Make sure you have a notebook and pen on hand for writing down your thoughts as you study this lesson.

Objective

In this lesson, we’ll see that Romans teaches us our faith must be practical in our daily lives.

Key Verse

Romans 13:14: Rather, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the flesh.

Introduction

Let’s briefly review what we’ve already discovered in Romans. Romans serves as the doctrinal foundation of the New Testament. In the first eight chapters, Paul carefully laid out the basic message of the Gospel for us. We learned that we are all condemned in our sin, God has provided to us the righteousness of Jesus Christ, we can receive this righteousness by faith, and God’s work in us continues as He sanctifies us by the Holy Spirit.

In the final chapters of Romans, Paul addresses two main subjects that we’ll focus on in this lesson. First, he explains God’s plan for Israel in chapters 9-11. Then he outlines God’s plan for the church in chapters 12-16. As we conclude our time in Romans together, we’ll discover that our faith is very practical—what we believe determines how we should live.

Here are the main points we’ll explore:

• God’s plan for Israel
• God’s plan for the church

God’s Plan for Israel

Paul was the apostle to the Gentiles, but he has much to say about his own nation Israel throughout Romans. From the very first chapter, Paul speaks about Israel and the Jewish people. He makes it clear that Israel needs Christ because Jews are sinners just like Gentiles.

Romans 3:9: What shall we conclude then? Do we have any advantage? Not at all! For we have already made the charge that Jews and Gentiles alike are all under the power of sin.

But this raises an important question: Why then did God call Israel in the first place? Paul asks why God spent so much time with Israel if they had to be saved the same way as Gentiles. The answer reveals something beautiful about God’s purposes. Paul reminds us that Israel has always played a special role in God’s plan. Even though they are also sinners who need Christ, they have been given a special blessing—God gave us His revelation through Israel.

Romans 3:2: Much in every way! First of all, the Jews have been entrusted with the very words of God.

Paul returns to this theme about Israel in chapters 9-11 of Romans because he wants us to understand that God did not waste His time with Israel. Everything that happened in the Old Testament happened for a reason—it was all part of God’s sovereign plan. Paul teaches us about Israel’s past, present, and future in these remarkable chapters.

Israel’s Glorious Past

Paul reminds us of all the tremendous blessings that Israel received in the past through God’s special calling. Looking at their history, we can see eight distinct blessings that God gave to His chosen people:

Romans 9:4-5: Theirs is the adoption to sonship; theirs the divine glory, the covenants, the receiving of the law, the temple worship and the promises. Theirs are the patriarchs, and from them is traced the human ancestry of the Messiah, who is God over all, forever praised! Amen.

• The adoption as God’s children
• The divine glory of God’s presence
• The covenants God made with them
• The receiving of God’s law
• The temple worship system
• The promises of God
• The patriarchs like Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob
• The Messiah who came through their lineage

God chose Israel as His servant in the same way He chose Jacob over Esau. This was not based on human merit but on God’s sovereign choice. We cannot question the sovereignty of God—this was His perfect plan from the beginning.

Israel’s Present Condition

Paul then speaks honestly about Israel in his present time. The desire of Paul’s heart was that his fellow Jews would receive Jesus as their Messiah. (Notebook Moment: How do you think Paul felt watching his own people reject the very Messiah they had been waiting for? What does his heart for Israel teach us about how we should feel toward those who don’t yet know Christ?)

Romans 10:1: Brothers and sisters, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for the Israelites is that they may be saved.

The tragedy was that Christ fulfilled everything the law pointed toward. Christ alone gives us the righteousness that the law demanded but could never provide. Yet Israel rejected Christ and kept trying to find righteousness through keeping the law.

Romans 10:3-4: Since they did not know the righteousness of God and sought to establish their own, they did not submit to God’s righteousness. Christ is the culmination of the law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes.

Paul makes it crystal clear that Jews and Gentiles alike are saved only through faith in Christ. There is no other way to receive God’s righteousness.

Romans 10:12-13: For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile—the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, for, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”

Israel’s Future Hope

This brings us to a crucial question: Is God finished with Israel because of their rejection of Christ? Paul answers with a resounding no! God still has a future plan for them that will bring glory to His name.

Romans 11:1-2: I ask then: Did God reject his people? By no means! I am an Israelite myself, a descendant of Abraham, from the tribe of Benjamin. God did not reject his people, whom he foreknew.

Paul explains that God has used Israel’s temporary blindness to bring salvation to the Gentiles. This was all part of God’s wonderful plan to show mercy to all people.

Romans 11:25: I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery, brothers and sisters, so that you may not be conceited: Israel has experienced a hardening in part until the full number of the Gentiles has come in.

