Romans

If you had to summarize the entire letter to the Romans in two verses, you would land here. Paul has been building toward this from the first word of the letter, and now it bursts forth: "I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes... For in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed — a righteousness that is by faith from first to last." This is the heartbeat of Romans. The letter is not primarily about how bad we are, or even about how great Paul's theology is. It is about the righteousness of God — a righteousness that has come crashing into human history through the Gospel. The word "righteousness" (*dikaiosyne*) carries the sense of God acting faithfully to put things right. He does not ignore sin. He does not lower His standard. He meets it — in Christ. And He offers this righteousness not to the worthy, but to the believing. From first to last, it is by faith. Not faith plus works. Not faith plus religion. Faith, period. This is the theme we will trace through every remaining day of this study. The question is not whether you are good enough. You aren't. The question is whether you will receive what God freely gives.