A Bible Study on Romans: Introduction
One of the cornerstones of Tirzah’s mission is to inspire and equip women to be rooted in God’s word. It is why every article on our website includes Scripture and why our shop is primarily focused on Bible study. As we start a new year, we wanted to try something new: a weekly Bible study series.
Articles, books, sermons and podcasts are encouraging in our walk with God, but nothing shapes us quite like time spent in God’s word. Because going to the bread of life and the source of Living Water is what will make our roots grow deep and draw us nearer to the Lord.
For the next three months, we want to study the book of Romans with you. This book highlights the sufficiency and power of the Gospel and the importance of unity among believers - two themes that are so important for Christians to understand today. Because our world grows increasingly divided and the world is seeping into our churches. So, we needed to be reminded about what the Gospel means to believers. That is what will bring us together and keep our eyes on Jesus, no matter what is happening in the world around us.
A few practical tips before we start:
Pray before you read and study God’s Word. Ask the Holy Spirit to teach you and to prepare the soil of your heart to receive and understand what you read.
Open up your physical Bible. Reading on a phone or an iPad isn’t the same thing as reading an actual Bible. It has its place, but for deeper Bible study, I personally prefer a physical Bible.
Designate a journal for this study. Find a journal or notebook to use during this study. Each week, we’ll include reflection and study questions to encourage you to go deeper into God’s word, and writing will help you process and retain what you study.
Invite a friend to join you. Accountability and fellowship with other believers are vital parts of our spiritual lives. So, invite a friend or a significant other to join you for this study. Use this as a springboard of discussion. Women especially have a tendency to fill our conversations with idle talk and gossip, so learning to redeem our conversations to be filled with the word of God is life giving for everyone involved.
We know this is a different format from our regular articles, but we hope that you’ll invest the time to join us for this opportunity to learn from the primary source: the word of God. Even if you just spend 30 minutes or an hour each week doing this study, it will change your heart and draw you closer to the throne of God.
So, please don’t just skip over this and go to the articles that are maybe easier to read and take less time. Take the time to plant your roots in the word of God, and you’ll be like a tree planted by water, that sends out its roots by the stream, and does not fear when heat comes, for its leaves remain green, and is not anxious in the year of drought, for it does not cease to bear fruit (Jeremiah 17:8).
Week One: Introduction to Romans
The book of Romans was written by Apostle Paul in approximately AD 57-58. Paul had heard of the church at Rome, but neither he nor the other church leaders, James and Peter, has yet been to Rome. Scholars believe that the Roman church was established by believers who had been at Jerusalem for Pentecost (Acts 2:10). So, Paul’s epistle would likely have been one of the first pieces of Christian literature received and studied by the Roman church.
Read the book of Romans in its entirety
Since Romans would have been written as one letter, without the chapter breaks we have today in our Bibles, take the time to read through the book of Romans in one sitting. Read it like a letter written to your church from a world-renowned Bible teacher. Meditate on what you read throughout this week.
Prepare for next week & OUTLINE themes in Romans 1
Next, to prepare to start our study next week, go through Romans 1 and look for common words or themes. Highlight each occurrence of a word or theme that you notice. I prefer to highlight each word or theme in a different color, so I can easier spot patterns. For example, some of the words and themes that stood out to me include: Jesus Christ, God, the Gospel and faith.
As a practical tip: if you don’t want to highlight in your Bible or don’t have a journaling Bible, google the chapter we’re studying and copy and paste it into a blank word document. Fix the formatting to double space text and widen the margins. Print it out and use this document to highlight, draw arrows on, underline and make notes in the margin.
Scripture to memorize
All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work. -2 Timothy 3:16-17 (ESV)
We haven’t used our Tirzah facebook group in years, but we’re hoping to spend more time together in the group this year. So, if you’d like to discuss the above study questions or ask other questions about what we’re reading, post it here and we’ll figure it out together!
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Yelena is the founder and editor in chief Tirzah. Yelena works as an attorney in tax and in her spare time, she is working on her first book for unmarried twenty-something women in extended waiting seasons and running Tirzah. She has a passion for pointing young women to Christ, and enjoys reading, writing, traveling, and spending time with her family.