Friday July 15: Romans 1:1-6 – ‘From Whom?’

We’re starting slow and easy: who’s writing this letter?

Have you written a cover letter to introduce yourself to a potential new employer or client or school? Did they already know about you by reputation?

Paul is on his way to Rome – actually to stop in Rome on his way to Spain, he’ll say soon in this letter. He has been working around the east end of the Mediterranean, in Turkey and Greece.

What do you know – or assume that you know – about Paul and his reputation? Is he, as Crossan puts it in a ‘Living the Questions’ video, an ‘Appealing or Appalling Apostle?’ Are you predisposed for, or against him?

How does Paul place himself as an agent? For whom or for what does he say he’s working?

Which translation do you prefer? The New Revised Standard Version is the bible in our pews, updated in the 1990’s to address issues of gender in translation, but generally keeping to the mid-20th century RSV standard of careful academic and orthodox accuracy. The Message is a more freestyle, vernacular version, a paraphrase of the original which was written in Greek. Many of us find the Good News easier to read – or know the Jerusalem Bible from their Catholic roots.

We won’t go this slow for the coming weeks – and we’ll leave it up to you to have the text in hand or online, in some translation that you like reading.


Text of Romans 1:1-6