Epistle To The Romans - Purposes of Writing

Purposes of Writing

The main purpose of the epistle to the Romans is given by Paul in Romans 1:1, where he reveals that he is set apart by God for the purpose of preaching the Gospel, which he explains. He wishes to impart to the Roman readers a gift of encouragement and assurance in all that God has freely given them (see Romans 1:11-12; 1 Corinthians 2:12).

The purposes of the apostle in dictating this letter to his Amanuensis Tertius is also articulated in the second half of chapter 15:

1. Paul asks for prayers for his forthcoming journey to Jerusalem; he hopes that the offering collected from the Gentile churches will be accepted there.
2. Paul is planning to travel to Rome from Jerusalem and to spend some time there before moving on to Spain; he hopes the Roman church will support his mission to Spain.
3. Since Paul has never been to Rome, he outlines his gospel so that his teaching will not be confused by that of "false teachers".
4. Paul is aware that there is some conflict between Gentile and Jewish Christians in the Roman church, and he addressed those concerns (chapters thirteen and the first half of fourteen). While the Roman church was presumably founded by Jewish Christians, the exile of Jews from Rome in AD 49 by Claudius resulted in Gentile Christians taking leadership positions.

To review the current scholarly viewpoints on the purpose of Romans, along with a bibliography, see Dictionary of Paul and His Letters. For a 16th century "Lollard" reformer view, reference can be made to the work of William Tyndale. In his prologue to his translation of the book of Romans, which was largely taken from the prologue of German Reformer Martin Luther, Tyndale writes that:

... this epistle is the principal and most excellent part of the new testament, and most pure evangelion, that is to say glad tidings and what we call the gospel, and also a light and a way in unto the whole scripture ... The sum and whole cause of the writings of this epistle, is, to prove that a man is justified by faith only: which proposition whoso denieth, to him is not only this epistle and all that Paul writeth, but also the whole scripture, so locked up that he shall never understand it to his soul's health. And to bring a man to the understanding and feeling that faith only justifieth, Paul proveth that the whole nature of man is so poisoned and so corrupt, yea and so dead concerning godly living or godly thinking, that it is impossible for her to keep the law in the sight of God.