Unlocking Romans Block 1 Session 2

Heavenly Father, we thank you for calling us back for the class. Allowed us to study with concentration even if there are so many things to learn and allowed us to really digress them well and apply them in our ministry and life in the name of Jesus Christ we pray. Amen. Uh so let's look at next W when uh so time of writing is around AD57. Um but we need to see the whole timeline. Uh so firstly is Paul's early ministry. So what what are his early ministries? What are Paul's early ministries? >> So, so recall what Acts talked about after he received the call. >> He went to synagogue to debate >> with the Jews. >> So where where was it? Damascus, right? He he went to Damascus and he also went to the desert in Arabia. And some people had this myth that he stay in the desert alone retreating from everything to meditate about the calling grace. But that was proven to be a misunderstanding. If you talk to those who live in Middle East about the desert, desert is just part of their city. So, so the Egyptian missionary used to present to us that he study Bible in the desert. I immediately had the image that he really is hiding the desert and then who was in the desert but he said desert was like park just like when when you are walking in New Zealand pastoral the lamb can stay in the center of the city in the park. So lamb was eating grass and people are just pastoring their lamp in in the middle of the park in the middle of the city. So for for for a lot of uh countries in the Middle East Arabian area uh desert and city had no clear boundary. So when Paul says he spent three years in Arabia in the desert of Arabia, it might not not mean that he totally isolated himself from the church but rather he closely connected to the uh believers and also he continue his ministry and but that three years became a transforming experience for him to understand uh the grace deeply and also to uh Jerusalem. He went to Jerusalem and he was sent to Tarsus right to his hometown and it was a typical operation for the early church to send someone to his own people. This is a missional strategy because the homogeneous group relates well. But it's also a important test of faith that you dare to testify your belief in front of your people as a new person. Uh so Paul was sent to Tessus. Part of the reason was this church practice and tradition and part of reason was because of his passion for his own people. He loved the people uh in his hometown and Tessus was a city which was small city but a lot of scholars has it had had heavy academic atmosphere uh not just the Jewish community learning scripture learning but also uh the adoption of the debating skill the literature skill of the Greeks. So Paul's educated by both culture, both education and he certainly had burdens for his own people uh people with similar background. So he he was sent to Tessus and that was also part of his uh ministry and the focus of his early ministry is primarily to the Jews. Jews first. That was not a betraying or abandoning of his calling to be the apostle of the Gentiles, but abiding with Christ's commands to his disciples as he dispatched them. So, Jews first. But when we look at the life and ministry of Jesus, Jews first is the principle, but never Jews only. He also extended the salvation to the Gentiles and he also uh commanded the faith in the Gentiles saying that even the people of God had no same faith than them. Um so that's that was his early years and also his church planting he moved westward because the Holy Spirit redirected his path and before that he was uh accompanied by uh uh he traveled together with Banabas and later they parted and he had his own team and he want to move eastward but the Holy Spirit redirected them to go to the westward. Uh so what what we see in the next slides the the map um the white part the lighter part is the sea the darker part is the land I I I don't know why they color it in this way so um so the white part is the sea so it move westward uh so deep deeply penetrating into the gentile world Galatia Macedonia Akaya um a minor Asia. So Paul planted multiple churches and some places he went already had existing believers and gatherings but not in the big group and they had no um outstanding teachers u to teach them the word of God. So Paul played the role of planting church, pioneering but also strengthening the existing believers and gathering them and organize the church and the next stage of plant church planting is establishing the elders the leadership in the church and um traveling to Jerusalem was his esquetological journey. Uh so in his church planting if we turn to Romans Romans chapter um chapter 16 no chapter 15. Let's look at chapter 15. Chapter 15 verse 19. by the power of signs and wonders through the power of the spirit of God. So from Jerusalem all the way around to Ilican I have fully proclaimed the gospel of Christ. Where is this Illican? Actually scholars had different views about illican. Um and uh and also Paul describing verse 23, same chapter 23. But now that there is no more place for me to work in these regions and since I have been longing for many years to visit you. So the vast region of Akaya Macedonia uh were evangelized already and Elilican probably is even crossing the boundary of Rome because Paul acknowledged that the church was already established in Rome and he even told the believers there he he didn't want to uh preach the