King Agrippa, before whom Paul defends himself in this chapter, was a client king of the Romans and had been brought up at the Emperor Claudius's court. He was Jewish in faith, though, and was more receptive to Paul's testimony than the tho...

This is one of the 'we' sections of Acts; Luke writes in the first person, because he was there. It's a fine adventure story – anyone who likes tales of the sea will enjoy this – but it also speaks to us about deeper things.

We might think the ending of Acts is rather curious. The last chapter finishes the story of the shipwreck and takes Paul to Rome. He is still under Roman guard, but not very strictly; it's house arrest rather than imprisonment.

At first glance, it looks as though Paul is accusing the entire Roman church of being wicked sinners. That isn't quite what he means. He is warning these Jewish believers against relying on their Jewishness to be right with God, and thinking tha...

In this chapter Paul continues his argument that Jews and Gentiles are on level ground. Jews, he says, have been entrusted with God's message (verse 2) but they are in no better or worse condition than Gentiles (verse 9); we are all 'under ...

In Romans 4 Paul continues his attack on the idea that it's by 'works of the Law' that people are made right with God. That can't be true, he says, because Abraham was accepted by God as 'righteous' before he was circumc...

There's a clear theme in this chapter, though – like the rest of Romans – it is dense and rich in argument. Paul is overwhelmed with a sense of the scope and scale of salvation. It's not enough for God to have forgiven us – it was �...

Paul has thought deeply about what the death of Christ means. Death is an ending; it cancels everything about a person's life. If we are baptised into union with Christ and 'share' in that death (verse 4), our old life is gone; and �...

There's no chapter in Paul's writing that has been discussed and argued over as much as Romans 7, and it's certainly complicated. But there are some straightforward truths here too. He says the Law 'made me know what sin is' ...

Romans 9–11 is a separate section in Paul's letter; some have even suggested that he might have included here something he'd already written. In these chapters, he's exploring what it means to be a Jew in the light of God's reve...

Paul in this chapter continues his argument that we are made right with God through believing in Christ. But most Jews, and all Gentiles, would be completely nonplussed by this. Jews would need the Scriptures explaining to them. Gentiles would need t...

Paul explains more here about the position of the Jews within God's plans. Most, he says, have historically not responded to his grace, and it's the same in his own time. However, God's covenant with them remains. They are the original...

There's a sharp change in tone between chapters 11 and 12. From technical arguments about Jews and Gentiles, Paul soars into a meditation on what God's mercy means for our conduct. In a society where status was everything, he asks his reade...

This chapter begins with an outline of the God-given authority of the state. Paul was writing in the context of Roman law, which was generally fair if sometimes appallingly brutal. Why did he feel he needed to say this?

Four centuries before Paul, the Greek philosopher Plato had likened the body to a grave. There’s a world beyond, greater than ours; alas, our bodies are chaining us to this one.

Throughout Chapter 7, Paul keeps returning to the topic of marital relations; it helps to read it as a whole to follow his line of argument. The situational backdrop is key: Paul is expecting Christ to return very soon and summon a Church surrounded ...

In the Greco-Roman world, no one batted an eyelid if you added a deity that was special to you, so long as you continued to worship the whole pantheon of gods. What set believers in Christ on a collision course was their insistence that he alone was ...

Left more isolated than ever by the pandemic, prisoners are asking for Bibles – and you can provide them today

This section of Romans 15 ends with a benediction (verse 13). Paul has finished his arguments and his teaching about Jews and Gentiles, and commends his readers to God in their discipleship. Romans has a reputation for being a complicated book – it...

Paul concludes his letter to the Romans with warm personal greetings. He recommends Phoebe (verses 1–2), a 'servant' of the church and 'protector' or 'friend' of many. Translators have argued about how the Greek words ...