Romans Introduction

Author

Romans is written in the first person and is clearly from the pen of the apostle Paul. The actual transcription of the letter, however, was done by Tertius Romans 16:22 “22 I, Tertius, who wrote down this letter, greet you in the Lord.” Tertius was Paul’s assistant and at least in the case of the book of Romans was responsible for taking Paul’s words and writing them down.

Tertius was known as an amanuensis. He was either hired by Paul or served Paul as a secretary. His job was to physically write the exact words of the speaker.

Let me show you what this is like. Everyone who has a mobile phone go ahead and open up your email app. You are going to send an email to [e-mail].

In that email I want you to write this:

Romans 1:1–2 “1 Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle and set apart for the gospel of God— 2 the gospel he promised beforehand through his prophets in the Holy Scriptures”

This is exactly how Paul would have had his letters written. Normally, he would dictate the letters and someone who was hired to write the dictation would do so. These people were specially trained so they could write quickly and accurately.

Destination

The destination of the letter is the Churches in Rome. While the composition of the Roman church is not clear, Paul speaks at times directly to Jews: for example Romans 7:1 “1 Do you not know, brothers and sisters—for I am speaking to those who know the law—that the law has authority over someone only as long as that person lives?”

At other times he is speaking to the gentiles Romans 1:13 “13 I do not want you to be unaware, brothers and sisters, that I planned many times to come to you (but have been prevented from doing so until now) in order that I might have a harvest among you, just as I have had among the other Gentiles.”

As we will see as we go through the text, chapters 1-3 and 9-11 are designed for both Jews and Gentiles.

Date

Baker Encyclopedia of the Bible Date, Origin, and Destination > Romans, Letter to The

Relevant to this observation is the question of whether there could be Jews in the church in Rome at the time of the composition of this letter since Claudius had expelled the Jews from Rome in AD 49 (

Background

Baker Encyclopedia of the Bible Background > Romans, Letter to The

In a previous visit to Corinth, during his second missionary journey, Paul established the church there and remained in the city for 18 months (

Purpose and Theological Teaching

Baker Encyclopedia of the Bible Purpose and Theological Teaching > Romans, Letter to The

In addition to the purposes already stated above, Paul intended to lay out before the Roman church the means by which the righteousness of God was made known to the Gentiles through the Jews, who had been created through Abraham for this purpose. Paul himself had been commissioned as an apostle for the specific purpose of bringing the Gentiles into the kingdom and considered this to be his priestly service for which his appointment constituted him a “priestly servant,” just as Jesus was a servant to the Jews (