Methods Of Evangelism : The Romans Road

In the Roman Civilization where the prevalent worship of Roman gods were impersonal and did not provide a moral base or a message of hope, in the fourth century Christianity was formed, born as a movement within Judaism. Christianity emphasized the personal relationship between God and people, slowly spread through the Roman Empire until ultimately dominating the western culture. Three of the several factors that aided to the growth of Christianity in the Roman Empire were: the central beliefs and value of Christianity, prominent figures, and Christianity appeal to women. Christianity offered hope to many, for it was the time of grace and freedom, the time to rebuild the future and

The Romans road method of evangelism is a clear and effective means of sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ. This technique is called the Romans road because it takes the hearer through certain passages in the book of Romans that explain the main points of the Gospel. The first reference in the Romans road is Romans 3:23 which states “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God”. This verse establishes the groundwork that shows the need for the good news at all. It shows that every person has failed to measure up to God’s perfect standards. The next pit stop on the Romans road explains why being sinful is such a problem. Romans 6:23 reads “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

What were the key social and cultural factors that enabled the Gospel to spread so quickly through the Roman Empire? Using primary and secondary sources, discuss with particular reference to Paul’s writings and the Book of Acts.

Summary of Method – The Romans Road is an intellectual method of evangelism. It utilizes the book of Romans to illustrate to a nonbeliever the steps necessary in order to be saved. This method walks the evangelist and the nonbeliever through specific verses in the Bible. These verses have been selected because they call attention to the need for salvation, they state the good news that a way to salvation has already been prepared, they warn nonbelievers of what will happen if the nonbeliever remains in the sinful state, they inform the nonbeliever that there is no other way to salvation except through Jesus, and they proclaim that confessing this truth is the action which needs to be taken. Dr. Jack Hyles preached the original Romans Road list on Sunday morning, June 28, 1970. During his sermon, Dr. Hyles said, “I came up with a little plan of presenting the plan of salvation called ‘The Romans Road’ whereby you take verses contained in Romans and show people how to be saved using Romans 3:10, and Romans 3:23, and Romans 5:12, and Romans 5:8 and on and on”. Since the time that the original plan was proposed by Dr. Hyles, variations have arisen. When an evangelist sits with a nonbeliever he or she need only to read though these selections from the book of Romans. Depending on which specific Romans Roads plan is chosen, there could be variations in the numbers of verses or the order in which the verses are read with the nonbeliever.

Living life as a Christian, in many ways is difficult in that there is always a war being fought by the enemy for your faith. Dickson insists that, “there are clear New Testament passages urging us all to speak up for Christ when we can” (Dickson, 101). Christians are called to a life of spreading the gospel to all mankind and nations. Dickson urges that the gospel is the announcement of our King coming to make all things new again. Christian’s are called by Jesus Himself to spread this news and work of God’s anointed King and messiah Jesus! The main nugget Christians should take from this is how everyone is not an evangelists, however, Christians are clearly called to proclaim Christ from our lips as well as

Jesus also points out the sin she has committed and instructs her to submit her life and worship the Father in Spirit and in truth, and then finally introduces Himself to her. Also Jesus by washing the feet of His disciples shows how He becomes a servant and show the love he has for them, in the same manner the most effective type of evangelism is love, compassion and serving like Jesus.

Paul explains that ever since sin was created through Adam, mankind had no hope for redemption by themselves. This is due to the fact that since Adam was the first man, we are all sons and daughters of him and because of that we are born into a life of sin. However, mankind does have a choice we can choose to have faith in God and become a son or daughter of Abraham, instead. God decided to give mankind another chance and gave us the gospel, so that through Jesus Christ and our faith his people can be saved from death and have eternal life. (Romans 4, Romans 5) This topic affects our biblical worldview by explaining that the punishment for sin used to be death but if we have faith in God and Jesus Christ we will be saved and have eternal life through him.

