The Book of Romans

There is no difference: Jew or Greek, Catholic or Protestant, male or female, slave or free we are the same in Christ!!! God wants no one to perish…no not one!

In Christ, in His birth, death and resurrection we are given life…abundant and eternal!

The Book of Romans

Paul wrote Romans toward the end of his third missionary journey (mid-50s ad), probably from Corinth. Though he does not explicitly mention his purpose for writing this letter, he describes his circumstances: He plans to deliver financial relief to the believers in Jerusalem to promote unity among the Jewish and Gentile churches. Unity in Christ is a major theme of Romans. Faithlife Bible.

Romans includes the most systematic presentation of theology found anywhere in Scripture. It explains the meaning of the Cross for the believer’s life. While expounding why Jesus died for all of humanity, Paul clarifies the core concepts of the Christian faith: sin and righteousness, faith and works, justification and election.

All of Paul’s other letters arise from a particular occasion and have a definite purpose. Romans is different; from the content it seems to have a much more general didactic aim. Having said this, it is possible to see at least three purposes Paul had in writing the book.

His first purpose was to prepare the Romans for his planned journey to Rome and later to Spain. His immediate itinerary involved a trip to Jerusalem, but his vision was toward the west. He clearly suggests that he expects assistance from them in his endeavor to carry the gospel to Spain. But if that had been his only purpose, a brief note would have been enough. Obviously Paul had more in mind.

A second purpose involved Paul’s understanding that the believers needed to “be established”. Paul wanted to give them a well-instructed faith. His letter is a kind of syllabus of Paul’s apostolic teaching. Romans is a masterful presentation of God’s plan of salvation for Jews and Gentiles.

The third purpose for the letter was pastoral. Paul wanted to exhort Jewish and Gentile believers to live in harmony. As in most of the early churches, the gospel brought different groups of people together who otherwise would have stayed apart, whether for reasons of nationality, status, or culture. Once they came together under one roof, the challenge was to preserve their oneness in Christ. Thus throughout the letter, Paul deals with problems arising from Jewish and Gentile differences. He emphasizes what everyone shared. Since there is only one God, He is the God of both Jew and Gentile. Both groups are under sin, and both are saved through faith. This theme of Jew and Gentile living together surfaces most clearly in chapters 14 and 15, where Paul deals with the practical aspects of being together in one body. Paul hammers home his central theme: The righteous God justifies and ultimately glorifies both Jew and Gentile by grace through faith.

Romans 7:6 (NKJV)

⁶ But now we have been delivered from the law, having died to what we were held by, so that we should serve in the newness of the Spirit and not in the oldness of the letter.

Romans 8:28 (NKJV)

²⁸ And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.

1 Corinthians 9:22 (NKJV)

²² to the weak I became as weak, that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all men, that I might by all means save some.