Dear Friends,

When was the last time you sat down to write a letter, when you took out a piece of stationery and put pen and ink on the paper? Who would you address it to and what would be the purpose of that letter?

Maybe it was a letter of thanks, or a letter acknowledging a recent event, or a letter of concern or well-being. Soldiers in far off places will write letters home to let their loved ones know how they are doing. And I would think that the bright spot of their day is when they receive a letter from home. Love letters have long been kept as a remembrance of a time long ago, to read the message once again.

If you were to write a letter to someone, what would you want them to know?

Some would say that we have lost the art of letter writing because we can do that by e-mail, text, phone, or have AI write it for us. Back in the day before such things, letter writing was the way we communicated with one another and the art of letter writing goes back centuries.

I recall my days in school when we would learn the parts of a perfectly formulated letter. The apostle Paul was a master letter writer. Maybe it was from Paul that we learned how to write them.

He always stated with a greeting and an uplifting word to the person or organization addressed. Then he would get to the purpose of the matter. He would end with instructions or recommendation on how to proceed and close with a final word. Sam Rainter writes in his book Loved and Unashamed: “Paul wrote thirteen New Testament letters, each born out of specific needs within the church. Sometimes he encouraged as in Philippians. Sometimes he corrected, as in Corinthians. Sometimes he defended the true gospel against false teaching, as in Galatians. His letters became the preferred method of guiding, shaping, and strengthening these communities of believers scattered across the roman Empire.”

 The Letter to the Romans was different. It was not a church that he had started or visited. Paul wanted to introduce himself to the Jewish/Gentile church there. He also wanted to ground the church in truth, unite Jewish and Gentile believers, and present the clearest gospel message in the New Testament.

We should thank God for those who realized the importance of Paul’s letters and preserved them in Holy Scriptures for us to enjoy and learn from. I hope you will join me in a study of this letter not reading it as a theological masterpiece but reading it as a letter written to unite us and to inspire us to live our faith unashamed.

I thank God for you,

Pastor Kathy