July 2026 Devotional Download — Romans Devotional (1) Introduction
Romans Devotional (1) Introduction — I Am Not Ashamed of the Gospel
To a city he had never seen, to people he had never met — the heart of the gospel Paul poured out
A Single Letter That Changed the World
A man writes to Christians in a city that is strange to him. He has never been there, and he has never met most of the believers who live there. And yet, into this one letter he pours everything he knows about the gospel.
That letter is the book of Romans. Wherever Augustine was converted, wherever Luther launched the Reformation, wherever Wesley’s heart was “strangely warmed” — Romans was there. It is the document that lays out the logic of the gospel more deeply and more systematically than anything else in the New Testament, the document the church has returned to again and again whenever it faced a crisis.
In this first introduction, we will look together at who, when, where, and why this letter was written. Then we will listen for the one central thing Paul truly wanted to say through it. (We will explore the contents of Romans chapter by chapter in the second introduction in August.)
Who Wrote It — The Apostle Paul
The very first sentence is the author’s signature: “Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle and set apart for the gospel of God” (Rom 1:1). From beginning to end, Romans is the letter of the apostle Paul.
Yet Paul did not hold the pen himself. Tucked into the closing of the letter is an intriguing greeting: “I, Tertius, who wrote down this letter, greet you in the Lord” (Rom 16:22). Paul dictated the letter to Tertius, a scribe at his side, who wrote it down. The sentences of this great letter flowed from one man’s mouth, passed through the fingertips of another brother, and were left to the world.
When and Where It Was Written — Corinth, around AD 57
Romans was written near the end of Paul’s third missionary journey, around AD 57, during his stay in Corinth (more precisely, in the Corinth region). Acts records this period in a single brief line: “he stayed three months” in Greece (Acts 20:2-3). It was on one of those days, during that three-month stay, that Romans was born.
Let me unfold the background a little further. During his third journey, Paul ministered for a long time in Ephesus. But in that same season, one church weighed heavily on his heart: the church in Corinth. Quarrels, moral failures, even suspicion of its leaders — Corinth was the “troubled church” that drove Paul to write a letter of tears and to endure a painful visit.
Paul did not give up on that church. Through letters, through messengers, and finally in person, he bound up its wounds and restored the relationship. Once the trouble in Corinth had quieted down, Paul remained there for three months. It was a brief rest after the storm had passed — and in that quiet, Paul looked toward his next mission. His eyes settled on Rome.
Why He Wrote It — Toward a Rome He Had Not Yet Seen
Paul had never been to Rome. Yet he had long wanted to go: “I planned many times to come to you” (Rom 1:13), he confesses. So why write this letter? Several reasons overlap.
First, to use Rome as a launching point toward somewhere farther. Paul’s vision did not stop at Rome. He carried a larger picture — to take the gospel through Rome all the way to Spain (Rom 15:24, 28). For him, the Roman church would be a solid base of partnership for his mission to the west. So he needed to explain, in advance and in full, exactly what gospel he preached to a church he had not yet met.
Second, to share his gospel without misunderstanding. All kinds of rumors trailed Paul, including the charge that he was “a man who tears down the law.” So rather than putting himself forward, Paul unfolds the gospel itself, carefully, from beginning to end. This is why Romans is unusually logical and systematic compared to his other letters. It is less a letter to put out a particular fire in a particular church, and more a presentation of the whole gospel.
Third, to encourage the believers in Rome and make them one. The Roman church at that time held both Jewish and Gentile believers, and there was tension between them. In this letter, Paul sought to bind them into one body with the truth of the gospel: “there is no difference between Jew and Gentile” (Rom 10:12).
The Coworkers He Sent Ahead to His Next Field — Priscilla and Aquila
Here are two people we must not forget: the couple Priscilla and Aquila.
They were originally Jewish Christians living in Rome, but an imperial edict expelling Jews forced them to leave home, and they first met Paul in Corinth (Acts 18:2). Sharing the same trade of tentmaking, this couple became Paul’s closest coworkers. Later they crossed over to Ephesus with Paul and continued the work there. It was they who set a man like Apollos on the right path (Acts 18:24-26).
Now, by the time Paul wrote Romans, this couple had returned to Rome — and that return was no accident. For Paul, it was a deliberate commissioning. Having set Rome as his next mission field, Paul sent the coworkers he trusted most ahead of him, like an advance team clearing the road before the main body arrives.
And they answered that call fully. In Rome they once again opened their home and planted a church. Paul greets them at the letter’s close: “Greet Priscilla and Aquila, my co-workers in Christ Jesus… Greet also the church that meets at their house” (Rom 16:3-5). When Paul finally reached Rome, he did not begin on bare ground. Trusted coworkers who knew him, and a community of believers already gathering to worship, were waiting for him. That this couple had laid the foundation for ministry in Rome is beyond doubt.
For Paul, this couple was a living bridge between himself and Rome, an advance team of coworkers he had sent ahead for his next mission. A city he had never once visited, believers whose faces he did not know — yet there, those who had risked their very lives with him had already settled in and prepared the ground of the gospel.
A brief note — Scripture does not clearly say whether Priscilla and Aquila were the very first founders of the Roman church (some hold that it began when Jews visiting from Rome at Pentecost received the gospel and returned home, Acts 2:10). But this much is beyond doubt: they planted a church in their home in Rome (Rom 16:5), and by the time Paul arrived, the groundwork for ministry was already laid.
What Paul Wanted to Say — The Righteousness of God Revealed in the Gospel
So what was the central thing Paul wanted to convey in this letter? Two verses hold the key that opens all of Romans:
“For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile. For in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed—a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: ‘The righteous will live by faith.'” (Rom 1:16-17)
The heart of Romans beats within these two verses. Summarized in three phrases, here is what Paul wanted to say:
First, the gospel is not something to be ashamed of, but the power of God. Rome was the heart of the strongest empire in the world. In the middle of that glittering city, Paul proclaims a Jewish carpenter nailed to a cross. This gospel, foolish in the eyes of the world, is in fact the power of God that gives people life — and Paul declares it boldly.
Second, this gospel reveals the righteousness of God. No one can become righteous before God by their own effort. This is the painful truth Romans drives home in its opening chapters: “There is no one righteous, not even one” (Rom 3:10); “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Rom 3:23). Yet at that very place of despair, God offers his own righteousness as a gift — not a righteousness we build up, but one God clothes us with, free of charge.
Third, that righteousness is given by faith alone. “The righteous will live by faith.” Jew or Gentile, impressive or unimpressive, there is only one way to stand before God — faith in Jesus Christ. Before the gospel, then, no one can boast, and at the same time, no one is excluded.
This is why Paul longed to carry this gospel to Rome, and beyond it to the ends of Spain. This gospel belongs not to one people but to everyone who believes. It is news meant to flow to the ends of the earth.
As We Begin This Study
Romans is not a theology textbook. It is a letter pulsing with the warm heart of an apostle for believers he had not yet met. From a place where the turmoil of Corinth had only just settled, looking toward his next mission, Paul poured out everything he held of the gospel.
Through this devotional series, we will walk into that letter one step at a time. And with each step, we will ask ourselves:
- Am I not ashamed of this gospel — in the middle of the world, before other people?
- Am I still trying to stand before God by piling up my own righteousness?
- Is the gospel merely information to me, or is it the power of God that gives me life?
When Paul confessed, “I am not ashamed of the gospel,” it was not merely a brave saying. His whole life was the evidence of that confession. As we walk this devotional together, may we too experience the power of that gospel afresh in our own lives.
