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Back when journalists were trained to write for newspapers rather than blogs, they were taught to put the answers to the most important questions at the top: who is this about? What happened? Where and when? They did this for people who only had time to skim the headlines and the first paragraph. The rest of the article filled in the details.
Paul, who wrote the letter to the church in Rome, is essentially doing the same thing. Who wrote the letter? Paul, a slave of Christ Jesus—and he’ll tell us more about that later—chosen by God for this purpose: to preach the Good News. What is the Good News? Paul will explain more, but here he tells us it’s about Jesus Christ, the Son of God raised from the dead. And who is it for? The church in Rome, God’s chosen people, deeply loved by him.
Paul wrote this letter around 55-57 AD, possibly while he was in Corinth during his second missionary journey. The churches of Asia Minor and Greece had raised funds to help the Christians in Jerusalem, and Paul planned to deliver it. But he told the church in Rome that he hoped to visit them soon—to encourage them and to be encouraged by them.
Paul was intelligent and knew the Scriptures inside and out. He was saved by grace through faith, and Christ made him an apostle, to spread the Good News to the Gentiles. And yet, even with all his knowledge and experience, Paul wanted encouragement from believers hundreds of miles away. New or mature, young or old, deeply rooted in Scripture or just starting to learn—it doesn’t matter. As followers of Christ, we can all encourage one another as we seek to fully follow him.
Pray: Dear God, I’m not an influencer with a big following, but I love you and want to help others fully follow you. Give me opportunities to share the Good News with the people around me. Amen.