Theology and Religious Studies: Book of Romans Analysis

This essay provides a comprehensive analysis of the book of Romans, exploring its authorship, theme, date, and place of writing. It delves into the structure, dividing it into sections such as the introduction, justification of righteousness, life in Christ, God's relationship with Israel, God's righteousness at work, and the conclusion. The essay examines the historical context, highlighting Paul's strategic approach in writing to the Romans, his desire for their support in his gospel missions, and his aim to clarify his teachings and promote unity between Jewish and Gentile Christians. Furthermore, it discusses the book's relevance to understanding modern Christianity, particularly its emphasis on sin, redemption through Jesus, and the pursuit of faith. The essay also addresses the social and political challenges Paul faced, including opposition to his teachings and the tensions within the early church. This analysis offers insights into the book's significance and its impact on Christian theology.

Theology and Religious Studies
Name
Professors’ name
Institution
Date

Introduction
The write analyses the book of Romans. A deep analysis of the book of Romans will be
conducted. Various issues will be discussed such as the authorship of the book, theme of the
book, date and place, the structure and component of the book, the historical background of the
book and relevant information regarding the author and some of the social and political
challenges that the author faced.
Basic information about the book of Romans
The book of Romans is considered as one of the Paul epistles to have contained so much
information and is often regarded as having the purest gospel among all the Paul’s epistles. This
book specifically targeted the church in Rome that was significantly comprised of a large
element of the Jewish community as well as some Gentile converts who were originally pagans.
It’s never been clear how the Roman church was founded but mounting evidence indicates that
according to the Roman Catholic view the church was founded by Peter (Wan 2010 p.79).
Place and Date of the Romans
Based on information from the book of Acts as well as that of Corinthians the book of Romans
contains some circumstantial evidence that it was written in Corinth when Paul was on his third
missionary journey. It is also important to note that Paul had never visited Rome but he
anticipated to visit Rome after completing his mission in Greece. The book of Romans is dated
around 60 A.D (Turner, 2010 p.17).
Theme of the book of Roman

The theme of the book of Romans is centered on the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Here Paul was
focused on making his audience (The church in Rome as well as the people in Rome) understand
the sinners can be and may receive and welcomed into the loving arms of God by being made
righteous again and how should change their ways because God is an all loving God (Staples,
2011 p.38). He was also expressing some really great concern about the need for unity between
the Jews and the Gentile Christians. As it will be discussed in this write-up, later on, we will
notice that during the time immediately before he had written this letter the Jewish Christians
had been stent away from the Rome church and were now in the verge of returning. This,
therefore, created the need to create and put emphasis on the need for unity between the Gentiles
and the Jewish Christians (Richards, Windham, Richardson, Stephens, 2015 p.56).
Structure of the book of Romans
The book of Romans can be categorically divided into six main sections. These groups are
outlined below;
a) The introduction section-This is the first section of the book of Romans and it mentions
about the revelation of righteousness. In this section, various issues have been addressed
as the Salutation, where Paul makes introductory remarks as well as passes his regards to
the people in Rome (Moga, 2011 p.60). It also comprises of some personal items and also
introduces the theme of the letter and mentions some of the fundamental reasons for
writing down the letter in the first place.
b) Justification of Righteousness-This is the second section of the letter. It addresses various
issues such the universal need for righteousness, the manifestation and/or the universal
provision for righteousness, Harmonization or justification and the main purpose for the

