Introduction
The letter of Romans is arguably the greatest epistolary[1]work found in the Bible. Like usual, the letter begins with an introduction which includes the author, recipients and purpose for writing. The letter also contains a conclusion which includes last requests, greetings toward specific people the author knows and a benediction. What is contained between these book ends is material worth spending one’s whole life studying. Martin Luther put it this way in his “Preface to the Epistle to the Romans”, “[Romans] is worthy not only that every Christian should know it word for word, by heart, but occupy himself with it every day, as the daily bread of the soul. It can never be read or pondered too much, and the more it is dealt with the more precious it becomes, and the better it tastes.”[2]
It is important, as one studies the beauty within the letter to the Romans, to understand the historical context behind the letter. If this is not understood, it is impossible to fully comprehend and understand what the author is trying to communicate to his recipients. It is the goal of the author of this paper to communicate, at the very least, a basic understanding of the historical context of Romans, including the author, date, recipients and general historical context.
Author
As is normal for most of Paul’s writings found within the New Testament, Paul claims to be the author of the letter to the Romans (1:1). Pauline authorship is disputed among scholars for many of his letters, but virtually no one argues the authorship of the letter to the Romans.[3]However, it still seems valuable to state some of the reasons for this agreeance among the masses.
Simply put, the authorship of Romans is most strongly affirmed in the agreeance between Romans and other books of the Bible. For example, Paul claims to be of the tribe of Benjamin in 11:1 which is affirmed in Phil. 3:5. Paul refers to his journey to Jerusalem (to deliver the love gift he had collected) in 15:25-27 which is confirmed in Acts 19:21; 20:1-5; 21:5, 17-19. Paul also mentioned his desire and intention to visit Rome in 1:10-13 which, again, is confirmed in Acts 19:21.[4]The list goes on, but with these confirmations throughout Scripture, it points strongly to a Pauline authorship.
Date
The date of the writing of the letter to the Romans is pretty hard to argue with. Paul mentions his travel plans in Rom. 15:23-29 which can be used to pin point the dating of the writing. Paul mentions his plans to travel to Jerusalem (to deliver the love offering), Rome and then Spain. Rome would be used as a “sending church” for his journeys to Spain. This information can be lined up with the information found throughout Acts 19-20. These two chapters can be found within the context of Paul’s third missionary journey.[5]
The location of the writing is understood to be the city of Corinth where Paul spent the winter of A.D. 56-57. This would explain why Paul mentions Pheobe (16:1) and Gaius (16:23) as they are both from Corinth. Pheobe was also the individual who delivered the letter to the Romans (16:2). All of this, the writing taking place before his third missionary journey and the origin of the writing, places the date of the writing as A.D. 57, specifically the winter of A.D. 57.[6]
Recipients
The recipients of the letter to the Romans is a bit more unclear, in some respects. The obvious recipients were Roman Christians, or Christians located in the city of Rome. Romans 1:7 states this pretty clearly, “to all who are beloved in God in Rome, called as saints…”[7]The part that is not completely clear is whether this was one large church body or many local churches in the area. These local churches would most likely have been smaller “house churches”.[8]It is clear that a church existed in Rome as Paul addresses the church who met in the home of Aquila and Priscilla in Rom. 16:5. This could point to the reason that Paul addressed “the saints” instead of “the church”.[9]
