100 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 took the letter down for Paul, who elsewhere adds a greeting 'in my own hand', calling it 'the distinguishing mark in all my letters'.

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

Phoebe is named in a subscript added to later manuscripts as the one who carried the letter to Rome.

What does Paul say in Romans 1:16 that he is unashamed of?

The gospel, Paul says, 'is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes', which is why he is eager to preach it in Rome.

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 3:4 says 'Let God be true', and every human being what?

A liar, and Paul's point is that human unfaithfulness cannot 'nullify God's faithfulness', a claim he backs with a line from the Psalms.

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

Jesus is Lord, and Paul says the promise reaches everyone, since 'there is no difference between Jew and Gentile—the same Lord is Lord of all'.

By what does Romans 12:2 say believers are transformed, rather than conformed to 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 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'?

More than conquerors, Paul says, even though believers 'face death all day long' and are 'considered as sheep to be slaughtered'.

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 where the line comes from, and Paul reuses it in Galatians to argue that 'no one who relies on the law is justified before God'.

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

Without excuse, Paul says, because although people 'knew God', they did not thank him, and 'their thinking became futile'.

Toward what does Romans 2:4 say God's kindness is intended to lead people?

Repentance is the aim, and Paul warns that a stubborn, 'unrepentant heart' is instead 'storing up wrath against yourself'.

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.

By Romans 4:19, whose womb was 'also dead' when Abraham was about a hundred years old?

Sarah's womb, and Paul says that because Abraham trusted God's promise anyway, his faith 'was credited to him as righteousness'.

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, which is why Paul welcomes sufferings at all: the chain ends in a hope that 'does not put us to shame'.

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

Peace with God, and Paul adds that it came 'while we were God's enemies', when 'we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son'.

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, just before asking who will rescue him?

A wretched man, and the answer comes in the very next verse: 'Thanks be to God, who delivers me'.

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 gone because, Paul says, 'the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death'.

Which Aramaic word 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 14:36 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, and the next verse runs the chain on: those God predestined 'he also called', and those he called 'he also justified'.

How does Romans 8:31 finish the question 'If God is for us'?

Who can be against us, Paul asks, and he answers that God 'did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all'.

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

The love of God, which Paul grounds in Christ, who 'is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us', a few verses earlier.

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', 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 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, a tribe Paul boasts of again in Philippians, only to call such credentials 'garbage' compared with gaining Christ.

Which prophet does Romans 11 recall God reassuring with seven thousand who refused to bow to Baal?

Elijah had complained he was 'the only one left', and Paul uses God's reply to argue that 'at the present time there is a remnant chosen by grace'.

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 printed as the man's name 'Junias' in some Bibles, though no male name Junias is known from the ancient world.

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

Erastus may be the helper Paul sent ahead to Macedonia with Timothy in Acts, and 2 Timothy says an Erastus 'stayed in Corinth'.

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

John Wesley wrote that he went 'very unwillingly' to the meeting, and that at 'about a quarter before nine' he felt assured that Christ 'had taken away my sins, even mine'.

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

Augustine's friend Alypius read the next line, 'Him that is weak in the faith, receive', took it for himself, and followed Augustine into the faith.

Which Swiss theologian wrote a 1919 commentary on Romans while serving as a village pastor in Safenwil?

Karl Barth's commentary won him a professorship at Göttingen in 1921, despite his having no doctorate.

In which language did Paul write his letter to the Romans, the common tongue of the eastern Mediterranean?

Greek, not Latin, was what Paul used for every letter, and it was widely spoken among ordinary people in Rome itself.

What response to persecutors does Romans 12:14 command twice, echoing the teaching of Jesus in Luke 6?

Bless them echoes Jesus in Luke 6, who told his followers to do the same for people who cursed them.

What was Paul's link to the church in Rome at the time he wrote his letter to the Romans?

He had never been there: the church in Rome grew up without Paul, and the letter doubles as his introduction before a hoped-for stay.

In what condition did Paul arrive in Rome a few years after writing Romans, according to Acts?

As a prisoner, Paul sailed for Italy under a centurion's guard after appealing to Caesar, and was shipwrecked on Malta on the way.

According to Romans 6:23, what is the gift of God in Christ Jesus, set against the wages of sin?

Eternal life comes as a gift, while the same verse says the wages sin pays out is death, a contrast that closes Paul's chapter on slavery and freedom.

What does Romans 12:19 tell believers never to take, because 'I will repay,' says the Lord?

