Who is paul addressing in the book of romans

And this is his gospel which he develops throughout Romans. In this letter Paul shows why it is necessary to be justified by faith. Because of man's sin, man needs to be justified, and therefore, as a result, eternal life will come. Matthew Black rendered it as follows: "'The just-by-faith in Christ shall live now and for ever '-and the words, of course, mean enjoy fullness of life, now and fore ever.

Anders Nygren took note of Paul's systematic approach to the gospel in Romans and wrote the following in his commentary: "Step by step, persistently and consistently, he hews his way through the flood of thoughts which present themselves to him as he undertakes to explain the meaning of God's work in Christ.

Ultimately, the Epistle to the Romans is undoubtedly Pauline in its very essence. It is the theologically richest of all his letters and has played an instrumental role in many great movements of the Christian church.

Edwards et al. Ed by Craig A. IVP, Denver: Accent Books, Ed by Gerald F. Geisler and William E. A General Introduction to the Bible. Chicago: Moody Press, The Epistle to the Romans. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans Publishing Company, The Romans Debate, Revised.

Peabody, Massachusetts: Hendrickson Publishers, Inc. Russell III. Commentary on Romans. Philadelphia: Fortress Press, Since the text and audio content provided by BLB represent a range of evangelical traditions, all of the ideas and principles conveyed in the resource materials are not necessarily affirmed, in total, by this ministry.

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Your partnership makes all we do possible. Would you prayerfully consider a gift of support today? Cookie Notice: Our website uses cookies to store user preferences. By proceeding, you consent to our cookie usage. Clear Advanced Options. DBY Darby Translation. WEB Webster's Bible. RVR60 Reina-Valera VUL Latin Vulgate. TR Textus Receptus. Search Bible Search. Line-By-Line Order:. Separate Line. Verse Only. Reference Only. No Number.

No Delimiter — Square — [15]. Parens — Abbreviate Books. Use SBL Abbrev. En dash Hyphen. None — Jhn KJV. Square — [Jhn KJV]. Parens — Jhn KJV. Quotes Around Verses. Remove Square Brackets. Sort Canonically. Free Bible Courses Visit. Help Quick Nav Advanced Options. These fourteen books all take the form of letters addressed to a given individual or community. In the traditional canonical ordering of the New Testament, these fourteen books are arranged in a block following Acts, and separated into three groups: the nine letters addressed to communities, the four letters addressed to individuals, and Hebrews.

Within each grouping, the traditional canonical system orders the books according to length. This SparkNote addresses only a few of the most important letters: Romans, 1 and 2 Corinthians, and Ephesians. Modern scholars agree with the traditional second-century Christian belief that seven of these New Testament letters were almost certainly written by Paul himself: 1 Thessalonians, Galatians, Philippians, Philemon, 1 and 2 Corinthians, and Romans.

During the winter of 57 — 58 a. Like most New Testament letters, this letter is known by the name of the recipients, the Romans.

For instance, 1 Corinthians was written to reprove the Christian community in Corinth for its internal divisions and for its immoral sexual practices. But Romans is remarkably devoid of this kind of specificity, addressing broad questions of theology rather than specific questions of contemporary practice.

Whereas other Pauline letters— 2 Corinthians, for instance—are full of impassioned rhetoric and personal pleas, Romans is written in a solemn and restrained tone. But it is also true that, as opposed to the Corinthian church, the Roman church was not founded by Paul himself.

Five constructive practical methods were proposed, namely: [87] 1 Make greater use of Memorial days to dispel from the Chinese minds the false notion that the westerners care nothing for the dead, 2 more attention should be paid in Christian school and church to positive teaching about honouring parents and commemorating benefactors, 3 discourage wealthy families to spend much money at funerals, in feasts and presents, but to exhort to use money on such occasions in benevolent and philanthropic ways, 4 leave to individual conscience in dealing with the Ancestral Tablet, 5 make more decent and suitable provision in respect of cemeteries.

From the above proposal, we could see that except for the fourth proposal which is related to Ancestral Tablet, the others are oriented from the western cultural perspective.

The position that the ancestral worship was incompatible with Christian faith and could not be tolerated as a practice in the Christian Church was reiterated. The report advocated a constructive than a destructive attitude towards the rite.

A few of them even openly supported the stance of Christian participation in the rite which was against the basic position of the missionaries. In the debate among Chinese Christians on the rite, the main issues were: [91]. Filial piety embedded in the rite was regarded as the foundation of morality in Chinese culture.

The most urgent issue was to introduce a rite, which would be compatible to both Christian faith and Chinese culture. Even though some had distorted the original meaning of ancestral worship, it would not be legitimate to reject the rite completely. The issues were related to concept and technicalities of the practice.

Chinese Christian could accept the rite after some adjustments. Nevertheless, although the above understanding of the rite as an expression of filial piety were generally accepted, the stance of the rite as heretic idolatry propounded by missionaries still prevailed among most Chinese Christians until today. The position toward the rite among most of the Protestant churches is almost the same as the Catholics in the 18 th Century. This stance has not only become a stumbling block for Chinese to become Christians but also indicates that a basic issue of the relationship between the Gospel and the Chinese culture has not been thoroughly understood.

