We are thrilled to announce that this summer we launched two new curriculum packages on Rooted Reservoir: Foundations of Grace, covering Romans and Ephesians, and Survey of Psalms. We also added a new course on Missions to our training video series. Check it out!
I once heard a pastor say that Paul’s letter to the Romans is at the same time a child’s pool in which the youngest believer can splash around and an ocean in which the most seasoned interpreters can drown. What he meant was that the day one convert without any in-depth knowledge of the Bible can read Romans and profit a lot from it, and at the same time the New Testament professor with decades of experience reading and interpreting the Bible will still find new insights into what God is revealing about himself in his Word.
I recently had the privilege of editing Mac Harris’s new Romans curriculum for Rooted Reservoir, and I can say that my old pastor’s statement is manifestly true. After spending some time in Paul’s magisterial letter, I can think of so many reasons to study it with a youth group. Here are just three.
Man’s Problem
From Genesis 3 to Revelation 21, the Bible tells us that the biggest problem each sinful human has is his or her relationship to a perfectly holy God. How might a sinful person be found righteous in the sight of his Creator? It’s this question that drives the early part of Paul’s letter to the Romans, and it’s the answer to this question that causes him to exult in God’s wondrous grace later on in the letter.
Paul makes the case in the first chapter of Romans that the Gentiles are guilty before God for a number of reasons. This argument flows seamlessly into chapters two and three, wherein he makes the case that the Jews also stand condemned before God. This means that per Romans 3:23, “all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.” There’s not a single person reading Paul’s letter who can claim to be in the right before the God of the universe.
Paul pulls no punches here. Our problem isn’t that we don’t think positively enough. It’s not that we don’t have enough education. It’s not even that we do the wrong things. It’s that our hearts are far from God; they’re dead in their natural state. This is an absolutely crucial point to get, because without a robust understanding of our need before God, a robust understanding of the Gospel is impossible. Coming to grips with our radical need before God puts all of the struggles our teenagers have (and our struggles, for that matter) in proper perspective. There’s a lot of freedom in knowing that issues of grades or Instagram likes or boyfriends and girlfriends pale in comparison to our biggest problem — a problem which has already been solved.
Christ’s Solution
Paul begins his letter with a thorough exploration of all that’s wrong in the heart of man. In doing this, he sets the stage for the next point of his argument: Christ’s solution to this massive problem of ours. From chapters four through six—and then throughout the rest of the letter, really—Paul tells us that though we have no righteousness on our own, we are gifted a righteousness from another. Because of Christ’s life, death, and resurrection, the sin which separated us from God has been taken care of. Every sin of ours has already been judged on Christ’s cross, so there’s no more judgment left to be poured out on the Christian (Rom. 8:1). What’s more, by virtue of living the life we should have lived under the Law, Christ earned for his people a full and complete righteousness to be imputed to his followers on the basis of faith.
Remember that at this point, Paul has made clear to us what our biggest problem is—that we are sinful humans who must stand before a holy God. In the book of Romans, Paul draws our eyes to the solution God has given us to that problem: the person and work of Jesus Christ. The triune God of the Bible has solved for us the biggest problem we’ll ever face. No matter what comes to us throughout our lives, whether it be tragedy or success, the best thing that could ever happen to us has already happened. God has shown his love for us by drawing us into his family and considering us righteous, based on nothing we have done or could do. Christ’s solution to our sin problem makes it clear to our students that Christ will not love them more if they go to Dartmouth than if they skip university altogether. It shows us that Christ loved us in our filthiest condition – will he not also love us when we fall short now that we are his brothers and sisters?
The Christian Life
The third reason to study Romans this year is because Paul connects doctrine to practice so closely. By making the link between what Christians believe and how they should then live so clear, he provides a helpful picture of what the Christian life should look like not just in the first century, but also in the twenty-first.
From the end of chapter 11 through chapter 16, Paul shows us that the right response to God’s grace, the right posture of the Christian life, should be one of praise and thanksgiving which should seep down into everything we do. Because God has so graciously shown his love to us in Christ, we’re free to praise him in all things (11:33-36) and we’re also free to love others with the same love with which Christ loved us (15:1-13). Christ’s work takes our students’ eyes off of themselves and places them on Christ and, by extension, on their neighbors. Since we no longer need to earn anything before God, we can stop focusing on ourselves and our own résumés and serve those Christ has placed around us.
Take Up and Study!
Few biblical books are as intimidating to wade into as Paul’s letter to the Romans, but the effort is well worth it. Not only will Paul—through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit—give you a better, fuller understanding of yourself, of Christ, and of the Christian life, he’ll also bring to the fore so many other aspects of God’s work in His creation.