But Paul teaches us that Israel will someday recognize Christ as their deliverer. The promises that God made to David will be fulfilled when Christ reigns on David’s throne during His millennial kingdom.

Romans 11:26-27: And in this way all Israel will be saved. As it is written: “The deliverer will come from Zion; he will turn godlessness away from Jacob. And this is my covenant with them when I take away their sins.”

God’s Plan for the Church

Paul concludes Romans with intensely practical teaching for the church. God’s plan is for His church to be holy—we are called to live in the righteousness of Christ that we have received by faith.

Romans 12:1-2: Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.

These verses contain one of the most important challenges in all of Scripture. Because of everything God has done for us, we should offer ourselves completely to Him as living sacrifices. This means we don’t live for ourselves anymore—we live for God’s glory.

If these truths are real in our lives, then it will be clearly seen in how we actually live. We will be humble servants who minister faithfully in the Body of Christ, using whatever gifts God has given us.

Romans 12:3-6: For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you. For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. We have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us.

Paul goes on to show us what practical holiness looks like in our daily relationships. We will demonstrate genuine love in our personal lives, treating other people with the same grace that God has shown to us.

Romans 12:9-10: Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves.

We will be obedient and submissive to the authorities that God has placed over us, recognizing that government is part of God’s plan for maintaining order in society.

Romans 13:1: Let everyone be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God.

Our lives will demonstrate love and genuine concern for the needs of others around us. When we truly love our neighbors as ourselves, we fulfill what God’s law was always pointing toward.

Romans 13:8-10: Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for whoever loves others has fulfilled the law. The commandments, “You shall not commit adultery,” “You shall not murder,” “You shall not steal,” “You shall not covet,” and whatever other command there may be, are summed up in this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” Love does no harm to a neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.

Most importantly, we will live differently from the world around us. We won’t be conformed to its standards and values. Instead, we will seek to show others what it truly means to follow Christ. (Notebook Moment: In what specific areas of your life do you find it most challenging to live differently from the world’s standards? How can you “put on Christ” in these areas?)

Romans 13:12-14: The night is nearly over; the day is almost here. So let us put aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light. Let us behave decently, as in the daytime, not in carousing and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and debauchery, not in dissension and jealousy. Rather, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the flesh.

Paul continues by teaching about the liberty we have in Christ. The beautiful truth is that we shouldn’t use our liberty selfishly for ourselves. We are all accountable to God for how we choose to live.

Romans 14:7-8, 12: For none of us lives for ourselves alone, and none of us dies for ourselves alone. If we live, we live for the Lord; and if we die, we die for the Lord. So, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord… So then, each of us will give an account of ourselves to God.

We should never be a stumbling block to weaker Christians in the way we live. Instead, we should always seek to build them up and help them grow stronger in their faith.

Romans 15:1-2: We who are strong ought to bear with the failings of the weak and not to please ourselves. Each of us should please our neighbors for their good, to build them up.

(Notebook Moment: Think about a newer or weaker believer in your life. How can you use your Christian liberty in a way that builds them up rather than potentially causing them to stumble?)

Conclusion

Paul concludes his magnificent letter by telling the Romans once again that he wants to come and visit them. He explains his travel plans and asks for their prayers as he prepares to take an offering to the believers in Jerusalem.

Romans 15:24-25: I plan to do so when I go to Spain. I hope to see you while passing through and to have you assist me on my journey there, after I have enjoyed your company for a while. Now, however, I am on my way to Jerusalem in the service of the Lord’s people there.

In chapter 16, Paul greets many believers in the church at Rome by name. What’s remarkable about this list is that it includes many Christians about whom we know nothing else—they never appear anywhere else in Scripture. This shows us something beautiful about God’s heart. He loves and cares about ordinary believers just as much as He cares about famous apostles and leaders. Every believer matters to God, and every faithful Christian life has value in His kingdom, whether or not the world remembers their name.

Paul ends his letter by praying that God will establish the Roman believers firmly in the Gospel they have received.

Romans 16:25-27: Now to him who is able to establish you in accordance with my gospel, the message I proclaim about Jesus Christ, in keeping with the revelation of the mystery hidden for long ages past, but now revealed and made known through the prophetic writings by the command of the eternal God, so that all the Gentiles might come to the obedience that comes from faith—to the only wise God be glory forever through Jesus Christ! Amen.

The book of Romans calls us to live out our faith in practical, visible ways. The righteousness we have received from Christ should transform how we treat our families, how we conduct our business, how we respond to authority, and how we love our neighbors. This is not just theological theory—this is the beautiful reality of what it means to walk with Jesus Christ every single day.

Check Your Understanding

Take this 5-question quiz to check your understanding of this lesson.

Congratulations on completing this lesson! Click on the “Next Lesson” button below when you are ready to continue.