3 - Theology in process: An outline of the argument of the letter-body

Summary

A writing of the length and richness of Paul's letter to the Romans demands some help for the readers. The traditional division by chapters and verses is not from the pen of the apostle (not even the punctuation is!) and is not the only one in history: there are manuscripts of Romans with twenty instead of sixteen chapters. Likewise the headlines which we find in many Bibles are not original but of later origin and vary considerably. As a rule, they give us catchwords which help us to find passages which we remember – not clear definitions of the problems discussed or summaries of the conclusions. So how can we detect structures and developments within the steady flow of sentence after sentence? Fortunately, a number of formal criteria and functional markers help us to distinguish levels of language, lines of thought, and changes of topic. That is why there is almost general agreement about the major parts of the letter, beginning with the distinction between a more doctrinal part in chapters 1–11 (climaxed by a theocentric doxology in 11:33–36) and a body of exhortations in chapters 12:1–15:13.

Doubts and discussions about the exact limits of some subdivisions result from the fact that time and again Paul introduces the problem or topic of a following passage in the last lines of the preceding one (cf. Rom. 3:20 with 3:21–30, Rom. 4:25 with chapter 5 or Rom. 5:20 with chapter 6).