Lead up to Romans
Romans 16 -- Paul's letter to Ephesus
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Romans 15 was probably the last part of Romans written. But these verses give us important background for understanding the letter. So, let's follow Scot McKnight's example and "read Romans backwards." [1]
1. We already know from Romans 16 that Paul is at Corinth as he writes, staying at the house of Gaius (16:23). This also aligns with the book of Acts (Acts 20:3).
Where has he been? Over the course of his mission, he has "fulfilled the gospel" from Jerusalem to Illyricum (15:19). This is curious because Illyricum is in the northwestern part of the Greek peninsula -- somewhere Acts never tells us Paul visited.
It's a reminder that Acts is not an exact presentation. It is an artistic presentation. It is likely an "economized" presentation. What I mean is that history is sloppy and full of details. Acts does a superb job of reducing the scattered details of life into a somewhat linear presentation. This can take great skill, but precision is sometimes the cost. For example, I have long suspected that Acts 15 is an effective condensation of a process that took a little longer than a one day public event.
When did Paul go to Illyricum? Probably either while he was at Corinth or during one of his trips through Macedonia. Indeed, maybe the difficulties of 2 Corinthians 10-13 led him to stall going to Corinth a little.
2. He is coming from a several year mission in Ephesus. I've already mentioned the pathos I hear in 15:23 -- "no longer have a place in these regions." He's covered the east.
He longs to come to them, to Rome (15:23). It's been on his bucket list. He's been hindered because of his mission to the Gentiles thus far.
3. Paul's self-identity as an apostle, missionary, church planter to the Gentiles is very clear in these verses. Paul did not see himself equally as an apostle to Jews and Gentiles. He saw the mission to the Gentiles as God's special calling to non-Jews.
Paul would likely have chuckled (or scowled) to read Acts 15:7 where Peter takes credit for being the first to bring the good news to the Gentiles. He is clear in Galatians 2:7 -- Peter recognized Paul as the apostle to non-Jews while Peter was the apostle to the circumcised.
So, here is Paul's mission statement: God has sent me as the lead witness to the resurrection among the Gentiles.
He is also a church planter. He clearly does not see his calling as "second pastor." He does not preach the gospel "where Christ has already been named" (15:20). He doesn't build on the foundation others have laid. Rather, the Spirit has made Isaiah 52:15 come alive to him as a kind of personal verse -- "Those who have never been told of him will see."
4. For this reason, he does not plan to spend a long time in Rome. The Roman church is already established. Indeed, it had already existed in AD49 when Priscilla and Aquila were forced to leave.
How did it get established? Of course the Roman Catholic Church has a tradition that it was founded by Peter but this is unlikely in the extreme. The kernel of the tradition may be that the church had a somewhat of a "Petrine" flavor. [2] It was founded before Paul had brought the "Gentile question" fully into discussion and so the church may have retained a more "conservative" flavor even after most of its Jewish believers had been forced to leave by Claudius.
So, the Roman church is established. He doesn't plan to minister there -- it is already a well established set of churches. And they are primarily Gentile churches.
In AD49, the conflict within the synagogues of Rome reached such a peak that it came to the attention of the Emperor Claudius. Both Suetonius and Acts 18:2 indicate that Claudius kicked at least the Jewish Christians from the city. [3] It seems practically unlikely that all Jews would be forced to leave. It's much more likely that only the "troublemakers" were, namely, the messianic Jews.
This would have left the God-fearers who had become believers. The Roman church in AD50 would thus have been overwhelmingly Gentile. Like a fossil, their shape would have been formed by the Jewish believers who had left. This dynamic may be helpful in the interpretation of Romans (and, frankly, Hebrews and Mark, although Jewish belivers no doubt returned in 54 after Claudius died).
5. There are many hints that Romans was written to a predominantly Gentile audience.
Paul thinks he has written boldly to them at some points (15:15 -- what are they?), but it is appropriate for him to do so because he is an apostle to the Gentiles. Implication? That they are Gentiles. He can write boldly to them because it's his job.
His job is to make sure that the Gentile believers are an acceptable sacrifice to God (15:16). They need to be "sanctified" -- set apart as holy for God. So, part of his job is to whip the Gentile churches into shape.
In Christ, he might be proud of all this mission work. Paul's personality sneaks in a little here. Krister Stendahl long ago pointed out that Paul never viewed himself as a failure. [5] He is a choleric -- he has always felt like a success. He has always seen himself as an example and a model to emulate (cf. 1 Cor. 4:16). Romans 7 is not autobiographical but hypothetical, a dramatic enactment, as we will see.
But he will not boast except in what Christ has done through him (15:18). This includes signs and wonders (15:19) -- a reminder that Paul's ministry was not primarily the presentation of heady theology or speeches. Miracles accompanied his mission. We have made him into an intellectual, but that's not likely how they saw him (cf. 2 Cor. 10:10).
6. In the immediate future, he is on his way to Jerusalem (15:16). He has collected an offering from many of the Gentile churches he has planted, including the churches of Macedonia and Achaia (15:26). Acts mentions a collection of representatives from the churches with him, as we have already mentioned (Acts 20:4).
"I am going to Jerusalem, ministering to the saints" (15:25). It is for the poor there (15:26). This is in fulfillment of Galatians 2:10.
He likely sees this as the fulfillment of prophecy. Isaiah 60:5 talks about the wealth of the nations flowing to Jerusalem. Indeed, he has ended the argument of the letter in the first part of Romans 15 with verses celebrating the coming of salvation to the Gentiles (15:9-12).
He is afraid he will face opposition from unbelievers in Jerusalem (15:31). According to Acts, he does. He will be arrested and jailed in Jerusalem (Acts 21:27-36). He is also afraid that the Jerusalem church will not receive him (15:31). It's a reminder that he remains on tense, iffy ground with the Jewish Christianity there. Acts 21:20-21 confirms the uneasy ground he is coming to.
He sees this offering almost as an obligation on the part of the Gentile churches (15:27). Israel has shared its spiritual blessings with them. It is thus appropriate for the Gentile churches to share their material blessings back in return.
We get a picture of a Jewish church that is relatively poor, and a Gentile church that is relatively blessed materially. This dynamic might reflect that fact that many God-fearers who associated with synagogues tended to be a little more affluent. The earliest Gentile converts likely came from this demographic.
7. Paul hopes to use Rome as a launching point for a mission into Spain (15:24, 28). I do not personally think he ever made it there. He will get into conflict in Jerusalem that will significantly derail his plans. Following Acts, he will spend almost two years entangled in Judea.
Then he will use Roman law to get to Rome, appealing to Caesar. But, if the foreshadowing of Acts is any indication, he will die there after his trial.
8. Romans 15:33 may have been the original end to this part of the letter. Some manuscripts indeed have the later doxology of 16:25-27 here.
[1] Scot McKnight, Reading Romans Backwards: A Gospel of Peace in the Midst of Empire (Baylor University, 2021).
[2] Raymond Brown and John Meier, Antoich and Rome: New Testament Cradles of Catholic Christianity (Paulist, 2004).
[3] Suetonius, Life of Claudius 25.4.
[4] Krister Stendahl, "Paul and the Introspective Conscience of the West," in Paul Among Jews and Gentiles (Fortress, 1976).
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