The crux of the matter of ancestral rites is very much related to the identity of Chinese. Hermeneutical Frames. The controversy of the ancestral worship among Chinese Christian is related to the interpretations of the rite and also Christian faith.

The main issue concerning the rite is its religious nature. However the understanding of religion in Chinese culture is very different from the west.

In his classic study, Religion in Chinese Society , Prof. Yang differentiates religion into two types: institutional religion and diffused religion.

Diffused religion includes ancestor worship, the worship of community deities, and the ethicopolitical cults. The mortuary and sacrificial rites and other social and economic arrangements of the family that were associated with the dead ancestors formed an integral part of the system of rituals of the family. For most intellectuals, it is a cultural activity which helps to express filial piety, serves the purpose of integrating the community and has a function of moral enhancement in society.

For common people, it is religiously significant as a way to communicate with the departed kinsmen and even has a function of pursuing blessings and avoiding curses.

Nevertheless, from a survey of Henry Smith conducted in Hong Kong in the mid-eighties, most people who participated in the rite are not motivated by religious concern but rather connections with and responsibility towards ancestors.

Li Yi-yuen, around two third of those who claim to be non-religion believers participated in ancestral worship. Although the communist Chinese government had adopted a policy of suppression of religious activities, including ancestral worship, during the Cultural Revolution , an open policy has been implemented since Comprehensive survey on the ancestral worship in Mainland China has not been done recently, there is evidence that the rite has become more and more popular.

Thus, ancestral worship is still a living issue among Chinese. Ones position on whether Chinese Christian could participate in ancestral worship is significant and depends on the interpretation of the meaning of the rite in Chinese context. The issue is religio-cultural-moral-ethnic related and it has directly implication to the identity of Chinese.

The position of Vatican in 18 th Century as well as most Protestant missionaries and churches today is based on the interpretation of Christian faith, especially the first two of the Ten commandments Ex. Since the relationship between the discussion and I Cor. The issue related is the identity crisis faced by both Jewish Christians and Chinese Christians. As has been shown in the above Section of Analytical Frames , the main issue in the passage is the identity crisis faced by the Jewish Christians that whether they could maintain their Jewish identity and also followers of Christ.

Under the pressure of the strong, the weak have to face a choice, which Paul does not think necessary or proper. Even though the strong are right in understanding of the relation between faith and eating and drinking, they should understand the implications from the view of the weak. For the strong enjoy more freedom in their daily practice, they should please the weak rather than judge the weak in their practices which are essential to maintain their Jewish identity.

Although the weak see the issue from the other way round. In the Chinese Christian controversy on ancestral worship, the Popes and their delegates in the 17 th and 18 th Centuries as well as the Protestant missionaries in 19 th and early 20 th Centuries had not viewed the issue from the Chinese contexts and the Chinese Christian perspective.

They did not see in their relationship with the Chinese Christians, that they are the strong who forced the weak, Chinese Christians, to face the identity crisis of being Chinese and Christian. Would the missionary history in China be different, if the message of Rm. Barrett, C. Black, M. Cranfield, C. Dunn, J. Fitzmyer, J. Kaesemann, E. Bromiley, London: SCM, Michel, O. Moo, D. Sanday, W. Clark, Stuhlmacher, P. Scott J. Hafemann Louisville:.

Wilckens, U. Barclay, J. Mosaic Law , ed. James D. Dunn Tuebingen, J. Mohr pp. Booth, W. Chicago, Univ. Cancik, H. Cline, D. Cullmann, O. Torrance London: SCM, Donfried, K. Debate , pp. Peabody, Hendrickson. Ellis, E. Esler, P. Gamble, H. Literary Criticism Grand Rapids, Eerdmans. Grenholm, C. Huang, Po-he et. Iser, W. Press, Karris, R. Suomalainen Tiedeakatemia. Latourette, K. Texts Press. Lo, L. Martin, W. Morrison, R. McKnight, E. Minear, P.

Nababan, A. Ninos, Mark D. Rauer, M. Reasoner, M. May , Taipei: Cheng-wen Pub. Shanghai, April 5 th to May 8 th , , Printed in shanghai under the direction of the Conference Committee,.

Senior, D. Untersuchung zu Roem , unpublished Th. Smith, Henry N. Dissertation Dallas, Southwestern Baptist. Theological Seminary. Tan, Y.

Thraede, K. Watson, F. Watson, James L. Rawski edd. University of California Press, Wedderburn, A. Wiefel, W. Yang , C. Ancestor Worship , ed. Discussion on the similarities and differences between Rm. For the detailed discussion of the characteristics of Roman Christians found in Rm. His work did not gain widespread acceptance among scholars; exceptions see Donfried and Watson 88f.

Donfried b: rightly criticized Minear's work that "while the direction of Minear's general interpretation is persuasive,. Among these quotations, the one in b which follows closely the text of LXX Ps. In early Christian times, worship and communal meal were probably inseparable; I Cor.

However, we disagree with Wiefel that the denial of assembly was a first step in moderating the eviction edict of Claudius, see discussion in Lo 3. Thus the 'I' and the 'you' in the text are also involved in a process of persuasion.