Primary Authors & Sources
From Acts to Romans, students read the apostolic mission and the doctrine of justification that drives it. John Calvin’s commentaries on Acts and Romans remain the Reformed pair for church history and soteriology in one curriculum. Charles Hodge’s Commentary on Romans is the Princeton standard for Paul’s argument on sin, grace, and life in the Spirit. Robert Haldane’s Exposition of Romans presses the same epistle with evangelical force against rival readings. John Peter Lange’s Biblework on Acts supplies the wide narrative commentary for Pentecost, mission, and the Gentile door. William Mitchell Ramsay’s St. Paul the Traveller and the Roman Citizen places the apostle on the roads and cities of the empire. Together they serve preaching that joins gospel doctrine to apostolic mission.
What You Will Study
Students exegete Acts and Paul's Epistle to the Romans with Greek support, examining apostolic mission, church planting, Holy Spirit empowerment, and systematic exposition of justification, union with Christ, and life in the Spirit. The course treats Acts as theological history of gospel expansion from Jerusalem to Rome and Romans as magna carta of Reformed soteriology requiring careful grammatical exegesis of chapters three through eight and twelve through fifteen. Readings include Reformed commentaries on Luke's second volume and Paul's Roman letter with attention to historical context of Jewish-Gentile church tensions. Students analyze Paul's argument structure, Old Testament citations, and pastoral applications for contemporary ecclesiology and assurance. Exegesis papers treat assigned passages demonstrating ability to preach mission and grace from these foundational texts.
Course Objectives
Objectives include exegeting Acts and Romans passages with Greek annotation, explaining Paul's doctrine of justification by faith apart from works of law, tracing mission theology in Acts for house church planting models, and applying Romans to assurance, sanctification, and civil life without antinomian or theocratic errors. Students will compare Pauline church practices in Acts with modern Reformed polity. The course cultivates missional and doctrinal preaching from apostolic foundation. Students will articulate relationship between Israel and church in Romans nine through eleven with confessional clarity. Assessments include exegesis papers, Romans argument outlines, and sermon series proposals on assigned sections.
Ministry & Life Application
Acts and Romans equip ministers to plant gospel communities and preach grace with apostolic authority that has shaped Protestant revival for five centuries. House church leaders in the Florida Keys find biblical models for fellowship, breaking bread, and reaching neighbors in Acts alongside doctrinal armor in Romans against works-righteousness. Pastoral ministry gains Paul's pastoral heart for struggling saints combined with uncompromising gospel logic. This course anchors ecclesiology and soteriology for all subsequent New Testament study. Congregations stand firm when elders preach Romans as living word addressing guilt, grace, and godly citizenship today.