Romans – Introduction

Time line of Church in Rome:

Paul had not visited Rome when he wrote this letter. Paul wrote most of his letters to churches that he himself had established. But the church at Rome was different. There were already many Christians in Rome long before Paul arrived there.

1. In 30 A.D the first Christian church began in Jerusalem, on the day of Pentecost. Peter preached to many visitors who came to Jerusalem. Among them there were visitors from Rome, both Jews and Gentiles and about 3000 people became Christians (Acts 2:9-11; 2:41). They carried the gospel to Rome.
2. In 49 A.D the Emperor Claudius ordered all the Jews to leave Rome. Because of some trouble among the Jews. A Roman called Suetonius wrote that someone called “Chrestus” had caused the trouble. Chrestus may have been a Jew who caused the trouble. But ‘Chrestus’ may be the same as “Christus” who preached the message of Jesus Christ. So the trouble might have begun at that time.

• The couple Aquila and Priscilla from Rome became Christians before they met Paul in Corinth (Acts 18:1-3). They were forced to leave Rome due to the decree of Claudius and later they returned to Rome after working in Corinth and Ephesus. Christians used to gather in their home for worship (Rom.16:3-5).

1. Apostle Paul wrote this letter about in 57 A.D. He had not yet visited Rome. But he knew many people in the church at Rome. Many Gentiles and Jewish Christians were already members of the church there.
2. In 60 A.D. Paul reached Rome as a prisoner. Christians from Rome met him on the Appian road to go with him to Rome (Acts 28:14-16). Paul spent two years in Rome. Although he was a prisoner, he was able to preach and to teach (Acts 28:30-31). His plan was to visit Spain (Rom. 15:24). But we do not know whether he was able to do this.
3. In 64 A.D. Christians in Rome were blamed for the great fire that the Emperor Nero himself had set it. This initiated great persecution for Christians in Rome.

• The archaeological evidences shows that there were Christian graves in the catacombs (underground graves in Rome) before 100 A.D.

Ruins of ancient Rome:

Apostle Paul had great wisdom to write such a letter with full of wisdom to the church in Rome which was composed Jews, Gentiles, officials of Roman Kingdom etc. Apostle Peter too gave a testimony about Paul.

Paul desired to visit Rome but he was warned by the Holy Spirit of the persecution waiting for him in Jerusalem (Acts 21:10-14). With un-certainty of his visit, Paul wrote this long letter focussing  more on God’s grace and His great plan of redemption. This letter was a prized letter by the Christians in Rome. Clement of Rome wrote in his letter in 96 AD that they were very familiar with Paul’s letter to Romans and in-fact he memorized the entire letter and widely distributed the letter except chapter-16 to the entire churches  as a summary of apostolic doctrine.

Contents: