This week’s quote comes from Krister Stendahl‘s book on Romans entitled Final Account:
“There are few epistles to which we bring as much baggage as Paul’s Epistle to the Romans…My first admonition to those who read it is to forget everything they know about it. The recipients of this epistle presumably had not read any Gospel, or any of Paul’s other epistles. They certainly had not read any Gospels in the form we have them, and Romans came to them as a letter.” (9)
Wise words! It makes more sense when one doesn’t attempt to make Romans fit into a pre-conceived theological system.
Early Church Studies 