GETTING READY: Who wrote Romans?

The first book we'll be studying for the 2013-2014 season will be the epistle to the Romans.  The next few weeks of the "Getting Ready" series, we will be considering the high-level questions about this book.  If you have additional questions, don't be shy about e-mailing the coaches!

Who wrote the epistle to the Romans?

(By the way, "epistle" means "letter".  It sounds fancy, but it's not.)

While there are doubts about who wrote many of the books of the Bible, Romans is not one of them.  As was common for letters in the day, the author puts his name in the very first line:

Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God,
Romans 1:1

All of the early church fathers (and mothers) were agreed on the authorship, as well.  It is the same Paul (also know as Saul) first mentioned in Acts 8:1 and converted to Christianity in Acts 9.  Paul is unique among the apostles, because he was the only one who didn't know Jesus before the Resurrection.  So, why was he approved as an apostle?  Because Jesus appeared to him directly on the road to Damascus!

Paul was the most prolific writer (in terms of numbers of books) in the New Testament.  He wrote 13 epistles/letters (Romans, 1 Corinthians, 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, 1 Thessalonians, 2 Thessalonians, 1 Timothy, 2 Timothy, Titus, and Philemon).