In our last post, we gave a brief overview of Roman’s (The Gospel in Action) and introduced Paul, our beloved author. This time, we’re going to recap the first theme of Romans. It’s a fun one…SIN!

RELATED: Don’t miss the first post in this series!

Before putting humanity on the stand, Paul tells us in Chapter 1 how he is obligated, compelled, and unashamed of the Gospel- because it’s the Good News of Jesus, and it’s the power of God for salvation. We said that “a person who has truly been transformed can’t keep their mouth shut”, and neither should we!

Our challenge that week and almost every week after was to share the gospel in some way to 1 person. From taxi cab conversations, to language exchange talks about faith, to stopping a work meeting and asking to pray together – we were blown away by your response to this challenge. Way to go guys! As we are open to hearing his Word, we then are challenged to open our mouths, our schedules, our hearts, and share the gospel unashamedly.

As Chapter 1 continues, Paul builds a serious case against our sin problem. He talks about the shameful lusts, sinful desires, and depraved minds of man…and it is not pretty. From there in chapters 2, he directly addresses the Jews of his day who were struggling to accept their Gentile brothers and sisters in Christ and made it clear to them God has NO favorites. What’s more, Paul states that it’s God’s kindness that leads us to repentance anyway.

Paul’s Jewish audience was trying to earn God’s favor by being good, having the right marks, the right behaviors. (Nothing we can relate to, right?) Paul says that NO ONE will be declared righteous through the law, and we said that “just knowing and following the rules won’t change you! Only Jesus can change you, and He changes the heart.” Our challenge was to examine our own hearts, and realign them with the heart of God!

By chapter 3:20, Paul has sealed the deal on the depravity of man- just read his charza (poem) starting in verse 9 for the details! Thank GOD, He doesn’t leave us there dead in our sin without hope!

*Sigh of relief*

Chapter 3:21 begins the solution for our problem of sin. Which leads us to our next topic…

SALVATION.