At our church, we’re walking through a series called 13 Letters. In this series we’ll walk through each of Paul’s letters for one week. That means each letter must be preached in one week. Yes, that includes Romans…
My goal in writing this is to convince you to not just listen to or read a book like Romans in one sitting from time to time, but also to regularly hear teachings from different books at different paces. Here are some thoughts to consider:
The letters were originally written to be read out loud in one sitting.
For each of Paul’s letters to a church, we must remember that they were originally read out loud to the entire congregation. There were no copies for everyone. There was one copy. The copy was read out loud. They probably then took it to another congregation in that city or region. They heard it read out loud and then discussed it with one another. They would teach from it the way we do with our sermons, but their initial exposure to the letter was a reading in one sitting.
The letters were originally written to be read out loud to a whole group of people in one sitting.
We must remember that people were not alone having a “quiet time” when they first heard the letters from Paul. They were with their brothers and sisters in Christ at their church. What that means is they received Paul’s words to them all. The “you” in each sentence was immediately received as “you all.” Likewise, when they heard “we” they did not interpret it, as we often do, as “me.” Hearing the Word in one sitting with our brothers and sisters shapes our expectations of what it means to faithfully apply what we are hearing.
One book in particular convinced me that we should get used to reading and hearing the Word preached at different paces.
On a personal note, my good friend Jon, who is a pastor with me at Port City, put me onto a really good book that convinced me of the need to preach the same book at different paces. That book is Preach: Theology Meets Practice by Mark Dever. In chapter 5, “What to Preach On,” Dever explains the importance of the Word being taught at different paces. So, for example, I intend to spend many months or one whole year or perhaps just one day in the book of Romans. It’s not that you need to only hear the letters in one fell swoop or that pastors should only be preaching sermons on a whole book at a time, but we should definitely be more comfortable with it than we are. Hopefully by now you know that the answer to the question posed in this article’s title is “both.” Dever’s book convinced me it’s not only okay to do multiple series at differing paces in a book, but to faithfully expose God’s full intent in and through His divine Word, that is what we must do. If you want to purchase a copy of Dever’s book, you can access it here.
Cool sidenote: The letter was originally read out aloud by Phoebe (Romans 16:1-2) and there is a decent chance she had it memorized by the time she arrived in Rome after being commissioned with the letter by Paul from Corinth (Romans 16:22-23).
So, if you’re sold that this is a good idea in some capacity I have two suggestions:
Normalize reading larger chunks of Scripture, even whole books at a time, in one sitting.
I’m hesitant to put a frequency on this, or people will take it as law. But, generally, if and when your schedule allows, I’d say at least once a week or once a month you should be reading a bigger chunk. Perhaps just sit and read for an hour the way you would a novel. If you’re only used to a handful of verses or up to one chapter at a time, perhaps reading this way with some sort of regularity will enhance your appreciation for what God has given you in His Word.
Normalize listening to larger chunks of Scripture, and to sermons on larger chunks of Scripture.
I would recommend to you an app such as “Streetlights” or “Dwell” wherein you can listen to entire books. Streetlights is even available on Spotify. Maybe you could replace your time listening to music one day at the gym each week with listening to Galatians, 2 Corinthians, or 1 Samuel using “Streetlights” on Spotify.
Normalize reading Scripture with friends out loud.
A sister in Christ told me recently that she spent her birthday reading Matthew with a friend out loud at a coffee shop. What an encouragement that was to me! It was her birthday and nothing would bring her more joy than to not only read God’s Word, but to do it with a friend and sister in Christ. May this become more normative in the church!
If you want to hear one attempt at Romans in one week, you can do so by listening on Spotify or on Apple Podcasts.
Grace and peace to you as you continue to let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly.