputing against the Hellenist Jews in the
synagogues. When Saul later gives his testimony before a crowd in Jerusalem, he mentions an event that
seems to have occurred at that time.
Turn to Acts chapter 22. This is the testimony that Saul gave to the Jews that had gathered after he was
dragged out of the temple and beat up, based on a false accusation. He relates a time after his conversion,
when he has returned to Jerusalem, desiring to minister to his brethren, the Jews. This is most likely the
time weve been looking at, with Peter, James and Barnabas.
[Acts 22:17-21]
v. 17-18 Saul had already mentioned that when he became a believer, Ananias had told him that he would
be a witness to all men of what he had seen and heard of Jesus. In Sauls vision in the temple, Jesus was
forewarning Saul that the witness he was currently giving to the unbelieving Jews in Jerusalem would be
rejected by them. In fact, Jesus indicated, Saul would need to make a hasty departure.
v. 19-20 Saul felt the freedom to suggest to the Lord that, because he had formerly persecuted believers, he
was just the person to testify to these unbelieving Jews. Notice as Paul recounted the death of Stephen, he
called him the Lords martyr, and cited his role in Stephens death. You can almost hear Pauls regret.
But Paul thought that his former zeal against the disciples of Jesus would give him standing with the
religious Jews in Jerusalem after all, who would be a better witness for Jesus to the unbelieving Jews than
one from their own ranks and a particularly zealous one, at that?
v. 21 The Lord knew better than Saul; his witness would be rejected, and he ordered Saul to leave
Jerusalem. It was time for Saul to begin his ministry of spreading the gospel among the Gentiles; in fact,
he was to become the apostle to the Gentiles; his unique role, in the history of redemption.
Of course, what Jesus said about the Jews was borne out; and because Saul heeded his Masters words, Saul
escaped with his life. Just imagine the ire of the Jews in Jerusalem to hear Saul, who had led the
persecution against the followers of Jesus, now preaching this very same Jesus to them. This was
reminiscent of what Stephen had done, but was even more incendiary to the Jews, who would have viewed
Saul as a traitor to their righteous cause.
So they made a plan to kill Saul, but the brethren quickly got Saul out of the city first to Caesarea, then on
to Tarsus, in Cilicia Sauls birthplace.

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It would be 14 years before Saul saw Jerusalem again. This was just the beginning of what Saul would
suffer, for Jesus sake (Acts 9:16). But as he would write to the Romans, I consider that the sufferings of
this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us (Rm 8:18).
Paul weathered his sufferings by keeping an eternal perspective.
It would seem that Paul did not remain strictly in Tarsus; that he preached the gospel in the province of
Cilicia over the course of a year or more. Later in the record, we find evidence of churches in Cilicia (Acts
15:23, Gal 1:21).
Meanwhile, Hellenist Jews who had been displaced out of Jerusalem by the persecution traveled to
Antioch, where they preached the gospel to the predominantly Gentile community there. Many Gentiles
believed, and when the church in Jerusalem heard about it, they sent Barnabas there to minister.
But the work became bigger than Barnabas, and who do you think the Lord brought to his mind to minister
with him, there? Saul. So Barnabas fetched Saul from Tarsus, and they ministered in Antioch for a year
together, among the predominantly Gentile assembly there.
It was this Gentile assembly that sent Barnabas and Saul out on their first missionary journey, as instructed
by the Holy Spirit. The journey took them initially to Cyprus, the native land of Barnabas, and then into
purely pagan Gentile territory where Barnabas nephew, John Mark, promptly abandoned them.
But Saul and Barnabas pressed on into the province of Asia, to the region of Galatia.
As we look at Pauls missionary journeys (for he used his Roman name, Paul, among the Gentiles), we see
certain general patterns. First, Paul tended to stick with the main roads of the empire, and preach in cities
the larger, the better. These were practical considerations, as this allowed Paul and his companions to cover
ground more quickly, and plant the gospel where it would be tend to be heard and spread most quickly.
Paul also used to preach first in a synagogue, if the city had one. This was a strategic consideration. It
would give Paul an audience that would tend to be receptive to listening to him at least, at first. Visiting
Jews were invited to give a word of exhortation to the Jews. And Paul had the ultimate word for them the
gospel.
By preaching in the synagogues first, Paul was expressing courtesy and respect to his fellow Jews, in giving
them his message first. He was also showing openness concerning his message that he was not trying to
hide anything. But there was another crucial reason for why he preached there first.
There were most often proselytes that attended synagogue Gentiles, who had converted to Judaism, even
being circumcised. Synagogues were also frequented by what are called in Scripture God-fearers; these
were Gentiles who were attracted to the God of Israel, attending synagogue, but not going so far as to
become a full convert.
Whereas it would be very hard for Paul to reach a Gentile audience, as a Jewish outsider to their city, Paul
could reach the Gentiles with his message through those who attended the synagogue. And once some of
these Gentiles became believers, they became Pauls bridge to the rest of the Gentile community within
the city; the means of his introduction into their circles.
How do you think that Paul came up with these brilliant strategies for his work, which he followed right
from the outset when he had no missionary training at all? Paul followed the leading of the Holy Spirit;
its the Spirits ministry, and He has all the insight needed for its success.

