Epistle to the Romans

The Epistle to the Romans is one of the epistles, or letters, included in the New Testament canon of the Christian Bible. When it is clear that the Bible is being discussed, it is often referred to as simply "Romans". Romans is one of the seven currently (as of 2004) undisputed letters of Paul and even among the four letters accepted as authentically his (in German scholarship, the Hauptbriefen) by F. C. Baur and the Tübingen School of historical criticism of texts in the 19th century.

General Characterisation

Paul sometimes uses a style of writing common in his time called a "diatribe." He appears to be responding to a "heckler" and the his letter is structured as a series of arguments. The letter is addressed to the church at Rome which consisted of both Gentile and Jewish Christians. In the flow of the letter Paul shifts his arguments, sometimes addressing the Jewish members of the church, sometimes the Gentile membership, and sometimes the church as a whole.

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