The Epistle of Paul to Romans – The Fifth Gospel.
Author: Paul.
Date: AD 57 from Corinth.
Key Place: Galatia and Jerusalem.
To whom written:
To the church in Rome which consisted of both Jews and Gentiles and to Christians at large. There was a large community of Jews forming a minority in the city of Rome where Aquila and Priscilla too lived. The church was meeting in Aquila’s house.
It appears that there were several churches in Rome and because of this multiplicity of churches, Paul addressed his letter to “the Saints” instead of to the Church. During the reign of Emperor Claudius, he ordered all the Jews to leave Rome which forced the couple Aquila and Priscilla and other Jews to leave Rome. Suddenly the church became a purely Gentile church, but after the death of Emperor Claudius the Jews returned and again it became a mixture of Jews, Gentiles, Greeks etc.
Rome was the most important city in the world at the time of Paul. It had a vast army. That army controlled all the countries that surround the Mediterranean Sea. So the rulers of Rome were extremely powerful and wealthy. They employed many people. Many slaves had to work in Rome. And Rome was also an important city for trade. As the famous phrase “all roads lead to Rome,” the city was as important as what was “Ganges for India, river Nile for Egypt or river Amazon for South America, ” Rome was important for the whole world.
Background:
Paul and Barnabas returned to Antioch after their first missionary journey. Peter also came from Jerusalem to visit them to have fellowship with them. During this time Peter was trying to withdraw from the Gentile believers on the matter of circumcision, then immediately Paul publicly rebuked him for his inconsistent behaviour. Meanwhile, Judaizers (false teachers) had infiltrated into the churches in Galatia, denying Paul’s authority as an Apostle and bringing erroneous teaching that circumcision was necessary for salvation. This caused Paul to write this strong letter prior to attending the Jerusalem Council. The book was probably written in the early spring of A.D 57 and very likely Paul was on his third missionary journey, ready to return to Jerusalem with the offering from the missionary churches especially from the churches of Macedonia and Achaia (15:26) for poverty-stricken believers in Jerusalem and Judea.
Purpose:
- To refute the Judaizers who taught that Gentile believers must obey Jewish laws and customs in order to be saved and to tell the whole world Christian faith has freedom in Christ.
- To present a complete and detailed gospel message as he was eager to preach in Rome which is the heart of Kingdom.
- To remove the legalism of circumcision of Jewish belief and to clearly present clearly the salvation work of the Lord Jesus Christ to both Jewish and Gentile Christians and to bring them both under unity of the Triune God.
Who carried the letter:
Phoebe (Rom. 16:1-2), apparently, the courier of this letter. She did not go to Rome primarily to deliver Paul’s letter but was making a trip to Rome. In fact, Phoebe’s planned trip to Rome was undoubtedly the specific occasion for Paul’s writing this letter. The fact was Paul seized this opportunity to communicate with a group of Christians he was deeply interested in and planned to visit them as soon as possible.
Paul greeted about 28 persons in (chap.16) evidences that many of the believers in Rome were his converts or associates in other parts of the empire. As a result Paul had a proprietary interest in the Christian community of Rome. He considered the Roman church as one of his own, as this letter bears witness.