The rich, soaked, enlightening and well-knitted book of Romans encompassing sixteen chapters inaugurated the Reformation process in the 16th Century. For almost two years, Martin Luther invested his life instudying the book of Romans (1515-16). It was this comprehensive romancing in the book of Romans that paved the way for the introduction of faith-based Salvation movement in the Church.As he was immersing himself in the book, Romans 1:17 came as a light piercing through the windows of ignorance and superstition. It says: “The righteous will live by faith.” The year 1517, October 31st Luther nailed his 95 theses on the door of Wittenberg Church. These theses led to an upheaval within the Church eventually Luther had to flee his town but the writings created a major blow to the Bible-ignorant members. It was this book of Romans that started the engine of genuine Christianity.
Any contemporary Christians today need to rush back to Romans to check the reality of their faith and salvation. The plainly stated truths of God’s indictment and judgment against an immoral culture and society cannot be simply dodged. The erotomania-oriented, mammon-power-monger milieu depicts the time when Paul wrote this letter to the Roman Church. It was marked by unprecedented immorality and degeneration of ethics. For instance, Historian Seneca wrote, “women were married to be divorced and divorced to be married.” Another contemporary writer cites the case of a woman who had eight husbands in five years. The royal empress, Agrippina, the wife of Claudius, would leave at dark to go down to serve in a brothel for the sake of sheer lust. It is said that fourteen out of the first fifteen Roman Emperors were homosexuals. The age of Romans was a golden period of development, innovation, progress and unparalleled prosperity for some fortunate few. But it was morally dark and the fall was imminent.
Paul in his letter addresses all these issues of the rampant immoralities and destructive philosophies (Epicurianism, Stoicism, Cynicism and others) that were blinding the rich yet fading Roman Empire to turn to the living God. The book of Romans deals with the problem of society arguing that the problem with mankind is not outer but inward. In simple sense, man has become a slave of sin and the eradication of the malady is only possible by the Spirit of Jesus Christ. It calls for the Christians to live submitting and obeying the laws of the land so far as they live their Christian lives in the backdrop of all that Christ has achieved for them on the Cross. The theological themes running through Romans make the book a unique treatise of Christian faith. The romancing in the book of Romans is the need for the Christians to pause, reflect and reform the understanding and teachings of the foundational truth of God’s book. I firmly believe the jewels contained in this book, if read and obeyed, will lead to another Reformation in this 21st Century. God bless!
Vebu Khamo