Revenge belongs to God, Paul says, quoting Deuteronomy, and in its place he prescribes food and water for an enemy.

What does Romans 13:7 say to pay 'if you owe' them, listed alongside revenue, respect and honor?

Taxes are due, Paul argues, because the officials who collect them are God's servants working full time at the job.

With what gesture does Paul tell the Christians in Rome to greet one another in Romans 16:16?

A holy kiss was the ancient Christian greeting, and the instruction to share one appears in five places in the New Testament.

Why does Romans stand first among Paul's thirteen letters in the New Testament, straight after Acts?

It is the longest: Paul's letters to churches run roughly from longest to shortest rather than by date, so the order says nothing about when each was written.

To whom does Romans 13:1 say everyone should be subject, since God has established them?

The governing authorities meant Rome's own officials, and Paul adds that whoever rebels against them rebels against what God has instituted.

From which city, as the house guest of Gaius, do most scholars believe Paul wrote Romans?

Corinth is the likeliest base: Paul's host Gaius lived there, and its eastern port, Cenchreae, was home to the deacon thought to have carried the letter.

Romans 6:14 says sin shall no longer be your master because you are not under the law but under what?

Grace, God's undeserved kindness, frames Romans: Paul wishes it on his readers in his opening greeting and again in a blessing in the final chapter.

Romans 13:9 says the commands on adultery, murder and theft are summed up in treating whom as yourself?

Your neighbor is the answer Paul takes from Leviticus, the same verse Jesus named as the second greatest commandment.

What does Romans 2:11 say God does not show, whether judging the Jew first or the Gentile?

Favoritism is ruled out because Jew and Gentile face one standard: each person is repaid for what they have done, Paul says.

Through whom does Romans 9:7 say Abraham's offspring 'will be reckoned', quoting a promise from Genesis?

Isaac was the son God had promised, and Paul uses him to argue that physical descent from Abraham never settled who counted as God's children.

What does Romans 4:17 quote God as having made Abraham 'a father of', despite his great age?

Many nations is the promise built into the name Abraham itself, given in Genesis 17 when he was ninety-nine years old.

To which city was Paul carrying a contribution for the poor when he wrote Romans 15?

Jerusalem was first on his route, and Paul asks the Romans to pray he will be kept safe from unbelievers in Judea when he gets there.

Which co-worker, who joined Paul's team on his second missionary journey, heads the greetings in Romans 16:21?

Timothy sends his greetings first, followed by three men Paul calls fellow Jews: Lucius, Jason and Sosipater.

Whom does Romans 16:20 promise that God will soon crush beneath the believers in Rome?

Satan is named just this once in Romans, in a promise that echoes the crushing of the serpent's head in Genesis 3.

What does Romans 1:18 say is being revealed from heaven upon the wickedness of people who suppress the truth?

The wrath of God opens Paul's case that everyone needs rescuing, a charge sheet that runs for nearly three chapters before the remedy arrives.

Which husband and wife, tentmakers like Paul, are the first people he greets by name in Romans 16?

Priscilla and Aquila had risked their lives for Paul, the letter says, and a church met in their house in Rome.

Which emperor's edict had expelled Jews from Rome less than a decade before Paul wrote Romans?

Claudius expelled them over disturbances around AD 49, and they were able to return after his death, only a few years before Paul wrote.

What do evangelists call the set of verses, all from one letter of Paul, used to explain salvation?

The Romans Road keeps every step inside one book, so nobody has to flip back and forth through the New Testament.

Romans 1:23 lists images made to look like mortal humans, birds, animals and which other creatures?

Reptiles complete Paul's list of idols, the trade he says people made when they swapped the immortal God for something they could carve.

In Romans 3:13, what are the throats of sinners compared to, in a line Paul takes from the Psalms?

Open graves begin a string of Psalm quotations about throats, lips and mouths, Paul's proof that no one is innocent.

What does Romans 3:27 declare 'excluded', since a person is justified by faith apart from works?

Boasting is shut out, Paul reasons, because nobody can take credit for something received by trusting rather than earned by keeping rules.

For whom does Romans 5:6 say Christ died 'at just the right time', when we were still powerless?

The ungodly, not the deserving, is Paul's point: he adds that hardly anyone would die even for an upright person.

Romans 5:10 says that while we were God's enemies we were what to him through the death of his Son?

Reconciled comes first and rescue follows: if that happened through the Son's death, Paul argues, how much more will the risen Christ save.

