Romans // Pastor Gene Pensiero

Itʼs been said that no other single book of the Bible is so responsible for transforming the lives of men than Paul’s letter to the Romans. We canʼt really know if thatʼs true but we can say that Romans has been responsible for transforming the lives of certain men God used mightily through the centuries. […]

The apostle Paul wanted to go to Rome. It wasnʼt the Coliseum that interested him; it was the church. Not a building, but the people – whom he had never even met! (Pastor Gene Pensiero)

In biblical terms we would say that God has given all men everywhere for all time a witness of Himself in creation as the Creator. The next three verses in Romans chapter one (18-20) talk about that witness. (Pastor Gene Pensiero)

We are going to see what happens when, instead of receiving the witness of God, mankind rejects it and God lets us go our own way. (Pastor Gene Pensiero)

Since God is infinitely holy, God’s standard of righteousness is absolute perfection. It matters little in heaven whether one man is better in some ways than another because all still fall short of perfection. (Pastor Gene Pensiero)

Donʼt forget that the point of these opening chapters of Romans is to establish the universal problem that all have fallen short of the glory of God, including the Jews. There is no one, Jew or Gentile, who is righteous. (Pastor Gene Pensiero)

This next section of Romans, verses one through eight of chapter three, reminds me of a role play. We might call it an apologetics role play. Paul asks anticipated real-world questions then answers them. (Pastor Gene Pensiero)

God looks down from Heaven upon the righteousness of men. Even if your righteousness was like that of Mt. Everest, reaching high above that of your fellow men, and you were one of the few standing on the summit of good works, you would still be level with the rest of the human race. (Pastor […]

The Jews were proud that they had Godʼs law. It made them feel special. It should, however, have made them feel guilty! The “law” wasnʼt a get-out-of-jail free card. It wasnʼt a talisman or a goodluck charm. The Jews, and Paul included himself saying “we,” were “under” it, they were subject to its standards. (Pastor […]

“Faith” and “believe” are used fifteen times in Romans chapter four. It is the Bible’s great chapter on salvation by grace through believing alone, apart from your behavior. It is, in many ways, the Bible’s great chapter. (Pastor Gene Pensiero)

If salvation were by works of righteousness, you could never be saved. You commit individual acts of sin. You inherit a sin nature. Sin is imputed to you. Bottom line: You canʼt work your way to Heaven. How do you get there? (Pastor Gene Pensiero)

“To gush,” “to run greedily out,” “to spill.” Itʼs the word the KJV translates “shed abroad” and the NKJV translates “poured out” in Romans 5:5. J.B. Phillips translates it, “Already we have the love of God flooding through our hearts by the Holy Spirit given to us.” (Pastor Gene Pensiero)

The importance of Adam being a real person is clearly seen in Romans five. You are regarded by God and treated by God based on the actions of another person who acted on your behalf. When your representative acted, God says that you acted. He says that you were “in” that person. (Pastor Gene Pensiero)

There are three terms you should be somewhat familiar with as you read and study the Bible: justification, sanctification, and glorification. They describe the various stages of salvation from the moment you accept Jesus Christ until you see Him face-to-face. (Pastor Gene Pensiero)

Romans six is Paul the apostleʼs ʻthe more you knowʼ campaign. He keeps using the words know or knowing. (Pastor Gene Pensiero)

God gives you life and freedom but you can be so affected by years of living in sin, responding sinfully by yielding your body to the world and the devil, that it’s hard to walk as a ‘normal’ person the way God intended. You can and theses verses tell you how. (Pastor Gene Pensiero)

Does emphasizing grace over rules, rites, rituals and regulations really open the door to all manner of sinful behavior? Thatʼs our subject as we close out Romans six. (Pastor Gene Pensiero)

In this text, we need to decide when was Paul describing. What time in his life was he referring to? Was this his current and on-going experience? Or was he referring back to his experience before he was saved? In other words, is this a struggle I will have as a Christian? (Pastor Gene Pensiero)

The Apostle Paul is going to talk about how Godʼs Law was a spiritual diagnostic to reveal the human heart. If youʼve ever had an x-ray youʼve probably seen the report from the radiologist. After describing what the x-ray shows he or she summarizes the findings. Verse five reads like a summary of the findings. […]

The apostle Paul, well-read and well-traveled, would have been familiar with this practice of the body of death as a literal torture carried out upon persons. That being the case, we can see that he used it as an illustration in verse twenty-four. (Pastor Gene Pensiero)

Life, Leading, Love. Those three powerful ʻLʼ words provide a map of where we are headed as we navigate Romans chapter eight. (Pastor Gene Pensiero)

Our text in Romans 8 tells us that we can “set [our] minds” (v5). Where we set them dictates our route as we journey homeward toward the mansions Jesus is finishing construction on for each of us in the heavenly city, New Jerusalem. (Pastor Gene Pensiero)

