He also says that “The bulk of Romans focuses on how God has acted in Christ to bring the individual sinner into a new relationship with himself (cha ps. Moo argues that the theme of Romans is the gospel. And still others see the theme as incorporating Gentiles into God’s people within the continuity of salvation history. Others feel that it primarily concerns union with Christ. Some claim it to be justification by faith. The theme of Romans has been a topic of debate over the centuries. And, finally, chapters 14 and 15 also point to there being problems within the church that he was hoping to be able to correct.
So, this letter could have been at least in part to prove his orthodoxy. There were many that Paul had contended with over the years who may have been spreading falsehood about him (see Rom. In connection with a possible hope for support, Paul may well have been laying out the gospel he preached. And it may well be, as Mounce says, that he was looking for a longer-term relationship with them as he worked in Spain – a relationship like what he had enjoyed with Antioch while working in the eastern part of the empire. He was planning to pass through Rome on the way and seemed hopeful of support while there. Among these would be his upcoming trip to Spain. It likely was a combination of things that prompted its writing. It is hard to know definitively what Paul’s purpose was in writing this letter. It is commonly accepted, according to Moo, that Paul wrote this letter during the three months he was in Corinth, as recorded in Acts 20:2-3. In Romans 15:25-29 he tells the Romans that he is one his way to Jerusalem with a gift from the believers in Greece and that once he finishes that he plans on heading to Rome and then Spain. This letter would appear to have been written at the end of his third missionary journey.
According to Bill Mounce, in “The New American Commentary on Romans,” it is likely that he was looking for some support from this church as he ventured further and further to the west. He had never been in Rome but was hoping to stop there for a while on a future trip to Spain ( Romans 15:23-24). Paul writes this letter to Rome, at least in part, as an introduction to them.
In Romans 1:7, 15, Paul identifies the audience of this letter as believers in Rome. Douglas Moo, in “The Epistle to the Romans,” says that it is most likely that Tertius was taking dictation since the style of the writing is so close to that of Galatians and 1 Corinthians. In Romans 16:21, Tertius is identified as the one who served as the actual writer, or amanuensis, of the letter. Sometimes an amanuensis would write from a general outline while other times they would take dictation. The only issue with authorship concerns the uses of an amanuensis, or secretary, who did the actual writing of the letter. And, according to Everett Harrison, in the NIV Bible Commentary, Volume 2, “From the post-apostolic church to the present, with almost no exception, this letter has been credited to Paul.” The early church universally accepted Paul’s authorship of this letter. Romans 1:1 identifies the Apostle Paul as the author of the Letter to the Romans.