=BOOKS OF THE BIBLE=

Lesson 45
Romans
Objects to have:

The sign for this new Bible book: ROMANS

Introducing the lesson:

(There are 22 epistles in the New Testament. Each Sunday that these epistles are studied, place a different “letter”
in the mailbag. Start teaching by telling the children that this is our New Testament mailbag.) We all love to get
mail. (Hold up an addressed envelope.) When I go to my mailbox, I am so happy whenever I see a letter there
from my sister or my brothers (or whomever). They live far away, and whenever they want to tell me some things
that are happening, they sometimes write a letter instead of calling on the phone.

In the New Testament part of the Bible are many letters. Men of God wrote some letters to some people. Let’s
get today’s letter from the mailbag. (Do this.) Today’s letter is addressed to the Romans—people who lived in
the city of Rome; this was after Jesus went back to Heaven.

Now ordinarily, we are never supposed to open a letter that belongs to someone else. You and I are not Romans,
nor do we live in the city of Rome. This letter, however, is different from other letters. This letter is meant to be
read by everyone who sees it. The letter to the Romans is found in the Bible. Everybody is supposed to read this
letter.

(Pull the letter from the envelope.) This letter starts out by saying who sent it. The letter to the Romans was from
Paul; Paul sent it.

This is what Paul had done: The man Paul said to a friend of his, “Friend, I want to write a letter to the Romans.
Will you please get some paper and a pen and write down what I want to say in this letter?” The friend of Paul
got some paper and a pen, and he wrote down the words which Paul told him to write. Now, of course, you and I
know that the words which Paul spoke were the very words that God wanted him to speak because this letter to
the Romans is a book in the Bible.

Paul started out by saying, “I am a servant of Jesus Christ.” We learned in our lesson a few Sundays ago about a
book in the Bible that tells us that Jesus is our Servant and we ought to be His servant. The book of Mark in the
New Testament tells us about that. Paul said in his letter to the Romans that he was a servant of Jesus Christ. Let
me tell you about Paul. (Put down the letter. The entire story of Paul’s conversion could be told with imagination
and be dramatized rather than told with visual aids.)

Telling the story:

Paul’s name had not always been Paul. Before his name was Paul, it was Saul. The man Saul was very, very
unhappy. Something which he did not like was happening. It was in the city of Jerusalem that people were doing
something which Saul did not like. They were saying to other people, “Have you heard about Jesus? You need to
know about Jesus. Jesus is the Son of God. Jesus can save you.” Saul did not like to hear these people talking
this way. It was because at that time he did not believe that Jesus is the Son of God. He did not think
that others ought to believe it either. Saul would not have been so unhappy if the Christians had kept still, but the
 -2-

Christians would not stop talking about Jesus. Saul did not like that. He did not want anybody hearing that Jesus
is the Son of God.

Saul thought, “I must stop these people, these people who are called Christians, from teaching about Jesus. The
only way to keep these Christians from talking is to kill them.”

Saul went to the high priest at the temple church. He said, “High Priest, these people must not talk about Jesus.
Please, may I have permission to arrest these people and to put them into prison and to see to it that they are
sentenced to death.”

The high priest was happy to think that someone wanted to kill the Christians. The high priest did not trust Jesus
as his Saviour either, and he did not want anyone else to trust Him. The high priest said to Saul, “You have my
permission. You have permission to round up as many Christians as you can and to put them into prison.”

Saul, thinking that he was really serving God, started watching the people of Jerusalem. I think that he would
listen to people talk as they shopped in the stores. I think he would listen to them as they talked with each other
while walking. I think that he asked neighbors to tell him who the Christians were. He was learning who the
Christians were. Then he went to the homes of Christians. He said, “You are Christians. You must not be
permitted to live here anymore or to go to other people and to talk about Jesus. You have to come with me.” Saul
was able to force Christians to leave their homes. He was able to force them to go to prison. How sad! The
saddest part of it all was that Saul did not know Jesus as his Saviour. Even though the Christians were going
through hard times, they could be happy, for they were going to Heaven when they died.

After Saul had worked real hard in Jerusalem to get a lot of Christians put into prison, he decided that he ought to
go to another city and round up the people there who were called Christians.

In order to go to this other city, Saul had to have permission from the high priest. So, he went to the high priest
and said, “Sir, please may I have permission to go to Damascus? I hear that there are Christians there, also. I
want to get those Christians and see to it that they are put into prison.”

The high priest gave Saul permission to go to Damascus to get other Christians, and to put them into prison. Saul
traveled down the road which is called the Damascus Road. He did not travel alone; there were some other men
with him. As they traveled along the road, Saul could see that he was getting very close to the city of Damascus.

Suddenly, without any warning, a real bright light shined down from Heaven onto Saul. It was so bright that Saul
staggered and fell! A Voice spoke loudly from Heaven, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?”

Saul knew whose voice it had to be; it had to be the Voice of God. He had to be sure that it was God talking to
him. Saul asked, “Who art Thou, Lord?”

From Heaven the Lord said, “I am Jesus. You are persecuting Me, Saul.” Saul thought about the fact that he had
been putting people who were called Christians into prison and then having them killed. But how could he have
been hurting Jesus? Saul was learning that whenever anything bad happens to a Christian, it hurts Jesus, too.

Saul, while he was lying there on the road to Damascus with the bright light shining on him, decided that he
wanted to be a Christian. He understood then Who Jesus really is. Saul understood that Jesus is the Son of God.
Saul decided that he wanted to serve Jesus. Saul asked, “Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do?”

Jesus told Saul to go into Damascus. In the city a man would come to see him. That man would take him to other
Christians. Saul decided to obey Jesus and to do what He told him to do. Saul started to get up, but he was blind;
Saul could not see. The men who were with him were frightened and shaking. They did not fully understand
what had happened. They had heard the Voice, but had not understood what the voice was saying. Then they
saw that Saul was blind. Saul told them to lead him into the city and to the place where he was supposed to stay.
 -3-

Saul was blind for three days and three nights. Jesus from Heaven told a man to go see Saul. The man went to
see Saul, and he talked with him. He said, “Brother Saul, Jesus has sent me to you. You will receive your sight
again right now.” Immediately something fell from the eyes of Saul, like scaly skin, and immediately Saul could
see again!

Saul stayed in Damascus for a few days. There he talked with Christians. At first, those Christians were afraid of
Saul. They knew who he was. They knew he had been putting Christians into prison and getting them killed.
Saul had to convince them that now he was saved, and that now he wanted to serve Jesus, too.

After that, Saul was not called Saul any longer; his name was changed to Paul. Paul from that day on, everywhere
he went, told about Jesus. Paul went many places to preach about Jesus. Rome was one of the places where Paul
went.

Before Paul went to Rome, he wrote this letter to the Christians in Rome (hold up your Bible which is opened to
the book of Romans) to tell them that he was coming to see them. In this letter he told the Romans what they
needed to know about Jesus and how people needed to be saved. Paul also told them what they must do to be
good Christians. This is the book of Romans. It comes after the book of Acts. Let’s say together the first six
books in the New Testament. (Say these with the children.)

Romans is a wonderful book of the Bible; it tells so many wonderful things that we need to know. You will never
get tired of hearing preaching and teaching about any of the Bible!

LEARN OUR BIBLE VERSE: Romans 10:13, “For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be
saved.”