Memorizing Romans

In seminary, I took a Bible class that was simply titled “Romans.”  If you know anything about Romans, you know that Romans can be one of the most theologically complex books in the New Testament (some even say the whole Bible). I thoroughly enjoyed the class and all of our discussions, but I was not looking forward to finals week. When that fateful week arrived, our instructor told us we only needed a Bible and a blue book for our exam. (For those who are unfamiliar, a blue book is a small, 16-page blank book used for writing essays as part of a test or exam.) But then, on second thought, our instructor said, “You might want to bring two blue books.” My heart dropped, and my brain almost had a panic attack. The long-awaited day of judgment finally arrived. Our instructor said, “You have only one question to answer for the final exam: ‘Explain the Book of Romans.’” After picking myself up off the floor, I took a deep breath, and I began to write, and write, and write. Ninety minutes later, the exam ended, and I turned in two blue books completely filled with my explanation of Romans. Are you dying to know how I did? Keep reading.

The way I, and others in the class, managed to author such massive essays was because we had memorized the famous “S” outline of Romans. The “S” outline is an alliteration of the book of Romans, which takes the reader through the entire content of Romans. There are variations to this “S” outline, but this is the one to this day, to the very writing of this article, that I can still recite: Salutation, Sin, Salvation, Sanctification, Sovereignty, Service, Conclusion. No outline is perfect, or for that matter, inspired, but I hope the extended outline might be beneficial for your reading and studying of Paul’s magnum opus.

You will be delighted to know that I passed the class, and well…as for my grade on the final exam… come find me, and I will tell you.

Salutation (1:1-17)

• Greetings (1:1-15)
• Theme (1:16-17)

Sin – Righteousness Demanded (1:18-3:20)

• The Gentiles are guilty (1:18-32)
• The Jews are guilty (2:1-3:8)
• The whole world is guilty (3:9-20)

Salvation – Righteousness Declared (3:21-5:21)

• Justification described (3:21-31)
• Justification illustrated (4:1-25)
• Justification explained (5:1-21)

Sanctification – Righteousness Defended (6:1-8:39)

• Set free from the bondage of sin (6:1-23)
• Struggle with sin (7:1-25)
• Spirit’s power to mortify sin (8:1-39)

Sovereignty – Righteousness Declined (9:1-11:36)

• Israel’s past: God’s elect (9:1-29)
• Israel’s present: God-rejected (9:30-10:21)
• Israel’s future: God-restored (11:1-36)

Service – Righteousness Demonstrated (12:1-15:13)

• In relation to ourselves (12:1-3)
• In relation to the Church (12:4-8)
• In relation to society (12:9-21)
• In relation to government (13:1-14)
• In relation to other believers (14:1-15:13)

Conclusion (15:14-16:27)

• Paul’s plans (15:44-33)
• Paul’s personal greetings (16:1-16)
• Paul’s closing remarks (16:17-27)