Romans

Romans is the forty-fifth book of the Bible and the longest of Paul's letters. It is traditionally attributed to the apostle Paul and is generally dated to around AD 57, near the end of his third missionary journey. Paul wrote the letter to a church in Rome he had not yet visited but was planning to visit on the way to Spain.

The letter is more systematic than Paul's others, which were usually written to address specific problems in churches he had founded. Romans reads more like a careful, considered statement of Paul's gospel as a whole.

Paul opens with three chapters arguing that all humans, both Gentile and Jewish, are guilty before God and unable to make themselves right by their own efforts. The next five chapters explain how God makes people right through faith in Jesus, using Abraham as an example, and describe what life in the Spirit looks like for those who believe. Chapter 8, the high point of the letter, ends with the famous declaration that nothing in all creation can separate believers from the love of God in Christ.

Chapters 9 through 11 wrestle with the question of why most of Paul's fellow Jews have not accepted Jesus. Chapters 12 through the end turn to practical instructions for Christian living, including the famous lines about being living sacrifices, about not being conformed to the world, and about loving one's enemies. The letter closes with personal greetings to a long list of people in Rome.