gospel on the place with uh with someone else's foundation. So in Romans chapter 15 verse 20 verse 20 it has always been my ambition to preach the gospel where Christ was not known so that I would not be building on someone else's foundation. So it's a clear statement that Rome was not his ultimate target. Even if this is a very important city with the road reaching out to many places, reaching Rome can probably reach multi- ethnicities and can reach the world. U but Paul was never satisfied in this uh staying at one place and reaching multiple ethnicities but he want to physically visited those place and traveling to the place and and evangelize them and let them know the name of Jesus. And that mission principle should be applied to our uh mission today. So when we think about evangelizing the whole world, we can view it as evangelizing the whole world when you stay in Australia, which is probably the case. You can you can reach in most of the country of the world if you stay in the immigrate immigration based country in America, in Australia, in some cities. You can basically reach the whole world. You can reach the whole Pacific if you go a bit south Brisbane, Gold Coast, even to Darwin. You can reach a lot of the of them. And if you go to Fiji, you can also just go into USP. You can you can reach all the islands. But we shouldn't just stop there. And because Paul never stopped there. Oh, Paul, you don't have online evangelism. You don't have internet. No, I think more than that because meeting the person face to face is different from meeting the person online. Physical uh connection is important and going to the context and the geographical location where people lived can be can deeply go into the culture and really uh not only sharing the name of Jesus and letting them know Jesus but also using the name of Jesus to reshape the culture to rebuild the country and to mold them into the Christ uh center culture. Uh so this is called inc incarnative uh incarnated mission. Um so so Paul yeah Paul's esquetological journey covered two important place. One is Jerusalem. We mentioned about GP that was part of the esqueological fulfillment the people and first fruits and also treasures of the nations flood into Jerusalem. >> Uh but also Paul didn't just understand it as going into Jerusalem but also reaching to the whole world reaching the end of the world literally taking the great commission seriously. Paul wanted to go to Spain. Uh he want to stop at Rome and involve the believers there to the great commission to reaching the end of the world. How? By prayer and by financial support. >> Uh how do you know that? Um so uh verse 20 28 verse 28 in Romans chapter 15. So after I have completed this task and have made sure that they have received the contribution I will go to Spain and visit you on the way. I know that when I come to you, I will come in the full measure of the blessing of Christ. Uh besides this, we also have um there is also uh chapter one, Romans chapter one. Romans chapter 1 verse 13. I do not want you to be unaware, brothers and sisters, that I planned many times to come to you, but have been prevented from doing so until now, in order that I might have a harvest among you, just as I have had among the other Gentiles. So how to define this harvest? Spiritual harvest is definitely one of the aspect right just like how apostle harvest in the gentile the believers the first fruits those people who believe in Jesus and life was changed and transformed and matured as the fruit but the harvest also indicates the contribution uh one of the sign of the maturity of Paul measure the church is this willingness to give this resembling of Jesus Christ in giving. So please don't simplify that. Oh, if you can donate a lot means your faith is mature. That's that's a total misunderstanding. That's prosperity gospel. But but Paul really described this mature image of the Macedonian church when they even didn't have enough. They they were satisfied by the abundance of Jesus Christ. They were made riched already by Jesus Christ. So they they were willing to give and to support and take out what they have or beyond what they have to support apostle and to support the church in Jerusalem. So this is the harvest, not just the conversion but also the maturation, the m mature faith uh among the Gentiles to resemble the image of Christ who empty himself and make us rich. Uh the church who empty themsself and to enrich others carry the Christlike image. So this is the spiritual harvest. According to Paul's uh mission strategy, we will notice that character. He doesn't just want the believers. He wants the disciples. He wants the mature believers as the fruit, the ripe fruit offered to God. So this harvest uh was was also considered by many scholars as their donation to support Paul to go to the end of the world. Some gentile church participating in this giving to Jerusalem gathering is is esquetological esquetological vision of gathering but some of the church were involved in in expansion. Macedonia church certainly participated in the expansion of mission and now Rome church Roman church was also invited to participate. So span where is span? Span tacus tacus in a Jewish context was understood as the the end of the world not just because the map is smallus >> tases. Yeah that's where Jonah went. So Jonah literally went want wanted to run to the end of the world to escape God's calling. >> Who was