Before taking a look at some of these perspectives it will help to explain a few of the background details concerning the book of Romans.  It was probably written during the third missionary trip that Paul took.  The actual place the letter was written may have been in Corinth.  It was most likely composed in the later months of A.D. 56 or early part of 57 (Boa, Kruidenier 5).  Tertius, a friend of Paul, helped write the letter.  Gaius, a man whom Paul had been staying with, may have been the one who provided Paul with Tertius (Bruce 14).  When Paul wrote this letter to the Romans it is clear from his word usage the church in Rome had not been started in the recent past.  It had in part a somewhat lengthy history (Bruce 15).  There is some conflict concerning the intended audience of Paul’s letter.  At times during the letter it seems that it was written for Jewish Christians (Moo 9).  At other times it seems that Paul’s intended audience was Gentile Christians (Moo 10).

Before diving into some of the complicated arguments let us take a look at the purpose of Romans from a basic point of view.  Once Paul had finished his work in the East he wanted to spread the gospel to Spain (Coffman xiv).  For some time Paul had desired to visit Rome.  He had even made promises to make a trip to the city.  At this time Rome was a very important city since it was the capital of the Roman Empire.  It only made sense for Paul to visit Rome since it was on his way to Spain.  There was also another reason Paul may have wanted to visit the city.  If he was to be successful in Spain, he was going to need enough capital to finance the trip.  He undoubtedly felt that the Christians in Rome would lend him the aid and support he needed.  In his letter to the Romans he wanted to show them his understanding of the gospel.  This letter would also help the Roman Christians come to entrust him (Coffman xv) so that when he did arrive they would not be suspicious of his presence.  Most of the Christians in Rome had never actually met Paul.  They had only heard his name.  To improve his standing with the Roman Christians he knew he needed to lay out his beliefs for them to see in writing.  Ultimately, Paul was saying this is the person that I am and these are my beliefs (Barton, Veerman, Wilson xix).

A second reasons Paul may have written this letter to the Romans is because of the lack of leadership at the church in Rome.  There were no teachers or apostolic leaders.  Based on this awareness he may have seen it fit to help solidify the faith of the Christians in Rome.  It has already been mentioned that Rome was one of the most important cities of this time period.  Paul knew that Christians living in this area would undoubtedly face unavoidable conflicts in such a city.  If this was not enough to cause him to write a letter to the Romans, his friends in Rome, such as Priscilla and Aquila, had communicated with Paul about the many struggles that Roman Christians were facing.  To make matters worse the church in Rome did not even have a whole Bible.  They only had the Old Testament in its Hebrew script.  The Gospels were written at a later time period and the Epistles that had been written prior to this time had not been sent to the church in Rome.  When Christians in Rome read Paul’s letter it would have been the first time that the majority of them had read a section of Christian literature (Barton, Veerman, Wilson xix).  These are all very valid arguments as to why Paul wrote this epistle to the Romans.

One cannot be completely sure about the social makeup of the church in Rome.  The book of Acts makes it sound like the Roman church had many Jewish believers.  In Acts one reads the account where Paul is in Rome under house arrest.  While under this house arrest, he was constantly preaching to the Jewish leaders in Rome.  Even Paul’s letter to the Romans implies that some of those who read Paul’s letter were Jewish.  In the second chapter of Romans he deals with a person “who calls himself a Jew (Johnson 4).  On the other side of the argument, Romans ultimately makes it seems that Paul’s readers were mainly Gentile in origin.  He portrays his mission in a way that he wants to bring about “the obedience of faith for the sake of his name among all the nations [or: Gentiles], including yourselves” (Romans 1:5-6).  In 1:13 Paul declared that he wanted to “reap some harvest among you as among the rest of the Gentiles.”  Finally in 11:13 Paul says, “Now I am speaking to you Gentiles.”  This does not necessarily contradict the previous assumption that the majority of Paul’s readers were Gentile but it does give the impression he dealt with Christians of assorted backgrounds.  This raises two question: Did Gentiles and Jews live together in certain neighborhoods?  If they did live together in the same community did they attend different house-churches based on their ethnicity?  These two questions cannot be answered due to a lack of information in the letter concerning the two questions (Johnson 5).