Christian, on the other hand, was a name given to believers by nonbelievers. They listened to what believers were saying, then watched their lives, and concluded they were like Christ. To me that indicates that Jesus was doing something in them and through them. The emphasis is on Him, not me. (Pastor Gene Pensiero)

While we in America continue to struggle with what legally and morally constitutes the family unit, Paulʼs first century readers understood it very well. The Roman familia, with itʼs pater familias (head of the family), was deeply ingrained in their minds. Weʼre going to see Paul appeal to the Roman family to make an incredible […]

The apostle Paul would win any scar-contest among believers over who suffered the most for the sake of the Gospel! (Pastor Gene Pensiero)

Why are we and the Holy Spirit and creation groaning? The reason given is that we are in our fallen, mortal bodies but anticipating our future, immortal bodies. (Pastor Gene Pensiero)

We can all declare Romans 8:28 for ourselves. Itʼs a promise whose only condition is that you need to be saved in order to claim it. One commentator called this verse “a soft pillow for a tired heart.” (Pastor Gene Pensiero)

One Bible commentator said that the library at his theological seminary contained 10,000 books on the single subject of the Doctrine of Predestination. After centuries of debate, there is no lack of disagreement, even division, regarding predestination and the other major subject of these verses, Godʼs foreknowledge. Thatʼs not to say we can disregard these […]

We have the love letter of Jesus to us in the form of the Bible. Reading and re-reading it ought to assure us that He loves us with an everlasting and unconditional love. Still there are things that try to intercept our appreciation of His love for us. Some of them are listed for us […]

Did God hate Esau? Did God harden Pharaohʼs heart so that he could not believe? Is God a Potter Who routinely rejects the majority of the human clay He created, rendering them lost and damned? These are all found in Romans chapter nine. Your first inclination – and itʼs a good one – is to […]

Letʼs say you were a first century Jew who had been born-again. And letʼs say you were a gracious individual who understood that Gentiles could be saved without conforming to Jewish rites and rituals. Still you would look out at what was happening spiritually and be confused. Israel was Godʼs “firstborn,” but they no longer […]

Has anyone ever broken a promise they made to you? Of course they have! Had God ever broken a promise He has made to you? Of course He hasnʼt! It seemed, however, to the first century Jews in Rome and throughout the empire that God had indeed broken His promise, specifically His promise to Abraham. […]

Our text introduces us to a clay-nation, as it were. God is the Potter and Israel, in His sovereign hands, is like clay. Letʼs keep in mind the context of Romans nine, ten and eleven. Jewish believers were trying to reconcile Godʼs Old Testament prophecies and promises to Israel with their current circumstances in which […]

Why should it be so strange that Gentiles would be saved? In fact, the Jews were charged with spreading the knowledge of God to the surrounding nations. It was always God’s will that none should perish. He has always been a whosoever will believe God of salvation. It should therefore come as no shock to […]

If the apostle Paul had a radio program, Iʼm pretty sure it would have been called, What Shall We Say Then? Those are the opening words of verse thirty, but itʼs now the fifth time heʼs used the phrase in Romans. It indicates he is about to draw a conclusion but, more than that, an […]

Youʼve probably heard of the Romans Road to Salvation. It is a set of verses from the Book of Romans that ʻleadʼ a person to faith in Jesus Christ. (Pastor Gene Pensiero)

While we might refer to the 10 commandments, Jews would refer to the 613 commandments! This may have, in fact, been the background of the question posed to Jesus about which was the greatest commandment. (Pastor Gene Pensiero)

God is evangelistic. From the beginning He has been revealing His salvation to the human race. Immediately after Adam and Eve sinned, God came to them in the Garden of Eden and offered them what Iraneaus, in the second century after Jesus, called the proto-evangel, meaning the ʻfirst Gospel.ʼ He was referring to Genesis 3:15. […]

We like to keep three groups of people distinct as we read the Bible: the nation of Israel, the Gentiles, and the church. God has a plan for each of them – for each of us. (Pastor Gene Pensiero)

Is the nation of Israel “no longer [Godʼs] people”? Weʼll let the apostle Paul answer that for us. (Pastor Gene Pensiero)

The mystery here is the identification of the fullness of the Gentiles which was not a subject of revelation in the Old Testament. Paul seemed extremely concerned that Gentiles would “be wise in [their] own opinion” about God setting aside Israel and bringing the Gospel directly to the other nations, tribes, peoples, and tongues. Looking […]

Chapter eleven closes with what many call a doxology; and it is, although I think we should hear it as more spontaneous. Itʼs like when a worship leader or songwriter gets a lyric directly, immediately, from the Lord. (Pastor Gene Pensiero)