Paul? >> Oh no, no, not Tus. Tashes. Tasha. >> Tashes. Uh where Jonah escape? Let's look at Jonah. passes this post hometown and Jonah Tashes Tashes Jonah chapter 1 verse3 Tashes and this this location was mentioned in the prophets prophet multiple times. Let me search that for you. So Isaiah chapter 60. Isaiah chapter 60 verse 9. We read this verse in the morning, but let's look at it again. Isaiah chapter 60 verse 9 Jonah >> uh chapter 60 60 verse 9. Surely the islands look to me in the lead are the ships of Tashish. So Tashis is a place full of opportunities of business and it was believed by many as the place of treasures. Uh and it was also understood by the Jews as the end of the world but a place full of pursuit of money. The pursuit of the pagans. So Jonah tried to run to Tashes to escape the calling of the Lord. He tried to hide to the end of run to the end of the world to escape the Lord. And he also had his own plan. I want to pursue money rather than God. Uh so Paul wanted to go to Tashes because he believed that's literally the end of the world and he wanted to bring the gospel to the end of the world. And that happened after uh that that actually never was never recorded in the Bible, but he planned for it to happen after visiting Rome. And let's look at the location. We'll look at four locations. Rome, Jerusalem, Spain. Spain. We already have a look at at Tashish uh and and Corinth the location of writing. So let's look at this map. We'll look at two maps. The first map is the strategic map. Paul is now at Corinth. No, you are here. Paul was here. Paul at the Corinth and Phoebe was in in S Korea. Next map you Yeah. S Korea is just right next to Corin. Uh and Phoebe came to visit Paul and took the letter. He planned to travel eastward to fulfill the uh commission of taking the collection to Jerusalem. So it's a dangerous obligation delivering controversial financial collection to the poor in Jerusalem. Uh so it was misunderstood by the church and also hated by the uh Jews. The Jews consider Paul as a betrayer and the church thought he had certain agenda to bribe the church. But Paul's ultimate plan was to travel westward. um to Spain, passing Rome and taking the ship to Spain. So Spain is the ultimate target. Rome is the necessary launch pad. Rome carried a strategic meaning for global mission not because of its um roles these richness of ethnicities but also Paul believed that the church there with a certain scale uh would understand the this great commission and contribute to his trip to Spain. Uh and also Rome contain Rome the church in Rome contain both Jewish believers and gentile believers. Literally their unity contributes to the fulfillment of the esqueological um prophecy. The oneness of the Gentiles and the Jews in Jesus Christ written during winter month before sea travel resume. How how long how long did Paul stay there? Two months. Two months during the winter he stay at Corinth. Uh marks the end of Paul's eastern agent mission. So this is the geopolitical vector map of the first central mission. So these four CDs back to uh drafting note the operational base where Paul dictates the letter and gathers the Gentiles collection uh in G's house. uh vector vector one resources the dangerous eastern trajec it's not a straight line but but a road full of not just the root curve full of troubles and challenges um Paul must deliver the financial collection to unify the Jewish and Gentile fractions this is the drafting note the operational base where Paul uh sorry I think this box is wrong. This is some AI mistake. Vector two the letter. Phoebe travel from S Korea to Rome carrying the letter to prepare the Roman believers for Paul's arrival and eventually Paul tried to travel to Spain which was not never recorded in the Bible and which probably never happened. Uh the future ambition is the ultimate western frontier. Paul plans to use Rome as a logistical and financial springboard. Unlike the uh the traveling in the modern time that you spend 35 hours just pause at the place for a few hours and go. uh in in the ancient time the the middle stop people who showing hospitality to you and support you financially and give you a place of rest is quite important for the long journey. So Rome was chosen as this strategic location uh for logistic and financial support and of course spiritual support. So let's uh few this slides together. Let's look at Rome. What kind of city is wrong? Could you give me some um idea about Rome? I actually missed the important content about the target audience church in Rome. But I would like to look at this city first and then look at the believer's situation. Um, could you tell me what you think about Rome? >> Developed city >> in what sense? Yeah. So in structure in infrastructure Yeah. And the these are important because Rome paved the way until today it was well used. Uh unlike mangrove creek road which was damaged simply by a flood or big rain. They really used a long brick and nail it down to the road and every sand was well treated that no weeds could grow out even after thousands of years. So uh Rome paved the road because they have vast territory. Uh so in order to manage the the whole territory well road was paved and that became an important role for commercial trading and also for the sharing of of the gospel. People come go out from Rome and people also travel to Rome. Both carry the strategic meaning to the global mission. When people