How significant is the book of Romans? Read the following quotes and testimonies from some of the greatest men in church history.

G.K. Chesterton (1874-1936), the well-known Christian writer and apologist was once asked: "What one book would you most want along if you were stranded on a deserted island?" He responded, "Thomas’s Guide to Practical Shipbuilding!" If asked the same question about a single book of the Bible, many Christians would choose Romans. Romans covers the Christian life and theology like no other biblical book. The following testimonies and quotes express the astounding impact of this transforming book.

Martin Luther (1483-1546), the father of the Protestant Reformation, was studying Romans when he concluded that faith alone justifies a person before God. He later began the preface to his commentary on Romans this way, "This epistle is the chief book of the New Testament, the purest Gospel. It deserves not only to be known word for word, by every Christian, but to be the subject of his meditation day by day, the daily bread of his soul; the more time one spends in it the more precious it becomes and the better it tastes."

John Calvin (1509-1564), Protestant Reformer and father of Reformed theology wrote, "When anyone understands this epistle, he has a sure road open for him to the understanding of the whole Scriptures."

The French expositor Godet observed, "Spiritual revival in the church will be connected to a deeper understanding of this book. . . The book of Romans is the cathedral of the Christian faith."

The great itinerant Bible teacher, William Newell (1865-1956) wrote, "I have taught Romans more than eighty times and the pastures are still green."

John Chrysostom (347-407), the early church father greatly used by God, had the book of Romans read to him twice a week.

C.H. Dodd wrote that Romans is "the first great work of Christian theology. I would go even farther. It’s not only the first, but also the greatest work of Christian theology. No one in 2,000 years has written anything to match it."

John Wesley, the founder of Methodism, was converted on May 24, 1738, upon reading Luther’s introduction to Romans.

Augustine of Hippo (354-430), the most influential of the church fathers, was converted upon reading Romans 13:13-14.

Romans: An Overview

THE PURPOSE: The overarching purpose of Romans is to "establish" believers in their faith (1:11; 16:25). Paul wrote Romans to reveal God’s sovereign plan of salvation and sanctification (chaps 1-8), to show how Jews and Gentiles fit into that plan (chaps 9-11), and to exhort them to live righteous and harmonious lives (chaps 12-16). By writing this letter Paul hoped to build up the believers in Rome in doctrine (chaps 1-11) and duty (chaps 12-16) and to encourage the mixed house churches of Jews and Gentiles to work together as one body. Paul also wrote to prepare the Christians in Rome for his long awaited visit (15:22-24). He also asked for their prayer support because of the dangerous opposition that awaited him in Jerusalem (15:30-32).

THE THEME: God graciously and sovereignly offers the full benefits of the Gospel to those who believe in Christ and become established in Him (see 1:16-17; 4:3-5; 1:11; 16:25).

THE AUTHOR: The apostle Paul is the author of this letter (1:1). The vocabulary, style, logic, and theological development are consistent with Paul’s other epistles. Paul dictated this letter to a secretary named Tertius (16:22), who was allowed to add his own greeting.

THE AUDIENCE: Romans 1:7, 15 identify this letter as being sent to the Christians at Rome. Gentiles were predominant in the churches at Rome (1:5, 12-14; 11:13, 29-31; 15:15-16), yet there were also Jewish believers as well (2:17-3:8; 3:21-4:1; 7:1-14; 14:1-15:12). The latter is true because (1) the heavy use of the Old Testament and (2) since Paul did not found this church, most likely the Jewish element would be stronger than in one of his congregations.

THE TIMES: At the time of Paul’s writing Rome was the greatest city in the world. The church in Rome was well known (1:8) and it had been established for years by the time of this letter (14:14; 15:23). From all that we can gather the believers in Rome met in several house churches (16:5, 14-16).

DATE AND ORGIN: This epistle can be dated with relative certainty. It was written between 56 and 57 AD. Paul states in 15:26-28 that he has just completed the raising of funds for the poor believers in Jerusalem after visiting the believers in Macedonia and Achaia. This corresponds to Acts 20:1-2, identifying the time of composition as the year after Paul left Ephesus on his third missionary journey. Paul was in Greece when he wrote the letter, most likely in Corinth. This is seen in two incidental comments: (1) Phoebe of neighboring Cenchrea was apparently the letter-bearer (16:1-2) and (2) Gaius, who is Paul’s host (16:23) was a prominent Christian leader at Corinth (1 Cor. 1:14).

