Romans Road: The Map to Salvation

Throughout the Bible, God expresses His great love for us and His will to save humanity from eternal suffering. Through the Romans Road, we will take you on this beautiful journey of knowing Christ and God’s gift of salvation.

The idea of the Romans Road has likely been derived from the age-old adage “all roads lead to Rome.” The Romans designed their famed road system to connect major cities and provinces that would eventually lead to Rome itself. Similarly, Christians have used essential verses from the Book of Romans to create a clear pathway that guides a person to understand the message of the Gospel. 

What Does “The Romans Road” Mean?

Let’s take a glimpse at the role of Roman roads in history to help us get a sense of their significance. Let’s also take a look at what the Bible says about Romans Road. Connecting these two themes may help us understand the meaning of “The Romans Road.”

Significance of Roman Roads in History

The Appian Way, constructed in 312 BC, was the first among the many Roman Roads built during ancient times. It served as a link and a supply passage between Rome and Capua during the Second Samnite War. This road was the start of the many road systems (more than 250,000 miles in total) that were by-products of Roman conquests. 

The Roman roads were quite significant during ancient times for various reasons. The major ones being, it helped Rome build its empire and rule the ancient world. These roads were more than just supply routes. It was the Romans’ way of conquering new territories and then maintaining that control over them. These were also why they had excellently designed and engineered these roads and built them to last. 

What is the Romans Road in the Bible?

It’s fascinating to know that the Romans built the Roman Roads just before the time of Jesus’ incarnation. These famous infrastructures had helped in the rapid spread of Christianity. The roads helped the Roman armies to move quickly. At the same time, these roads also allowed Christian missionaries to travel efficiently and share the Gospel with whoever they meet on the road. So these roads not only helped build the Roman empire. They also played a pivotal part in spreading the Good News. 

In the New Testament of the Bible, we will find Apostle Paul’s letter to his friends in Rome. In this Book of Romans, we will encounter the Romans Road from a biblical perspective. Just like the physical roads, this road also leads to a particular destination. However, that destination is not a physical location or place. This Romans Road leads the way to a person’s salvation.

What is the Roman’s Road to Salvation?

The Romans Road to salvation is a set of Bible verses that presents a systematic and straightforward way to Jesus Christ. It offers a well-built path to salvation. Many people are under the impression that they have a sure shot to heaven as long as they do good works here on earth. They often rely on doing charity work, regularly attending church, treating others well, or being baptized. In the Epistle of Paul to the Romans, he went into detail about why we need a path to God that doesn’t depend on us or anything we could do. Instead, this path shows how our salvation relies on God’s unique gift of grace alone. 

The Meaning 

The Romans Road gives us a detailed sketch or map of our salvation. Paul here talked about our sinful nature and why we need a Savior. Then he proceeds to describe how God made a way to save us. He also encourages us to receive that gift of salvation from God and tells us how it will change our lives. 

The Purpose 

The purpose of the Romans Road doesn’t lie too far from its meaning. The Apostle Paul wanted to lay down a complete and concise description of Christianity’s foundations and fundamentals. He wanted us to see the big picture of how sinful we are and how our faith in Jesus can justify us. He also wanted us to see how we can live a victorious life in Christ and attain freedom from our sinful nature. As a whole, the roadmap ultimately leads us to Jesus Christ, our Savior.

The Romans Road Map 

There are several variations of the Romans Road. Some have more verses than others, and some have fewer. But all of these have a central theme and message: to provide a basic understanding of the Gospel. Allow us to take you on a journey through the Romans Road KJV verses. Here is a map that will lead and guide us to the message of the Gospel and our salvation. 

The Problem of Sin

If we do good works and we are, in general, a good person, isn’t that enough to earn our salvation? The Romans Road initially starts describing the sinful nature of man. According to Romans 3:10, we all start in the same condition in which we are sinners. No man is righteous, not even one. 

Romans 3:23 backs it up by saying we have all sinned, with no exemption nor distinction. And that we are all at a far distance from God’s holy presence. How did that happen? Romans 5:12 tells us that it was because of one man, Adam, sin entered the world. Being the first of God’s human creations, he passed that sin to us, generation to generation.  

You can argue that you are generally a good person compared to others who do awful things like steal or cheat. That’s our human standard, and that’s how we define being “good.” However, Paul here reminds us that the bar is not another person nor us. It is God. And when we compare ourselves to His holiness, we don’t stand a chance. None of us do. 

The Wages of Sin

What then is the result of that sin? The first part of Romans 6:23 is straightforward: death is the only way to pay for that innate sin. He’s not only talking about physical death but spiritual death as well. That’s how serious the problem is, and that’s how grave the consequence is.

When we die, our soul detaches from our body. That’s physical death. Spiritual death, on the other hand, is when our soul gets separated from God. What’s frightening about this is that this separation is not temporary but eternal. If we die while we are in our sinful condition, we no longer have that chance to live a life in eternity with the Lord. 

