Week 35: The Letter to Rome (Part 1)

The Big Picture

This week marks one of the most significant moments in the New Testament story: Paul composes his letter to the Romans, arguably the most influential theological document in the history of Christianity. Written from Corinth during the three-month stay recorded in Acts 20:2-3 (approximately 57 AD), Romans is unlike any of Paul’s other letters. He had not founded the Roman church and had never visited it. The letter served as both a theological introduction of himself and his gospel to a congregation he hoped to visit on his way to Spain (Romans 15:23-29), and as a comprehensive statement of the gospel’s logic – how God has acted in Christ to save both Jew and Gentile through faith.

We begin the week with Acts 20:1-6, which provides the narrative context: Paul is traveling through Macedonia and Greece, collecting the offering for Jerusalem and preparing for the journey that will eventually bring him to Rome – though not in the way he imagined. During his three months in Greece (Corinth), he writes the letter that Martin Luther called “the most important piece in the New Testament and the purest Gospel.” Augustine’s conversion was sparked by Romans 13. Luther’s Reformation was ignited by Romans 1:17. John Wesley’s heart was “strangely warmed” while hearing Luther’s preface to Romans read aloud. Karl Barth’s commentary on Romans launched twentieth-century theology. No document outside the Gospels has shaped Christian thought more profoundly.

Romans 1-4 constitutes the first major section of the letter, and its argument is devastating in its comprehensiveness. Paul begins with the gospel as “the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes” (1:16) and then demonstrates that this salvation is urgently needed by everyone – Gentile and Jew alike. The Gentile world is under God’s wrath for suppressing the truth about God visible in creation (1:18-32). The Jewish world, despite its possession of the law, stands equally condemned because knowledge of the law does not produce obedience to it (2:1-3:8). The conclusion is universal and inescapable: “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (3:23). But this universal diagnosis is followed by a universal remedy: “and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus” (3:24). Chapter 4 then presents Abraham as the paradigmatic case: the father of the faithful was justified by faith, not by works of the law or by circumcision, establishing the pattern for all who would follow – Jew and Gentile alike. Paul’s argument is at once deeply Jewish (rooted in the Old Testament), radically universal (embracing all humanity), and relentlessly christological (centered on the death and resurrection of Jesus).

This Week’s Readings

Key Characters

• Paul – Apostle writing from Corinth to introduce himself and his gospel to the Roman church he has never visited
• Abraham – The father of Israel whose justification by faith (Genesis 15:6) provides the paradigm for all believers
• David – Cited as a second witness to justification apart from works (Psalm 32:1-2)
• Paul’s travel companions – Sopater, Aristarchus, Secundus, Gaius, Timothy, Tychicus, and Trophimus, representing the Gentile churches

Key Locations

• Corinth – Where Paul writes Romans during his three-month stay (~57 AD)
• Rome – The capital of the empire and home to the church Paul hopes to visit
• Macedonia and Greece – Paul’s travel route as he collects the offering for Jerusalem
• Troas – Where the group reassembles before sailing to Jerusalem

Key Themes

• The gospel as God’s power – The gospel is not merely information about salvation but the active power of God that accomplishes salvation for everyone who believes
• Universal sin – Both Gentile and Jew stand under God’s righteous judgment; no one is exempt from the diagnosis of sin
• Justification by faith – God declares sinners righteous through faith in Christ, apart from works of the law, freely by his grace
• The righteousness of God – God’s righteousness is both his own attribute (his faithful justice) and his gift to those who believe
• Abraham as paradigm – Abraham was justified by faith before circumcision and before the law, establishing the pattern for both Jewish and Gentile believers

Memory Verse

“For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile. For in the gospel the righteousness of 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 1:16-17

Note: Romans was written from Corinth approximately 57 AD, during Paul’s three-month stay recorded in Acts 20:2-3.