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10

On the first missionary journey, perhaps a year in length, Paul and Barnabas preached the gospel
throughout the cities of Galatia. They returned to Antioch and ministered there another year, during which
time false teachers came to Antioch from Judea, proclaiming that the Gentile brethren there must keep the
Law and be circumcised in order to be saved. Paul and Barnabas disputed with them, then went up to
Jerusalem to settle the issue.
Turn to Acts chapter 15. Peter spoke his mind on the matter.
[Acts 15:7-11] Peters experience with Cornelius had forever settled this matter in his mind (Acts 10-11);
the Gentiles were saved in the same manner as the Jews by simple faith in Christ alone. All of the
brethren assembled agreed with this, and the church in Jerusalem then drafted a letter to the assemblies
where this had become an issue in Antioch, Syria, and Cilicia.
In the letter, the church in Jerusalem made it clear that they affirmed the teaching of Barnabas and Paul, and
that they in no way authorized the false teaching which would add the works of the Law to faith in Christ
(Acts 15:23-29).
By this time, the majority of those in the assemblies of Galatia had also succumbed to the false teachers. It
was at that time that Paul wrote them his letter Galatians refuting this teaching. Paul and Silas took
the letter from the church in Jerusalem with them on the second missionary journey, strengthening the
assemblies that were affected by this false teaching in Antioch, Syria, Cilicia and Galatia.
Paul and Silas acquired Timothy and Luke on this trip. After Galatia, they journeyed west to Troas, then
crossed the Aegean Sea to the European continent to Philippi, Thessalonica, and Berea, then down to
Athens and Corinth in Greece.
Paul labored for the next year and a half in Corinth, preaching the gospel and establishing the assembly
there in the doctrine of Christ. The two letters we have to the Thessalonians were written during this time,
from Corinth. The second missionary journey lasted about three years; and after another furlough in
Antioch, Paul set out again.
The third missionary journey took Paul back through Cilicia and Galatia, where he once again strengthened
the disciples. From there, Paul was taken by the Spirit to Ephesus, where he ministered for three years. It
was from Ephesus that all of the Roman province of Asia heard the word of the Lord Jesus, both Jews and
Greeks (Acts 19:10).
Paul wrote his first retained letter to the assembly in Corinth from Ephesus (First Corinthians), answering
some of their questions, and addressing their many issues regarding sanctification the lack of it.
The second letter that we have to that assembly came later (Second Corinthians), while Paul was in
Macedonia, showing that a major issue regarding false teaching had been resolved in that assembly much
to Pauls relief.

It was after this letter to them that Paul then went to Greece (Acts 20:2-3) certainly meaning Corinth,
having indicated in his letter that he would visit them again (2 Cor 9:4-5, 13:1). Paul spent the winter there,

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waiting until the shipping lanes were safe for traveling, intending to bring an offering for the impoverished
church in Jerusalem from the Gentile assemblies in Europe and Asia.
And it was during this three-month layover in Corinth that Paul is thought to have written his remarkable
letter to the assembly in Rome.
We will see as the letter unfolds how Pauls experiences bear upon what he writes; his experiences as a
Jew; his personal experience in believing into Christ; and his missionary experiences, in the fight for the
faith. The Spirit will draw on all of these experiences in His address to the assembly in Rome.
Next week: reading is the same, and Acts 18:1-22; 20:1-6.