Romans background

Romans

Author: Paul
(He used a scribe named Tertius (Romans 16:22))
See Ecclesiastical History by Eusebius; Book 3, Chapter 25, Verse 2.
[Eusebius, Ecclesiastical History, Complete and Unabridged, trans. C.F. Cruse (Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson Publishers, Reprinted 1998)]

Date: 56 A.D. (Dr. Cartledge)

Language: Greek (Dr. Keener)

Place: Corinth (Prof. Tafoya)

Purpose: To tell of the salvation available for Jewish and Gentile people through faith, in the midst of much tension which had mounted between Jewish Christians and Gentile Christians due to some varying practices between them, following the return of some Jewish Christians to Rome at least six years after being expelled by Emperor Claudius.

What kind of book?: Letter re: a particular occasion

Reflection: 2 Peter 3:16 states, "[Paul] writes the same way in all his letters, speaking in them of these matters. His letters contain some things that are hard to understand, which ignorant and unstable people distort, as they do the other Scriptures, to their own destruction."
I think the sole reason we can know that Paul's letters are Scripture is this affirmation by Peter, the apostle. Paul was not one of the twelve, and Paul did not see Jesus until after Jesus ascended into heaven. So extraordinary was Paul's encounter with Christ that I think verification by Peter, who had the opportunity to learn if Paul's ministry was legitimate, was a must.
Hunter Irvine