New Testament
Romans
Paul's letter to the Romans is his fullest account of the gospel: why we need rescuing, what God has done about it in Jesus, and how grace then reshapes an ordinary life. It has stirred faith in people from Augustine to Luther to Wesley, and it still does.
Romans 5
Romans 8
All Things Work Together for Good
“We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, for those who are called according to his purpose.”
Romans 8:38-39Nothing Can Separate Us
“For I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing will be able to separate us from God’s love which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Romans 10
More about Romans
Romans is Paul writing at full stretch, and many readers regard it as the clearest, fullest statement of the Christian gospel he ever set down. He wrote it to a church he had not yet visited, in the capital of the empire, partly to introduce himself and partly to lay out, carefully and in order, what he believed and why. The result is a letter that builds like an argument: first the bad news that all of us, religious or not, have gone wrong and stand in need of rescue, then the good news of what God has done in Jesus, and finally what grace does to a life once it takes hold. It rewards patient, unhurried reading.
The early chapters can feel heavy, because Paul is honest about the human condition before he gets to the cure. But the turn, when it comes, is glorious. He declares he is not ashamed of the gospel, because it is God's power to save everyone who believes (1:16). He explains that we are put right with God not by our own efforts but by trust in Christ, so that we now have peace with God (5:1). And he says the thing that has undone proud and broken people alike for centuries: that while we were still sinners, with nothing to offer, Christ died for us (5:8). This is grace, and Paul wants us to feel how undeserved and how secure it is.
If the doctrine sounds abstract, chapter eight brings it close to the bone. Paul writes to people who suffer, and he does not promise them an easy road. Instead he promises that God works all things together for good for those who love him (8:28), and he ends the chapter with a soaring list of everything that cannot separate us from God's love in Christ: not death, not life, not the present, not the future, nothing in all creation (8:38-39). We have read those verses at hospital bedsides and at gravesides, and they hold. They are not a denial of pain but a defiance of despair.
Romans changed Augustine, who heard a child's voice say 'take and read' and opened to its pages. It changed Luther, who found here that the righteous live by faith, and Wesley, whose heart was 'strangely warmed' as it was read aloud. We mention this not to impress but to encourage: this letter has a long history of meeting people in the moment they most needed it. Paul reminds us that the scriptures were written to give us endurance and hope (15:4), and that faith itself comes through hearing the message of Christ (10:17). If you are not sure where you stand with God, Romans is a good and bracing place to find out. Take it slowly, and let it tell you the truth.
Questions about Romans
- What is the book of Romans about?
- Romans is Paul's fullest explanation of the gospel. He works through it in order: first why every one of us, however moral, needs rescuing; then what God did about it through the death and resurrection of Jesus; then how grace reshapes the whole of a life, including how we treat one another. Its great themes are sin, grace, faith and the unbreakable love of God. It is more carefully structured than most of Paul's letters, which makes it demanding in places but deeply rewarding. If you want to understand the heart of Christian belief, Romans is the book that lays it out most completely.
- What does Romans 8:28 mean about all things working for good?
- Romans 8:28 says that God works all things together for good for those who love him and are called according to his purpose. It is one of the most loved verses in scripture, and also one of the most misused. It does not claim that everything that happens is good, or that suffering does not hurt. Paul, who wrote it, knew real hardship. What it promises is that God is able to weave even our worst days into a good and loving purpose. It is meant as a handhold in the dark, not a glib answer to grief. Read alongside the verses that follow, it points to a love nothing can sever.
- Why has Romans been so influential in church history?
- Romans has a remarkable history of changing lives at decisive moments. Augustine was converted while reading it. Martin Luther found in its teaching that we are justified by faith, which helped spark the Reformation. John Wesley felt his heart 'strangely warmed' while hearing Luther's preface to it read aloud. The reason is probably that Romans states the gospel so plainly and so completely. When people have wrestled with how a person can be right with God, this is the letter they have returned to again and again, and it has a way of speaking with fresh force to each generation.
Topics in Romans
The themes these verses speak to. Follow one to find related verses from right across the Bible.