Romans

About the Author of Romans

Paul wrote Romans according to the first verse. The first line in verse 1 states: “ Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle and set apart for the gospel of God.” – Romans 1:1 (NIV) 

Scholars do not debate the apostle Paul’s authorship. With this in mind, we learn later in the letter (16:22) that Paul used an amanuensis, similar to a secretary. His name was Tertius. 

“Ancient authors gave to their amanuenses varying degrees of responsibility in the composition of their works—from word-for-word recording of what they dictated to quite sweeping responsibility for putting ideas into words.” 

Scholars believe that Tertius wrote the epistle (letter) to the church in Rome based on direct dictations from Paul. This conclusion is drawn from the striking similarity in style and word selection between this letter and Paul’s other writings, such as Galatians and 1 Corinthians. We know that Paul personally wrote the book of Galatians, as stated in Galatians 6:11.

“For almost twenty-five years, Paul has planted churches in the eastern Mediterranean. Now he prepares to bring to Jerusalem a practical fruit of that work, one that he hopes will heal the most serious social-theological rift in the early church—the relationship between Jew and Gentile in the people of God. Beyond Jerusalem, Spain, with its “fields ripe for the harvesting,” beckons. On the way is Rome.” 

About the Audience and Background 

In general, we can examine Paul’s letters and compare them with information from other books of the Bible to gain insights into the characteristics of the communities where the churches received his letters. During Paul’s time, the church in Rome did not experience the same situation. The origins of the churches in Rome are subject to speculation. For a long time, the church has maintained the traditional belief that Peter established the church following his escape from prison (Acts 12:17) and subsequent period of hiding.

At the time that Paul penned this letter to them, he had not yet been to Rome, despite the fact that he was a Roman citizen. So then, the question remains. Who established the church in Rome?

“Since the traditions we possess associate no other apostle with the church at Rome, the assessment of the fourth-century church father Ambrosiaster is probably correct: the Romans “have embraced the faith of Christ, albeit according to the Jewish rite, without seeing any sign of mighty works or any of the apostles.”

It is highly probable that Roman Jews, who embraced Jesus as the Messiah during the day of Pentecost in Jerusalem (as described in Acts 2:10), carried their belief back to their local synagogues. That said, it is possible that the church was established by Christian slaves, merchants, and artisans who traveled to Rome.

The church in Rome was experiencing a unique situation. The Roman emperor Claudius expelled the Jews (including Jewish Christians) from Rome sometime in the 40s-50s A.D. The Lives of the Twelve Caesars by Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus says, “Since the Jews constantly made disturbances at the instigation of Chrestus, he expelled them from Rome.” It is suggested that the Chrestus was a misspelling of Christus (Christ). This would make sense considering “Tac. Ann. 15.44, uses the correct form, Christus, and states that He was executed in the reign of Tiberius.”

Because of this, Gentile house churches began to develop without Jewish influence over the years they were gone. The Jews and Jewish Christians began trickling back into Rome during the final years of Claudius’ reign because the decree of Claudius expired upon his death.

”It is not hard to imagine that tensions would arise between Jews and Gentiles since the latter would not be as devoted to the law and had evolved in new directions with the eviction of the Jews. These tensions between Jews and Gentiles seem to be confirmed by Rom. 9–11 and 14–15. Paul’s primary exhortation in both of these sections, as the exegesis of the chapters demonstrates, is directed to the Gentiles. They are to desist from pride, even though they have been joined to the olive tree of God’s people and the Jews have largely been cast aside (11:17–24). They are to accept Jewish believers who have scruples in regard to food and drink and the observance of various days (14:1–15:13). The expulsion of the Jews from Rome and their gradual return suggests that the Roman churches were mainly composed of Gentile Christians. This conclusion receives confirmatory support from the observation that Gentile Christians are the primary objects of Paul’s exhortations when he directs his attention to the relationship between Jews and Gentiles.” 

Why did Paul write this letter?

Paul’s ministry primarily focused on the regions situated to the east and west of the Aegean Sea. After successfully establishing the church plants, he was filled with enthusiasm about expanding his ministry to Spain. As mentioned earlier, Paul, who was a natural-born citizen of Rome (Acts 22:28), had never visited the city before. This presented a wonderful opportunity for him to not only connect with the churches in that area, but also to visit Rome for the very first time.

“[He was eager to visit because] there was a flourishing church in Rome, and several Christians whom Paul had met elsewhere in his travels were now resident in Rome and members of that church. The very fact that the gospel had reached Rome long before Paul himself ruled out Rome as a place where he could settle for pioneer evangelism; but he knew that he would continue his journey to Spain with all the more zest if he could first of all refresh his spirit by some weeks of fellowship with the Christians in Rome and then, perhaps, be provided by them with a base for his advance into Spain.” 

Paul wrote a letter to the Christians in Rome to let them know that he planned to visit them. He wanted to clearly explain the purpose of his visit and provide a concise explanation of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Additionally, when the Jews and the Jewish Christians were exiled from Rome, it had a significant impact on the newly established church. 

When and where did Paul write it? 

It is speculated that Paul more than likely wrote his letter to the church in Rome while he was in Corinth on his third missionary journey. This was around 57 A.D. 

“Having completed his work in the eastern part of the Roman Empire, he hoped to travel to Rome and then on to Spain; but first he needed to go to Jerusalem to deliver the money he had collected for the church there (Rom. 15:19–32; see Acts 19:21). Paul commends Phoebe (Rom. 16:1–2), and she was likely the person who brought the letter to Rome. She resided in Cenchreae, which was near Corinth and was one of its port cities. Furthermore, Gaius was Paul’s host (16:23), and this is likely the same Gaius who lived in Corinth (1 Cor. 1:14). Finally, two fairly early manuscripts of Romans have subscriptions (brief notes that a copyist added to the end of a document) which say that the letter was written from Corinth.”