Opinions about the theme of Romans have tended over time to move the center of attention from the beginning to the end of the letter. The Reformers, following the lead of Luther, singled out justification by faith, prominent especially in Rom. 1-4, as the theme of the letter. At the beginning of this century, however, Albert Schweitzer argued that justification by faith was no more than a “battle” doctrine—a doctrine Paul used only to fight against Judaizers—and that the true theme of Romans is to be found in the teaching of Romans 6-8 about union with Christ and the work of God’s Spirit. Romans 9-11 was the next section to take center stage in the debate. Far from the excursus that some have found in these chapters, scholars such as Krister Stendahl think that the central theme of Romans is to be found here: the history of salvation and of the two peoples, Jews and Gentiles, within this history. Finally, it has been argued that the practical exhortation to unity in 14:1-15:13 is the true heart of the letter (see the previous section).
Each of these positions is alive in current scholarship, though sometimes in modified form. For example, the centrality of justification by faith is upheld by Ernst Kasemann —but only as one facet of the larger category “righteousness of God,” interpreted to mean God’s intervention in history to reclaim his creation for himself and to bring salvation to his people. E. P. Sanders has followed Schweitzer in putting the stress on the “participationist” language of Romans 5-8. A large number of scholars think that Romans is about the role of Israel in salvation history. And other themes have also been singled out: God, hope, and salvation, to name only a few.
It is possible that Romans does not have a single theme, that the most we can do is note recurring motifs within several distinct topics. But if we are to single out one theme, a good case can be made for the “gospel.” This word and its cognate verb “to evangelize” are prominent in the introduction and in the conclusion of Romans, that is, in its epistolary frame, where we might expect to encounter any overarching topic. It is the word “gospel” that has pride of place in Rom. 1:16-17, which is so often (and probably rightly) taken to be the statement of the letter’s theme. Moreover, as we have seen, Romans grows out of Paul’s missionary situation, which makes natural a focus on that gospel with which Paul had been entrusted by his Lord. Romans, then, is Paul’s statement of his gospel.
This summary of the gospel in tractate form has rightly furnished theologians throughout the centuries with prime material for their work. While not a timeless summary of Paul’s theology, Romans is nevertheless much less tied to specific first-century circumstances than almost any other book of the New Testament. Less translation from first-century culture to ours is needed than is usually the case. As James Denney says, “Is it not manifest that when we give [the conditions under which Paul wrote] all the historical definiteness of which they are capable, there is something in them which rises above the casualness of time and place, something which might easily give the epistle not an accidental or occasional character, but the character of an exposition of principles?” On this point, Augustine, Luther, and Calvin have seen more clearly than their latter-day critics.
Nevertheless, as we have seen, this statement of the the gospel is made against a first-century background. The most important element in this background is also the most important issue that the early church had to face: the nature of the continuity between God’s first “word” and his second, and between the people of that first word, Israel, and the people of that second word, the church. At this point in particular, Romans makes its contribution to the formulation of New Testament faith. For the way in which the relationship between the Old Testament and the New Testament, between law and gospel, Israel and church, is expressed—the degree of continuity and discontinuity—is fundamental to the construction of any Christian theology. Romans supplies the basic building blocks for the construction of that foundation.