law, the justification in reference to the Old Testament and brief notes on the certainty for
salvation. This section of the letter is very broad as it addresses quite a number of issues
as mentioned above. The universal provision for righteousness, for instance, mentions
some of the basic facts about true righteousness and what it means to be righteous
(Linebaugh, 2011 p.27). Other minor issues are also mentioned in this section as such
that of certainty for salvation as well as the universal need for salvation which addresses
some of the basic reasons for and need for salvation and righteousness respectively.
c) Life in Christ and/or the Union with an ultimate confirmation to the righteous one. This
section begins in chapter 5 to chapter 8 of the book. In this section, Paul mentions various
issues. For instance, there is a discussion of the reign of sin and that of grace. Apart from
this Paul focuses more on the concept of life. He brings out various aspects about life
such as the new relationship in life, the new principle in life, the new freedom in life, the
new power in life as well as the hope in new life.
d) God’s relationship in His divine relationship with Israel (The Vindication) - This is one
of the shortest sections of the letter. It begins in chapter 9 and ends in chapter 11 of the
letter. In this particular section, Paul discusses some really important issues that
concerned Israel. Some of the issues that Saint Paul addresses in this section of the letter
comprises of issues such as the consideration, explanation, and consolation of Israel's
rejection (Jones, 2012 p.89). Various issues triggered Israel's rejection, the course of
Israel’s rejection is well explained in this section and also a detailed explanation of
Israel’s consolation upon their rejection.
e) God’s Righteousness at work-This section comprised of God’s divine intervention and
application of its righteousness on various dimensions. It starts from chapter First and

foremost there is the application of God’s righteousness in the Assembly, in twelve to
chapter fifteen of the letter. The state and in doubtful things (Hsieh, 2015 p.77).
f) The last section of the letter to the Romans is the conclusion. It outlines the purpose as
well as the plans and praise in connection with the dissemination of righteousness. It
starts from chapter 15 to chapter 16.
Historical Context of the Book of Romans
The book of Romans has taken credit to be the longest as well as the last authentic epistles to be
written by Saint Paul. This book was written around 57 and 58 CE. This letter is believed to be
unique and exceptional among all the letters that Saint Paul wrote. During this particular time,
Paul was dominating as an author because of his skills as well as extraordinary theological
understandings. This is based on the fact that he was highly educated and was considered one of
the greatest teachers in Israel. This is so because unlike all other letters, this particular letter
lacked a particular occasion and/or a casuistic problem. In other words, this is to say that Paul
had no relationship and ties whatsoever to the Roman community prior writing of this letter
(Hays, 2011 p.43).
Unlike other letters, this letter did not concern a specific issue within the Roma church. Paul
wrote this letter with the sole purpose of articulating his own gospel. This is depicted in the
introductory statements of the letter when Paul mentions the love and desire that he had to visit
the Roman congregation and share his gospel. (This can be found in the book of Romans 1:10-
15).

Upon finishing his missionary activities in Greece, Paul clearly indicates his desire to meet the
Romans with a hope that they will agree to support his Western missionary plans in which he
strategically to use Rome as a base of his operations.
Basically, Paul's letter to the Romans was strategic and it emerged as an aim and/or effort to
formally introduce himself to a congregation which he was perceived as either ignorant to some
of the activities he was engaged with or they just did not bother about the little information that
they had heard about Paul and some of his activities. This letter is a demonstration of Paul's love
and needs to meet the Romans despite his lack of association with the community (Hart, 2013
p.11). His gospel in this book is very precise, he mentions about his need for a connection with
the Romans.
As mentioned earlier the main aim of Paul writing this letter was to express his need for the
Roman support in his gospel missions. His gospel was simply the one that proclaimed God cares
for the Jews as well as the Gentiles who actually believed in Jesus and followed him despite the
fact that was a Jewish leader.
It is important to note that the book of Romans was written the Romans by Paul for various
reasons. Some of the reasons that made Paul write a letter to the Romans are outlined; the letter
was written with the aim to prepare for his future ministry in Rome. Paul wanted to go and
preach gospel in Rome. In addition to this, he also hoped that the Church in Rome would as well
support him and by serving as a base of his operations as he served a mission in Spain.
Secondly, the letter was aimed to clarify and defend some of his teachings. In the early years of
his operations, Saint Paul faced so much opposition especially from individuals who did not
understand the basis of his teachings. Some of the opposition came as a result of some of the

