All of the books of the Bible are important because every one of them is the word of God. It's not right to minimize the value of any of them. However if it were possible to have a "most important" book of the Bible, Romans could very easily be that book. The reason Romans is so significant is because it is the most complete presentation of the Christian faith of any book in the Bible. It contains the who, what, where, when and why about Christianity. In it are the answers to some of life's most crucial questions. Romans explains such things as: What is God like? What does He think of man? Why, and on what criteria, will God judge people? What does God require of a person? Why is Jesus Christ so important? What does the Holy Spirit do? What happens to people after they die? What does it mean to be saved? How can a person know if they are saved? How does God want a Christian to live their life? The book of Romans also tells us what is happening with the Jews and why the nation of Israel is so important in God's plan for the world. The number of others topics covered by Romans are far too numerous to mention here. It is a literal storehouse of Christian knowledge, stocked to capacity with the wisdom of God. A person can go there, over and over, and each time come out with a new supply of divine information. God has given us the Bible, including the book of Romans, so that we can learn from it. Time spent studying it, will be time well spent.

God used a man by the name of Paul to write the book of Romans. Paul was an apostle (a special messenger) of Jesus Christ. He traveled extensively and preached about Jesus Christ in the 1st Century A.D. In addition to Romans, Paul was also the author of 12 other New Testament books. The New Testament books of Paul are also called epistles or letters. Most of what is known about Paul today, comes from either his own New Testament letters or from the New Testament book called the Acts of the Apostles. The book of Acts was written by Luke. This is the same Luke who also wrote the gospel of Luke. Luke was a physician and historian. He most likely traveled with Paul on his second and third missionary trips, and on his voyage to Rome. On several occasions, while describing these travels, Luke uses the word "we" and "us" to indicate that he was also there with Paul (Acts 16:10-17; Acts 20:5 - 21:18; Acts 27:1-37). Paul in his 2nd letter to Timothy writes that only Luke is with me (2 Tim. 4:11).

Paul was born in the city of Tarsus (Acts 9:11), which was located on the Mediterranean coast, in the area which is today known as Turkey. Paul was well educated. He received his training in Jerusalem from Gamiliel, who is considered by many to be the greatest Jewish rabbi (teacher) who ever lived. During his training Paul would have memorized the Scriptures (the Old Testament writings) and studied them according to the interpretation of the Talmud (the source of the Jewish code of law). Paul went on to become a Pharisee. The Pharisees were a very powerful religious and political party. They were popular with the Jewish people and well represented on the Sanhedrin (the Jewish supreme court and legislative body). The Pharisees were extremely legalistic and insisted that the tithing and ritual purity laws be strictly obeyed. Paul was a Jew, descended from the tribe of Benjamin (Phil. 3:5). But he was also a Roman citizen. Because his father was a Roman citizen, Paul was born a Roman citizen (Acts 22:25-28). Paul was also known by the name of Saul (Acts 13:9). Some Bible scholars think Paul was his Roman name and that Saul was his Jewish name. Others believe he was given the name Saul when he was born and that he changed his name to Paul after he became a Christian.

Because of his zeal for Jewish law and tradition, Paul became a strong opponent of the early Christian church. The first mention of Paul in the New Testament is in the book of Acts, at the stoning of an early Christian martyr named Stephen (Acts 7:58). Paul not only witnessed the murder of Stephen but he was also in hearty agreement with putting him to death (Acts 8:1). After Stephen's death, Paul went on to seek out and violently persecute Christians (Acts 8:3). Not content with just persecuting Christians in Jerusalem, Paul set out on a journey to Dasmascus to attack the Christians there. On the road to Damascus, he was confronted by Jesus Christ and struck blind (Acts 9:1-6). A few days later his sight was restored and he was converted to Christianity (Acts 9:7-18).

After his conversion, Paul went on to give his life completely in service to Jesus Christ. He is possibly the greatest Christian who ever lived. Besides being an apostle and the author of 13 New Testament books, he made three long missionary trips (Acts 13:4 - 21:17). It is believed that he wrote the book of Romans in 58 A.D., while in the city of Corinth, during his third missionary trip. The book of Romans is actually a long letter that Paul wrote to the Christian church in Rome. Paul had wanted for a long time to visit Rome, before he wrote this letter to them. He longed to go to Rome to preach the gospel to unbelievers there, and to teach and encourage those who were already Christians (Romans 1:9-15). He also says in his letter that he wanted to meet and get to know them, so they could encourage him too. Paul was praying, asking God to send him to Rome. He believed he would get there but he wasn't sure when. So he sent the Roman Christians this letter, both to introduce himself and to explain to them the gospel. Paul finally did get to Rome about 60 A.D. He was taken there as a prisoner (Acts 27:1-28:16) to go on trial before Caesar. While under house arrest in Rome, Paul wrote some of his letters, and preached to the soldiers guarding him and to other members of Caesar's household (Phil. 4:22). After being released a few years later he may have traveled to Spain. From his letters to Timothy and Titus, it appears as if he probably returned to some of the places he visited during his earlier missionary trips. It is believed that Paul was executed during the persecution of Christians by Nero. Tradition says that he was beheaded on the Ostian Road, near Rome, sometime in 67-68 A.D.

The apostle Paul was an incredible man. He was well educated, very intelligent, intensely compassionate toward the needs of others, hard working, persistent, extremely devoted to God and highly dedicated to serving Christ. When Jesus died, around 33 A.D., there may have been no more than a few hundred people who believed in him. It is estimated that by the end of the 1st Century A.D. there were approximately 1/2 million Christians. Many of these came to believe in Jesus Christ as a direct or indirect result of the work of the apostle Paul. It has now been more than 1900 years since Paul died and went to be with the Lord. What a blessing it is for us to be able to read today, the words of Paul, as (under the inspiration of the Spirit of God) he explains to us the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.

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