travel to Rome, they will be able to hear the gospel just like the Pentecostal event. How the world was reached at one location in Jerusalem. But when they travel out of the Rome, they brought the gospel to their own culture. The Pentecostal event itself is not just a gathering event but also a scattering event. So these are the two important side of global mission. Uh yeah what what else? So this is actually part of the civilization. uh fe schools and uh also um um what did you say in in actual powers and also military right military power but law. Yeah. >> Uh legal >> legal system. So it it also contributes to the uh writing of Romans how Paul used this legal metaphor to explain legal analogy to explain um justification forensic justification. Uh what else about Rome? >> Yeah, the fallen part. Uh I want to add a bit more the the people the it's a multi- ethnic uh place, right? A lot of people and it's it's very heavily populated. This is also important uh fact about about the city the the urban uh in the ancient world it's highly prosperous heavily populated it has many ethnicities and also different layers in the society uh high key slaves uh and free men and slave owners and those are those are mentioned in Romans as well. not just in the ethical practice of Christians uh to to treat the slaves well but also as the analogy to explain how Christ has set us free from the bondage of sin and also immigration. So immigration brought their own gods, their own worship and also they uh creates the diversities in the uh church in Rome. So do you know the situation of the church in Rome? Oh well let's look at that later. Let's let's look at a fallen very fallen part of the uh the so we will say societ so societal decay. Sorry. >> Central. >> Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. >> Uh let's describe them in detail how fallen it is. Idols. A lot of idols. >> Do they burn children? >> No. No, they don't do that. They don't kill people recklessly. This is the pagan practice. They don't burn children. They worship idols. >> They worship idols but but they didn't offer ch children sacrifice. They didn't do that. They have prostitutes in the temple and they consider giving birth is one of the blessings u but they they don't burn children. So idol idol idolatry worshiping idols uh and that was mentioned in Romans chapter one. After rejecting God, people fall into idol worshiing. And next one, sexual immorality. Sexuality because this was mentioned in in in chapter 12. Um it's very similar with Corinth. uh Rome even the many Roman empires they engaged in homosexual activities and the whole city of Rome was civilized outwardly but full of idolatry and idolatry sexual immoralities. So every morning in the big squares many kids forsaken infants will be collected because they were the pre privateborn children and those kids will be picked up either be made into slaves or taken as the f raised up as the prostitutes and they might have sexual relationship with their birth biological fathers. So you would say just a common thing every morning you pick up rubbish on the squares and you pick pick up babies on the squares. Um yeah so it's it's a very corrupted city. Rome was described as Babylon by Peter in first Peter and Rome was somehow also understood as a place like Sodom and Gomorrah having a different color the color of blue the color of homosexuality. The city is full of the sin of homosexuality. So in Romans chapter one, Paul when he talk about sexual immorality, he purposely named the sin of homosexuality and what else? So we talk about this intellectual power and something similar with Corinth is this is a city highly worship the intelligence of man, man's philosophy. Uh so there are different schools, debates, quarrels, conflicts uh happening. So quarreling and jealousy and com competing, jealousy, debating, comp and competing. So there is this atmosphere of divisions um and that somehow also influenced the church. So we want to talk about the situation of the church in Rome. So what is the situation of the church in Rome? So there are Jews and Gentiles. So Jewish believers and Gentile believers. Uh and they were called the weak and the strong. Not exactly ethnistically they they they were divided in this way but in general it was like this. Uh so the strong one the strong part party is dominantly gentile Christians. Uh so their belief is they believe everything is edible everything is cleansed. We can eat anything and they didn't observe strict Jewish calendar years festivals. They didn't observe this. uh and they emphasize about the freedom in Jesus Christ viewing street observation at of the Jewish law as a unnecessary way of life. Uh but the problem is they involve in too many too much freedom to the point they got in influenced by the secular culture by the idol worshiing and sexual immorality and those those kind of people exist uh in in the church in Corinth and Roman church had a similar situation. So those are the strong one and the weak one dominantly Jewish um Christians and their practices they they maintain the Jewish traditions strict dietician restrictions eating only vegetables because they were not sure whether the meat was you you used to offer to the idols. So they are vegetarian uh in order to to avoid the defilement and they also observe the traditional Sabbath and festivals and their uh theological view is they emphasize the covenantal fidelity and they view