50 Fun Facts About Book of Romans

Who names himself in Romans 16 as the man who wrote the letter down, slipping in his own greeting?

Tertius was Paul's amanuensis, taking the letter down from dictation; tradition later counted him among the Seventy disciples and made him a bishop of Iconium.

Which woman, a deacon of the church in Cenchreae, does Paul commend in Romans 16 as a benefactor of many?

Phoebe is the only woman the Bible calls a deacon, and a subscript added in later manuscripts names her as the one who carried the letter to Rome.

What does Romans 6:23 call 'the wages of sin', before contrasting it with the gift of eternal life in Christ?

Death is the wage, and the verse is a fixed stop on the 'Romans Road', the short chain of verses evangelists use to lay out salvation without leaving one book.

Which word completes Romans 3:23 in the NIV: 'for all have sinned and fall short of the ___ of God'?

Glory is the missing word, and Paul has spent two and a half chapters earning it, arguing that Jews and Gentiles alike are 'all under the power of sin'.

Romans 5:8 says God showed his love in that Christ died for us while we were still what?

Sinners is the word, and the timing is the point: the love came first, not as a reward for reform, which is why the verse sits at the heart of the 'Romans Road'.

Which three-word confession must be declared 'with your mouth' to be saved, according to Romans 10:9?

Jesus is Lord is the confession, paired with believing in the heart that God raised him from the dead; four verses later Paul adds that 'everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved'.

By what does Romans 12:2 say believers are transformed, rather than conforming to the pattern of this world?

The renewing of your mind is the means, and the promised result is being able to 'test and approve what God's will is — his good, pleasing and perfect will'.

Which tree does Romans 11 use to picture Israel as the root and Gentile believers as wild branches grafted in?

Olive is the tree: the wild shoot shares the root's nourishing sap, and Paul warns it not to feel superior, since 'you do not support the root, but the root supports you'.

What does Romans 8:37 say believers are 'in all these things', through him who loved us?

More than conquerors is the phrase, and 'all these things' are the trouble, hardship, persecution, famine and danger Paul has just listed.

With what does Romans 12:21 say to overcome evil, rather than being overcome by it?

Good is the weapon, and it closes a run of commands that includes 'Bless those who persecute you' and 'Do not repay anyone evil for evil'.

Which minor prophet supplies the line Paul quotes in Romans 1:17, 'The righteous will live by faith'?

Habakkuk 2:4 is the line's origin, and Paul quotes it again in Galatians 3:11 while Hebrews 10:38 also cites it: three New Testament quotations of the same three Hebrew words.

What does Romans 1:20 say people are, since God's invisible qualities have been 'clearly seen' in what he made?

Without excuse is the verdict, and the verse is the classic proof-text for natural theology, the idea that creation by itself reveals God's 'eternal power and divine nature'.

Toward what does Romans 2:4 say God's kindness is intended to lead, rather than being shown contempt?

Repentance is the goal of the kindness, and the same chapter insists that 'God does not show favoritism', judging Jew and Gentile by the same standard.

What does Romans 12:1 urge believers to offer their bodies as, calling it 'true and proper worship'?

A living sacrifice is the phrase, and 'in view of God's mercy' it pivots the letter from eleven chapters of argument to instructions on how to live.

Which single word did Martin Luther insert into Romans 3:28 in his German Bible, defending it as what Paul meant?

Alone — 'allein' — has no counterpart in the Greek, but Luther argued that idiomatic German and Paul's meaning both demanded the reading 'alone through faith'.

Which king does Paul quote in Romans 4 on the blessedness of those 'whose sins are covered'?

David is quoted from Psalm 32 — 'Blessed are those whose transgressions are forgiven' — to show God crediting people apart from their works, not only in Abraham's case.

About how old was Abraham, by Romans 4, when he faced a body 'as good as dead' without weakening in faith?

100 is the age given, with Sarah's womb 'also dead', yet Paul says Abraham was 'fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised'.

Romans 4:11 calls Abraham's circumcision 'a sign' and what else, of the standing he already had by faith?

A seal is the word, and the point is chronology: the faith was credited first, so Abraham can be 'the father of all who believe but have not been circumcised'.

What does Romans 5:3 say suffering produces, in a chain that runs on through character to hope?

Perseverance is the first link, and the chain ends in a hope that 'does not put us to shame' because God's love has been poured into hearts through the Holy Spirit.

What does Romans 5:1 say believers have 'through our Lord Jesus Christ', having been justified through faith?

Peace with God opens the chapter, and Paul adds that believers 'have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand'.

Romans 5:14 says death 'reigned' from the time of Adam until the time of which later figure?

Moses is the endpoint, the point at which the law arrived, and Paul calls Adam 'a pattern of the one to come', setting up his contrast between the first man and Christ.

Through what does Romans 6:4 say believers were 'buried with him', so as to live a new life?

Baptism is the burial, and Paul's point is that people who have 'died to sin' cannot go on living in it, answering his own question 'Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase?'

Which commandment does Paul cite in Romans 7 as the one that taught him 'what sin was'?

You shall not covet is the commandment, and Paul says that sin, 'seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, produced in me every kind of coveting', turning the good law into sin's tool.

What does Paul call himself in Romans 7:24, in the same breath as asking 'Who will rescue me?'

A wretched man is the cry, and it caps the chapter's famous confession that 'what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do'.

Which human bond does Romans 7:2 use to illustrate how dying releases a person from the law that bound them?

Marriage is the example: a wife is bound to her husband while he lives and released when he dies, so believers who 'died to the law through the body of Christ' may 'belong to another'.

Romans 8 opens by declaring that there is now none of what for those who are in Christ Jesus?

