Welcome to another week on Things Unseen, and especially if this is the first time you've

listened. Here each weekday we reflect on topics that we think are important for our

Christian faith and life. And although we're certainly unseen to one another, I think we're

bound together by the grace of Christ and His ministry to us, and by our desire to reflect

on the teaching of God's word. And speaking of His word, I wonder if you have a favorite

book in the Bible. My guess is that there are several competitors here for our affections.

I know we might want to ask if this is actually a proper question to ask. After all, isn't

all Scripture breathed out by God? Should we prefer one part of it to another? Well, at least

it's clear that there are some parts of Scripture that were more significant for Jesus and for

that matter for Paul than some other parts. So while all Scripture is God breathed, it's got

mountain peaks, and that brings us to this week's theme, Paul's letter to the Romans. By any

canon of judgment, it's a mountain peak, one of the soaring peaks of the Himalayas. Some would say

it's actually the Mount Everest of the Bible. Now, in the interest of full disclosure,

I probably should admit that Romans is not actually my own favorite book in the Bible,

so I'm not trying to persuade you to make it yours. But it's surely the most important book or

letter that the apostle Paul ever wrote. And it's arguably the book that's had more influence

in the history of the church than any other. Think back to the ways and Augustine describes his

conversion in his confessions. Remember how, when deeply exercised spiritually, he was sitting in

a garden and overheard a child's voice saying, Tolly, Leggy, pick it up and read it. And he picked up

the New Testament and read Romans chapter 13 verse 14, put on the Lord Jesus Christ and make no provision

for the flesh to gratify its loss. Now that was of course just a single moment in God's saving work

in his life. But his influence in the Western world has actually been incalculable, so you might

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