Bible Discussion Thread

INTRODUCTION TO ROMANS (Part 1):

Romans begins what is called the teaching or doctrinal section of the New Testament. All of Paul's writings are at the beginning of the teaching or doctrinal section. There are 13 letters that Paul wrote, beginning with Romans and going all the way through Philemon. These are Paul's 13 letters. They are not in chronological order. They are not in the order that Paul wrote them.

The book of Romans was written around 56 to 57 A.D. I and II Corinthians were written around 55 A.D. from Ephesus. Galatians, the earliest of Paul's letters, was written around 48 to 49 A.D. either from Antioch or Ephesus.

And then we have Ephesians, Philippians, and Colossians. These three, plus Philemon at the end, those four were a collection of letters called the prison epistles or prison letters because they were written by Paul during his first imprisonment in Rome between 60 and 62 A.D. I and II Thessalonians, written in 51 A.D. from Corinth.

And then the last three, and remember Philemon goes with Ephesians, Philippians, and Colossians, as far as a collection goes, but I Timothy, II Timothy, and Titus are called pastoral epistles or pastoral letters because they were written to two pastors. And this was Paul's second imprisonment in Rome between 63 and 65 A.D. He wrote I Timothy first. And then he wrote Titus. And Paul's last letter, right before he died, he wrote a second letter to Timothy, known as II Timothy.

So those are the dates. And as you can see, they are not listed in chronological order. Actually, they are listed in order according to II Timothy 3:16. Paul's the one that wrote this. He says to Timothy, "All scripture is given by inspiration of God." Literally, all scripture is God breathed, and is profitable for doctrine." That's number one. There's one doctrinal book, one book that is centered on doctrine in the whole New Testament, and that's the book of Romans.