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Read for This Week’s Study: Romans 14-16.

Memory Text: “Why dost thou judge thy brother? or why dost thou set at nought thy brother? for we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ” (Romans 14:10).

We are now in the last part of our study of Romans, the book from which the Protestant Reformation was born - the book that more than any other should, indeed, show us why we are Protestants and why we must remain that way. As Protestants, and especially as Seventh-day Adventists, we rest on the principle of Sola Scriptura, the Bible alone as the standard of faith. And it is from the Bible that we have learned the same truth that caused our spiritual forefather centuries ago to break from Rome - the great truth of salvation by faith, a truth so powerfully expressed in Paul’s epistles to the Romans.

Perhaps the whole thing can be summarized by the pagan jailer’s question, “What must I do to be saved?” (Acts 16:30).

In Romans, we got the answer to that question - and the answer was not what the church was giving at the time of Luther. Hence, the Reformation began, and here we are today.

In this, the last section, Paul touches on other topics, perhaps not as central to his main theme, yet important enough to be included in the letter. Thus, for us, they are sacred Scripture, as well.

How did Paul end this letter, what did he write, and what truths are there for us, the heirs not just of Paul but, indeed, of our Protestant forefathers?