BULLSEYE!
ACCURATE BIBLE
KNOWLEDGE!
QUESTION: “WHY IS THE BOOK
OF ROMANS
CALLED THE PRINCE OF BOOKS?”
ANSWER: “READ
WHAT OTHERS HAVE SAID
ABOUT THE BOOK”
CHRYSOSTOM (347–407) (He was called
‘The Golden
Mouth’) would have Romans read to him twice a week. So wonderful and
powerful
was the book.
MARTIN
LUTHER (1483 –
1546) In his
preface to the Epistle to the Romans he states “This
epistle is in truth the chief part of
the New Testament and the purest
gospel. It would be quite proper for a
Christian, not only to know it by
heart word for word, but also to study
it daily, for it is the soul’s daily
bread. It
can never be read or meditated too much
or too well. The more
thoroughly it is treated, the
more precious it becomes, and the better it tastes. In
itself, it is a shining light, quite sufficient to illumine the
whole scripture.’
Luther
goes
on to say “In
this epistle, you will find the greatest abundance of things that a
Christian
ought to know: What the law is, the gospel, sin, punishment, grace,
faith,
imputed righteousness, Christ, God, good works, love, hope.
Cross-bearing
conduct of ourselves toward the godly and toward sinners. Conduct of
ourselves toward
those of weak faith, friends, toward enemies and toward ourselves.
Moreover, all
this teaching is taken from the scriptures and illustrated by Paul’s
personal
example and by the example of the prophets, so that there is nothing
left for
us to desire.
It seems
therefore, that Paul’s object in this epistle, was to draw up a
syllabus of the
entire Christian and evangelical doctrine, and to prepare an
introduction to
the entire Old Testament. For any person who has received this epistle
into his
heart has without question, the light and strength of the Old Testament
in
himself.
Accordingly,
let every Christian become familiar with this epistle, and put it into
constant
practice. To this end, may God grant us his grace! Amen!”
MELANCTHON (1497 – 1560) – “Romans –
the compendium (complete summary) of
Christian doctrine”
FREDERICK
GODET (1812
– 1900) the Swiss theologian
called the Book of Romans “The cathedral
of the Christian faith.”
G. CAMPBELL MORGAN
(1863 – 1945) said of Romans “The most pessimistic page of literature
upon
which your eyes ever rested” and at the same time “the most
optimistic poem
to which your ears ever listened.”
RICHARD
LENSKI
wrote “Romans is beyond question, the
most dynamic of all New Testament letters …”
COLERIDGE (1772 – 1834) “I think St
Paul’s
Epistle to the Romans the most profound work in existence…”
MATTHEW HENRY (1662 – 1714) states in
his
Commentary on Romans that in the universe of ‘spiritual stars’, there
are those
that differ from the rest in magnitude and glory – in the Old Testament
it is
David’s Psalms and in the New Testament it is Paul’s fourteen Epistles,
the chief of which is Paul’s epistle to
the Romans.
ST PETER THE
APOSTLE
wrote about Paul’s letters “As also in all his
epistles, speaking in them of these things; in which are some
things hard to
be understood which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as
they do also the other scriptures,
unto their own destruction.” 2 Peter
3:16
DEAR READER – WHAT DO YOU
SAY ABOUT THE BOOK OF ROMANS?
**** ****
Harley Hitchcock
www.
AustralianBibleMinistries
.com
“CONTACT US”
Australian
Bible
Ministries, PO
Box 5058 Mt. Gravatt East 4122 Qld, Australia
www.AustralianBibleMinistries.com