Faith Works Summer Devotions

“There is no saying what may happen when people begin to study the letter to the Romans. So let those who have read thus far be prepared for the consequences of reading farther: you have been warned!” – NT Scholar F.F. Bruce Background of the Book of ROMANS: PAUL, dictating to his scribe, Tertius (16:22). Paul is in the seaport of Cenchrea (16:1) at Corinth at the end of his third missionary journey (after the writing of 2 Corinthians). He has finished an important stage of his missionary work; “from Jerusalem all the way around to Illyricum, I have fully proclaimed the gospel of Christ” (15:19). This geography includes all the churches he had planted on his famous mission journeys (Acts 13-20) in south Galatia (Pisidian Antioch, Lystra, Iconium, and Derbe), and in the Roman provinces of Asia (Ephesus), Macedonia (Philippi, Thessalonica) and Achaia (Corinth). · Paul is ready for his next challenge: he plans to go back to Jerusalem to bring a collection for the mother church there (hopefully healing some of th