W. HU
The letter to Romans is the longest and regarded as most
important letter of Paul. It addresses many issues that are fun-
damental to Christian faith and its practice, an apparent con-
tinuation and elaboration of Paul’s theology stated in Galatians.
The theological principles covered in this letter include con-
demnation, justification, sanctification, glorification, and con-
secration, with a distinct exposition on salvation by the grace of
God through faith in Jesus Christ alone. In this letter, Paul in-
troduces himself to the believers of the Roman church and
strengthens their faith, and informs them his plan to visit their
city and hope they will assist him financially go from there to
Spain (Romans 15:24,28). He plans to use Rome as a base for
his missionary work similar to that in Antioch, since Spain is
far from Antioch. He also deals with some of the problems that
the church in Rome is dealing with such as the unity between
Jewish and Gentiles believers.
He begins in this letter with an explanation of the sinful state
of humanity that makes it impossible to keep the law in the
sight of God. He writes “For all have sinned, and come short of
the glory of God.” (Romans 3:23). He then teaches that salva-
tion from sin is only possible by the grace of God through faith
in Jesus and not through observance of Jewish law using Abra-
ham as an example. He writes: “For the wages of sin is death;
but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord”
(Romans 6:23). He further points out that “A man is a Jew if he
is one inwardly; and circumcision is circumcision of the heart,
by the Spirit, not by the written code” (Romans 2:29). Paul also
advises the Romans to live as a follower of Jesus with harmony,
humility, love, charity, forgiveness, and submission, since he is
aware of some conflict between Gentile and Jewish believers in
the Roman church. Paul presents his doctrine of justification
through faith in Galatians and Romans based on the examina-
tion of the Mosaic Law and quoting the story of Abraham’s
faith. In these two letters, the gospel of grace, in contrast to the
false gospel of works, is revealed more clearly than in his other
letters.
The major theme (or a concise summary of the content) of
this letter is “It is the power of God for the salvation of every-
one who believes; first for the Jew, then for the Gentile. For in
the Gospel, a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteous-
ness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: “he
righteous will live by faith” (Romans 1:16-17). Here Paul
quotes a verse in Habakkuk 2:4: “The righteous will live by
faith”, a truth illustrated throughout the history of Israel and
first modeled in Abraham’s life. He also quotes this verse in
Galatians 3:11. Further, Hebrews 10:38 uses this verse as well.
The death of Jesus on the cross reconciled the sinner, Jews and
Gentiles, with God, which signals the end of Law as a means of
justification. Paul emphasizes justification is by the grace of
God through faith in Christ and the children of God are not
based on genealogy or circumcision, but on faith in Jesus (Stott,
2001).
First Corinthians is written to correct many problems devel-
oped in the Corinthian community (divisions in the church,
trust in man’s wisdom, immorality) and to answer the questions
from the church regarding marriage and divorce, food, worship,
spiritual gifts, and resurrection. His own conversion provides
powerful testimony to the resurrection of Christ. This letter also
contains the greatest description and explanation of love ever
written (1 Corinthians 13). In regard to the wisdom of God,
Paul writes “The foolishness of God is wiser than man’s wis-
dom, and the weakness of God is stronger than man’s strength”
(1 Corinthians 1:25).
After the first letter to Corinthians, news of continuing prob-
lems in Corinth reached Paul. The second letter to Corinthians
is the least doctrinal of Pauline letters, but an intensely personal
and emotional letter revealing the personal character of the
apostle more than any other letters. At the same time, the con-
tent structure of this letter is evidently uneven and digressive,
as seen from the sudden shift of subject between chapters 10 -
13 and chapters 1 - 9. As a result, some scholars suggest that
this letter is a composition of a few letters of Paul. In this letter,
Paul affirms his affection for the Corinthians and expresses his
joy at the favorable response of the church to his ministry. But
most importantly, he defends the authenticity of both his apos-
tleship and his message. His final greetings in chapter 13:14
(“May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God,
and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.”) are fre-
quently used in the church today.
Prison Letters
After hearing from a church leader Epaphras (Colossians
1:7-8) about the gospel had born fruit and some dangers (pa-
ganism and heresy) facing the Colossian church, Paul wrote
Colossians to encourage the church in their faith in Christ and
elaborates the true gospel based on the supremacy and suffi-
ciency of Christ, and to guard them against the dangers facing
the church. Paul claims as in Ephesians that Christ is the head
of the church (Colossians 1:18). Colossians focuses on Christ
as the header of the church, while Ephesians teaches the con-
cept that church is the body of Christ.
Ephesians was written after Colossians, dealing with the
similar subjects in a more elaborate way and having a style
closer to a doctrinal letter (O’Brien, 1999; Goodspeed, 1933).
Colossians has 4 chapters, but Ephesians has 6. It does not deal
with problems of particular churches; instead it points the views
of its readers from an earthly/temporary reference to a heav-
enly/eternal reference. In this letter, Paul reveals the mystery
that Christ is the head of the church and the church is the body
of Christ. To keep the church pure and holy as Christ is pure
and holy
, he encourages the believers to live in a manner that is
fitting with their position as believers. It contains no allusion to
the personal circumstances of people in the city of Ephesus.
The letter to Ephesians can be divided into two parts. The first
part, chapters 1 - 3, explains the doctrine, while the second part,
chapters 4 - 6, deals with the practice of Christian faith. He
writes: “For it is by grace you have been saved, through
faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not
by works, so that no one can boast” (Ephesians 2:8-9). The
Ephesians describes the church as the body of Christ and God’s
glory in the church, while in Corinthians Paul discusses the
details of establishing the church as a witness to Christ on
earth.
Paul established at Philippi the first Christian community in
Europe on his second missionary journey (Acts 16:9-40).
Comparing to his other letters, Philippians could be read as a
letter of joy, unity, and friendship in Christ. He states explicitly
his love for them such as “I have you in my heart” and “I long
for you with the affection of Christ Jesus” (Philippians 1:7-8)
and his thanksgiving and acknowledgement of their gifts such
as “I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the
gospel from the first day until now” (Philippians 1:4) and “you
sent me aid again and again when I was in need (Philippians
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