Romans 5:19 says the many will be made righteous through one man's what, reversing the failure of Adam?

Obedience undoes what one act of defiance began: Paul sets Christ beside Adam as two men whose single choices spread to everyone.

What does Romans 6:6 say was crucified with Christ so that we should no longer be slaves to sin?

Our old self is Paul's name for the person a believer used to be, and he says anyone who has died is set free from sin's claim.

Which mother of twins does Romans 9 cite, told before their birth that the older would serve the younger?

Rebekah heard the verdict before either boy had done anything, which is exactly why Paul picks the story: the choice could not rest on merit.

In Romans 9:15, God says 'I will have mercy on whom I have mercy' and pairs mercy with which second quality?

Compassion completes a line from Exodus, and Paul concludes that salvation depends on God's mercy, not on human desire or effort.

Romans 9:29 quotes Isaiah's warning that, had God left no descendants, Israel would have become like which city?

Sodom and its twin Gomorrah stand for total ruin, so Isaiah's point, and Paul's, is that having any survivors at all is a mercy.

In Romans 9:33, what does God lay in Zion that causes people to stumble, though whoever believes is never shamed?

A stone to trip over is Paul's picture of Christ, stitched together from two separate passages in Isaiah.

Romans 10:2 credits Israel with zeal for God but says that zeal is not based on what?

Knowledge is what Paul finds missing: they tried to establish a right standing of their own, he says, instead of accepting the one God gives.

Which prophet's promise does Romans 10:13 quote, that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved?

Joel's line had already been preached by Peter at Pentecost, and Paul uses it to show the offer covers Jew and Gentile alike.

What does Romans 11:11 say salvation reaching the Gentiles is meant to make Israel?

Envious is the hoped-for reaction: Paul says he makes much of his own Gentile mission to stir his fellow Jews and save some of them.

What does Romans 11:25 say Israel has experienced 'in part' until the full number of the Gentiles has come in?

A hardening that is partial and temporary, Paul explains, so that Gentile believers will not grow conceited about their place.

How does Romans 11:29 describe God's gifts and his call, in a chapter about the future of Israel?

Irrevocable means God does not take them back, which is how Paul can call Israel both opposed to his message and still chosen.

Romans 12:8 says leaders should lead diligently, and those whose gift is showing mercy should do it how?

Cheerfully ends a list of seven gifts, from prophesying to giving, each with the instruction to simply get on and use it.

Which rhetorical style, common in Paul's day, has him argue with an imagined critic in parts of Romans?

Diatribe here means answering a critic's objections one by one, and the critic was probably imaginary, built from pushback Paul had met while preaching.

Which Balkan region does Romans 15:19 name as the farthest point Paul's preaching had so far reached?

Illyricum ran along the east coast of the Adriatic, across the water from Italy, so Paul's claimed circuit ends on Rome's doorstep.

Which friend greeted in Romans 16 does Paul call the first convert to Christ in the province of Asia?

Epenetus is one of four people in the chapter Paul singles out as a dear friend, along with Ampliatus, Stachys and Persis.

Romans 7:6 contrasts serving in the new way of the Spirit with the old way of what?

The written code is 'the letter' in the King James Version, one of several passages where Paul sets the letter against the Spirit.

Romans 2:22 asks those who abhor idols whether they themselves rob what?

Temples come last in three stinging questions to the would-be teacher: do you steal, do you commit adultery, do you rob shrines?

Romans 15:16 describes Paul's work of proclaiming Christ to the Gentiles as what kind of duty?

Priestly casts preaching as worship: Paul pictures the Gentiles themselves as the offering he presents, made acceptable to God.

In Romans 15:20, Paul says he preaches where Christ is unknown to avoid building on someone else's what?

Foundation is a builder's image for pioneer work: Paul wanted untouched territory, and quotes Isaiah about people who had never been told.

Romans 15:12 quotes Isaiah on 'the Root of' which man, from whom one will arise to rule the Gentiles?

Jesse of Bethlehem was father to Israel's most celebrated king, so the phrase points to a ruler from that royal family.

Which English translator's prologue to Romans was largely taken from Martin Luther's German one?

William Tyndale made the first English translation to use the printing press, and was later convicted of heresy and executed.

According to Romans 1:22, what did those who traded God's glory for images of creatures become?

Fools is Paul's verdict on idol-makers, whose thinking he says became futile once they stopped giving thanks to God.