people distorting his teachings about the Law of Moses and his faith in Christ (Crawford, 2016
p.73). As a result of the opposition that He faced, Paul had reasons to believe that such
misunderstandings had reached Rome and some of the Rome church members. He, therefore,
wrote with the aim of clearing the air about any concerns that would have risen confusion before
he arrived.
It is also believed that he wrote the letter with the aim of promoting unity between the Jewish
and the gentile’s members of the church. Before Paul wrote this letter, there were issues that
were happening in the church in Rome. The Jewish Christians had been expelled from the church
in Rome and had now started to Rome to rejoin the gentiles. The situation brought a lot of
tension between the Jews and the gentiles. As a Jew, Paul felt the inner desire for his people to
accept the gospel and as an apostle of the Gentiles, Paul specifically felt the need to integrate the
gentiles into the church. There was, therefore, the need to write the letter to address this issue and
create some unity between the Jews and the Gentile Christians (Block, 2013 p.46).
The message that the work tries to convey to its audience and its possible relevance for
understanding Christianity
The book of Romans plays a very important role in understanding modern Christianity. This is so
because of the general outline of the book and the chronology of ideas as well as different events
in the text. In the latter, as mentioned earlier, Paul discussed a very important aspect that is
common even in modern Christianity that is the issue of sin. Paul clearly describes the sinful
nature of all humanity and the need for repentance. This section forms a very important basis for
all humanity and it proves a standpoint for understanding of modern Christianity.

Paul clear mentions the sinful nature of humanity but also goes ahead into identifying the fact
that all people are condemned but there still hope of redemption and salvation because Jesus who
died on the cross so that humanity can be saved from the fate of sin. Just like sin came into the
world through one man, God decided to give his only son, Jesus to save the world.
In his letter to the Romans, Paul makes it very clear that Christians and believers pursuit does not
stop with finding salvation. It goes beyond the salvation point (Cassidy, 2010 p.44). He also
mentioned the likelihood of temptations that would definitely try to divert our ways form the
right path, the path of righteousness. It is our duty to however seek the Lord and always continue
to believe in him.
Political and social challenges that Paul faced while writing the book of Romans
Saint Paul experienced quite a number of challenges, both social and political. Paul faced three
kinds of challenges;
a) The internal conflicts of the Christian life
b) The external tributes of life
c) The rigors of Christian ministry
The internal conflicts of the Christian life
As an evangelist and a man that was determined to spread the gospel to both Jews and non-Jews,
Paul faced quite a number of hardships and challenges.
First and foremost, he experienced all sorts of troubles as a preacher. This involves preaching to
various cities that were stubborn and wicked. Some of the cities that Paul was preaching to such
as Rome and Corinth were wicked and did not know much about Jesus Christ. As a result of this,

Paul faced so much oppression from people within and was encountered will all sorts of
inadequacy.
Paul also experienced various hardships such as those of ill-health, unemployment and apostasy.
In addition to this, he was also exposed and vulnerable to various forms of distress (De, 2014
p.71). This happened in cases where he was being rejected and considered as a man who did not
know what he was saying.
Paul also faced rejection and opposition. Quite a number of the cities and places. Paul had been a
victim of a beating and all sorts of unjust treatments. All this came to him just because he was
preaching about Jesus Christ to both the Jews and Gentiles. He was opposed and faced rejection
in quite a number of instances while he was preaching in Rome, Philips as well as in Corinth. His
rejection and persecution made people doubt him and lose faith in the gospel that he was
preaching about.
External tributes of life
Georges, 2010 p.202). In more than one occasion he suffered for being a witness of Jesus Christ
and for doing his work.
Paul was tortured on different situations. For example, Paul and Silas were beaten at Philippi
before being imprisoned. Despite this beatings and torture that they were expected to spend their
time in prison mourning and crying but rather praising and praying.
Imprisonments was also another fate that befell Paul. It is indicated that Paul lost his liberty for
about two years after his arrest in Jerusalem. These acts were really tormenting to Paul but he
rose above all these challenges.

