Primary Authors & Sources
THEO-302 builds its reading list from required primary and classical sources in acts and romans exegesis and soteriological missions. The authors below are read as teachers across the centuries, not as entries in a bibliography. William M. Ramsay contributes St. Paul the Traveller and the Roman Citizen, offering firsthand access to the arguments, methods, and assumptions that shaped this period of study. John Calvin stands among the great exegetes of the Reformation, modeling careful attention to the text, covenant structure, and pastoral aim of Scripture, notably in Commentary Upon the Acts of the Apostles and Commentary Upon the Acts of the Apostles.
Taken together, these readings form a coherent conversation across centuries — students encounter real arguments, not flattened summaries. Moses Stuart contributes A Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans, offering firsthand access to the arguments, methods, and assumptions that shaped this period of study. Charles Hodge represents American Reformed scholarship at its most rigorous, integrating exegesis with confessional systematic theology, notably in Commentary on the Epistle of to the Romans. Robert Haldane contributes Exposition of the Epistle to the Romans, offering firsthand access to the arguments, methods, and assumptions that shaped this period of study.
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.