Thoughts on Paul & his letter to the Romans
Friday, 9 January 2009
There are many great reasons to be studying Paul, especially his letter to the Romans. Paul has written a large percentage of the content in the New Testament, which is very interesting to see how he doesn’t arrive on the scene until after Jesus’ ascension. We are all deeply indebted to and influenced by the book of Romans but also to the great interpretors, such as Augustine, Luther, or Calvin to name a few. In the introduction to her book The Story of Romans, New Testament scholar and theologian A. Katherine Grieb states that “hardly any other book of the Bible has been such an influence on the church.”1
So as we begin this study of Paul’s letter, the first question is how should we approach the book of Romans? What are our preconceived notions and understandings about what the book is supposed to mean?
Two related questions:
What did the letter mean to Paul and his first century recipients? This takes work to examine, but may be the easier of the two.
And secondly what does Paul have to say to us now? How has two thousand years possibly changed the context, or how have the innumerable influential commentaries colored our understanding? What is it that Paul can teach us as a people living in wealth and prosperity within a powerful nation—very similar to what some Roman Christians may have known—in the digital age, where everyone is connected through email and text messaging? What can Paul teach me, but more importantly what can he teach this community of believers?
In preparation for the class, try to read Romans through completely. Don’t worry about understanding everything, just read through it quickly; preferably within only a few sittings. This is the best way to begin to understand something, by seeing the big picture. If we can get an idea of the shape of the forest, then focusing on the trees later on will be a lot easier, and maybe we won’t get lost if we know where the story is going already.
- A. Katherine Grieb, “The Story of Romans. Louisville: WJK Press, 2002: p.X. [↩]