Building your Faith on the Romans Foundation

Building your Faith on the Romans Foundation

The book of Romans contains the foundational principles of our faith. Yet, when one gets to studying the content of Romans, it becomes clear that the majority of Christianity is either ignorant of, or rebellious of these foundational truths. I have a factual statement to make in this regard and I hope that it will hit home with any Christians who are interested in growing in their faith and having Christ formed within them.

"If a believer is not established upon the truths in the Romans epistle, their spiritual education will suffer, their spiritual growth will be stunted, and their faith will remain weak, susceptible to vain practices and deceptions."

Of course, the opposite of the above is also true. It is up to us as individuals to ensure that we have a strong and effective foundation upon which to build. Romans offers us the principles that we should evaluate within ourselves and ensure to put into practice. There is no escaping this truth as it is God's standards and design.

You do not build a house without a foundation

Jesus talked about a firm foundation in his earthly ministry. He mentions the following,

Matt.7:24-25 Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock: (25) And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock.

If you're not established upon the foundation, you know where you are? You're back in Rom.1:1 to Rom.3:20. This section of Romans deals with God’s righteous in contrast with man’s ungodliness and unrighteousness.

Rom.1:18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness; ... 21 Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened.

What are some of the foundational truths in Romans?

• It highlights the absolute righteousness of God in contrast to the hopelessness and depravity of mankind that has absolutely no hope in attaining to the righteousness of God and thus saving themselves.
• Once this point is established, Romans provides one with the good news of an offer of salvation from God, the gospel of the cross of Christ.
• It provides us the principle of justification without the law and without works, so that none can boast. It is my opinion that even this base truth is so utterly misunderstood in the majority of Christianity today, who try to approach God by what they can offer Him through their efforts instead of receiving from Him the free gift of being utterly and eternally justified by simply believing in His Son.
• After being established in justification and having peace with God, chapters 6 to 8 provide the believer with critical spiritual content that lays the grounding of knowledge and understanding of our death in Christ, relating to the carnal nature, and our resurrection with him, relating to the inner man. Paul highlights that in order to yield our members as servants of righteousness, it is important to get 'that form of doctrine', [Paul's epistles], into our hearts and allow it to renew our minds and influence our lives through obedience to it. These chapters are the basis for walking after the Spirit, allowing that living doctrine to direct our steps and produce fruit unto righteousness.
• Romans also leads us into a lesson on dispensational truth. Paul informs us how that Israel has been blinded due to unbelief and that salvation has come to the Gentiles without the means of Israel. This section of Romans is written to provoke Israel to jealousy, but also help us to recognize the truth, and importance, of rightly dividing God's redemptive plan.
• Finally, Romans continues to lead the Christian through the principles of a sanctified life, not operating in his one's strength or by the law, but by teaching one how to be led by the Spirit, which is the knowledge of His Word, and by offering oneself as a living sacrifice so that Christ can be formed within, bringing glory to God and maturing one in the will of God.

All this is the foundation of Romans. Thereafter we learn more and more about God's will and purpose for us through the rest of Paul's epistles as we study them in the sequence they appear in the Bible.

If you are weak in faith, if you have a shaky foundation, if you seemingly are blown about by every wind of doctrine and by the imaginations of men, then I implore you to get back into Romans and study the book until it becomes a firm grounding of knowledge within you.