Romans in Biblical History

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Schaff's Bible Dictionary

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What is the Book of Romans?
THE EPISTLE OF PAUL TO THE RO'MANS
is the sixth in order of the books of the N.T. It was written at Corinth, a.d. 58, just as Paul was leaving that city for Jerusalem, and transmitted through Phoebe. Rom 15:25; comp. Acts 20:2-3,Ex 17:16; Rom 16:1, Heb 12:23; 1 Cor 1:14; 2 Tim 4:20. It is the most important and most systematic of all the apostolic Epistles. It is the fullest exposition of the great truth that the gospel is a power of universal salvation on the sole condition of faith. In Rome, the mistress of the world, he proclaimed the gospel as the power of God, which alone can save; in Corinth, the city of philosophy and art, as the wisdom of God, which is wiser than all the wisdom of men. Rom 1:16-17 contains the theme. Rom 1:18-3:20 is the negative part, showing the need of salvation or the general depravity of both Jews and Gentiles. Ch. 3:20 to the close of ch. 8 presents the positive part, and exhibits the saving grace of God in Christ, by which the believer is justified, sanctified, and glorified. Chs. 9-11 treat of the historical progress of Christianity from Jews to Gentiles, the rejection of the Jews in consequence of their unbelief, and their ultimate repentance and acceptance after the fulness of the Gentiles has come in. The last five chapters contain practical exhortations of the greatest spiritual power and unction. The Epistle to the Romans is the bulwark of the evangelical doctrine of justification by faith. The origin of the Roman congregation is involved in obscurity. Its first members may have been converted on the day of Pentecost, since Jews from Rome were among the witnesses of the pentecostal miracle in Jerusalem. Acts 2:10. At all events, it was already a large and flourishing congregation when Paul wrote his Epistle. He had not been there, but intended to visit the metropolis of the world, and wrote this letter to prepare the way for his coming. He did visit Rome afterward, but as a prisoner of Jesus Christ, and sealed his testimony with his blood. The genuineness of the Epistle to the Romans is beyond all reasonable doubt. No man could have written it but Paul, and he could have written it only by inspiration. Luther called it "the chief part of the N.T. and the purest Gospel;" Coleridge, "the most profound work in existence" Meyer, "the grandest, boldest, and most complete composition of Paul." The Reformation of the sixteenth century was inspired by the Epistles to the Romans and Galatians.

Bibliography Information
Schaff, Philip, Dr. "Biblical Definition for 'romans' in Schaffs Bible Dictionary".
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