The Epistle to the Romans (c. 57-59 AD)

The First Century House Churches Saga (Book 9)

By: David Michael Curtis

Narrated by: Virtual Voice

The theological foundation of the Christian faith has just been delivered to the belly of the Roman beast. But the man who wrote it is walking straight into a death trap.

In c. 57 AD, a battered wooden merchant’s case arrives in the sprawling, pagan capital of Rome, carried by a lone woman named Phoebe. Inside is a single, heavy scroll of Egyptian papyrus: the Apostle Paul’s Epistle to the Romans. As the patriarchs of the underground house churches unseal the letter, they are struck by a theological earthquake. Paul’s unyielding words strip away the pride of the Jewish legalists and the arrogance of the Gentile converts, binding them together in a radical new kingdom built entirely on grace.

Armed with this breathtaking revelation, the elders of the Roman church gather a massive financial offering and journey eastward to Jerusalem to stand with their apostle. But the holy city is a powder keg of zealotry and political malice.

Despite the warnings of prophets and the tearful pleas of his closest friends, Paul submits to a Temple purification ritual to appease the rigid Jewish believers. The trap snaps shut. Falsely accused of profaning the sanctuary, Paul is violently attacked by a mob and dragged from the Temple, saved from being torn limb from limb only by the iron wedge of the Roman Praetorian Guard.

What follows is a harrowing, two-year war of political attrition. Locked in the dark, damp cells of the Caesarean praetorium, Paul must navigate the greed of Governor Felix, the political maneuvering of Festus, and the cynical curiosity of King Herod Agrippa. As forty Jewish assassins bind themselves with a blood oath to starve until the apostle is dead, Paul’s Roman friends are forced to watch from the shadows, helpless to break his chains.

But God does not conquer by the sword. He conquers by the blood of the martyrs and the word of their testimony.

Book 8 of the 1st Century House Churches series is a gripping, meticulously researched historical thriller that brings the closing chapters of the Book of Acts to thrilling life. It is a story of divine sovereignty, the agonizing cost of discipleship, and the brilliant, terrifying moment the Apostle Paul invokes his ultimate right as a citizen, forcing the empire to carry the gospel directly to the throne of Caesar.