Epistle In The Book Of Romans

The book of Romans is an epistle written to the believers in Rome by Paul in approximately 57 A.D. During this time Paul was on his third missionary journey (Acts 20:1-3) and was soon to arrive in Jerusalem with an offering for the needy church there (Romans 15:25). Paul most likely wrote Romans while in Corinth, where he stayed with Gaius (16:23). Noteworthy is the fact that Paul had never met the people who he wrote to, because he had never been to Rome at the time when he wrote the epistle. It seems, from the names that Paul mentions when sending his individual greetings, that the majority of the recipients of Romans were Gentiles. However, there must have been a substantial number of Jews, considering the amount of Romans that Paul dedicates to issues specifically pertaining to the Jews and the Israelites, their ancestors (9-11). There were most likely several churches in Rome meeting in the homes of different individuals (16:5, 14, 15). The church of Rome as a whole had a widespread reputation, according to Paul’s encouragement in Romans. Their faith (1:8) and obedience (16:19) were well known. Paul himself longed to be mutually encouraged with them (1:11-12) and planned to spend time with them on his way to Spain (15:24).
Necessarily, then, Romans addresses many fundamental questions and topics of Christianity. Paul’s argument for these is systematic in that it sets out the core ideas of the Christian gospel, but, when broken down, it takes on a rich and difficult complexity. As with most of his letters, Paul presents both theology and application. It seems that there is little intermingling of the two in this text, since Paul’s argues from the first chapter to the eleventh and then begins exhorting the Romans to right living in chapter