Because of sin, we have to face the inevitable and painful consequence of dying physically and being eternally separated from God. 

The Gift of God

But God, being rich in grace and mercy, made way for us to reconcile with Him. He gave us hope for a life lived in eternity with Him, and that hope is through His only Son, Jesus Christ. That is what the second half of Romans 6:23 presents to us. 

God does not want to abandon us in our sinful position. He doesn’t want our story just to end there. His love for us is so great that He was willing to make way for us to get out of that hopeless situation. Romans 5:8 shows us the evidence of God’s love. 

Paul reminds us in this verse that even while we were still living in deep sin, Jesus had already made the ultimate sacrifice of dying in our place. As it affirms in Isaiah 53:5, Christ bore our sins, suffered, and died for us so that we may be healed and have peace. Because of His suffering, death, and resurrection, we can have that peace, hope, and assurance that we can spend our eternity with God.

How, then, should we respond to this?

Our Response to God

When someone gives us a gift, we usually respond with gratitude, right? With this beautiful present that God offers us, can we just respond with a simple “Thank you,” and that’s it? 

Let’s go back and recall the first two parts of the journey: the problem of sin and its penalty. Thinking about it, it’s not an ordinary matter nor a small dilemma that we can fix quickly by ourselves. The problem involves our soul and our life in eternity. That is why God calls us to respond thoughtfully and sincerely as well. Paul tells us in Romans 10:13 that we are to call on the name of the Lord for us to be redeemed. 

We should also understand what calling on the name of the Lord means. The verses from Romans 10:9-10 explain that to us. We are not only to verbally declare that Jesus is Lord, but we must also believe with all our hearts that God had raised Christ from the dead. It asserts in John 3:16 that because God loves the whole of humanity, He sent His one and only Son to be the ultimate sacrifice. And that whoever believes in Jesus will not perish but rather have eternal life. 

So it is both by openly declaring this and accepting that Jesus is Lord entirely with our hearts that we will receive our salvation. That’s how sincere our response should be, for God had bought us with a high price. 

The Outcome of Salvation

Now that we had responded sincerely to this gift from the Lord, what is in it for us? 

The next destination in this Romans Road map is the verses Romans 5:1-2. It tells us that our faith has made us right with God once we genuinely received Jesus as our Lord and Savior. We can now enjoy that peace with God because sin can no longer separate us from His love (Romans 8:38-39). Romans 8:1 says that because we now belong to Christ, there’s no more condemnation for us. He is pleading and vouching for us (Romans 8:34)! 

Can we then continue doing what we used to do and still follow our own will and desires? Paul strongly reminds us in Romans 6:1-4 that we had died to our sins when we decided to follow Christ. That just means that we have departed from our old corrupt lifestyle. Following Christ simply means turning away from wickedness and turning to God.   

We can now live a life led by the Holy Spirit. We are now empowered to say no to sin and enjoy the peace we have with God. 

Taking the Next Step

Romans Road Prayer

If you feel it in your heart that you are ready to accept this wonderful gift from God, you can start with this simple Romans Road prayer:

“God, I acknowledge that I am a sinner and that I deserve to pay the price for my sins. I believe with all that I am that you sent Jesus Christ, Your Son, to take that punishment for me and save me. So that through my faith and belief in Him, His death and resurrection, I would receive Your forgiveness. With your help and by Your grace, I put my trust in You for my salvation. Thank You for Your love, mercy, and grace. Thank you for giving us the gift of life in eternity with You. In Jesus’ name. Amen!”

Growing in Faith

Now that Romans Road has jumpstarted your journey with Christ, you might be wondering, what’s the next step for you?

Romans 10:17 tells us that faith comes from hearing the Word, the Good News of Christ. We must spend time praying and reading the Bible every day for our faith in God to strengthen. 

Joshua 1:8 reinforces this as it tells us to meditate on God’s Word day and night. By doing so, it will help us in obeying His commands and following Him. We also need to spend time in fellowship with fellow believers in a church that shares the same faith and belief as ours. 

Hebrews 10:25 tells us not to forget coming together and that we continue to encourage one another. 

As we openly declare our faith in Jesus Christ, let us also share this with our friends, family, colleagues at work, and everyone we encounter. That is the great commission of Christ before he ascended back to heaven (Matthew 28:19-20). 

In Summary

Throughout the Bible, God has expressed His plan of salvation for humanity. The Roman’s Road to salvation presents us with a concise and precise method. While it is short and reduced to a few verses, it still offers an accurate design of the path to our redemption with God. 

The Romans Road is one excellent method to introduce others to the basic foundations of Christianity. And if you are passionate about sharing the Good News, it is also an excellent resource to share your faith with others.