Backround

Here we go with the who, what, where, why, and when of Romans.  I have heard that it is a good idea when you are reading a book in the Bible to consider some basic background questions: who was writing the letter; to whom was the letter was the letter written; why was the letter sent; what was the main purpose; what was going on with the people to whom the letter was sent.  If we can find these things out the book will be that much more real to us; not just the record of what happened to people in a vastly different culture some two-thosand years ago.

The Author: the Apostle Paul was originally born of the tribe of Benjamin (Php 3:5) by the name of Saul after Israel's first King.  He was raised in an important trade city called Tarsus which was located in Asia Minor (what we now know as Turkey) (Ac 9:11).  Saul got his main education in Jerusalem from a celebrated rabbi named Gamaliel (Ac 22:3) and just like his father before him Saul was a Pharisee(Ac 23:6) which was the strictest Jewish sect (Php 3:5).  Saul was one of the most zealous persecutors of the church (Ac 8:3; 9:1,2) until the Lord Jesus called while he was traveling to Damascus (Ac 9:4-9).  The Lord had sovereignly chosen Saul from before the beginning of time (Eph 1:4) to be His wittness primarily to the Gentiles (that is to say non-jews) (Ac 9:15).  After Saul became converted he began to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ with the same passion that he had previously to destroy it (Ac 26:9).  People also began to call him Paul which was his Greek name.  He went on three missionary journeys all over the Roman world (on foot mostly).  He was imprisoned, beaten, lashed, stoned, shipwrecked, in constant danger, hungry, and exposed to the elements to name a few (2Co 11:23-27).  Altough he was physically unimpressive (2Co 10:10; Gal 4:14) Paul had an inner strength given to him by the Holy Spirit's power (Php 4:13) and the grace of God proved sufficient for his every need (2Co 12:9,10).  Paul preached tirelessly until he was eventually martyred by Rome in ca. A.D. 65-67 (2Ti 4:6)

The receiver: The church in Rome could have been founded by some of the original Christians converted on the day of Pentecost (Ac 2:14-41).  This church was not founded by Paul and he had never been there although he longed to visit them on a planned missionary journey to Spain.  Paul had been prevented from visiting because of God's timing and his pastoral obligations.  They had a strong testimony for the Gospel ---for which Paul was thankful to God--(Rom 1:8-10) and were doctrinally sound.

 You could make the case that, like the church of Smyrna (Rev 2:8-11), the church there was in the center of the Roman political/religious world.  Often times the Roman government and sometimes the Roman people greatly hated Christians and persecuted them bitterly --meaning horrible executions, being fed to the lions, having all of their possessions taken, etc.--and a church under persecution is a pure church.  It stands to reason that no one would join and fellowship with a church if they had a reasonable fear of death, torture, loss of property, etc. unless they were truly a born-again believer.  If a person truly has Jesus Christ as the hymn writer says, "let goods and kindred go, this mortal life also.  The body they may kill, God's truth abideth still.  His kingdom is forever!"

The what and the why (purpose and content): Since Paul had been kept from traveling to Rome so as to share Apostolic instruction, encourage, and be encouraged by them as he reached out in a missionary journey to Spain (Rom 15:28), he wrote this letter to them.  Unlike every other letter that Paul wrote --as above stated-- he had not founded the church there and had never visited it.  Thus he had nothing to correct or rebuke.  Instead he laid out a summary of the doctrines of the sinfulness of all mankind (1:18-3:20) --both Jew and Gentile (which is to say a non-Jew)--, the provision of God's righteousness in the justification of sinful men (3:21-5:21), the sanctification of the redeemed (6:1-8:39), Israel's reception of God's righteousness (9:1-11:36), and the application section (12:1-15:13).  Add a greeting and a theme (1:1-17) and finally a conclusion and a benediction (15:14-16:27) and that makes up the content of this theological masterwork.

I apologize that the last two posts have been so long.  I know I promised that this would be in bite-sized chunks; however, it is important to have some idea of where Paul was coming from to breach the gap of the millennia between us and Paul. 

May God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit bless and enrich this work not for my sake or even for your sake but for His own glory's sake, for His name's sake, for His truth's sake, for His lovingkindness sake.  Amen.