Some scholars believe that one of the main reasons Romans may have been written is because of the various backgrounds, Jews and Gentiles, which may have been represented at the church in Rome.  These same scholars like to compare Paul’s letter to the Romans to his other letters to the Corinthians and Thessalonians.  Paul wrote these former letters because of difficulties that had arisen in these communities.  He wrote these letters in an effort to correct these problems.  The aforementioned scholars believe that Romans was written in a similar fashion to these letters based on the problems that the church at Rome was experiencing.  In Romans 14 Paul talks about food and festivals and the disagreements that had occurred concerning these two areas.  It seems that both of these matters main have been one of the main causes of conflict between the Jews and Gentiles.  Obviously, Paul felt the need to write the church in order to help them solve these problems.  In Romans 15:7 Paul is urging the Gentiles and Jews to get along when he says “Welcome one another, therefore, as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God.”  Those who argue for this perception believe that Paul wrote Romans he wanted the Jewish and Gentile Christians in Rome to understand that they were working as team to further Gods kingdom (Johnson 5).

Other intellectuals believe that Paul wrote Romans based on what he was presently going through while also considering his future plans.  Those who argue for this notion believe that Romans was not written to address problems that had arisen in the church at Rome.  They base this argument on the fact that Paul never seems to implement a tone of rebuke anywhere in the letter.  Furthermore, they argue that Paul does not even seem to give direct instruction to the audience who will read his letter.  Right after he declares in Romans 1:11 that he hoped to “impart some spiritual gift to strengthen you” he goes on to note that any authority he may have over these people is simply so “that we may be mutually encouraged by each other’s faith, both yours and mine” (1:12).  They also argue that the moral exhortations provided by Paul in Romans 12-13 are not directed to Jew and Gentile relations.  They proclaim that these exhortations are too general in character to be identified with Jew and Gentile associations (Johnson 5).

Furthermore, these scholars believe that when Paul’s says “I myself am satisfied about you, my brethren, that you yourselves are full of goodness, filled with knowledge, and able to instruct one another (15:14)” he is ultimately saying that he did not write these letter to deal with internal problems at the church in Rome (Johnson 5-6).  In 15:15 Paul does says that he has “written on some points very boldly by way of reminder” but these words do not necessarily imply that the Christian community in Rome was in dire trouble.  In Romans 16:17-18 Paul talks about people who cause “dissensions and difficulties.”  This passage does seem to indicate that Paul may have written Romans because of the trials and tribulations among the Jews and Gentiles but one must consider that the people Paul is describing in this verse are portrayed as “in opposition to the doctrine you have been taught.”  This passage shows that when Paul talks about people causing problems in the church he is not talking about people taking sides within the church concerning the matters at hand but rather people who are all together opposed to the Christian teaching.  Paul goes on to say in the passage “your obedience is known to all” in reference to the Romans.  It is easy to see how the scholars who argue for this viewpoint believe that Paul did not write Romans in order to improve Jew and Gentile relations within the church (Johnson 6).

Just because the data in the aforementioned paragraph seems to indicate that Romans was not written because of internal problems, this does not mean that there were no such problems in the church at Rome.  Those who believe that the purpose of Romans was to improve relations within the church have a very valid argument that should not be discredited.  With that being said Paul seems to have written Romans for purely practical reasons.  This means he simply wanted the Roman church to help him out with financial matters for his planned trip to Spain (Johnson 6).

Near the very beginning of his letter he talks about how he “desired some harvest (1:13)” from the Romans just as other Gentile churches had done.  Prior to and during the writing of this letter Paul had been collecting money for the church in Jerusalem.  In Romans 15:19-22 we are told that Paul had not been able to include the church at Rome in this collection because he had been so busy in the East.  The former passage seems to imply that Paul wanted to provide the Christians in Rome with another chance to take part in this collection.  If Paul was going to be successful in Spain he was going to need a new base of operations in the West.  It was actually one of Paul’s techniques to set up his base of operations in major urban cities.  It was perfect for this base of operations to be located in Rome so Paul is ultimately offering these people the opportunity to provide with him his new base of operations in the West (Johnson 6).

