Paul's use of the Old Testament in the book of Romans

I found Paul’s use of the Old Testament an interesting concept, considering that the letter was written to the Roman Church. I had to refocus my lens from applying these teachings and place myself as one of the recipients of the letter when it was read for the first time. The main question that comes to my mind is why Paul used the Old Testament Scriptures when the first century Roman Church consisted of mostly gentile believers. We find that Paul has used more direct quotes from the Old Testament than in any of his other writings. There are approximately 55 quotes from the Old Testament. At first glance I thought that the book of Genesis was the most quoted until I counted them out. The most quoted book in Romans is the book of Isaiah, used around 18 times. I think that the reason why Paul used the Old Testament was because of the few Jews who were actually counted with the Romans Church. I think the key to unlocking the theme or the central point of this book is found in Romans 1:17. Paul uses a passage out of Habakkuk 2:4 the righteous will live by faith. I did find that in some of those quotes Paul used that he did not use the entire scripture or some did summarize what he was referring to. I could entertain the thought that Paul was quoting most of these scriptures from memory. We must remember that Paul was a Pharisee who was trained by Gamaliel, who was the grandson of the most beloved scholar, Rabbi Hillel. Because of this status and being trained by this Rabbi, Paul most undoubtedly was the crème dele crème, the best of the best. In order to be taught by a Rabbi of this stature the young Saul would have had to memorize the entire scriptures. That is from Genesis through to Malachi, all from memory. My favorite persons that Paul uses in his presentation are Abraham and Adam. It was fascinating to me how Paul showed us the contrast between the first and second Adam, the second Adam referring to Jesus. I also enjoyed the argument that Paul makes by contrasting Abraham and his being considered righteous before the law, or even before his circumcision.

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Moo, Douglas J. Encountering The Book of Romans. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2002.

Porter, Stanley. "Handbook to Exegesis of the New Testament." 509,510.

Leiden: Brill, 1997.Schreiner, Thomas R. Romans. Grand Rapids: Baker Acaddemic, 1998.