Paul's Letter to the Romans has proven to be a particular challenge for commentators, with its many highly significant interpretive issues often leading to tortuous convolutions and even "dead ends" in their understanding of the letter.

Here, Richard N. Longenecker takes a comprehensive look at the complex backdrop of Paul's letter and carefully unpacks a number of critical issues, including:

Authorship, integrity, occasion, date, addressees, and purpose

Important recent interpretive approaches

Greco-Roman oral, rhetorical, and epistolary conventions

Jewish and Jewish Christian thematic and rhetorical features

The establishing of the letter's Greek text

The letter's main focus, structure, and argument