I think the Book of Romans is Paul's magnum opus. It is the closest thing to a systematic theology that he ever came up with.
You may have your own fond recollections of the epistle, many do find it most influential in shaping their thinking and devotion. One is reminded of Augustine, who was delivered from a lustful lifestyle after reading a portion of Romans 13:13-14. And the rest is history.
A couple of centuries later, a German monk contemplated on its great theme of God’s justice and on the verse “The just shall live by faith”. And he came away discovering the nature of justification and shook the entire Western civilisation with the Reformation movement. That man is, no doubt, Martin Luther.
Let’s not forget the “Prince of Arminianism” himself: John Wesley. Despite founding the Holy Club and crossing the Atlantic to save the North American natives, he came back bitterly disillusioned. Then he heard a message on Romans and felt his heart “strangely warmed”. That was the spark that later blazed into the Great Awakening. And we can go on about Barth who “dropped a bomb in the playground of the theologians” with its commentary.
What about you? Tolle Lege!
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