the freedom of the strong as very dangerous and unholy. So these two groups of people had conflicts and misunderstanding towards each other. They held a precious part but they only held one part of the gospel. Uh so the weak one may try to emphasize the holiness uh a lot but the strong one emphasized the freedom a lot. So it became too extreme. So Paul tried to unite them by telling them the balance view and the principle to discern is not in your philosophy or your theology but in love. So that that's the situation of the church. one one thing and also in the last greeting you may notice there are different uh ethnicities and uh uh social uh status status in the church slaves slave owners lawyer family uh different color skin uh skin colors uh so this church is highly multicultural And not only the lay believers, I believe the leaderships are highly multicultural because that was in included in Paul's final greeting. And what else? So church was around four years. Uh this one can't be find directly from a scripture. So upon a time Paul wrote to them the church in Rome existed for four years already. And similar like most of the locations um the church in Rome is not one central church. It contains house groups and and and big and small gathering places. And one typical thing to divide them those groups are not merely house groups by location geographical location but also like fellowship workclass fellowship it's a typical way for the ancient Greg Rome world to divide people and group people are in a who are in who are in a similar working cult For example, masons, they group together and they have their own idols before they believe in in Jesus. They have their own idols and they have their own protection. In order to survive well and trade well, you need to bribe the the gods related to your working class and you need to have your gang protecting you. So actually the modern society is similar union right union different union different parties speaking uh on your behalf. So the early church fellowships also contain this image. This is what the uh the historic uh documents has shown different working class they they group believers. So there was certain division because of the boundary between different working class. But Paul tried to make this unity in Jesus Christ. Um so working class groups. Yeah. And then there are certainly the misunderstanding of the gospel, the incomplete understanding of the gospel. But there are also beautiful side of Rome, the church in Rome. So what are those? >> I mean they can come along while I know there's some church and also some can Yeah, somehow the there are still co-working. So it's it's different people co-working in the leadership group and in Paul's affirmation at the beginning of the letter verse 8 chapter 1 verse 8 your faith is being reported all over the Oh, >> uh, not really. Not not really. Um Paul want to take it as a strategic location. And another one is obedience in Romans chapter 16. Romans chapter 16 verse 19. Chapter 16 verse 19. And also within the church there are people who deceived the believers with flattery town. So and there is the work of Satan. uh uh verse 17, chapter 16:E1 17. I urge you, brothers and sisters, to watch out for those who cause divisions and put obstacles in your way that are contrary to the teaching you have learned. Keep away from them for such people are not serving our Lord Jesus but their own appetites. So within the church probably leaders some leaders uh deceive or confuse you say confused the church and also they they serve their own tummy their own appetite for this selfish ps So it's a church uh strategically strategically important and it's a church with beautiful faith that Paul has commanded. Um but it's also the church facing a lot of crisis outwardly externally from a secular environment or or the habits carried into the church by the secular environment and also within uh in the in the leadership there are some people who u deceive and confuse the believers. So then we can add a bit more information here. So see the slides of where of wrong. Sorry, not 100%. Okay, this is the city of Rome and Coris. Paul's firsthand mission experience in Corinth uh allow him to understand Rome's spiritual situation better. So they share very similar culture and very similar setting. Both are highly developed city. Both are highly philosophical cities. People are civilized. The infrastructure of the city is developed. uh trading, traveling, um migration um are very develop very developed in the city of Corinth. So it's very similar, right? So there are idols, idols in the city and uh sexual immorality and sens sensationality and also uh conflicts both uh division say division. So those are the situation inside of the the the the Corinthian church. So this is how the city is and the church was affected by the cities. uh and and something influenced uh dominantly influenced the early church is uh Gnostic Gnostic belief and even if Romans was not clearly uh indicating uh the battle withnosticism but we can see how Paul mentioned the body. So when Paul talk about body, it carry multiple meanings and intention or not just Paul but but the early church epistles. One is to battle withnost belief uh that uh we can worship God simply by our spirit or affection. Uh no early church rejected this notion. Apostle John also heavily talked about this in his uh his letters. So we believe Jesus Christ came with a body and we