Letter to the Romans

The Letter to the Romans is the longest of Paul's letters, written in Greek in about AD 57, probably from Corinth, to a Christian community in Rome that he had not yet visited. It is the fullest statement of his thought. The Vulgate text of the letters is a late fourth-century revision of the older Latin translations, generally thought to be by a reviser of Jerome's circle rather than Jerome himself.

After his greeting, Paul argues that Gentiles and Jews alike have failed to live rightly and stand under God's judgement. He sets out his central claim, that people are made righteous not by keeping the law but through faith, and illustrates it from Abraham, who was counted righteous for his faith before he was circumcised. He contrasts Adam, through whom sin and death came, with Christ, and describes believers as dead to sin and alive to God. He explores the struggle of the divided self under the law and the new life of the Spirit. Chapters 9 to 11 ask why most of Israel has not believed and use the image of an olive tree with grafted branches. The closing chapters give moral teaching on love, obedience to the authorities and tolerance between the weak and the strong, followed by Paul's travel plans and a long list of greetings.

Romans has shaped Western theology more than almost any other text; Augustine's conversion turned on a verse of chapter 13 read in Latin. Its argument is dense, but the Latin is not hard.