Why is Paul’s letter
to the church in Rome so long? He set out to explain to these saints the Gospel
that he preaches. I think that we’d all agree that he accomplished that in the
first few chapters. Chapter one: the Gentiles are sinners worthy of the wrath
of God. Chapter two: the Jews are also sinners and also worthy of wrath. He
pulls this together in the beginning of chapter three with a list of Scriptures
that starts with,
None is righteous, no, not one; Romans 3.10
He’s made it clear
that everyone is guilty.
With that settled,
he then launches into the key Gospel themes, things like how Jesus’ death deals
with the wrath of God, how we are declared righteous before God because of what
Jesus has done and how all of this is ours by faith alone. That’s the rest of
chapter three. He then illustrates these things in chapter four pointing to
Abraham and David and ending that with a declaration about the key role of
faith.
Okay, he’s covered
the Gospel: God, sin, Christ, faith. Isn’t that enough? Paul, isn’t it time to
end the letter? You’ve accomplished your goal, no?
Well, obviously not.
It seems that Paul thought that there was more of the Gospel for those saints
to know. And the Spirit thought the same for us, which is why this letter is in
the Bible.