Romans: The Gospel According to Paul

Did Paul realize what he was doing when he sat down to write this epistle? Did he know what he was undertaking? Had he planned to share the gospel with the Romans in such intricate and concise detail or did it just begin to pour forth, word upon word, sentence upon sentence, paragraph upon paragraph until he had penned this most detailed account of the gospel of Christ? So much has been said about this magnificent letter … I will share just two thoughts: First, as to the name I am choosing to call this study—it comes from John Phillips, who not once but twice in the opening thoughts of his commentary on Romans calls it “the gospel according to Paul.” I felt like that really said it all! Second, a word from Charles Erdman from his commentary on Romans, which I believe gives us our challenge. He says this: “Our task is to read and comprehend this masterpiece of theological doctrine. And who are we to say that we cannot?” And to this I say, “Amen!”