Introduction to Romans

 

You've probably heard the expression All Roads Lead to Rome. That was because Rome is the one who built all the roads. But it was true in a more general sense as well. In the first century AD, Rome was the most important city in the western world, the capital of the Roman empire as well as an important commercial and even cultural center. It had a population of over a million from all over the known world.

We think of the first century as primitive because they didn't have airplanes and smartphones. But, in reality, that time period was an advanced, enlightened time period, a time of great learning and commerce. The people of the Mediterranean weren't savages traveling by dugout canoes. Traveling took longer and was more dangerous than it is now, but people did travel freely.

So it is not surprising that there was travel between Rome and Israel. Acts 2:9-11 records that on the day of Pentecost, at the birth of the church, there were people from all over the Mediterranean world present—including some from Rome.

We do not know whether any of these were among the converts on that day, but the odds are that some of them were; that these Jews received the gospel and then took their gospel back to Rome with them. And that through these Jewish Christians, a Christian church was founded in Rome. Or, since, as I said, there was a lot of travel, maybe someone in some other city that came in contact with Christianity carried that gospel back to Rome with him.  All that we know for sure is that, one way or another, the gospel did come to Rome and a church was founded there.

It is interesting to realize that the church in the most politically important city in the world, and one of the most important cities in Christian history was founded by some guy whose name we don't even know. Both Peter and Paul would be associated with the church but clearly much later. (Peter's association we know only by tradition.) However, one thing we can say is that it seems whoever founded the church in Rome was Jewish. By in large, the New Testament church was a Jewish church, at least for the first several years of its existence. It was formed of Jews and Jewish proselytes who had accepted the gospel, accepting it as the logical conclusion and consummation of their Jewish religion. However, as Christianity continued to spread it went to the Gentiles as well as the Jews.

And then this happened—Emperor Claudius forced all Jews to leave Rome because he believed they were trouble makers and were stirring up trouble. (See Acts 18:1-2) The exact cause is not known, but there is a possibility it was because there was strife between the Jews and Christians, which is certainly a picture we see in the rest of the early NT. 

So get this picture. You had a church in Rome, which had both Jewish and Gentile Christians but which was predominantly Jewish. And then all the Jews were forced to leave the city. At that moment this primarily Jewish church became a fully Gentile church.  But the ban wasn't permanent, so eventually, Jews came back to Rome and to the Roman church, and this church which had begun as primarily Jewish and then had become fully Gentile now became a hybrid of Jews and Gentiles. There was always friction between Jews and Gentiles, so it's easy to imagine that those tensions rose even unusually high within this somewhat unusual church.

And that brings us to a man who is preeminently known for dealing with this specific issue of conflict between the Jews and Gentiles—Paul of Tarsus. On Paul's third missionary journey, he stayed for a period of time in the city of Corinth. And it seems from here that he composed a letter to the church at Rome. The belief that Romans was written from Corinth is based on people mentioned in the Epistle. In Romans 16:1 Pauls says a word of commendation or introduction for Phebe (many believe she delivered the letter); she came from Cenchrea which was near Corinth. In Romans 16:23 Paul mentions Gaius and Erastus as sending greetings—and it seems that both these men were from Corinth. (See 1 Corinthians 1:14; 2 Timothy 4:20) We see that Erastus was a public figure in Corinth and there is actually a plaque from the first century still present in Corinth which references public work done by a man named Erastus. Moreover, in Romans 15:26, Paul states that his immediate plans were to go to Jerusalem for a specific reason: “For it hath pleased them of Macedonia and Achaia to make a certain contribution for the poor saints which are at Jerusalem.” We know this collection took place during his third missionary journey. So we can roughly locate the writing of this letter to Corinth in the mid to late 50s.

We can also identify at least part of the reason why Paul wrote this letter: “Making request, if by any means now at length I might have a prosperous journey by the will of God to come unto you. For I long to see you, that I may impart unto you some spiritual gift, to the end ye may be established.” (Romans 1:10-11) Paul had had a desire for some time to come to Rome in order to minister there. It was the central point of the Roman empire, so it was a logical point of attack for Christian missions. But Paul desired more than simply to go to Rome. Romans 15:24 gives his more immediate plans: “Whensoever I take my journey into Spain, I will come to you: for I trust to see you in my journey, and to be brought on my way thitherward by you, if first I be somewhat filled with your company.” 

So Paul is making a plan to go to Jerusalem and then to Rome on his way to Spain. We know he did get to Jerusalem and after a considerable amount of time did get to Rome, though not in exactly the way he intended. Whether he did or did not ever get to Spain is a matter of some question. But the point is that the letter of Romans was, to some extent, meant as an introduction to Paul and as an announcement of his intention to visit. Also, though Paul had never visited Rome, he did have good friends there, including Aquilla and Priscilla (his erstwhile fellow-workers) and a woman he refers to as his mother--either literally his mother or someone who had been like a mother to him. So this letter is partly to give greetings to his friends. But those personal considerations only take up two chapters out of the sixteen which comprise the letter and so they can't entirely explain why he chose to write it.

And that's why it's important to remember the nature of the church at Rome--and also to consider the nature of Paul. Rome was a hybrid church of both Jews and Gentiles. Paul was a Jew who was the apostle to the Gentiles. And it seems that this union of the Jews and the Gentiles within the church had also created doctrinal issues. And that specific issue was one which Paul had already had experience dealing with. We don't know how serious the issue was--It seems as if it were more a matter of confusion or uncertainty than anything else. Romans and Galatians deal with a lot of the same issues, but there is a very different tone between the two letters. First, because Paul didn't have that personal connection and authority with Rome that he did at Galatia. But there you had definite false teachers which had almost taken over the church. Whereas here, we don't have anything that definite. In fact, it may be more that Paul wanted to make sure there wasn't a problem rather than that he was addressing a problem which he knew existed. Spiritually, prevention is better than cure.

Paul wrote this letter to explain and expound the gospel which had been committed to him. Here, more fully than anywhere else in the New Testament, we have the nature of the gospel and the plan of salvation laid out in doctrinal terms. For this reason, it has been one of the most influential books of the New Testament, at least of the epistles. Many people have been touched and changed specifically by this book. F. F. Bruce makes this remark about Romans:

“There is no saying what may happen when people begin to study the letter to the Romans. What happened to Augustine, Luther, Wesley and Barth launched great spiritual movements which have left their mark in world history. But similar things have happened, much more frequently, to very ordinary men and women as the words of this letter came home to them which power. So, let those who have read thus far be prepared for the consequences of reading farther: you have been warned!” (Quoted in The Cradle, the Cross, and the Crown, 512)