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A brief introduction before we walk into the 433 verse journey that is Romans. Romans is the first book of the bible I have studied through from end to end. For the last eight months I have been studying the book of Romans, averaging around three verses a day. I have discovered things for my own faith that will impact the rest of my life. My purpose for doing this blog post-style commentary is to offer commentary not as a biblical scholar or theologian (because I’m not), but as an everyday working-class man building my own faith stronger.

“Sorry; Paul who?”

Imagine receiving a letter in the mail from a man you might have only of heard by name. This letter, over the course of 7000 words, includes multiple reprimands, admonishing, notes of praise of your conducts but with corrections for your life. If that was me, I would have at some point said “Who is this guy to tell me how to live my life? I’m living the exact way that God wants me to live.” It turns out this was the same attitude as the Jewish and Gentile Christian Romans around the mid-first century when they received this letter from Paul, and one of the reasons for Paul writing the letter. At the time in Rome there were Christians that were divided into Jews and Gentiles. Although populations and majority-minority is unknown for the two, the evidence from Romans shows that the groups did not do a good job of getting along, each believing emphatically that their own group’s way of living was right, the other group’s way of living was wrong, and that stopped them from working together for the gospel. Paul’s letter then comes with the overall idea that both Jews and Gentiles are looking at it all wrong. Instead of being picky with the traditions and details, Paul pleads with them to accept their Christian brothers and sisters, don’t get caught up on the insignificant differences, and keep going with the great commission (Matt 28:16-20) that Jesus called them to. But an even greater theme of Romans is that of justification by faith. Paul lays out the complete gospel in Romans, the main point being that I, as a sinner, will never achieve perfection with human works, and because perfection is what God requires of us, the only way I can be in a relationship with him is through faith.

My prayer is that readers who read this blog-style commentary look past the fallible human author and see the awesome grace of God. He is the same God that Paul was writing about to the people in Rome, and God has not changed since. Some topics that Paul writes about in Romans will be difficult to pull an application from, and we won’t squeeze and mold the verses for our agenda. Instead, all verses in Romans will be provide talking points for us living in the 21st Century. Let this be a place of respectful conversation. Comment on verses that baffle you, inspire you or even points that you disagree with.

I’ll be using the NIV version of the bible. The main commentaries I’ll be using in my explorations are Richard N. Longnecker’s The Epistle to The Romans, Douglas J. Moo’s The Epistle to the Romans and Thomas R. Schreiner’s Romans.