The Cradle, the Cross, and the Crown (119 page)

One factor may complicate this date. At the time Paul wrote this letter, Aquila and Priscilla had taken up residence in Rome again, and a church was meeting in their home. They had likely been in Rome long enough to become familiar with the situation of the churches there and to correspond with Paul about that situation. If Jews were not allowed to return to Rome until after the death of Claudius in the year 54, this date for the composition of Romans is probably too early to allow time for the couple to become aware of Claudius's death, move to Rome, become informed about the churches’ situations, and correspond with Paul. But it is likely that the ban of Jews in Rome began to be relaxed toward the end of Claudius's reign. If so, these factors do not necessarily preclude this early date.
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After all things are considered, it is wisest to content oneself with a general estimate that Romans was written in the mid- to late 50s.

Provenance

Scholars have suggested a variety of cities as the probable location in which the letter to the Romans was written. Suggestions include Corinth, Athens, Ephesus, Philippi,
Thessalonica, or the province of Macedonia.
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Two views of the provenance of the letter were affirmed in the early church. Some versions of the Marcionite Prologue preserved in a few manuscripts of the Vulgate assign the letter to Athens. But two early subscriptions to the letter in ancient Greek manuscripts stated that Paul wrote Romans from Corinth. An early scribe who corrected Codex Vaticanus added a subscription that reads, “It was written to the Romans from Corinth.” Another scribe who corrected Codex Claromontanus added an identical subscription to that manuscript. Several later manuscripts mention a Corinthian provenance as well.
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The same clues that suggest Paul wrote Romans at the end of his third missionary journey while en route to Jerusalem also point to Greece as the place that the letter was composed. Paul's three months in Greece (Acts 20:3), during which he stayed in the home of Gaius (Rom 16:23), probably afforded rare opportunities for the careful and prolonged reflection necessary for such an extensive project as well as daily access to an amanuensis to assist in writing the work. Although Acts does not specifically mention where Paul primarily stayed during the three months in Greece, several considerations point to Corinth as the most likely place of composition for Romans.

First, the NT mentions four men by the name of Gaius: (1) one from Derbe (Acts 20:4); (2) one from Macedonia who was with Paul in Ephesus (Acts 19:29); (3) one from Corinth who was one of the few persons Paul baptized there (1 Cor 1:14); and (4) the recipient of 3 John who is not known to be associated with Paul (3 John 1). The Gaius of Romans 16 is likely Gaius of Corinth.

Second, Paul sent greetings from Erastus, the city treasurer or manager, who is probably the person by the same name mentioned in Acts 19:22 and 2 Tim 4:20. Paul probably mentioned Erastus here because he was a prominent member of the church of Corinth largely due to his authority in the local government. A Latin inscription that dates to the mid-first century AD and that remains in its original location in the paved square near the Corinthian theater refers to an Erastus who paved the square: “Erastus, in return for his aedileship, laid the pavement at his own expense.” This Erastus who served as
aedilis coloniae
(“city treasurer”) of Corinth is generally recognized to be the same person mentioned in Rom 16:23.
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Third, Rom 16:1—2 serves as a letter of recommendation for Phoebe to the church of Rome. According to subscriptions to Romans in some Greek manuscripts, Phoebe also served as the courier for the letter. Paul mentioned that Phoebe was “a servant
[diakonos]
of the church in Cenchreae.” Cenchreae was a port city that was located only a few miles from ancient Corinth.

The question of the provenance of the letter is closely connected with the question of the integrity of the letter. If chap. 16 was not a part of the original form of the letter as composed by Paul, insufficient evidence exists to determine the provenance. But strong evidence supports the integrity of the letter. Thus most scholars today affirm the legitimacy of using clues from chap. 16 to pinpoint the city from which Romans was written. Phoebe, Erastus, and Gaius were with Paul when he wrote this letter. They are associated with Corinth or a city close by. Thus Corinth is the most likely provenance of the letter. This evidence is sufficient to allow J. D. G. Dunn to make the confident assertion that there is “scarcely any dispute” today over the Corinthian provenance.
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Destination

As the present title of the letter indicates, this letter was addressed to Christians who lived in Rome, the capital of the Roman Empire. The address of the letter in Rom 1:7, “To all who are in Rome, loved by God, called as saints,” and in Rom 1:15, “who are in Rome,” clearly identifies the addressees as believers in Rome. Rome was the capital of the great Roman Empire. It rivaled Alexandria in Egypt, Corinth in Greece, and Antioch in Syria as the most important city of the Mediterranean world during the lifetime of Paul. In the first century, the city of Rome had a population of approximately one million people from every corner of the empire and the strange lands beyond its borders.
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The population included 40,000 to 50,000 Jews.

