Tips for Leading People through Romans
1) Bible translation is key here. People really need to be using a more ‘word for word’ translation of the Bible for a book as heavy on logic as Romans. I would recommend the ESV or the NASB. Print out a copy of the passage you’re studying if you need to. I usually wouldn’t patently rip on one translation; but Romans in the NIV is terrible for several reasons, including the fact that it simply drops words from the Greek. As John Piper would say, “Get a translation with all the words!”
2) Every week you’ll be getting a study and discussion guide. A sample will be below.
3) Make sure the Gospel is clear in every session. In the first session, there’ll be a question asking you to summarize the Gospel in a sentence. I’d strongly encourage you to do that. Also, make the context of the passage clear in every study. Romans is a very logical book, and people will need to understand how it fits together to understand the section you’re looking at. There will be statements and cues in the study guides toward these ends.
4) You will need to study and prepare for the passage. Our hope is that the study guides will help; however, you will need to spend some time in study of the passage so you personally understand it.
5) You’ll also need to spend time studying the passage so you feel the weight of it and can communicate how God has affected you through it.
6) You’ll sometimes have to make observations and answer questions yourself. Usually in Bible study discussions we want to ask open-ended questions that result in discussion. Romans is so thick, though, that many observations will have to be made by the leader so that more discussion can revolve around the application of the text.
7) As people make observations about what the text says, make sure they are telling the group where they discovered what they’re saying. Have them cite the text!
8) Make sure you correct error. One helpful way to do that is to simply ask, “Where do you see that in the text?” Or you can toss it out to the group, saying, “What does everyone think about that?”
Sample Study and Discussion Guide
Title (which encompasses the Big Picture) - Passage
Gospel in a Sentence: Each week, a different staff member will give the Gospel in a sentence. This will help you and your group think through a question in the first study about how to summarize the Gospel in a concise way.
Big Picture: This is a summary statement of the entire passage. It should inform how you read the text and lead your study. We want to make sure we don’t miss the forest for the trees.
Goal: This is what Paul intended for us to ‘take away’ from the passage. What we think, feel, and do should be affected by Scripture. This is how we should change in light of this Scripture. It answers the question, “What should I think, feel, or do as a result of the Big Picture?”
Key Ideas: This section could be called ‘sub-themes’ or ‘sub-goals.’ These are major ideas in the text that serve as support for the Big Picture. These are things you definitely will want to make sure people ‘get.’
Key Terms: Romans is full of theological terminology that most people, let alone most Christians, don’t know. I’ll give you short, hopefully sweet, definitions.
Key Observations: This will essentially be a running, concise commentary, with verse listings on the side.
There will be short, ‘aside,’ sections that will help describe difficult concepts or verses that are in the text.
Sample Discussion Guide:
This part will contain questions and statements to help lead a discussion through the text. This is the part that you’d actually lead from. You don’t read any other part to your small group!
The questions and statements will be in regular type. Feel free to use or not use the statements and questions! You are free to write your own. However, leading Romans will be difficult, and we didn’t want it to be a terribly hard thing to lead. Hence, this part is to help you.
It will also contain instructions about what to do in italics. You’re not to read these parts – just follow the instructions if you like.
It shall also contain sections that are insets. There may be some tough issues that come up. We’ll be trying to anticipate these things and give you basic instructions on answering objections and returning the group to the discussion of the whole text. (e.g. homosexuality in ch. 1).
1:1-17 – Paul introduces himself in light of what God is doing in the world. Jesus has risen from the dead as ruler of the world and has appointed the preaching of this Gospel to bring all nations to ‘the obedience of faith.’ The preached Gospel in community grows Christians. It saves everyone who believes in it, since a righteousness from God is revealed in it. This is necessary as we’re about to discover, since we don’t have our own righteousness.
1:18-3:20 calls both Gentiles and Jews to account for their sins. Gentiles have sinned against the revelation of God’s glory in nature and against conscience; Jews have broken the written Law. Therefore, no one will be judged ‘righteous’ on Judgment Day.
3:20-31 – God makes a righteousness (righteous status) from himself known. Here Paul introduces the concept that it’s by Christ’s work alone, received through faith alone. He introduces important terms like justified, redemption, propitiation.
4 – Paul justifies what he just said by going to the OT for an example – namely, the example of Abraham. It is a shock that a Gentile could be justified – and Paul shows that Abraham is the father of Jews and Gentiles who trust in Christ – and that all who believe receive a righteous status that is from God himself.
5:1-11 – Justification by Christ’s work gives us joy in hope!
5:12-21 – summary of justification by Christ, using Adam as a background and parallel to show how great justification by Christ is, and to summarize the section.
6-8 responds to a general objection – can a justified person still live without a changed life? The answer? No, he can’t.
6 – Christ’s death frees us from our slave-master relationship to sin and gives us a slave-master relationship to God – so we walk in normative obedience.
7:1-6 – Christ’s death frees us from being judged by the Law – so we’re free from sinful passions that arise OUT of being judged by Law
7:7-25 – the Law is righteous – it’s merely sin in a person that results in our deaths
8:1-17 – every Christian now is indwelt by the Spirit – who causes us to walk in obedience.
8:18-39 – the Spirit guarantees our future with Christ – not even despite, but in light of suffering now.
9:1-29 – Can we trust God to be faithful? It doesn’t look like he was faithful with Israel? Answer – not all Israel is Israel – true Israel is Israel by election.
9:30-10:21 – Yet, Israel is still responsible! They have rejected God’s righteousness through Christ. Justification is by faith through hearing.
11 – The great mercy of God – salvation for both Jews and Gentiles by the Gospel!
12 – The Gospel transforms us and our Churches and all our relationships
13 – The Gospel transforms our relationship to governments; love fulfills the law and is the right response to the coming salvation
14:1-15:13 – The Gospel changes how we relate to conscience
15:14-33; 16:17-27 – Paul reiterates his reasons for writing – growth and guarding through the Gospel
THE STUDIES
1:1-17 – The Gospel For Christians
1:16-2:11 – Everyone’s Problem
3:9-31 – God – Justifier of the Wicked
4 – The Gospel in the Old Testament
5 – Saved by Works!
6 – A New Master
7 – Free from God’s Rules?
8 – The Holy Spirit – Our Guarantee
9:1-29 – Is God Trustworthy?
9:30-10:21 – God’s Sovereign AND We’re Responsible
11 – The Universal Mercy of God
12 – The Effects of God’s Mercy
13 – The Gospel, Government, and God’s New Law
14:1-15-13 – The Gospel and the Conscience
15:14-33; 16:17-27 – Growing and being guarded by the Gospel
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