KEY VERSES: Romans 1:16-17: "For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, "But the righteous man shall live by faith.’" These verses are key because they define the purpose of the apostle Paul—to advance the good news of the Gospel.

KEY PHRASE: "The righteousness of God" occurs five times (1:17; 3:5; 21-22; 10:3). This phrase reminds us that the Gospel and the whole of the Christian life is God-centered.

KEY WORDS: Various forms of the words "righteous" and "righteousness" appear throughout Romans. The Greek noun dikaiosune ("righteousness") occurs 34 times, the noun didaioma ("a righteous deed, acquittal, ordinance") five times, the noun dikaiokrisia ("righteous judgment") once, the adjective dikaios ("righteous") occurs seven times, the noun dikaiosis ("justification, acquittal") twice, and the verb dikaioo ("declare or show to be righteous") occurs 15 times for a total of 64 occurrences.

Other significant words include: "God" (155 times), "law" (78 times), "Christ" (66 times), "all" (60 times), "sin" (45 times), "Lord" (44 times), and "faith" (40 times).

KEY NOTE: Paul quotes the Old Testament about 57 times, which is more than he does in all of his other letters combined.

THE STRUCTURE: The structure of Romans is founded upon two facts: (1) Romans is a comprehensive book. It is written in a non-reactionary fashion. Paul isn’t responding to a particular problem. In his 13 epistles, this is only true of Romans and Ephesians. This allows him to focus on the essentials of the faith. Since Paul may never visit the churches at Rome, he gives the full-orbed Gospel. By that we mean Paul fleshes out what he means by the term "gospel." (2) Romans is a sequential book. It is logical and carefully crafted. There are many transitions and connectors that appear throughout the book (e.g. "for," "but," "therefore," "what shall we say then"?). Therefore, we must go through this book in an orderly manner because each section builds upon the previous section.

SUMMARY STRUCTURE:

1. What to BELIEVE (1:1-11:36)

2. How to BEHAVE (12:1-16:27)

1. Our relationship to God (1-8)

2. God’s relationship with Israel (9-11)

3. Our relationship with one another (12-16)

NUTSHELL OUTLINE:

1. Introduction (1:1-17)

2. Sin (1:18-3:20)

3. Salvation (3:21-4:25)

4. Sanctification (5:1-8:39)

5. Sovereignty (9:1-11:36)

6. Service (12:1-15:13)

7. Conclusion (15:14-16:27)

EXPANDED OUTLINE:

1. Introduction (1:1-17)

A. Salutation (1:1-7)

B. Explanation (1:8-17)

2. SIN (1:18-3:20—Righteousness Needed)

A. The Gentiles under sin (1:18-32)

B. The Jews under sin (2:1-3:8)

C. The whole world under sin (3:9-20)

3. SALVATION (3:21-4:25—Righteousness Imputed)

A. Justification explained (3:21-31)

B. Justification expressed (4:1-25)

C. Justification experienced (5:1-21)

4. SANCTIFICATION (5:1-8:39—Righteousness Imparted)

A. Our new position in Christ (6:1-23)

B. Our new problem in the flesh (7:1-25)

C. Our new power in the Spirit (8:1-39)

5. SOVEREIGNTY (9:1-11:36—Righteousness Rejected)

A. Israel’s past election (9:1-29)

B. Israel’s present rejection (9:30-10:21)

C. Israel’s future redemption (11:1-36)

6. SERVICE (12:1-15:13—Righteousness Practiced)

A. Sacrificial service to God (12:1-21)

B. Submissive subjection to authority (13:1-14)

C. Sensitive selectivity to the weak (14:1-15:13)

7. Conclusion (15:14-16:27)

A. Paul’s faithfulness in the ministry (15:14-21)

B. Paul’s future in the ministry (15:22-33)

C. Paul’s friends in the ministry (16:1-23)

D. Paul’s final words (16:24-27)

All Scripture quotations, unless indicated, are taken from the New American Standard Bible, © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1975, 1977, and 1995 by The Lockman Foundation, and are used by permission.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License.
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