Introduction of epistle (1:1 – 7)
The gospel of God (1:1 – 4)
The apostolic mission (1:5 – 6)
Greetings to the believers in Rome (1:7 – 7)
- to systematically set out the doctrine of the gospel of God
Bible Commentary on Paul’s Letter to the Romans
by Dr Peter Masters, Metropolitan Tabernacle, London (supplemented by Bible Notes)
The letter to the Romans was written from Corinth on the eve of Paul’s departure to Jerusalem around AD 56, when he was taking the contributions of Macedonia and Achaia to the suffering saints in Jerusalem. Ancient witnesses confirm that the Apostle Paul was the author (see Hendriksen’s Introduction to the Epistle). Paul, Saul of Tarsus, as he originally was, was born in Tarsus, roughly the same time that our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, was born. He was educated for most of his young life in Jerusalem at the feet of Gamaliel, the leading scholar of the day. An ex-Pharisee, a Pharisee of the Pharisees, that was his party, that was his doctrinal background.
He virtually tells us, towards the end of the letter, where he was writing from. It was during the third missionary journey, in the three months that Luke tells us about in the Book of Acts when he was in Greece (Acts 20:3). The final greetings of the letter mention those in Corinth, starting with Phebe [Phoebe] from ‘the church which is at Cenchrea’. Cenchrea was the eastern harbour of Corinth. Paul speaks of Gaius whose house he stayed in (Romans 16:23), very likely the same as the Gaius mentioned as being baptised by Paul in Corinth (1 Corinthians 1:14). It was Phoebe who conveyed the letter to Rome, and was unknown to them before, hence she is commended by Paul to the believers at Rome (1 Corinthians 16:1). Erastus salutes the church at Rome (Romans 16:23). He is the chamberlain of the city. An inscription in Corinth says, ‘Erastus laid this pavement at his own expense.’ He may be the one mentioned in 2 Timothy 4:20. The letter was dictated to Tertius, who acted as his amanuensis, or secretary, for the purposes of the writing of the letter.
Paul had never been to Rome. So far as we know, Peter had never been there either, despite what the Church of Rome says. Paul does not mention Peter in his letter, which would be extraordinary if Peter was already there. There is no evidence in the New Testament that Peter was there. But maybe, the founding members of the church at Rome were converted on the day of Pentecost, hearing the preaching of Peter, because we are told in Acts 2 that there were strangers of Rome there, hearing him, and surely there were those among them who were saved in that great crowd that went back to Rome, and there the church was planted. Of course, Rome was a busy place, and no doubt Christians converted in many other places, even perhaps in Corinth, travelled to Rome, and went there to stay. But neither Peter nor Paul at this stage had ever been there.
There were some Jews in the church in Rome, but probably a majority of Gentiles (Romans 1:13). In Romans 3:9, having spoken about the Jews, Paul shows that he identifies his readers as, by contrast, mostly Gentiles. Romans 7:1, ‘I speak to them that know the law’, certainly could include Jews, but does not rule out Gentiles, who would have been instructed in the law through Christian teachers. Romans 9-11 does not imply that his readers were chiefly Jews, for Paul emphasizes that most to whom he writes were distinct from the Jews (Romans 11:17) – ‘Thou, being a wild olive tree’ – and speaks of Jews as yet outside the church (Romans 9:3-4; 10:1; 11:20). He addresses his readers for the most part as Gentiles throughout the letter (Romans 1:5, 13; Romans 11:13, Romans 15:15-16). In places he addresses Jews also (Romans 2:17), although this could be rhetorical for the sake of his argument.
He longs to visit them, and to meet them. Here is the church of Jesus Christ, this wonderful and doctrinally sound congregation, right at the very heart of the empire. This is a book of salvation. It's been called the book of justification by faith alone – how the sinner is given standing before a holy God. But there's a great deal in addition to that. There is a great deal in this epistle, wonderful teaching material to help us on sanctification, how to be holy, and there is much about God’s holiness. It's certainly a comprehensive and a profound book of doctrine.
And there is much in the opening chapters about the dreadful human condition. What an analysis of human personality, what an abundance of material telling us about human beings! There is much also on the believer’s blessings and security in Christ, as well as a wonderful amount of teaching on the status of the Jew and the status of the Gentile in the church of Christ, and glorious future things.