Condemnation is what is gone, and the verse is the hinge of the letter: chapter 7's cry for rescue gives way to chapter 8 and its promise of 'the Spirit who gives life'.

Which Aramaic word for 'father' does Romans 8:15 say believers cry out by the Spirit who brought their adoption?

Abba is the cry, and Paul uses the same 'Abba, Father' in Galatians 4:6, while Mark's Gospel puts the word on Jesus's own lips in Gethsemane.

What does Romans 8:17 call believers, as children of God, adding 'if indeed we share in his sufferings'?

Co-heirs with Christ is the phrase, and the condition attached is sharing his sufferings, which Paul immediately calls 'not worth comparing' with what will be revealed.

To what pains does Romans 8:22 compare the whole creation's suffering 'right up to the present time'?

Childbirth is the comparison, and Paul says creation itself 'waits in eager expectation' to be 'liberated from its bondage to decay'.

Through what does Romans 8:26 say the Spirit intercedes when believers do not know what they ought to pray for?

Wordless groans is the phrase, and Paul adds that God 'who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit', so the prayer lands even when no words do.

What does Romans 8:29 call Christ 'among many brothers and sisters', whose image believers are to be conformed to?

The firstborn is the title, and the verse is the classic text on predestination: those God 'foreknew he also predestined', then called, justified and glorified.

How does Romans 8:31 complete its question, 'If God is for us, ___?'

Who can be against us is the answer, and the chapter then piles on: 'Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies.'

Romans 8:38–39 lists angels, demons, height and depth among things unable to separate believers from what?

The love of God is the anchor, and the list also rules out 'the present', 'the future', 'any powers' and 'anything else in all creation'.

Which elder brother does Romans 9 quote God as saying 'I hated', in a line borrowed from the prophet Malachi?

Esau is the one 'hated', and Paul stresses that the verdict came 'before the twins were born or had done anything good or bad', to show election rests on God's call, not works.

Which ruler does Romans 9 say God 'raised up' for the purpose of displaying his power in him?

Pharaoh is the ruler, and Paul draws the hard conclusion that God 'has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy, and he hardens whom he wants to harden'.

Which craftsman's right over 'the same lump of clay' does Romans 9 invoke to defend God's freedom to choose?

A potter shaping 'some pottery for special purposes and some for common use' is the image, and Paul's retort to objectors is 'who are you, a human being, to talk back to God?'

Which prophet does Romans 9 cite for the line 'I will call them my people who are not my people'?

Hosea is the prophet, and Paul reads his words about restored Israel as a promise that Gentiles too would be called 'children of the living God'.

From which tribe does Paul say he descends in Romans 11, as proof that God has not rejected his people?

Benjamin is Paul's tribe, one he shared with King Saul, whose name he bore before he was known as Paul.

How many who had 'not bowed the knee to Baal' did God tell Elijah he had reserved, as Romans 11 recalls?

Seven thousand is the number, and Paul uses the story to argue that 'at the present time there is a remnant chosen by grace', just as in Elijah's day.

What does Romans 10:15 call 'beautiful', quoting Isaiah on those who bring good news?

Their feet are beautiful, a line from Isaiah 52:7 about a herald on the mountains, which Paul turns into a case for sending preachers: 'how can anyone preach unless they are sent?'

From what does Romans 10:17 say faith comes, with the message itself coming 'through the word about Christ'?

Hearing is the channel, and the verse closes a chain of questions: how can they call, believe, hear or preach unless someone is sent?

What does Romans 12:20 say you will 'heap on his head' by feeding a hungry enemy and giving him drink?

Burning coals is the image, lifted from Proverbs 25, and Paul frames it as leaving vengeance to God: 'It is mine to avenge; I will repay'.

What does Romans 13:4 say rulers 'do not bear for no reason', as God's servants who punish wrongdoers?

The sword is the instrument, and the same passage tells believers that paying taxes is owed to authorities 'who give their full time to governing'.

According to Romans 14:2, what does a person 'whose faith is weak' restrict their diet to?

Only vegetables — and Paul's verdict is that the one who eats everything must not treat the other 'with contempt', since 'God has accepted them'.

Which country did Paul tell the Romans he hoped to reach after visiting them, asking for help on the journey?

Spain was the goal: Paul's stated ambition was to preach 'where Christ was not known', and Rome was meant to be a stopover on the way, not the destination.

Which woman greeted in Romans 16 is called, with Andronicus, 'outstanding among the apostles'?

Junia was long masculinised to 'Junias' in some Bibles, a reading most modern scholars call a mistranslation, since the male name is all but unknown in antiquity while Junia was a common woman's name.

Which man, 'the city's director of public works', sends greetings at the close of Romans beside Gaius?

Erastus may be the man in a first-century pavement inscription found near the city's theatre in 1929 — 'Erastus in return for his aedileship paved it at his own expense' — though the match is disputed.

Who felt his heart 'strangely warmed' in 1738 as Luther's preface to Romans was read aloud on Aldersgate Street?

John Wesley's Aldersgate experience is often counted as the beginning of Methodism, and it came from a Reformer's preface to the letter rather than from the letter itself.

Which church father's conversion came from opening Romans 13 at random after a child's voice said 'take up and read'?

Augustine read Romans 13:13–14 — 'not in rioting and drunkenness ... but put on the Lord Jesus Christ' — and told the 'tolle, lege' story himself in his Confessions.

Which Swiss theologian's 1919 commentary on Romans was said to fall 'like a bombshell on the theologians' playground'?

Karl Barth's Der Römerbrief, written while he was a village pastor in Safenwil, earned him a chair at Göttingen, and he then spent eleven months rewriting it for the 1922 second edition.