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Of the twenty-seven books of the New Testament, fourteen have traditionally been attributed to the great missionary Paul of Tarsus. these fourteen books take the form of letters addressed to a particular individual or community. in the traditional canonical arrangement of the new testament, these fourteen books are arranged in a block following the acts, and separated into three groups: the nine letters addressed to communities, the four letters addressed to individuals, and the Hebrews. within each grouping, the traditional canonical system orders the books according to their length. Therefore, a traditional New Testament arrangement will number the books as follows: Romans, 1 and 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, 1 and 2 Thessalonians, 1 and 2 Timothy, Titus, Philemon, and Hebrews. This short note addresses just a few of the most important letters: Romans, 1 and 2 Corinthians, and Ephesians. Modern scholars agree with the traditional second-century Christian belief that seven of these New Testament letters were almost certainly written by Paul himself: 1 Thessalonians, Galatians, Philippians, Philemon, 1 and 2 Corinthians, and Romans. These letters were probably written during the height of Paul’s missionary activity, between AD 50 and 58, making them the oldest surviving Christian documents. they predate the first gospels, mind you, by at least ten years.
During the winter of AD 57-58, Paul was in the Greek city of Corinth. From Corinth, he wrote the longest single letter in the New Testament, which he addressed to “the beloved of God at Rome” (1:7). Like most New Testament letters, this letter is known by the name of the recipients, the Romans. Paul’s letters tended to be written in response to specific crises. For example, 1 Corinthians was written to rebuke the Christian community in Corinth for its internal divisions and immoral sexual practices. but romans is remarkably devoid of this kind of specificity, addressing broad questions of theology rather than specific questions of contemporary practice. While other Pauline letters—2 Corinthians, for example—are full of impassioned rhetoric and personal pleas, the one to Romans is written in a solemn and restrained tone. perhaps this solemnity can be explained by time: romans was the last written of the seven new testament letters that modern scholars attribute to paul, and has been seen as a summary of paul’s thought, composed as his career progressed towards your conclusion. But it is also true that, unlike the Corinthian church, the Roman church was not founded by Paul himself. At the time he wrote Romans, Paul had never visited Rome, although Romans chapter 16 does indicate that he had acquaintances there. Writing to a community largely made up of strangers, then, Paul may have felt compelled to use the restrained, masterful statements of the Roman style, rather than the impassioned pleas and fatherly sternness that permeate his letters to the Corinthian churches.
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because he is not personally familiar with the roman church, paul begins his letter by introducing himself. he has been “called to be an apostle”, and his mission is to “carry out the obedience of faith among all the Gentiles” (1:1-5). Paul follows his introduction with a flattering greeting to the Roman church, and expresses his desire to preach in Rome one day. paul gives a summary of the subject of his letter: “the gospel. . . It is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. for in her the righteousness of God is revealed by faith for faith” (1:16-17).
paul begins with a discussion about the state of humanity in the face of the possibility of salvation through faith in jesus. It tells how the Gentiles worshiped idols, disdaining devotion to God, and how the Jews did not follow the law correctly, acting hypocritically by claiming allegiance to Jewish law while surreptitiously sinning. Paul says that God’s ancestral promise to the Jews, symbolized by circumcision, does not bring automatic salvation: “he who is inwardly is a Jew, and true circumcision is a matter of the heart, it is spiritual” (2:29) . Paul concludes, “we have already denounced that all, both Jews and Greeks, are under the power of sin” (3:9).
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Paul teaches that salvation from sin is only possible through faith. Paul cites the example of the biblical patriarch Abraham, who received God’s blessing and passed it on to his offspring through “the righteousness of faith” (4:13). The free gift of grace, Paul continues, undeserved and undeserved, is a product of God’s love manifested toward the unworthy. While Adam’s fall brought sin and death into the world, Jesus’ sacrifice brought grace and life. The importance of baptism, Paul explains, is that baptism initiates a new life of grace and purity: the sinner symbolically dies, baptized into the death of Jesus, and the person who emerges is “dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.” ” (6:11). Christians, therefore, must be governed by holiness, not by sin: only holiness will lead to eternal life. the Jewish law ceases to be obligatory: the law arouses sinful passions, and as beings dead to sin, Christians become dead to the law. Paul urges the Romans to live not “according to the flesh” but rather by the spirit (8:4). Through the spirit, all believers become spirit children of God, called by God to glory. This potential is a source of strength for the Christian: “If God is for us, who can be against us?” (8:31).
Paul’s next topic is the problem of reconciling the doctrine of salvation by faith in Christ with the Old Testament promise of salvation to the Jewish people. This section begins with a lament, as Paul, who was also born a Jew, expresses his desire to help the Israelites, the supposed firstborn sons of God. But he goes on to explain that the Christian covenant of grace is in no way a betrayal of Abraham’s covenant with God. those who have faith in jesus, those who believe “with their hearts”, are “children of the promise”, the spiritual children of israel (10:10, 9:8). Israel’s genetic children, the Jews, stumbled when they mistook Jewish law for the means of salvation. but the Jews have not been completely cast off. Paul teaches that eventually the Jews will express their faith in Jesus, allowing God to fulfill his original promise to them.
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