Romans 3: 21-27

The book of Romans is a letter, also called an epistle, written to the Christian Community in Rome. The authorship of Romans is largely attributed to the apostle Paul. There seems to be few, if any, scholars who would disagree with this. Based on the mention of a man named Tertius in Romans 16:22, as his scribe, Paul would have dictated this letter. Further, the provenance of where Paul wrote Romans is a consensus among scholars. According to Jewett, "Paul dictated the letter from Corinth or its vicinity in the period immediately

Certain positons are held by certain scholars as to who Paul’s letter to the churches of Galatia was written. One theory is that it was written in Northern Galatians. A view held by J.B. Lightfoot, he states that it was during Paul’s third journey roughly around 53-58 A.D. and it was to the Celtic and or Gaulish society in northern Galatia. According to Longenecker “Galatians was written to the churches of Ancyra, Pessinus, and Tavium and that Paul in Galatians 2:1-10 was referring to the Jerusalem council of Acts 15”. Another theory is that it was written in Southern Galatians. William Ramsay holds this theory, with the view that the letter was written during Paul’s second journey roughly around 50 A.D. Ramsay says: “the beneficiaries of the letter were the churches of southern Galatia, i.e. Antioch, Iconium, Lystra, and Derbe”.

Colossians was a one of the four Prison Epistles that was written by the Apostle Paul, with the aid of Timothy, while he was imprisoned in Rome around 60-62 A.D. Paul wrote the letter to the church of Colossae and the neighboring churches of Hierapolis and Laodicea, after he received news from Epaphras, about the heresy that was growing throughout the church. Epaphras was also imprisoned so to expedite the letter to Colossae it was transported by Tychicus and Onesimus who were also delivering the letter to Philemon. Paul wrote the letter in a Hellenistic form of a personal letter to address the church about the power of God through Jesus Christ, address the issue of false teachings, and encourage Christian living. Paul wrote that

It was very likely that Paul wrote his letter to the Romans around 55-56 C.E. while he was on his third missionary journey. It is also believed that he was in the city of Corinth when he wrote it. Paul was writing to the church in Rome, which at the time the members were predominately Jewish. At the time there were approximately 50,000 Jews living in Rome. They either worked as slaves or had once worked as slaves, but gained their freedom. During this time, the Jews were given special protection from the Roman government, because they did not have to partake in pagan religious festivals or worship the Roman emperors. Unfortunately, in the late 40’s the emperor, Claudius, expelled a large number of the Jewish people because of a disturbance over a man named “Chrestus.” Therefore, the church in Rome likely became highly Gentile (Winn). In the event of these actions by the emperor the leadership of the Roman church became mostly Gentile.

Paul wrote to the Romans from Corinth during his three month stay. Paul was on a missionary trip passing through the east and was on his way to Rome. It was one of two letters; One to Rome and the other to Ephesus. They must have already had churches started in Rome because “We can safely assume that the church was not planted by an apostle”(Schreiner pg.11). The Church was most probably started by Jewish Christians.

The authorship of Romans is recorded in Romans 1:1 “Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle, set apart for the Gospel of God,” Given the Hebrew name Saul was latter given the Greek name Paul, Acts 13:9 “Then Saul, who was also called Paul,” Paul was born in Tarsus, the chief city of Cilicia. Acts 22:3 “I am a Jew, born in Tarsus of Cilicia, but brought up in the city,”

Romans 8:16 tells us that “The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God.” This is a doctrine that receives strong emphasis in the LDS church. From the time they enter Primary they sing the hymn “I am a Child of God.” In Young Women’s they recite “We are daughters of our Heavenly Father, who loves us and we love him.” As LDS members, they live their lives knowing that they have a loving Father in Heaven. Though other Christian churches share the belief that God is the Father, their understanding of this fact is different than the LDS view. Other churches interpret the scripture block Romans 8:14-17 to mean that we are adopted children of God, whose adoption is conditional on our good behavior

     Some believed that since God’s righteousness is made evident when people commit unrighteousness, God would not be able to punish people for their sins because their sin showed God’s righteousness. Paul argued that if this was so, God could not judge the world (3:5-7). Some went so far as to allege that Paul taught that people should sin to bring about good (3:8).

Paul uses Romans 3:21 as a platform for verses 3:22-4:25 in an orderly fashion. In his article, New Standing Before God, Harold S. Songer suggested that there are three divisions that begin with verse 3:21; however, he included verses in chapter 5. Therefore, exclusively focusing on verses 3:22-4:25, Harold Songer provides a twofold division: “God’s Love in Action” and “Righteousness by Faith for all.” God’s Love in Action covers

The book of Romans is a letter from the Apostle Paul. Paul was called by God to bring Christianity worship and ministry to the world. The letter was written to give the Romans who believed a way to construct a good foundation in which they could live and serve God. The Book of Romans speaks of salvation, spiritual growth, and the sovereignty of God. One of the main key factors in the book of Romans is the righteousness of God. The Book of Romans is used to build a solid foundation in our faith because it is The Book that speaks about living the way God meant for us to live, it speaks of learning to be closer to God and it allows for clarity in The Book of

I am always amazed when people show a memory for names, places and details. This is how I view Paul when I read Romans 16:1-16. Paul has already succeeded in preaching the gospel from Jerusalem to Illyricum (15:19), and now has his eyes on preaching in Spain. Yet, Paul stops to take time to write an elegant letter to Rome, a church he did not found and having never visited, yet through his networking skills managed to have acquaintances there.

Even though this is good news, Paul knew that not everyone viewed this as good. Of those that choose to reject the saving message of salvation in Christ Jesus consistently, he tells them that God turns that person over to the fulfillment of the shameful inclinations of their own mind. This is shown in chapter 1, beginning at verse 18. Because of the rejection of God, the human situation only gets more and more depraved. We descend to fulfilling our carnal, base cravings, and that is get involved in everything that

Paul wrote letters meant to be shared with all new churches, but while Paul was writing the letter to the Church of Ephesus, Romans incarcerated him restricting him to a jail cell for the spreading the word of the Gospel.

The first letter to the Christian community was sent from Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy, though Paul was the main author. Paul was writing to them to clear up their misunderstandings about the return of Christ, also considers it as instructions in holy living. Paul wrote about his longing to visit the church in Thessalonica but

Paul is the author of the book of Titus. The book of Titus was written around the years 63-65 A.D. The letter was addressed to Titus who was a gentile and a companion of Paul. Paul called Titus his “True son”. Titus along with First and Second Timothy are called Pastoral Epistles. The reason for being categorized that way is because the letters emphasizes the reason for having leaders within the church. (Votaw, Clyde W. pg.130-38) The book 's theme is instructions to Titus on how to run the churches in Crete and to encourage Titus in faith. The first readers of this letter would be Titus, some of the leaders within the Crete churches, Zenas and Apollos who Paul gave the letter to give of Titus. Paul and Titus most likely visited Crete