The next question is whether or not the recipients were Jewish or Gentile. As can be clearly seen throughout Scripture, Paul was an apostle to the Gentiles, while Peter was the Apostle sent to the Jews (Eph. 3:1, 8; Gal. 2:8). However, the letter to the Romans contains many references clearly written to a Jewish audience (Rom. 2:17; 4:1; 6:14-15; 7:1). There are also portions of the letter written to a Gentile audience (Rom. 1:5-6).[10]The best answer to the question of ethnicity is both. The recipients were both Jew and Gentile. It is unknown as to the origin of the churches in Rome, as this would help solve the problem at hand, but is speculated the originators came from Jerusalem after Pentecost (Acts 2:10). Either way, “this conclusion is supported by evidence in the letter.”[11]Another explanation states the founders of the church in Rome were early converts of the Apostles. Either way, the church in Rome was famous for its faith throughout the Romans empire, which has a high probability of taking an extended amount of time.[12]
Historical Context
In A.D. 54, emperor Nero came into power. Nero was known for his violence and extravagance[13]but not at first. Nero was brought into power whenever he was only 17 years of age, and for the first five years, Nero accomplished many positive movements in the Roman empire. For example, Nero cut taxes, replaced the gladiator games with the arts, refused to sign the death penalty unless absolutely necessary and many other things. It seems the violence started with the death of his mother in A.D. 59. With this in mind, at the time of the writing of the letter to the Romans (A.D. 57), the Roman empire was at a relevant state of peace.[14]
It is speculated as to whether or not Paul presented the gospel in such detail due to the disagreeance between the Jews and the Gentiles. In A.D. 49, the Jewish people were “booted” from the Roman empire, which is the reason Aquila and Priscilla were in Greece whenever Paul met them.[15]They returned to the Roman empire in A.D. 54 at the appointment of emperor Nero. Whether or not the Jews and non-Jews were in disagreeance or not isn’t real clear, however, it does make sense logically. Either way, both Jews and Gentiles were a part of the recipient group.
[1]Epistles are simply letters written with the purpose of teaching. The letter to the Romans is, in fact, a letter but contains a formal treatise of sorts in the middle of two book ends. Many would regard 1:18-11:36 as a formal treatise within a longer letter, as Thomas Constable states in his “Notes on Romans”(http://www.soniclight.com/constable/notes/pdf/romans.pdf).
[2]Martin Luther, “Preface to the Epistle to the Romans” (1522), cited by Constable, p. 22.
[3]Michael G. Vanlaningham. The Moody Bible Commentary, Romans. Moody Publishers. Chicago, IL, 2014, p. 1741.
[4]John A. Witmer. The Bible Knowledge Commentary, Romans. David C. Cook, Colorado Springs, CO, 1983, p. 435.
[5]Michael G. Vanlaningham. The Moody Bible Commentary, Romans. Moody Publishers. Chicago, IL, 2014, p. 1741.
[6]Ibid.
[7]All Scripture references, unless otherwise noted, will be quoted from the NASB version of the Bible.
[8]With the rise of the “house church” model, I think it is important to note here, this is unclear in Scripture. There is not a prescribed “model” of church found in Scripture. In fact, some of Paul’s letters address the church in ______ (1 Cor. 1:2; 1 Thess. 1:1; 2 Thess. 1:1). However, Romans does not address “the church in Rome”. This leads me to believe there are multiple models for church organization.
[9]John A. Witmer. The Bible Knowledge Commentary, Romans. David C. Cook, Colorado Springs, CO, 1983, p. 435.
[10]Michael G. Vanlaningham. The Moody Bible Commentary, Romans. Moody Publishers. Chicago, IL, 2014, p. 1741.
[11]John A. Witmer. The Bible Knowledge Commentary, Romans. David C. Cook, Colorado Springs, CO, 1983, p. 436.
[12]Thomas. L. Constable. Notes on Romans. Sonic Light Publishing, 2017, p. 2. http://www.soniclight.com/constable/notes/pdf/romans.pdf
[13]Encyclopedia Britannica, s.v. “Nero,” accessed May 30, 2018, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Nero-Roman-emperor
[14]There was certainly still some unrest as Rome was recovering from the hardship caused by the previous emperor. Claudius was a violent man who did much harm to the empire (in terms of Christianity and Jews).
[15]Blackhawk Church “Eat this Book – Weeklt Bible Guide: Reading Paul’s Letter to the Romans” p. 1, accessed May 30, 2018. http://www.blackhawkchurch.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/eat_this_book_romans.pdf
