Literary Devices in Epistle to the Romans
Symbolism, Imagery, Allegory
Setting
Romans is a tricky one when it comes to setting. The title kind of makes it seem like the letter will refer to Rome left and right. But the letter writer, Paul, has actually never set foot in that...
Genre
Don't worry—epistle or is just another word for a letter. But Romans is different from most letters. It's actually even different from Paul's other letters, in that the bulk of the message doesn'...
What's Up With the Title?
The authors of New Testament books didn't title their works. Maybe they thought that was a little too fancy. But later generations of Christians, who liked fancy names, needed something to help the...
Trivia
June 28th, 2008 - June 29th, 2009 was declared by the Catholic Church to be "The Year of Paul." You know you're a pretty big deal when people have to set aside a whole year to celebrate your awesom...
Sex Drugs And Violence Rating
Romans is pretty vanilla. It's light on violence (Paul seems to be a bit of a pacifist, in fact) and drugs don't show up at all. There is one passage (1:24-28) where Paul talks about men being "con...
Allusions
Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy The epigraph to Tolstoy's 1877 novel is Romans 12:19—"Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord." Right off the bat, things are not looking good.The Winter's Tal...