Just a Letter

When we are reading the book of Romans, we sometimes forget Paul was writing a letter.  He was not trying to put together a theological work for publication, or for the ages which would follow.  He was simply writing a letter.  Letter writing is a lost art.  Emails and text messages are a poor substitute.  I used to write letters, but it has been a long time.  Letter writing ends up being more thoughtful and reflective than a hurried modern day message.  It comes from a pen seeking to fill up a page and from a heart that is seeking to empty itself.  Letters require effort.    

What the Apostle Paul wrote to the Roman Christians is at its core a letter.  Though he had never been to Rome, he knew some of the believers in Rome (Romans 16) and, he of course, recognized that the people in the church were a diverse group of Jews, Greeks, Romans, and others who had found within it a home.  He wrote to share something of his heart with them, to encourage them in their faith, and to let them know he was coming on his way to Spain.  

He also wrote as one of them.  He might have been viewed as a spiritual leader, but he wrote as one who shared their human predicament and their hope for glory.  While he was direct about the way people sin against God, he also often used the pronoun "us" to speak of those to whom the truth of God was being directed  (Romans 3:5-8).   Paul wrote with the authority of a prophet who spoke for God, but he also spoke as a man who knew the power of sin is his own personal life and the way that Christ had come to bring a deliverance the law could never offer.   It is no wonder that his words still resonate as holy treasure even in our own day.