Most of the books in the New Testament are inspired letters written to a person or church to address a specific situation or problem. A question would arise about a particular issue and the church would ask an Apostle to clarify the matter. For example, the church at Corinth had some questions regarding marriage, food sacrificed to idols, the appropriate way to worship and spiritual gifts. The Apostle Paul addressed all these questions in his inspired letters to the church.
In other cases, an Apostle learned of a problem in a particular church and wrote to correct it or to give more teaching on the subject. For example, the followers of Christ at Thessalonica had a severe misunderstanding about Christ’s return and the resurrection. Some of them were also setting a poor example and giving a bad name to the followers of Christ by not working. Paul corrected these problems in his letters to the church.
Similarly, James wrote a letter which is full of practical instructions about how the followers of Christ should live their lives. In it he talks about such things as overcoming temptation, favoritism and controlling our tongues.
In one of his letters, the Apostle Peter wrote about how the followers of Christ should respond to suffering and persecution.
In addition to practical instructions about how the followers of Christ should live, the inspired writers of the New Testament also provide a great deal of teaching. They instruct us in what we should believe. For example, in the letter to the Ephesians, we learn about the church, it’s purpose and function, and the need for unity. In the book of Hebrews we learn about the supremacy of Christ. Christ is greater than Moses and the angels. Jesus’ priesthood is greater than that of the priesthood which the Law of Moses established. The New Covenant which Christ’s sacrifice made possible is superior to the covenant God made with the Jewish people at Mt. Sinai.
The most systematic explanation we have of the process of salvation is in the letter the Apostle Paul wrote to the followers of Christ at Rome. In it he explains why mankind is alienated from God, what God has done to restore mankind’s relationship to Him, the basis upon which our relationship is restored, the process by which we are reconciled to God again, and what the practical results of being reconciled to God are.
Paul explains that all this takes place through the gospel. He writes, “I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile.” (Romans 1:16 NIV)
What is this gospel Paul writes about? In another place he defines it as: “…Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures,” (1 Corinthians 15:3-4 NIV) These are the central facts of Christianity. It is only because of what Christ did that our sins can be forgiven and we can be reconciled to God.
However, this raises an important question. The people at Rome to whom Paul writes were already followers of Christ. Since they were already followers of Christ, they had already heard the gospel. If they had not heard they could not have become Christians. Not only that, as we shall see in chapter 16, several of the recipients of the letter were acquaintances of Paul, some were his relatives and some had been co-workers with him. Why, then, would Paul need to write to them about the gospel?
There are several answers to this question. One answer relates to how the church in Rome came into being. Acts chapter 2 tells us that people from at least 15 different places were present in Jerusalem on the first day of Pentecost after Christ’s resurrection. On that day the Apostle Peter preached to the crowd, demonstrating that Jesus was the Savior the Jewish people had been looking for over the centuries. Through Peter’s words 3,000 men believed and became followers of Christ. Among them were visitors from Rome. Undoubtedly, these men met together as a church upon their return to Rome. During the approximately 25 years since, as far as we know, no Apostle had visited Rome. The result was that most, if not all, the teaching the church had received since its founding was second-hand. No doubt Paul’s letter answered many questions and filled in gaps in their knowledge.
At the time Paul wrote the letter to Rome, he was planning to go to Jerusalem. We know from chapter 15 that Paul was apprehensive about this journey. There was even a possibility that he would be martyred. In view of this it was appropriate for Paul to write down the core of his teaching. His letter to the Romans would serve as a lasting legacy for all who would come to believe in Christ after Paul’s death.
Yet another reason for Paul to write about the gospel was that he hoped to make Rome a base for evangelism for areas to the west. He hoped that Rome would become an important center from which the gospel spread to other places just as Antioch and Ephesus already were. In the letter he writes of his desire to take the gospel to Spain. In order for this to happen, it was important for the church in Rome to, itself, be solidly grounded in the gospel.
There was still another reason for Paul to write to the Romans about the gospel. Like the church at Antioch, some of the followers of Christ in the church at Rome came from Jewish backgrounds while others did not. This resulted in a certain amount of tension between the two groups. Some of it was cultural. Both Jews and non-Jews had certain practices which shocked or irritated the other. However, some of the tension had a deeper cause. For centuries the Jewish people had been part of God’s plan of redemption. How did the inclusion of non-Jewish people in the church affect the Jews’ role as God’s chosen people? Paul addresses the issues which lie between Jew and non-Jew in his letter.