It is a letter of soaring thoughts, and profound depths, yet all may grasp it. It is inspired by God and Paul is only the penman, but it is so crafted under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit that the simplest of us can have access to profound wonders. This letter to the Romans makes all the wisdom of this world shrivel. This world does not understand divine things, the depths of human personality, the wonders of God and eternity. This is the letter to give us insight and discernment.
Are we young? This is the letter to give you tremendous intelligence and maturity in your thinking, to teach you to think and to teach you to think in depth. Yet it is a humbling letter. It will not make you proud. It gives tremendous pleasure. Every believer says, ‘All the word of God is a pleasure to us’, but if your private devotions are in Romans, you get many particular shafts of pleasure.
Of course, it is the keystone of the New Testament. That is surely why, in the sovereignty of God, it comes in this position, right behind the book of Acts, as the first of the epistles, because it is the keystone to all of the epistles, and gives us a foundation course in Christian doctrine, but not just a foundation course; it is also a postgraduate course. When you think of John Bunyan and his Pilgrim’s Progress, and his Holy War – the nearest items in human literature to even approach within a thousand miles of the letter to the Romans – you can read them as a young believer, and they are a blessing to you. You read them as you are going on in the faith, and you see further things that Bunyan intended you to see, but you never saw them before. And then you get a little further along the line, and even more things become evident to you. How much more is it with the letter to the Romans? It will unlock its sense and its meaning, not in a mystical way. You will understand things that are there for everyone, but you seem to understand things in a fresher, newer sense, and in a deeper way, almost, as you go on in the Christian life. So it is a foundation course and it is a post-graduate course at the same time in the things of the faith.
When was the Epistle to the Romans written? When was Paul was in Corinth under these circumstances? Hendriksen gives the following account of the evidence. His first stop in Corinth was on the second missionary journey, soon after Acts 15 (Acts 18:1). The dates of the second missionary journey are AD 50/51 - 53/54. But Romans 15:19, ‘From Jerusalem, and round about unto Illyricum [modern Serbia, Croatia], I have fully preached the gospel of Christ’, points to a much later time ‘when Paul’s missionary labors in the eastern part of the empire were nearing their completion.’ Also he writes in Romans 15:23, ‘having no more place in these parts’, as one who had evangelised every major part. Romans 1:10 also indicates that there had been much other work done before Paul could have a serious expectation of coming to Rome.
A second journey to Corinth is implied in 2 Corinthians 12:14; 13:1. This was a short trip and the circumstances were not favourable for writing to the Romans. Hendriksen thinks that this second trip was ‘probably made during Paul’s very lengthy stay in Ephesus, and before he wrote 1 Corinthians.’ Therefore it is likely that Romans was written on the occasion of his third visit to Corinth during the three-month stay in Achaia, Greece (Acts 20:3), which formed part of his third missionary journey (Acts 18:23 – 26:16). Paul describes himself (Romans 15:25) as on his way to minister to the saints. He wanted to be in Jerusalem by Pentecost, therefore Romans written end of winter, early spring. The Macedonians had given to the saints in Jerusalem (Romans 15:26). He had intended to sail to Syria, but after learning of a plot by the Jews to take him (Acts 20:3) he took the land route via Macedonia, crossing over to Troas in Mysia. Paul had been two months and two years in Ephesus (Acts 19:8, 10) even before reaching Corinth. The third missionary journey took place from AD 53/54 to 57/58, and the letter to the Romans would have been written before leaving Corinth in AD 57/58. It was not until Acts 28:16 that he made his first visit in person to Rome, and according to Romans 1:13 he had never been to Rome when he wrote the epistle.
His desire to visit Rome is so that he should preach the gospel there and the gospel should bear more fruit (Romans 1:13-15). He also wants there to be mutual blessings for himself and for the believers at Rome through their mutual fellowship. He writes because in spite of this strong desire, he cannot come immediately. We usually think of visits from missionary purpose was to correct some problems, but Paul also desired liberty to enjoy fellowship and to teach for the edification of the churches. He knows that Satan has hindered him so far from reaching Rome. It is a fuller letter than he would have written if his path to Rome had been clear. It is a teaching epistle, a complete epistle covering much ground doctrinally, and needful for the Romans to be well instructed, though not at present suffering any major problems. It is a protective letter which guides the saints in defending the truth against attacks which Paul has already experienced. The letter is a substitute for Paul's presence among them and therefore gives us a clear insight into the kind of preaching that he would have delivered to the churches.