The mixture of cultures in the city ensured that the city would be home to a great variety of religions. Worship of the traditional Roman pantheon and the imperial cult thrived in the city. But many Romans gave foreign religions like Mithraism, Judaism, and Christianity a warm reception as well. When Christianity first reached Rome, the worship of Jupiter, Juno, and Minerva in the large temple on the Capitolium dominated the city.
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Like Corinth and other large population centers of the Mediterranean world, Rome was known for its decadence and immorality. Tacitus described Rome during the reign of Nero as “the City, where all degraded and shameful practices collect from all over and become the vogue.”
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When Paul wrote Romans, the emperor Nero had not yet begun his war of terror against the Christians of the city. Even early in his reign, however, the emperor was known to “practice every kind of obscenity.” Suetonius described in vivid detail Nero's sins with mistresses and prostitutes and his unthinkable perversions. Nero raped one of Rome's Vestal Virgins. He emasculated and then publicly wed a boy named Sporus. Rome joked that the world would have been a happier place if Nero's father had married such a wife. Nero made himself the bride of his freedman Doryphorus. This was Rome's noble leader,
and his conduct was undoubtedly a reflection, though perhaps an exaggerated one, of the immoral culture in which he lived.
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Amazingly, Christianity began to thrive in Rome very early. The origins of the church in Rome are unknown. It is clear that Paul did not found the church. Perhaps the church began when Jewish pilgrims from Rome traveled to Jerusalem for one of the major feasts and heard the gospel from Jesus’ disciples (possibly as early as Pentecost; Acts 2:10). Perhaps the church began when Christians from other cities migrated to Rome. Christians were clearly present in Rome by the late 40s. Suetonius claimed that Claudius expelled the Jews from Rome in the year 49 because of disturbances that arose in the instigation of “Chrestus.” Apparently, Jews and Jewish Christians were debating whether Jesus was the Christ and these debates led to serious conflict that upset the capital.
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A few Greek manuscripts, old Latin texts, and manuscripts of the Vulgate omit the phrase “in Rome.”
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But many more manuscripts that are significantly earlier include the phrase, and most scholars are confident that it belonged to the original text of the letter. The omission of the identification of the addressees in later manuscripts was probably intentional and suggests that at some point scribes edited Romans in order to make it a general letter addressed to all of Christendom.
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Some scholars have denied that Paul wrote to the Romans and claim that details of chap. 16 point to the church of Ephesus as the original addressee.
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The most popular version of the Ephesian destination of the letter is by T. W. Manson, who suggested that Paul composed two versions of the letter. One version consisted of chaps. 1—15 and was intended for believers at Rome; a second version added chap. 16 and was intended for Ephesus.
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Those who supported Manson's hypothesis appealed to several features of chap. 16 to support an Ephesian address. First, one would not expect Paul to know and greet personally 26 people in Rome, a city Paul had never visited. Second, Priscilla and Aquila, to whom Paul sent greetings in Rom 16:3—4, had traveled with Paul to Ephesus (Acts 18:18-19) and established a home and a church there (1 Cor 16:19). They still lived in Ephesus toward the end of Paul's life (2 Tim 4:19). They would not likely have been present in Rome at the time Paul wrote this letter. Third, Paul sent greetings to Epainetus who was from Asia (Rom 16:5), the province in which Ephesus was located. Fourth, the warning regarding false teachers in Rom 16:17—20 would be puzzling if the letter were sent to Rome since Paul knew little about the situation of the Roman churches and since no evidence suggests that false teachers had infiltrated the churches there.

