A Letter To Rome: Thinking Through The Gospel

"To all who are in Rome, beloved of God, called to be saints..." - Romans 1:7, NKJV

The time has finally come where I feel that the stage is ready for me to start on an endeavor that I had first mentioned towards the end of last year, but haven't really done anything much about till now.

I first mentioned my desire to work through Paul's letter to the Romans last December. My spiritual journey had arrived at the point where my three-year struggle to make sense of my experiences across different churches that I had grown up in and their doctrine drove me to a point of resolve, haunted by the words of a poster that is still mounted on the wall at the foot of my bed. The story of the background leading to that point of decision, and my motivations for deciding to work through Romans can be found in full in the entry titled "Haunted By The Gospel".

Haunted by the Gospel

This is going to be an intensive endeavor; I have no idea how long and how many posts it will take, but I'm looking forward to plunging into the words of this epistle. I trust the Holy Spirit to guide me to the truth of Christ and illuminate my heart with the brilliance of His glory, as Christ has promised in His Word [2].

 

I am once again reminded of some of the great people in the history of the church, some of long ago and others still alive, whose lives were shaped by God through the words of this book. Sharpened by Him like the fine tip of a spear and used mightily in His hand for the sake of His kingdom, their lives are a demonstration of the power and impact of this magnificent letter - Aurelius Augustine, John Chrysostom, John Huss, Martin Luther, John Wesley, John MacArthur, Ravi Zacharias - the list is endless.

My prayer and plea is that God will do a similar work and sharpening in my life, and use me in His hand for the sake of His name. I'm going to start my journey investigating the background of the author of this letter - Saul of Tarsus, the zealot who introduces himself as "the slave of Jesus Christ" [ 3]. That will be the next post. I will leave you until then with the customary salutation of the Apostle whom I am growing to dearly love:

"Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ." [3]

- The Wisdom Seeker

REFERENCES:

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[1] Haunted By The Gospel - December 4th, 2011

[2] John 14:26, 16:13 - 15
[3] Romans 1:7b