also need to love God and worship God with our bodies. Bodies as living sacrifice and the resurrection is bodily resurrection not only in Jesus Christ but the redemption of the body. So Romans also emphasized about this. So one is to battle with Gnostic belief to divide body and spirit. Uh the second is at that time there was a popular saying called body of Caesars. So so what does that mean? It means Caesar had this ambition to to to build this global empire. But Paul used the image of bodies in Christ as members. Right? were one body and many members. This image of body also talked about the unity in Jesus Christ and this spiritual family bound closely not by the empire's ambition but by the love of Jesus Christ. So it's a big contrast. So the Rome try to have the body of Jesus because in the Greek myth they they are really into this uh and and Paul says no we we are the body of Christ uh not by carrying the same citizenship being bound by the similar ambition of the vast empire but because of God's grace we are made new creations we are made as one family in Jesus Christ uh and body uh bodies body and bodies was also uh mentioned as analogy to emphasize the um the unity of the believers and the obligation that moral obligation that we we need to use what we have everything we have to worship God. So this is Corinth s Korea s Korea where where the bible I will mention about this in the book of acts remember where s korea is let's look at acts actually made a vow there before selling 17. Can I know where it is? Sorry. Which >> was 17. Verse 18. Uh 18. >> Oh, 18. Yeah, 18. Yeah. Yeah. 18. Paul stayed on in Corenth for some time. Then he left the brothers and sisters and sailed for Syria accompanied by Priscilla and Aquilla. Before he sailed, he had his hair cut off at S Korea because of a vow he had taken. scripture in Acts chapter 18 verse 18 Phoebe might be there witnessing this um this vow um Paul made new determination to uh start a journey for mission uh so it's a Jewish practice so he did that uh to renew his uh passion for mission it's very close to very close to corin And thirdly, let's look at Jerusalem. We've already looked at it. We just quickly summarize the point. Um, so what what kind of city is Jerusalem and what happened in Jerusalem? So there's famine there and many poor people actually the church was suffering from poverty and starvation. And there are Jews who consider Paul as a trader trader trader betrayer uh of Judy is a what else? What about the church? Church. So later when Paul visited Jerusalem, many Jews did not understand the meaning of the gospel. They are highly confined by the rituals and and still passionate for the law. >> Sorry. They accepted that but they were still >> they Yeah. And and we see that the the the weak one right in in the Rome church they still carry this view. So they they discriminated the gentile believers feeling that they unholy and the gentile believers felt you are not actually born again. You're not really free if you don't know the freedom. Uh >> also the church in Jerusalem >> Jerusalem. Yeah. They when Paul visit in in the book of acts when Paul visited the church many people held misunderstanding towards him uh and in Romans it was mentioned uh let's look at Romans chapter 3 in the part of theodysy this misunderstanding was mentioned um verse Eight verse eight. Why not say as some slanderously claim that we say right? We say let us do evil that good may result. So who who who slandered Paul? The Jew Jews. Jews or Jewish believers. They felt Paul tell people to live without law lawlessly in order to reveal the gospel in order to reveal the grace. You have the freedom. You just sing and then you have these unlimited credit card covering for your expenses and because God is love. So some people carry always say slender slender psych. And what else in the church? So, and some people also carry a misunderstanding about Paul's intention of bringing the offering. >> You bribe, you show kindness and try to please the church and please the apostles, impress them by giving money. >> So, this the the the Jerusalem church. Jerusalem church And this was mentioned in uh Romans chapter 15. 16. Sorry. Sorry. 16. 16. Oh, no. 15. 15. Uh, verse 31. 31 to Yeah, verse 31. Pray that I may be kept safe from the unbelievers in Judea and that the contribution I take to Jerusalem may be favorable favorably received by the Lord's people there. So which means these these are prayer topics. One is the danger uh towards him from the unbelievers in Judea. The second is the church might not receive it with with favor. 31 and what else? Anything else? And something important we saw previously is the uh ask logical rule of Jerusalem. So Paul really relates that to his ministry of collection and contribution to to support the church. Next one, Spain. We already look at that. Hish. So, Jonah chapter 1 verse three and just now Isaiah. Let's look at Jonah Jonah 1 verse3 Isaiah chapter 16 verse 9. Tashes was understand as the end of the world a place with uh lots of chures and traings. a city pursuing pursuit worldly games. So this is the this is related to great commission spend. Okay. Then after looking at all of this we can probably understand the purpose of writing Romans well. So what are the purpose of writing? What are the purpose? and go to the church. >> Yeah. To preach the gospel to the to the believers in Rome. >> Yeah. So, uh this is we would say this