Sermon Tone Analysis

Overall tone of the sermon

This automated analysis scores the text on the likely presence of emotional, language, and social tones. There are no right or wrong scores; this is just an indication of tones readers or listeners may pick up from the text.
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Emotion Tone
Anger
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Joy
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Language Tone
Analytical
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Openness
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Conscientiousness
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Extraversion
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Agreeableness
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Tone of specific sentences

Tones
Emotion
Anger
Disgust
Fear
Joy
Sadness
Language
Analytical
Confident
Tentative
Social Tendencies
Openness
Conscientiousness
Extraversion
Agreeableness
Emotional Range
Anger
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Romans 1:1-17
Introduction
Questions
·         Why did Paul choose to write these specific things?
·         What was he trying to accomplish?
General notes
·         In some ways we have to treat Romans as if we were hearing only one side of a conversation, like hearing a person talking on the phone.
Importance of the work
"Throughout Christian history, by common consent, Paul’s epistle to the Romans has been regarded as the high peak of the Bible, the place where all the main biblical themes are brought together and displayed in a single panoramic sweep.
God, man, sin, grace, law, judgment, the plan of salvation, election, reprobation, the role and work of Christ, the ministry of the Holy Spirit, faith, works, creation, redemption, revelation, justification, sanctification, the Christian hope, the nature of the church, the place of Jew and Gentile in God’s purposes, the philosophy of church and world history, the meaning and message of the Old Testament, the significance of baptism, the principles of personal devotion, ethics, and Christian fellowship, the profiles of godliness and ungodliness — they are all here, fully “connected up,” as the lawyers would say" (Packer, in Hodge, 1994).
Impact of this letter
St. Augustine
·         4th century
·         He read:
Romans 13:13-14 (NIV) \\ \\
13 Let us behave decently, as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and debauchery, not in dissension and jealousy.
14 Rather, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the sinful nature.
·         He wrote:
"No further would I read; nor needed I: for instantly at the end of this sentence, by a light as it were of serenity infused into my heart, all the darkness of doubt vanished away" (Augustine, p. 178).
Luther
·         15th century
·         He read:
"For in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: “The righteous will live by faith.”"
(Romans 1:17, NIV)
·         Edwards says of him:
"...propelled the monk to launch the greatest reform the church has ever known" (Edwards, p. 2).
Wesley
·         18th century
·         He read:
·         Luther's "Preface to the Letter of St. Paul to the Romans"
·         He wrote:
"About a quater before nine, while he was describing the change which God works in the heart through faith in Christ, I felt my heart strangely warmed.
I felt I did trust in Christ, Christ alone for salvation; and an assurance was given me that he has taken away my sins, even mine, and saved me from the law of sin and death" (Wesley, cited in Edwards, p. 2)
 
Organization of the book
1-8: Doctrine
9-11: An "excursus"
"...a special consideration in which Paul struggles to understand why the gospel, which was intended for the Jews, has on the whole been rejected by them" (p.
3).
* *
12-16: Practical application
 
 
 
Roots of our understanding
Righteousness
Faith
Law
Grace
Redemption
Atonement
Sin
Background
Authorship
·         It is universally accepted that Paul wrote this epistle.
·         Confirmed by two personal or autobiographical sections:
o        1:8-15 and 15:22-23
 
Date of writing
See Acts 19:21: After all this had happened, Paul decided to go to Jerusalem, passing through Macedonia and Achaia.
“After I have been there,” he said, “I must visit Rome also.”
·         End of his Third Missionary Journey
·         Written from Corinth, probably in the Spring of A.D. 57
·         In preparation for his visit to Rome following his delivery of the gifts to the needy church in Jerusalem.
Reason for writing
·         This is much less certain.
We have to do some textual detective work.
Historical setting
·         Rome:
o        Large, complex, urbanized.
Water and sewage, four- story buildings, population of 500,000.
·         The Church
o        Neither founded by nor visited by Paul
o        Not founded by Peter
o        Grew from Jewish Synagogue, perhaps by those who witnessed Pentacost.
See Acts 2:10-11.
·         The Jews
o        Brought to Rome as captives by Pompey (62 B.C.)
o        Jewish population grew.
Mentioned by Cicero in 59 B.C.
o        Ordered out of Rome in 19 A.D. then returned in great numbers.
o        Ordered out of Rome by Claudius in 49 or 50 A.D. on account of disturbances at the "instigation of Chrestus"
o        As many as 50,000 Jews in Paul's day in Rome.
Setting the stage for conflict
Pattern of evangelism
·         Acts 3-10
The priests and the captain of the temple guard and the Sadducees came up to Peter and John while they were speaking to the people.
2 They were greatly disturbed because the apostles were teaching the people and proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection of the dead.
·         Acts 13-14
49 The word of the Lord spread through the whole region.
50 But the Jews incited the God-fearing women of high standing and the leading men of the city.
They stirred up persecution against Paul and Barnabas, and expelled them from their region.
51 So they shook the dust from their feet in protest against them and went to Iconium.
52 And the disciples were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit.
·         Acts 17-18
17When they had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where there was a Jewish synagogue.
2 As his custom was, Paul went into the synagogue, and on three Sabbath days he reasoned with them from the Scriptures,  3 explaining and proving that the Christ a had to suffer and rise from the dead.
“This Jesus I am proclaiming to you is the Christ, b” he said.
4 Some of the Jews were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas, as did a large number of God- fearing Greeks and not a few prominent women.
5 But the Jews were jealous; so they rounded up some bad characters from the marketplace, formed a mob and started a riot in the city.
Paul writes to give guidance in the midst of conflict In Rome
·         Following the Edict of Claudius
·         Jewish Christians are gone
·         Remaining are Gentiles who develop a dinstinct form of worship
·         Conflict occured when the Jewish Christians returned.
Perhaps leading to "house churches."
Note the tone in Romans 16:5, 14, 15.
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