All You Need is Good News Paul’s letter to Rome
ISBN 978-0-6453288-7-5
This book is about a letter written by a man who lived in the first century of the Christian era. He was named Saul, in Hebrew, or Paul, in Greek. Hebrew was the ancient language of his people, the Jews. Greek was the common language of his world, the Roman Empire. In the second half of the second century, an anonymous writer described Paul as follows: ‘a man small of stature, with a bald head and crooked legs, in a good state of body, with eyebrows meeting and nose somewhat hooked, full of friendliness; for now he appeared like a man, and now he had the face of an angel.’ Paul’s personal appearance is depicted in such a plain and unflattering manner that the description may well reflect the truth.
This man may have had not only an ugly appearance but he also had an ugly beginning in the history of Christianity. He was in favour of stoning a leading Greek-speaking Jewish Christian, Stephen, and he was actively involved in throwing other Greek-speaking Jewish Christians into jail. But then things changed dramatically. On the way to persecute Christians in Damascus, Paul met the risen Jesus. Paul turned from the darkness to the light. He became a Christian. In time, he made three major journeys to share the good news which he had found through faith in Jesus the Messiah. Eventually, he was taken to Rome and was brought to trial before the emperor. Finally, like Stephen, he was prepared to die for his faith.
Why then do people make the effort to study this man’s letter to the Romans? A very good reason is that the letter to Rome has influenced the history of the world very significantly. It has changed the lives of some of the world’s greatest thinkers. Scattered through this book are the testimonies of some very famous characters in Christian history: Aurelius Augustine (354-430), Martin Luther (1483-1546), John Wesley (1703-1791), Karl Barth (1886-1968), and David Suchet (1946- ). The common denominator of these five characters is the transforming power of the message of Paul’s letter to the Romans. If it has had such an influence, then it seems a worthwhile exercise to make our way through the sixteen chapters of the letter.