The rigors of Christian ministry
These refer to some of the challenges that Paul experienced as an itinerant evangelist. His life
had continuous discomforts.
Some of the issues that Paul faced were sleepless nights. Paul had so many sleepless nights while
on his travel. Paul was a man who was traveling a lot preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ in
various cities such as Rome and Corinth (Forrest, 2013 p.201). During his travel, Paul could not
get a decent sleep. He also spent so much time praying over the night and this made him not to
have any peaceful nights.
Hunger was also another challenge that Saint Paul experienced. Well, it is important to note that
this does not refer to deliberate fasting but rather going hungry for hours and days because there
is nothing to be eaten. There various occasions on his travels that he did not have enough money
and food and as a result had to undergo long periods of hunger (Carter, 2010 p.20).
Some other hardships that Paul experienced are those of exhaustion. Paul was forced to work so
hard preaching the gospel from one city to the next.

References
Block, D.I., 2013. Who Do Commentators Say “The Lord” Is? The Scandalous Rock of Romans
10: 13. In On the Writing of New Testament Commentaries (pp. 173-192).
Carter, W., 2010. Paul and the Roman Empire: Recent Perspectives. Paul Unbound: Other
Perspectives on the Apostle, pp.7-26.
Cassidy, R., 2010. The Politicization of Paul: Romans 13: 1-7 in Recent Discussion. The
Expository Times, 121(8), pp.383-389.
Crawford, S.W., 2016. Romans, Greeks, and Jews: The World of Jesus and the
Disciples. Journal of Religion & Film, 8(1), p.6.
De Boer, M.C., 2014. NT Wright's Great Story and Its Relationship to Paul's Gospel. Journal for
the Study of Paul and his Letters, pp.49-57.
Forrest, B.K. and Lamport, M.A., 2013. Modeling spiritual formation from a distance: Paul's
formation transactions with the Roman Christians. Christian Education Journal, 10(1), pp.110-
124.
Georges, J., 2010. From Shame to Honor: A Theological Reading of Romans for Honor-Shame
Contexts. Missiology, 38(3), pp.295-307.
Hart, J.F., 2013. Paul as weak in faith in Romans 7: 7-25. Bibliotheca Sacra, 170(679), pp.317-
43.

Hays, R.B., 2011. Spirit, Church, Resurrection: The Third Article of the Creed as Hermeneutical
Lens for Reading Romans. Journal of Theological interpretation, pp.35-47.
Hsieh, N.S., 2015. Abraham as ‘Heir of the World’: Does Romans 4: 13 Expand the Old
Testament Abrahamic Land Promises?. The Master's Seminary Journal, 26(1), pp.95-110.
Jones, H., 2012. The deliverance of God: An apocalyptic rereading of justification in Paul [Book
Review]. Reformed Theological Review, The, 71(2), p.131.
Linebaugh, J.A., 2011. Announcing the Human: Rethinking the Relationship Between Wisdom
of Solomon 13–15 and Romans 1.18–2.11. New Testament Studies, 57(2), pp.214-237.
Moga, I., 2011. Building God’s Dwelling Place. Synagogues and Houses of Prayer in Anatolia
and Eastern Europe during the Roman Period. Histria antiqua, 20(20), pp.269-278.
Paul, S., Citizen, R. and Greek, S., Letter to the Romans. The Study of Human Nature: A Reader,
pp.56-68.
Richards, L., Windham, B., Richardson, R. and Stephens, B., 2015. Prayer list Please remember
these when you pray:. To protect the privacy of our members, the sick list will not be posted
publicly on line. James 5: 14 “Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the
church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with. Genesis, 1, pp.1-2.
Staples, J.A., 2011. What Do the Gentiles Have to Do with" All Israel"? A Fresh Look at
Romans 11: 25-27. Journal of Biblical literature, 130(2), pp.371-390.
Turner, G., 2010. The Righteousness of God in Psalms and Romans. Scottish Journal of
Theology, 63(3), pp.285-301.

Wan, E., 2010. A Missio-Relational Reading of Romans: A Complementary Study to Current
Approaches. Global Missiology English, 3(7).