Background
The epistle to the ecclesia at Rome was written from Corinth probably about 58 AD. Paul had visited Corinth to collect funds for the poor in Jerusalem (Rom. 15:26) and was near the end of his third missionary journey.
In content and objective, there are marked similarities between the epistles to Rome and those to the Galatians and the Hebrews. Galatians was written to Christians being pressured by Jews to leave their freedom in Christ and come under bondage to the law. Hebrews was written to Christian Jews who were being pressured by Jewish relatives, friends and authorities to return to the law. Romans was written to Gentile converts (1:13) and reinforced justification through faith, provided answers to Jewish protagonists and clarified God’s continuing purpose with the Jews.
The statement, “the just shall live by faith,” is mentioned in all three letters: Rom. 1:17; Gal. 3:11; Heb. 10:38. Romans stresses justification; those who are justified, or made righteous, by God through Christ shall live by faith. Without Christ, all men remain under the dominion of sin, condemned to death. Life comes through faith in the atonement, justification, and a life of faithful living. Galatians emphasizes faith and the loving works of faith as opposed to the ritualistic works of the law.
Hebrews presents examples of living faith on the part of those who are truly justified. The examples cited show us how to live by faith in God’s ability to perform the impossible in our lives.
The actual transcriber of the epistle to Rome was Tertius (16:22) with the letter being dispatched from Corinth via Phebe (16:1,2).
A Roman ecclesia
Paul did not visit Rome prior to his appeal to Caesar so he was not the founder of this ecclesia. Yet he refers to 26 members of the ecclesia, 24 of them by name and some of them in a manner indicating he knew them well.
While scripture does not provide a specific answer, what we are told allows for several possibilities. Jews from Rome were among the throng at Pentecost when the ecclesial age began. Some of them could have returned to Rome with a belief in the risen Lord and established the ecclesia. They, however, would have been expelled from Rome in A.D. 51 along with other Jews (Acts 18:2) leaving behind an exclusively Gentile ecclesia.
Cornelius, the first Gentile convert, was of the Italian band from Italy. Following his spectacular conversion, either he or some of his band may have taken news of his conversion back to Rome.
Aquila and Priscilla learned the truth after being expelled from Rome but had returned by the time Paul wrote his epistle (16:3). They may have returned with a group to form the nucleus of the ecclesia.
General outline
1:1-1:17 Prologue and central theme. 1:18-3:20 The need for salvation -all men are unrighteous.
3:21-5:21 The way of salvation -apart from the law, the righteousness of God has been made manifest.
6:1-8:39 A life reflecting salvation — we should walk in newness of life, not continuing in sin.
9:1-11:36 The scope of God’s salvation — they are not all true Israel who are descended from Jacob.
12:1-15:13 A life of service and sacrifice — various exhortations to present your bodies a living sacrifice.
15:14-16:27 Epilogue.
Simplifying the outline further, chapters 1-11 deal with principles while 12-15 consider practice.
The central theme
The central theme can be seen from the following three references:
“There is none righteous, no not one…all have sinned and come short of the glory of God” (3:10,19).
We are “being justified freely by this grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; to declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus” (3:24-26).
“I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith” (1:16-17).
The doctrine of justification is covered more completely in Romans than in any other epistle. There are only two ways an individual may be justified: perfect obedience to the works of the law or through identification with the sacrifice of Christ through faith in him. We cannot save ourselves; we all sin. Salvation is thus available to us only on the basis God has provided through justification by faith in Christ. Immortality is not based upon our personal merit or the merit of our nationality; it is a gift given to those who, like Abraham, have no sin imputed to them.
Other key terms
When we think of the term “faith,” we usually think of Hebrews; yet this term is found more often in Romans than in any other book (39 times in Romans compared to 32 in Hebrews). It was important to stress faith. It was easy to prove that all are sinners under sentence of death. But just as Abraham and Sarah had faith that from their “dead” bodies a living child would come, so we must believe that Jesus was born from the dead and brings redemption for those who are his. Our faith must be so strong in salvation through him that we, too, become dead to sin and alive unto God.
The word “gospel” is found more times in Romans than in any other book. The good news of forgiveness of our sins was uppermost on Paul’s mind.
“Grace” is another term that appears most frequently in Romans. In the Greek, the word “gift” comes from a word closely related to the Greek for “grace.” “Gift” appears 8 times in the epistle and expresses the meaning of grace which speaks of undeserved kindness. This is best exemplified in the statement, “but God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (5:8).
Justification
The various derivatives of this word, including the English translations “righteous,” “righteousness,” “just,” “justify,” “justified,” “judgment” and “freed” occur 67 times in Romans. This was clearly the doctrinal point Paul wanted to emphasize.
In the beginning, man sinned; as a result, he became dying and passed on that physical trait to all his posterity. With but few exceptions, humans worshiped that which was created rather than the Creator. Jews were given the oracles of God; but as a group they fared no better. The law brought the wrath of God because the Jews did not, could not, keep it.
In due time, Christ died for the ungodly, all the ungodly whether Jew or Gentile. The reality now existed whereby the shackles of sin could be broken and slavery to God could be enjoyed. Why would anyone want to serve sin, and die, when he could serve a loving, living God and be given life? There could be only one reason – the law of sin in our members which is constantly at war with the mind of the Spirit.
We must recognize, along with Paul, the power of our enemy and not underestimate the power of sin within us. It is necessary to develop the mind of Christ if we are to defeat the power of sin in our lives. We are comforted that the warfare which exists between the flesh and the spirit will eventually be won by the spirit. All creation waits for that day.
In the meantime, let us rethink our position relative to the world around us. Do we recognize that our true citizenship lies beyond the material things of the immediate present? We are just passing through this present world and must not be conformed to it but transformed to the principles of the age to come.
The basic idea behind the series of words associated with justification is that of our being regarded as righteous even though we are not. Our faith in, reliance upon and commitment to the Lord Jesus is counted as righteousness. Another way of saying the same thing is that our iniquities are forgiven and our sins are covered (4:7). God has extended this mercy that we might no longer be slaves of sin but might be His servants both now and forever. This will be our great gift if, by the mercy of God, we present ourselves a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is our reasonable response to His grace (12:1).
The Origin of the Organic World – Part One