Romans

The grand subject of the Apostle’s letter to the Romans is the Gospel—“The gospel of God” (Rom. 1:1). The gospel is neither a philosophy nor a creed; rather the Gospel concerns a divine and glorious Person, “Jesus Christ our Lord” (Rom. 1:3).
We do not find the word “church” until the last chapter (Rom. 16:1). The gospel was the subject of promise, not the church. “And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel” (Gen. 3:15). Now revealed, the gospel is no longer a promise. “For all the promises of God in him [are] yea, and in him Amen, unto the glory of God by us” (2 Cor. 1:20). For the Jew, the link to the promises was particularly important.
Although the letter is to Rome (Rom. 1:7), it addresses both Jew and Gentile. There were many Jews in Rome (Acts 28:17,) and throughout the letter both groups are addressed. Many examples may be cited—“I speak to them that know the law” (Rom. 7:1), and “For I speak to you Gentiles” (Rom. 11:13); “Concerning his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, which was made of the seed of David according to the flesh” (Rom. 1:3), and “Declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead” (Rom. 1:4).
When Paul wrote his epistle to the Romans, he had never visited that city. No apostle had—a remarkable fact for a city that supports its position in Christianity on its supposed association with the apostles Peter and Paul (Rom. 1:10-13).
Outline
The Epistle to the Romans may justly be called the fundamental epistle of Christian doctrine. In the first eight chapters Paul carefully and simply lays out the foundational principles of Christianity, working from man up to God.
Chapters 9-11 are dispensational. They address the question, “How does the teaching of the first eight chapters affect God’s promises to Israel?”
In the third and final division, chapters 12-16, we have the practical application of the doctrine of the first eight chapters.
Each section contains within itself additional divisions. Looking a little closer at the first eight chapters, we find that the first 15 verses of chapter one are introductory. From verse 16 through to verse 11 of chapter 5, the Apostle takes up justification from sins. Having dealt with the question of sins, what of our nature? From verse 12 of chapter 5 to the end of chapter 8, the subject is deliverance from sin. The bond of the law (where it existed) has been dissolved in the death of Christ (ch. 7), and our deliverance from the flesh is in the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus (ch. 8).