Expository Notes on the Bible (Constable)

• Paul's defense before the Sanhedrin 22:30-23:10
  "The irregular structure of Luke's account of Paul's defense before the Sanhedrin evidently reflects the tumultuous character of the session itself. Three matters pertaining to Luke's apologetic purpose come to the fore: (1) ...
• Outline
  I. Introduction 1:1-17A. Salutation 1:1-71. The writer 1:12. The subject of the epistle 1:2-53. The original recipients 1:6-7B. Purpose 1:8-15C. Theme 1:16-17II. The need for God's righteousness 1:18-3:20A. The need of all pe...
• D The benefits of justification 5:1-11
  Paul's original readers would have had another question because of what he had written in chapters 1-4. Is this method of justification safe? Since it is by faith, it seems quite unsure. Paul next gave evidence that this meth...
• IV. THE IMPARTATION OF GOD'S RIGHTEOUSNESS chs. 6--8
  The apostle moved on from questions about why people need salvation (1:18-3:20), what God has done to provide it, and how we can appropriate it (3:21-5:21). He next explained that salvation involves more than a right standing...
• 1. Freedom from sin 6:1-14
  Paul began his explanation of the believer's relationship to sin by expounding the implications of our union with Christ (6:1-14). He had already spoken of this in 5:12-21 regarding justification, but now he showed how that u...
• B. The believer's relationship to the law ch. 7
  Paul followed a similar pattern as he unpacked his revelation in this chapter as he did in the former one. He began chapter 6 by explaining that we are no longer the slaves of sin because of our union with Christ (6:1-14). He...
• 1. The law's authority 7:1-6
  7:1 "Those who know law"--the article "the"before "law"is absent in the Greek text--were Paul's Roman readers. They lived in the capital of the empire where officials debated, enacted, and enforced laws. They of all people we...
• 3. The law's inability 7:13-25
  In verses 13-25 Paul continued to describe his personal struggle with sin but with mounting intensity. The forces of external law and internal sin (i.e., his sinful nature) conflicted. He found no deliverance from this confli...
• C. The believer's relationship to God ch. 8
  "Spener is reported to have said that if holy Scripture was a ring, and the Epistle to the Romans its precious stone, chap. viii would be the sparkling point of the jewel."236"It is undoubtedly the chapter of chapters for the...
• The statement of the believer's condition 8:1-4
  8:1 "Therefore"introduces a conclusion based on everything that Paul wrote from chapter 3 on, not just chapter 7. He reaffirmed justification as the indispensable basis for sanctification.241A Christian must believe that he o...
• 5. Our eternal security 8:31-39
  The apostle developed the fact that God will not lose one whom He has foreknown in this climactic section, and he gloried in this great truth."Nowhere in the annals of sacred literature do we find anything to match the power ...
• 1. The reason God has set Israel aside 10:1-7
  The reason for Israel's failure mentioned in 9:32-33, namely her rejection of Christ, led Paul to amplify that subject further in this section.10:1 This pericope opens with Paul returning to his feelings of compassionate conc...
• 4. Praise for God's wise plan 11:33-36
  This doxology corresponds to the one at the end of chapter 8 where Paul concluded his exposition of God's plan for bringing His righteousness to humankind (8:31-39). There the emphasis was on the people of God. Here it is on ...
• VI. THE PRACTICE OF GOD'S RIGHTEOUSNESS 12:1--15:13
  In contrasting chapters 1-11 with chapters 12-16 of Romans, perhaps the most important distinction is that the first part deals primarily with God's actions for humanity, and the last part deals with people's actions in respo...
• D. Conduct within Christian liberty 14:1-15:13
  Paul moved on to discuss a problem that arises as the dedicated Christian seeks to live within God's will in the body of Christ (12:3-21) and in the body politic (ch. 13). As Christians the 613 specific commands of the Mosaic...
• 4. The importance of accepting one another 15:7-13
  This section concludes Paul's instructions concerning the importance of accepting one another as Christians that he began in 14:1. In this section the apostle charged both the strong and the weak.15:7 "Accept"repeats Paul's o...
• Bibliography
  Alford, Henry. The Greek Testament. 4 vols. New ed. Cambridge: Rivingtons, 1881.Allen, Kenneth W. "Justification by Faith."Bibliotheca Sacra135:538 (April-June 1978):109-16.Auden, W. H. For the Time Being. London: Faber and F...
• The old and new covenants 3:4-11
  3:4 Jesus Christ had given Paul confidence that the changes that the gospel had produced in the Corinthians validated his apostolic credentials. That confidence was not merely the product of Paul's imagination.3:5 Paul did no...
• C. Correction of another apostle 2:11-21
  Paul mentioned the incident in which he reproved Peter, the Judaizers' favorite apostle, to further establish his own apostolic authority and to emphasize the truth of his gospel.2:11 Peter had shaken hands with Paul in Jerus...
• Bibliography
  Allen, Kenneth W. "Justification by Faith."Bibliotheca Sacra135:538 (April-June 1978):109-16.Andrews, Mary E. "Paul and Repentance."Journal of Biblical Literature54:2 (June 1935):125.Barclay, William. The Letters to the Galat...
• Once dead to God 2:1-3
  These verses are really preliminary to Paul's main point. They describe the Christian's condition as an unbeliever before God justified him or her. In the Greek text verses 1-7 are one sentence. The subject of this sentence i...
• The duty of children 6:1-3
  The next basic human relationship that needs affecting by the filling of the Spirit (5:15-21) is that of children and parents.6:1 Children express their submission by obeying their parents (plural). "In the Lord"modifies "obe...
• B. Spiritual warfare 6:10-20
  That this section is distinct from the five that precede it is evident from two facts. Paul introduced it differently, and the emphasis in it is on God's resources. Earlier Paul urged the strengthening and growth of the body ...
• C. The false doctrines of men 2:16-23
  Having revealed what believers have in Christ, Paul next pointed out the errors of the false teachers more specifically to help his readers identify and reject their instruction."Sad to say, there are many Christians who actu...
• 3. Living with the promise in view 4:1-6
  Since Jesus Christ has gained the victory, Peter urged his readers to rededicate themselves to God's will as long as they might live. He wanted to strengthen their resolve to continue to persevere. He resumed here the exhorta...