What's the Context of all this? (2/15)

The book of Romans was a letter written by the apostle Paul to the church in Rome in the middle of the first century A.D. The emperor Nero was a harsh dictator who despised Christians. He had the Christians evicted from Rome a couple years before the letter was written, and they had since been able to come back to Rome. However, during this time, the church had become led by Gentiles, and the Jews and Gentiles were having significant struggle figuring out what it looked like to work together as one body. Most of the church was probably slaves and lower class. They seem to have gone through many trials in their walk of faith. Colin Kruse's commentary on Romans Paul's Letter to the Romans talks about their living conditions, "a small number lived in the better parts, especially those who were slaves in well-to-do households. Those in the poorer parts lived in insulae, flimsy, overcrowded, apartment blocks often of wooden construction and therefore terrible firetraps" (3). They certainly were not living the high life.

Though the purpose of Romans is debated, Paul was probably writing to encourage the Roman believers in the true meaning of the Gospel and to sort out some problems that the church had been having. Paul was planning on visiting Rome soon, so he was writing to get prayer support for his trip and to let them know that he had not forgotten about them.

In the letter to the Romans, Paul talks a lot about salvation, and what it means to the believer to be united with Christ. In chapter 8 specifically, he talks about the believer's new life in the Spirit, and what that should look like fleshed out.  "For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death" (v2). Believers are inherently different than the non-believing human. We are adopted into the family of God (v14) and are sons and daughters of the King.  That means that Christ's future is also our future. Gives you hope for tomorrow, right?