is the pastoral purpose but to preach the gospel to uh church in Rome. And what else? So just now we mentioned about the divisions. >> Paul saw division not merely as solving a a ethical issue or moral issue but he view the unity as part of the vision fulfilled uh for the kingdom of god. So the unity was highly emphasized to make unity to make unity uh between especially within the church especially between the uh the strong and the weak. And what else? Just now we talk about those who slanderous slanderous there are misunderstanding about Paul's teaching which is related to the second point but second point uh has has this um church uh I mean spiritual formation part but doctrinal part uh Paul want to defense the uh the rumors to defense the gospel he preached and how to say clarify and solve the rumors rumors by the slander slanderous. Yeah. So these are the pastoral purpose and we also talk about the missional purpose. I just now we spend a lot of time talking about missional purpose. So firstly to share the vision of uh cos cosmic cosmos cos cosmic uh mission. So this is actually Paul's um Paul's heart for all the believers to know not only their personal salvation not just the moral perfection but also to participate to know and participate in the salvation plan uh for the universe God's cosmic plan. Uh Paul really hope uh the the the church's understanding can go to that part. So he he want to share the uh vision of uh cosmic mission and also uh spiritual support right prayer and material support including logistic hospitality as a as a launching pad or or stop what's what's that called the middle. When when you travel somewhere, you stay in the middle. Is there any special tongue to describe that? It's like a resting place. I just say hospitality. Hospitality and financial support for uh mission journey. to the end of the world. So this letter actually carry those purposes. Uh there are some early scholars says oh this is the letter preparing the heart for the Roman believers to give more donation. Uh it's right but but it's quite partial. Paul didn't desire their money. Paul want to involve them in the mission in the global mission uh in his global mission strategies. So that's the purpose of why and then uh before we have the big break we will look at how so we've already look at many many things and how this how uh by scribe right scribe which means the pre precision in recording and also uh the um polish publishment and also let explain the contribution of multiple authors mentioned in Romans 16. Romans 16. So if we turn to the end of Romans 16, um so there are several name mentions. uh so as the co-workers. So it's believed by many scholars they also contributed in the uh writing of Romans not just merely providing not just merely provide provided the opinion of the church the report from the church and also bringing a lot of insights for this letter to be completed and a twomonth um period spending in relatively peaceful environment in the winter allow Paul to probably wrote this letter uh with a conversation with other co-workers. Uh so we we we have the image that Paul was walking and talking passionately but he probably also s sat down and talked to the co-workers and contributed more ideas to the to the to this letter. That's why scribe was used to make notes make notes and comp compilation and polishment uh post affection. So one key to understand Romans well is to know it's a an epistle a letter epis not a theological dissertation. And we also need to understand his passion. So passion is not merely love. Passion is love until death. Uh even onto death I want to love. So his passion is even if he risk risking his life to travel to Jerusalem and like leaving his last will testament leaving his last will. So he tried to include all the precious teachings in the book of Romans. So this is the tension. This is the tension. Also we can see there is the peaceful image spending two months uh in G's el house uh talking to co-workers and writing rules. So it's actually the rare peace Paul could have in his intensive missionary journeys. Uh so why why Romans sounds so systematic and logic and complete. Um part of the reason was Paul himself was a quite systematic person. He was well trained in that part. But the other part is he he indeed have a relatively peaceful time that he he he could have his time and space uh and resources and contributions from different parties to to write this letter. Uh yeah, that's all for this morning and when we come back in the afternoon, we'll look at the contents, some key concepts and contents of the book of Romans. Let's pray together. Heavenly Father, we thank you for giving us the time to dig more deeply in the book of Romans. uh and we realize actually not everything is new but when it's reorganized we have the new discovery about how profound and deep your word is and how vast your vision to save the world is certainly the salvation we receive is not merely the personal blessing but you intend to extend the blessing to the end of the world may our hearts be drawn nearer to your heart and to the apostles hearts may our church and our ministry be closer to the uh ministry of the early church. In the name of Jesus Christ, we prayed. Amen. Our Father, who are in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. Forgive our debts as we forgive our debtors. Lead us not into temptations, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.