The Four Spiritual Laws: Law One, God Loves you and offers a wonderful plan for our lives. This is the starting point of using this evangelistic method. Using John 3:16 to demonstrate God’s love for us followed up with John 10:10

When Constantine was converted he had favoritism towards the church. Churches were built at the state expense. There were lots and lot of wars and plagues that went on. So people were ready and easily to accept an afterlife. Paul was a citizen of Rome and he could travel there without the expense. The roman roads were better and weren't as dangerous as other roads. There were threats of thieves and murderers. Christianity came in when Rome was at its lowest point. The Romans only believed in one god anyways. So that kinda helped too. The Romans were good at obeying laws and having lots of them and it helped too. So they were easy to convert. Jesus was born in the roman period and died in the roman period. Then in the second roman period, the holy spirit came in.

We are justified in Him through our faith in Him and do not have to prove ourselves through the law; all the law does is prove our sinfulness (Romans 3:27-28). We are loved by Christ if He would die for us while we were still sinners (Romans 5:6-8). We are promised eternity with Him through our faith in Him (Romans 6:5-7, Romans 6:22-23). We are called to live apart from sin as Christ followers (Romans 6:11-14), living as an instrument for God. He also speaks of us now being vessels of the Holy Spirit (Romans 8:9). Paul speaks of our identity being renewed and justified and sanctified very often but also speaks of our relationships with humans.

Introduction The book of Romans is said to be, “the most profound work in existence,” by Samuel Coleridge (Hindson & Towns, p.411). Romans’ teaches Christians about of the lifestyle of a Christian. It identifies key characteristics such as: how we should view the natural world, our identity as people, our relationships, culture, civilization and much more that are discussed in this body of text. Romans 1-8, particularly, has a great deal of information that takes patience and a heart to find the full truths expressed within it.

The first is Romans 3:23, this verse explains why the unbeliever needs salvation. Romans 6:23 is next to further elaborate on why salvation necessary. Romans 5:8 then

In order to lessen the amount of crime along the Roman roads Rome employed an immense amount of highway patrols whose primary task was to ensure the safety of travelers along the roads. The patrols were made up of special detachments of military troops that were stationed an array of different positions throughout high traffic areas. Rome utilized police posts and watchtowers to keep an eye out for vulnerable travelers and dispatch patrols quickly if needed in order to protect its citizens. The patrols also received assignments such as watching out for escaped slaves, relaying messages, and even collecting tolls. These tolls were often collected at bridges or passes with the funds being used primarily to fund further developments for the road. This dynamic system of safety patrols used throughout the Roman roads kept many citizens safe and because of this safety, many early travelers were able to traverse peacefully amongst the Roman countryside (Andrews, 2014).

Romans 3:23 says, “for all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God” (ESV). Romans 6:23 states, “for the wages of sin is death…” God’s wrath is against all who do not know Him, against all who deny Him. Every person stands before God as a guilty sinner who deserves God’s wrath to be poured out upon them. However, the remaining portion of Romans 6:23, gives hope in the midst of this terrible news. Paul says that, “the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (ESV). How is this possible? Because God chose to send His Son as the sacrifice who would pay the debt for any and everyone who trusts in Christ as Savior. As the penal substitution, Christ not only offers salvation to sinners, but He took on their sins and bore God’s wrath on the cross. Jesus experienced the imputation of the sins of the world upon Himself, so that believers could be imputed with His righteousness. “He was oppressed, and He was afflicted, yet He opened not His mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so He opened not His mouth” (Isaiah 53:7). He willingly stood in our place; He willingly took our punishment; He willingly bore the wrath that every sinful person

The “Intellectual” method of evangelism that I chose to research is the Four Spiritual Laws. In summary this method is one of the simplest to use when you want to present the Gospel to someone. It was originally written as a booklet by Bill Bright, the founder of Campus Crusade for Christ, who was motivated by the Great Commission (Matthew 28:19) in 1952 as a quick and efficient way to teach people how they can be saved. The Four Spiritual Laws use Scripture to convict, convince and convert. They are: