Paul promised the church members at Corinth that he would visit them again as soon as he had the opportunity, and it was not long after sending his last letter to them that the opportunity came and he was able to spend several months with them. During this time, probably the latter part of the year 57 A.D., he wrote a letter to the church at Rome, the most ambitious of all his letters and the only one in which he presents a systematic account of his understanding of the gospel. Because he had not visited the church at Rome and was unfamiliar with their local problems, the letter is not written in the form that he used in his earlier correspondence with the other churches. Instead, it is a carefully prepared statement of what he regarded as the essential elements of the Christian religion. Paul wanted the gospel proclaimed throughout the then-known world, and it seemed most appropriate that he should not only visit the church at Rome but gain its full support for the missionary program that he envisioned. We do not know how the church at Rome was started, but it existed during Paul’s life, and there were good reasons for believing that it would soon become one of the leading Christian churches of the world. Paul wanted the Roman church to have a firsthand knowledge of the gospel that he preached, but unable personally to visit its members in the immediate future, he set forth his convictions in a letter addressed to the Romans.
Parts of the sixteen chapters in the Epistle to the Romans are so detailed that a full explanation of Paul’s meaning would require a large volume of commentary. The main substance of the letter can be summarized briefly by stating the answers given to a number of pertinent questions: What is the gospel? Who needs it? Why is it needed? What is the nature of salvation? How is it achieved? What difference does salvation make in an individual’s life? What difference does it make with reference to society as a whole? Many other points are discussed in Romans, but these questions are sufficient to indicate the letter’s general character.
The gospel, we are told, is the power of God unto salvation, for in it the “righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith.” Man is a sinful creature who follows his own heart’s desires and is powerless to change these desires by himself alone. Only through the power of God, working in cooperation with the human spirit, can these desires be changed and brought into harmony with the divine will. Jesus’ life illustrates the way in which the power of God can work in and through a human life, thus enabling a person to overcome evil temptations, which are always present in the world. The same power that enabled Jesus to overcome temptations is also available to all those who have faith in him. The faith by which God’s righteousness is revealed involves beliefs but also includes something that grips the entire personality and finds expression not only in what one thinks but in feelings, attitudes, and actions. The salvation of which Paul writes is salvation from the power of evil that entices man to sin against himself and God. Salvation means a transformation of one’s nature so that what one wants to do will coincide with what ought to be done.
This salvation is needed by everyone, for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. Salvation is just as necessary for the Jew as it is for the Gentile, and necessary even for those people who feel that they do not need it, for they may be the ones who need it most. How well people think of themselves is determined by the standard that they use in judging themselves. Anyone who measures himself by the righteousness of God will know that he falls short and is in need of improvement. The salvation of which Paul speaks is not something that will automatically make a person’s character equal to the righteousness of God, but it will move the person in that direction and keep bringing him ever nearer to that goal. But, again, it is important to know that this salvation is available only to those who recognize their need for it and who are receptive to the divine power that is constantly being offered to them.
