The Book of Romans, written by the Apostle Paul, addresses the teachings on the natural world, the importance of human identity, speaks on human relationships and culture and what is expected of us as Disciples in order to enforce God’s intent, God’s law in this world. Romans works as guidance for a life free of sin and helps us see that with God we are provided the opportunity to shape the world we are currently living in.
The natural world; in Romans 1:20, the Apostle Paul writes, “For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.” He brought the world and the universe into existence, although not seen He promised us that everyone will know or hear of Him and it will be up to them to accept Him. The most intense expressions of God’s plans for the natural world can be found in Romans 8:19-23, where the Apostle Paul addresses the present suffering and future glory of God’s creation. Paul writes, “For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed. For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God. We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time.” This shows us God’s plan for humanity and shows us how this world is temporary. His plan is to reverse the damage of not just the fall of humanity but nature itself.
Human identity can be found in knowing God. In Romans 5-6, Paul states that just how sin of the world entered through Adam, in this way we all became sinners, passing from generation to generation. Our identity lies in knowing who God is and more so knowing that where there is sin there is