Behold, the Son of God

Christians in every age have acknowledged the importance of Paul’s Epistle to the Romans. It is foundational theology for Christianity. Paul is the purest and most complete theologian for understanding and defining the theology of the New Testament.
This Epistle to the Romans is the sixth of his thirteen epistles: it followed the epistle to the Galatians, the two epistles to the Thessalonians, and the two epistles to the Corinthians. Eight years have elapsed between the writing of Galatians and Romans. As a result, Paul had deepened his understanding and explanations of both the Person of Christ, the gospel message, and the purpose and function of the church.
The Epistle to the Romans is about the gospel of God, the election of God, and our living a new and transformed life consistent with the gospel. This epistle professed that the righteousness of God is revealed through the gospel and that the righteous are saved through faith. This epistle proclaimed that there is no commendation by God for those who are in Christ: this epistle also proclaimed that there is no separation from God for those who are in Christ. This epistle also revealed the doctrine of election and the righteousness that is through faith and not through the law. This epistle also revealed the characteristics of Christian behavior which is consistent with the Gospel of God.
As a result and throughout the ages, many commentaries have been written to disclose the multiple truths revealed in this epistle.
However, I have taken a different approach in this commentary by addressing it more to lay people, who seek to enrich their lives, strengthen their faith, increase their righteousness, and develop a stronger relationship with the Trinitarian God.
Most lay people seek God’s truths so that their daily lives make more sense and that obedience to the truths of God will lead to a more fruitful, productive, and rewarding life. They seek to understand and obey fundamental Christian standards and values. They seek to understand the heart of God and to know and appreciate the love of God; they seek confidence in the authoritative Word of God; they seek to know how they can serve God, and they seek to know how they can be more pleasing to God.
Christianity in every age has acknowledged the importance of Paul’s Epistle to the Romans. Martin Luther called it “really the chief part of the New Testament, and… truly the purest gospel.” He added: “it is worthy not only that every Christian should know word for word, by heart, but also that he should occupy himself with it every day.”
The theology in this epistle will equip Christians to live a life pleasing to God. The theology in this epistle may be the most powerful and effective message for evangelism. The theology in this epistle might well contain the essential truths for the spiritual life of the Christian Church.
The epistle is a Christian manifesto of freedom through Jesus Christ. It is the fullest, plainest, and grandest statement of the gospel in the New Testament. Throughout the centuries, this epistle has been recognized as perhaps the most complete theological statement regarding the Gospel of God.
This epistle was written to transform and change lives for the glory of the Kingdom of God. It has been doing that through the centuries: it can do that today.
Its message is eternal; its promises are being fulfilled, even today.
Its message is that human beings are born in sin and slavery, but that Jesus Christ came to set us free. For here is unfolded the good news, the gospel of freedom; freedom from the holy and righteous wrath of God upon all unrighteousness; freedom from alienation into reconciliation; freedom from the condemnation of God’s law; freedom from the fear of death; freedom one day from the decay of the groaning creation into the glorious liberty of God’s children; freedom from ethnic conflicts in the family of God; and freedom to give ourselves to the loving service of God and others.
This epistle has five main themes: the first is the redefinition of the basis of salvation which is not based on the Law, but by grace alone and faith alone in Christ Jesus; the second is the redefinition of the people of God not according to physical birth but by spiritual birth and by faith; the third is the righteousness that is based on faith in God; the fourth is the doctrine of election; the fifth is the explanation of Christian behavior as based on Christian belief.
Paul’s epistle to the Romans provides answers to the most profound questions of Christianity: e.g. how to be delivered from sin, how to live a life under the mantle of grace, how to live the victorious Christian life through the power of the Holy Spirit, how to understand the victory which we have in Christ, how to acknowledge the eternal love of God, how to prepare for the life to come; how to understand the Will and Plan of God, how to remain firm in the midst of opposition and persecution, how to have the mind of Christ, and how to conform to the image of Jesus Christ.