Having trouble with Romans

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I’m reading through Romans and am currently on chapter 11. I’m having some trouble as it seems Paul says over and over again that faith saves someone and not following the law or doing good works. But I thought the Protestant belief was faith alone whereas Catholic belief is works come from faith and faith without works is dead (James). So I’m confused on where Paul is going, seems like he is saying faith alone?

Romans 10:9 “If you openly declare that Jesus is Lord and believe I your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved”

Romans 11:6 “And since it is through God’s kindness then it is not by their good works. For in that case, God’s grace would not be what it really is - free and undeserved.”

Romans 9:16 “So it is God who decides to show mercy. We can neither choose it nor work for it.”
 
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Having faith is an action.
Praying - even in motionless silence - is an act.

I think faith versus works is a false dichotomy.
 
Hey, what a coincidence, I’m actually in Romans right now. Read the first 4 verses of Romans chapter 6, and tell me what you think about that. You have to read the book as a whole, you can’t just look at certain verses.
 
Romans itself, even talks about The Obedience of faith in Romans 1:5.
 
I really liked the beginning of chapter 6 when I read that, Paul answered my exact question. Once I got to chapters 9-11 I was a confused again so I’m glad you pointed me back to chapter 6!

Just finished chapter 12, I’ve read 1-12 cover to cover. Chapter 12 is absolutely brilliant, my favorite chapter thus far!!
 
Romans is a theological Masterpiece, and I don’t think there’s anyone that would deny that, at least not Christian.
 
Just got to chapter 16 and am a bit confused, who is Phoebe the female deacon? Is this the same as a catholic (currently male only) deacon today?
 
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No. A Deaconess is not the same as a deacon. In fact, I met some Eastern Catholic nuns, and the Greek word for them sounds like Deaconess , so I’m pretty sure that’s what they are. I am not an expert on this, but I haven’t seen any evidence for deaconesses being the same thing as deacons with holy orders.
 
Just finished Romans! I see Tertius wrote Romans not Paul. I believe I have heard Paul was illiterate and as such he told people to write what he was saying? Is this true? Also heard Paul might have had a disease that made his hand shake so his writing was very messy.
 
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You have to take the bible as a whole, this is why Martin Luther wanted to get rid of James, Jude, and some others but didn’t succeed, Praise God.
 
Dolphin said:
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Saint Paul always make clear in his Epistles that without the unswerving acceptance of certain truths (“confess with your lips”) there is no Christianity. This acceptance is an act of the free will in cooperation with given grace.

Romans 10
9 because if you confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For one believes with the heart and so is justified, and one confesses with the mouth and so is saved.
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If you take a look at Romans 3:24 and 25
24 being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus;
25 whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation in His blood through faith. This was to demonstrate His righteousness,
because in the forbearance of God He passed over the sins previously committed;

Paul is saying we are justified or proclaimed righteous through Jesus Christ’s sacrifice on the cross.
The Father expresses his love for us through grace (unmerited favor, kindness, selfless love) through Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ took on flesh while still Divine(God) and allowed himself to willing die on the cross for all of mankind’s sin (Philippians 2:5-9)
Jesus redeemed us, meaning the debt of our sins was purchased with the shedding of his blood.
Jesus is the only propitiation(appeasement) for the redemption (purchase) of our sins, because we was sinless (2nd Corinthians 5:21 and Hebrews 4:15) .
Our faith in Jesus’s work on the cross, our faith in Jesus as our Savior, and our faith in Jesus as our Lord(Master) is what saves from penalty of sin and the Father’s wrath.
The Greek word for faith is pistis which means trust or commitment. Our trust or commitment in Jesus’s work on the cross, our trust or commitment in Jesus as our Savior, and our
trust or commitment in Jesus as our Lord(Master) is what saves from penalty of sin and the Father’s wrath.

If we trust or commit to Jesus, we don’t trust or commit to ourselves or our works to save us. Instead, we do works(dying to sin, obeying Jesus’s commandments, putting others ahead of ourselves)
to reciprocate the love the Father has shown us. The works from love for the Father prove our faith in Christ is sincere.
 
Dolphin . . . .
Romans 10:9 “If you openly declare that Jesus is Lord AND believe I your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved”
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Emphasis mine.

Why would you think a verse that has a WORK tied to it, excludes works??
NOT Romans 10:9 “If you openly declare that Jesus is Lord this declaration is unimportant concerning salvation. But if you believe I your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved”
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This is all you need to upend the tradition of men that you are justified by faith ALONE. YOUR own example.

And what about elsewhere in Romans 10 that talks about HOW you obtain that faith?

You get it (in part) through the WORK of other “men” preaching the Gospel to hearers.

So you can’t even HAVE FAITH without this WORK.
ROMANS 10:14-17 14 But how are men to call upon him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without a preacher? 15 And how can men preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach good news!” 16 But they have not all heeded the gospel; for Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed what he has heard from us?” 17 So faith comes from what is heard, and what is heard comes by the preaching of Christ.
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(Bold mine.)
 
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adamhovey1988 said:
A Deaconess is not the same as a deacon.
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That is right. However, Phoebe is called a deacon, not a deaconess. The next level of engagement is it means servant, and does not refer to the ecclesiastical order even though that had been in place for a decade or more by the time Romans was written.

It is confusing, the language St Paul uses here.
 
Dolphin said:
I see Tertius wrote Romans not Paul.
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Paul is the sole author of Romans. Many people now believe that Paul didn’t write all fourteen of the Epistles, but Romans is universally recognized as authentic. The usual categories are seven “authentic” amd seven “deutero-Pauline” epistles:
“Authentic”— Romans, 1 & 2 Cor., Gal., Phil., 1 Thess., Philemon
“Deutero”— Eph., Col., 2 Thess., 1 & 2 Tim., Titus, Hebrews.
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And no, Paul was not illiterate! By no means! He had poor eyesight, as @adamhovey1988 points out. He probably dictated his letters, which was a common practice. But the author of a letter is the one who dictated it, not the secretary who took notes and copied it out.
 
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