Paul's Letter to the Romans

The Epistle of Paul to the Romans has always been regarded as central to the history and expansion of the Christian Church. Yet, with its apparent support of predestination (which mocks morality) and of civil authority, however tyrannical, it has been the subject of fierce controversy among commentators from Chrysostom in the fourth century to Dodd in our own. For the most part, however, they have accepted that Romans was written by one man at one time to one audience. The author, however, challenges the truth of this assumption. He maintains, both in principle and in detail, that the process of copying from manuscript to manuscript has allowed numerous glosses and interpolations to creep into the text of Paul's letter as it was finally established. He also claims that even longer sections not written by Paul were deliberately added. The words of Romans are not necessarily the words of Paul.