Bible Study - Romans

About The Book Of Romans

There is no doubt that the author of the Epistle to the Romans was Paul the Apostle. (Epistle means a formal letter.) It was probably written between 52 and 57 A.D. From its contents it was almost certainly written while Paul had returned to Corinth during his third missionary journey. And it is certainly written to a majority-Gentile church in Rome.

Paul was born a Jew by ethnicity and religion. He was proud of this heritage and embraced it more strongly than most Jews of that time. And he was also a Roman citizen by birth. He was fluent in Hebrew and Greek, and likely other languages as well. Being multi-lingual was much more common then. He wrote in common Greek so as to reach the most people as it was the most universal language at the time.

Paul was trained as a Pharisee. He was so zealous that he was known as Pharisee of Pharisees. The Pharisees very strongly emphasized learning and teaching the scriptures. The Pharisees had no special standing under true Judaism. But they had over time inserted themselves as the arbiters of the Law of Moses. Thus they wielded greater political and religious power than the priests. Pharisees went far beyond the Law inserting thousands of their own additions, as if God needed their help. These were taught orally and memorized perfectly by all Pharisees and they were called the Mishnah. For example, the Fourth Commandment is to remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy. And this was to be a day where the Israelites were not to work, but to rest. The Pharisees added hundreds of rules limiting what you could do on the Sabbath without sinning against that commandment such as how many steps you could take. When the second temple was destroyed in 70 A.D. it became impossible to follow true Judaism. Thus Pharisaical Judaism became the only Judaism and is called Rabbinical Judaism. The Mishnah was written down and became the core of the Talmud. Elevators in Israel today operate constantly without pressing buttons during the Sabbath so those who consider operating technology to be work can still use them.

Paul had a desire to travel Rome and Spain on a missionary journey, but had not yet been to either. Thus Romans is the only epistle Paul wrote to a church that he hadn't founded or even visited. This is likely why this letter is unique. Instead of being mainly a correction for a church that had turned away from the real Jesus as Paul trained them, Romans is a general primer on Christianity. Paul began with the gospel, then moved into general Christian theology. Whereas with the other churches Paul had taught them these things in person when he established those churches. Whereas the Roman church was already establish, likely becoming significantly large in the 40's. Thus this letter was written as a baseline standard of Christianity which makes it particularly useful for Christians around the globe and through the centuries.

Romans Bible Study