Deep Dive into Romans: The MacArthur New Testament Commentary by John F. MacArthur Jr. - Romans Introduction

The Epistle to the Romans is a theological landmark that has profoundly shaped Christian history, driving major revivals and transformations. Its author, Paul, originally named Saul, was a Roman citizen born in Tarsus who learned the trade of tentmaking. Despite being highly educated in Jewish law under the renowned rabbi Gamaliel, Saul violently persecuted the early church until his miraculous conversion on the road to Damascus. After spending three years in Arabia for divine instruction, he began his ministry, later requiring the gracious intercession of Barnabas to be accepted by the apostles in Jerusalem.

Paul wrote Romans in the early spring of A.D. 58 while staying in Corinth during his third missionary journey. The letter’s central theme is justification by faith alone, a doctrine that revolutionized the lives of foundational church leaders across the centuries.

In September A.D. 386, Aurelius Augustine, a professor in Milan, was contemplating his sinful life in a garden when he heard a voice telling him to "Take up and read." He opened a scroll of Romans and was instantly converted by the passage (13:13 –14), which caused all his doubt to vanish.

Just over a thousand years later, Martin Luther, while teaching Romans at the University of Wittenberg, Germany, struggled with the meaning of "the righteousness of God." He eventually realized that this righteousness was not God’s punishing standard, but His gracious mercy justifying believers through faith. Luther called this realization his "gateway to heaven."

The spiritual power of Romans continued when, centuries later on May 24, 1738, John Wesley, who was searching for a genuine experience of salvation, went to a society in Aldersgate Street. While listening to someone read Luther’s Preface to Romans, Wesley felt his heart "strangely warmed," gaining assurance that he trusted Christ alone for salvation. The Epistle, which has been hailed as the "cathedral of Christian faith," was also instrumental in transforming John Bunyan into the literary master who wrote The Pilgrim’s Progress.

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