Paul begins his letter with a solemn and joyful announcement: the gospel is God’s own power to save, revealed in the person of His Son. Cranfield emphasizes that Paul is not introducing a new idea but declaring the fulfillment of God’s ancient promises. The gospel is the unveiling of God’s righteousness—His faithfulness, His saving action, His covenant-keeping mercy—now made manifest in Jesus Christ.
But before Paul can unfold the glory of this salvation, he must show why it is needed. So he turns first to the Gentile world. Humanity, though surrounded by the evidence of God’s eternal power and divine nature, has suppressed the truth. Cranfield stresses that Paul is not condemning ignorance but deliberate refusal. The Gentiles exchanged the glory of the Creator for images of created things, and this idolatry led to moral disintegration. God “gave them over” not as an act of abandonment but as a judicial handing over—letting sin run its course so its true nature might be exposed.
Yet Paul does not allow the Jew to stand in judgment over the Gentile. Cranfield highlights Paul’s pastoral precision here: the Jew possesses the law, but possession is not obedience. The one who judges others while doing the same things condemns himself. God’s judgment is impartial. The law, far from being a shield, becomes a mirror revealing the truth about the human heart. Circumcision, too, is not a badge of privilege but a sign pointing to the deeper reality of a heart made obedient by God.
By the time Paul reaches the climax of this section in chapter 3, Cranfield sees him gathering all humanity—Jew and Gentile alike—under one verdict: all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. The law speaks, and its voice silences every mouth. No one will be justified by works of the law, because the law’s function is not to save but to reveal sin.
Into this universal darkness, Paul announces the brightest light: the righteousness of God has been revealed apart from the law, though witnessed by the law and the prophets. Cranfield calls this the “central theological assertion” of Romans. God justifies the ungodly through the redemption accomplished by Christ Jesus. His blood is the place of atonement, the mercy seat where God’s justice and mercy meet. God remains righteous—true to Himself—precisely by justifying those who believe in Jesus.
To show that this is not a new or strange teaching, Paul turns to Abraham. Cranfield insists that Paul’s reading of Genesis is not clever reinterpretation but faithful exegesis. Abraham was justified by faith before he was circumcised, proving that righteousness comes through trust in God’s promise, not through works or ritual. David, too, speaks of the blessedness of the one whose sins are forgiven. Thus Abraham becomes the father of all who believe—Jew and Gentile alike.
Paul then expands the horizon. Abraham’s faith was not a private virtue but a response to God’s promise to bless the world. He believed in the God who gives life to the dead and calls into existence things that do not exist. Cranfield sees this as the heart of faith: trusting the God who raises the dead. And just as Abraham believed God’s promise, so believers trust in the God who raised Jesus from the dead—He who was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification.
With chapter 5, Paul turns from the foundation of justification to its fruits. Cranfield notes the shift in tone: from courtroom to celebration. Those who have been justified by faith now stand in grace. They have peace with God—not a feeling, but an objective reality of reconciliation. They rejoice in hope, and even in suffering, because suffering produces endurance, character, and hope. And this hope does not disappoint, for God’s love has been poured into their hearts through the Holy Spirit.
Paul then reaches back to the cross to show the depth of this love. Christ died for the ungodly, the weak, the sinners. Cranfield emphasizes that Paul is not describing humanity at its worst but humanity as it truly is—unable to save itself. God’s love is demonstrated precisely in this: Christ died for us while we were still sinners. If God reconciled us through the death of His Son, how much more will He save us through His life.
Finally, Paul sets Adam and Christ side by side. Through Adam came sin and death; through Christ comes righteousness and life. Cranfield sees this as Paul’s grand vision of salvation history: two realms, two humanities, two representatives. Adam’s trespass brought condemnation to all; Christ’s obedience brings justification to many. Grace does not merely match sin; it overflows, superabounds, triumphs. Where sin increased, grace increased all the more.
Thus the first five chapters of Romans, as Cranfield reads them, form a single, sweeping movement: From the universal need for salvation, to the revelation of God’s righteousness in Christ, to the joy and hope of those who stand in grace.
It is the story of God’s faithfulness, God’s mercy, and God’s unstoppable purpose to redeem a people through His Son.