Read the Whole Letter

The Roman Christians must have been so excited to receive this letter. It's so long! As this site points out, letters are meant to be read at one sitting. For most of the New Testament letters, that's quite manageable, but Romans is, after all, 16 chapters long. I think the longest readings I regularly hear in church (Holy Week this week!) is still less than 1/4 of the book of Romans. Receiving a letter from a friend and someone you admire tremendously which is addressed personally to you is quite exciting. Imagine for a moment that this letter is not just a disappointingly short memo but continues page after page. Imagine also that you're not utterly surrounded daily by the written word and this is maybe the first letter you've ever received. Letters are so rare in fact, that this is addressed to a whole group of people so you won't have the luxury of reading it daily in the comfort of your own home. Do you suppose that when they received it they read it aloud just once? I could imagine someone calling out for it to read again almost before the reader finished it the first time.

If you're trying to grow in your understanding of the Bible, I suggest remembering who each book was originally written for and read it through as if you were one of the original readers. In the case of an epistle, try to read the whole letter through in one sitting. That's one tool that works for me.