Introduction to Romans

The Letter of Paul to the Romans

or

The Gospel According to Paul

Who: Paul or Tertius (Tertius was Paul's amanuensis (Romans 16:22))

What: A letter, a treatise of Paul's gospel to the Church at Rome.

When: Approximately A.D. 57, toward the end of Paul's 3^rd missionary journey.

Where: Cenchrea, a town near the city of Corinth in Greece.

Why: There are various reasons, that can be gathered from the text, for why Paul wrote this letter to the church at Rome:

1. To obtain help for his plans to go to Spain. (Romans 15:24)
2. To collect funds for the Christians in Jerusalem. (Romans 15:30-33)
3. To address the situation in the church at Rome:
   Claudius had “expelled the Jews from Rome because they were constantly rioting at the instigation of Chrestus” -Suetonius

This occurred in approximately A.D. 49 and is mentioned in Acts 18:1-2. After Claudius' death they were able to return about A.D. 54 (Romans 16:3). This expulsion of the Jews (ie. Jewish Christians) left the church in Rome largely in the hands of the Gentile Christians in Rome. The God fearers and proselytes now, no doubt, out numbered the Jewish Christians upon their return. They were not keeping the Sabbath nor enforcing circumcision upon new converts. This, of course, led to problems among the Jewish believers who held dearly to these customs. In writing this letter he hopes to lay a foundation for unity in the body of Christ at Rome between the Jews and Gentiles through the Gospel.

4. The Gospel: The continuity of God's plan of salvation, the sin and need of human beings, God's provision for our sin problem in Christ, the means to a life of holiness, and security in the face of suffering and death.

Romans is God's Word to us and in reading it we seek to discover the message that God

has for us in it.

“Every Christian should know it by word and heart and read it often. The more it is read and studied the better it becomes.” Martin Luther

The Letter to the Romans is traditionally broken down into three distinct sections:

Chapters 1 – 8 – Justification by faith and its consequences

Chapters 9 – 11 – Rejection of the Jews and the inclusion of the Gentiles

Chapters 12 – 16 – Practical applications of the Gospel