What Is the Purpose of the Book of Romans?

Historical and Pastoral

The question of the purpose of the book of Romans is important for two reasons. The first is historical. The Bible is history. We want to know why Paul wrote this letter. But there’s also a practical purpose, namely, what use are we going to put the book of Romans to, and the purpose will inform that question.

The purpose of Romans has been studied for a very long time. In the Reformation, people say that it was regarded as a compendium of theology—depravity, justification, union with Christ, predestination. You read Romans to learn about doctrines. That’s a bit unkind to the Reformers, but we’ll leave it there for a moment. More recently, scholars have realized that the book of Romans, like Paul’s other letters, is really occasional. They’re written into particular situations and settings. So, the occasion of Romans, most scholars say, is threefold.

In Romans 15, Paul tells the Roman church he wants to use them as a base of operations for extending his mission to Spain. He’s proclaimed the name of Christ in quite a bit of the Roman Empire. He wants to go to Italy and then further west to Spain. So, there’s a missional purpose. There’s also an apologetic purpose. Paul has never visited the church in Rome. Someone else founded this church, so he wants to present himself and his gospel in a way that will get them on his side and bring them into his orbit.

And then many scholars today think there’s also a pastoral purpose, citing Romans 14 and 15, saying there’s a dispute in Rome between the strong and the weak over Jewish diet and calendar. And Paul addresses those divisions right throughout the letter.

In fact, one scholar has said that the best way to read Romans (like the title of his book) is to read Romans backwards. Not literally, but thinking everything up to Romans 14 is leading to a resolution of that dispute. Now, my own view is that there is a pastoral purpose of Romans, but it’s much broader than dealing with division. And we pick that up from what we call the letter frame.

In Romans 1:11, Paul says, “I want to impart to you a spiritual gift.” And in Romans 1:15 he says, “I want to preach the gospel to you.” So we ask ourselves, Well, why would Paul be preaching the gospel, this gift he wants to give them, if they’re already Christians?

The hint is that he wants to impart this spiritual gift to strengthen them. In one sense, the book of Romans is Paul presenting his gospel in full, with all its implications, to strengthen the Roman believers. And in Romans 16:25, right at the end of the letter, he says exactly that. He says, “Now, may God strengthen you with my gospel, the preaching of Jesus Christ.”

So, its purpose is to make Christians strong to face sin, to have hope, to deal with hardship, to love our enemies, and to be submissive to government. All of those things come together for Paul with his gospel message. The really remarkable thing is the verb that Paul uses for “to strengthen” is used another four times in his letters. In 1 and 2 Thessalonians, where he has already preached the gospel to that church, he writes to strengthen them. And even more remarkably, Luke uses a similar verb “to strengthen” four times in the book of Acts, where Paul’s already established a church, then he comes back, and he takes the gospel and strengthens them. So, I think it’s really helpful to think about how understanding the gospel helps us to deal with the challenges of the Christian life. And Romans is a remarkably full answer to that question.

Brian S. Rosner is the author of Strengthened by the Gospel: A Theology of Romans.

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