Although these pieces of evidence initially seem compelling, their force is weakened by several considerations. Contrary to what the above argument assumes, Paul did not typically send personal greetings to individuals in letters addressed to churches with which he had a personal relationship. A survey of Paul's letters shows that Paul sent greetings to named individuals only in Romans and Colossians, both of which were cities Paul had never visited. Apparently Paul did not wish to single out individuals in churches that he had established or visited, since this might be taken to imply that he loved some there more than others. However, greeting individuals that he knew in a church that he had never visited was a strategic way to build rapport and establish a connection with the congregation.

Moreover, Aquila and Priscilla were among the Jewish Christians who were expelled from Rome by Claudius in the year 49 (Acts 18:2).
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They later lived in Corinth and Ephesus but may have maintained a residence in Rome during this time in hopes of returning to Rome after the expulsion. Since they owned a home in Ephesus that was large enough to accommodate a church, they were probably persons of some means, and Rome may have remained the central hub of their business.

That Epaenetus was Paul's first convert in Asia would likely have been well-known in churches throughout Asia and thus unnecessary to mention in a letter to Ephesus. But Roman Christians might not have been aware of Epaenetus's historic conversion, and the comment would have been of enormous interest to them. The warning in Rom 16:17—20 is probably directed against a potential danger rather than a known danger, and the presence of close friends like Aquila and Priscilla in the church suggests that Paul may have known more about the situation of the Roman churches than is generally assumed. Paul was almost certainly aware of tensions between Jewish and Gentile believers (Romans 14—15), and information about this discord likely came from his associates in Rome.

Overall, the details of Romans 16 more strongly support an address to Rome than to Ephesus. The Ephesian hypothesis should be laid to rest at last.
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The address to the Romans that is affirmed in the major uncials and oldest papyri is clearly original. Unlike 1 Corinthians, 2 Corinthians, 1 Thessalonians, and 2 Thessalonians, Romans is addressed generally to all believers throughout the city of Rome rather than to a single congregation. Paul was aware that multiple Christian congregations existed in the city. He later mentioned a church that met in the home of Aquila and Priscilla (Rom 16:5), a group of Christians associated with Asyncritus, Phlegon, Hermes, Patrobas, and Hermas (Rom 16:14), and another group of Christians associated with Philologus, Julia, Nereus, and his sister (Rom 16:15). The Christians in the households of Aristobulus and Narcissus may also have met together as a group for worship in these homes. If so, Paul mentioned five
congregations of believers in Rome. Other congregations unknown to Paul likely existed in Rome as well.
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Scholars debate whether the churches in Rome were predominantly Jewish or Gentile. J. Munck argued that nearly all Christians in Rome were Gentiles.
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W. Wiefel argued that the churches of Rome were predominantly Jewish.
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In favor of a Gentile composition is Paul's discussion of his witness among Gentiles in Rom 1:5—6, and 1:15 clearly includes the addressees in that group. Paul directly addressed Gentiles using the second person in Rom 11:13,31 in a rebuke of Gentile pride over their election by God. Paul's discussion of the strong and the weak in Rom 14:1—15:13 is primarily addressed to the strong, almost certainly Gentile believers who had a stronger sense of liberty in Christ than some of their brothers from a Jewish background.

On the other hand, Paul addressed many issues in the letter that would have been of concern primarily to Jewish Christians, such as the role of the law in salvation and the place of Israel in God's redemptive plan. Moreover, Paul's rebuke of Jewish pride and hypocritical self-righteousness in Romans 2 frequently uses the second person and implies that Paul was directly addressing people of Jewish origin. Paul closely associated his readers with the Mosaic law in texts such as Rom 6:14; 7:1,4. He also referred to Abraham as “our forefather according to the flesh” (Rom 4:1) in a manner that implies that his original readers included physical descendants of Abraham. These features demonstrate that Christianity in Rome was of mixed composition with believers from both Jewish and Gentile backgrounds.

The discussion of the occasion of the letter to the Romans in the next section suggests that the Roman churches were dominated by Gentiles during the five years or so preceding the letter. However, a sudden influx of Jewish believers into the Christian community caused conflict to erupt that threatened the unity of God's people in Rome. The historical circumstances suggest that the church was of mixed composition, predominantly Gentile but with a growing number of Jewish believers.
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