Sermon Series on Romans

The Narrative Lectionary ended this year with a series on Paul's letter to the Romans.

Typically it has been thought that Paul knows nothing about the church in Rome and uses this letter to introduce himself to the church, perhaps in the hopes of getting their support for a new mission trip to Spain.  So the first half of the letter is considered an introduction of Paul's theology and the second half of the letter describes some of Paul's answers to common problems churches face.

However, after reading the thoughts of some other commentators, I've come to believe that Paul is very familiar with the church in Rome.  This letter addresses a problem that is tearing the church apart:  differences in theology and practice within the congregation.  Paul writes to show how the Gospel calls them to exercise "mutual forbearance."  That is, because of God's love revealed in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, Christians should accept and encourage each other, even when we don't agree on what we believe or how we live out our beliefs.