Good advice on learning biblical doctrine

Somebody on a Christian forum asked what would be the best books for him to start out with and one reply was this:

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My Dear Richard,

Do what Martin Luther did - read the book of Romans; carefully; thoughtfully - from start to finish without stopping to analyse the verses. Read it as it was meant to be read - a pastor's letter to his beloved sheep - from the first sentence to the end.

Paul develops his ideas about the essentials of the Faith in a deliberate-progressive manner.

Do this a lot. Reading Romans takes about an hour or so. Listen to it read (CD). After you've spent some time (a month?) at this, then get a good commentary on Romans (DA Carson's is good.) But, hold tightly to this amazing letter! After all, it was this book that changed the shape of Western Civilization - and has given us all THE reason we can call ourselves "Reformed."

Here is what John Calvin had to say about Romans:

"With regard to the excellency of this Epistle, I know not whether it would be well for me to dwell long on the subject; for I fear, lest through my recommendations falling far short of what they ought to be, I should do nothing but obscure its merits: besides, the Epistle itself, at its very beginning, explains itself in a much better way than can be done by any words which I can use. It will then be better for me to pass on to the Argument, or the contents of the Epistle; and it will hence appear beyond all controversy, that besides other excellencies, and those remarkable, this can with truth be said of it, and it is what can never be sufficiently appreciated -- that when any one gains a knowledge of this Epistile, he has an entrance opened to him to all the most hidden treasures of Scripture."

John Calvin's commentary on Romans is here:

http://www.ccel.org/ccel/calvin/calcom38.toc.html

Prepare to be changed forever!
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I thought this was a good response and something worth doing. (In the category of obvious, yet we often have to be reminded of what is most obvious...)