In 15:24 he tells the Romans that he wants to “be sped on” his journey to Spain once he had gotten to fellowship with them for a time.  In the Greek, “speed on a journey” means getting supplies and resources that a person may need for a mission.  Just a few verses later in 15:32 Paul says he looks forward to being “refreshed” by the Roman Christians.  This is a word that also hints at monetary support (Johnson 6).

If Paul’s purpose for writing Romans was to raise funds to support his journey to Spain this assertion helps explain why chapter 16 was included in the letter.  At first glance this chapter seems somewhat out of place.  Some academics have even questioned whether it originally belonged in Romans or not.  These same scholars believe this chapter may have actually been an entirely different letter that was written by Paul in recommendation of Phoebe.  This is an interesting proposition but when one views the textual history of Romans they will find that from the beginning chapter 16 has been included in the letter (Johnson 7).

If Paul’s purpose in writing Romans was based on financial motives chapter 16 serves his purpose perfectly.  In the first two verses of the chapter he gives Phoebe praise and he also mentions that she was a deacon at the church located in the port city of Cenchreae which was part of Corinth.  In 16:2 he claims that Phoebe “has been a helper of many and of myself as well.”  The Revised Standard Version used the word “helper” in this verse but the term from which it was translated can also mean patron.  Under these circumstances this word usage would indicate someone who had given Paul monetary assistance.  A little while later Paul asks the Christians in Rome to “assist her in whatever she may require of you.”  From a Greek standpoint this verse seems to be dealing with financial associations.  To further this belief Paul says this write after 15:32 when he had urged the Romans to provide him with refreshment.  From all of these verses one can finally gather what Phoebe’s mission was in Rome.  She had helped out with Paul’s labors in the East and now she was going to Rome on behalf of Paul.  Her main job in Rome was too prepare for Paul’s voyage to Spain.  Paul uses this chapter to promote Phoebe as his business partner to the Roman church (Johnson 7).

The purpose of Romans will most likely be a debate until the end of time.  The two main arguments that have been put forth in this paper are very legitimate and convincing.  One can make strong arguments for both of these propositions.  To this writer it seems that Paul wrote this letter in an effort to prepare the way for missionary journey to Spain.  Throughout the letter he saw fit to address some of the problems that the church in Rome was dealing with.  While a debate over the purpose of Romans is not a bad thing it is important that the conflict does not get in the way of all the Godly insights the book has too offer.

WORKS CITED

Barton, Bruce B., David R. Veerman, Neil Wilson. Life Application Bible Commentary:

Romans. Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.,1992.

Boa, Kenneth, William Kruidenier. Holman New Testament Commentary: Romans. Nashville,

TN: Broadman and Holman Publishers, 2000.

Bruce, F. F. The Letter of Paul to the Romans: An Introduction and Commentary. Grand Rapids,

MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1985.

Coffman, James Burton. Commentary on Romans. Austin, TX: Firm Foundation Publishing

House, 1973.

Hodge, Charles. Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans. Grand Rapids, MI: WM. B.

Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1968.

Johnson, Luke Timothy.  Reading Romans: A Literary and Theological Commentary. New York,             NY: The Crossroad Publishing Company, 1997.

Moo, Douglas J. The Epistle to the Romans. Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing

Company, 1996.

http://2012-comet.com

February Newsletter:

Thank you for participating in the 2012Comet.com Newsletter! We have been very busy updating the website with a new look. It has gradually transformed into something pleasant over the last few weeks.

1. We have changed our opinion on Nibiru (Planet X). After further research into the planet Nibiru, we no longer feel that it exists. We believe that a lot of the 2012 hype has been created to discredit revelations in the Bible. Is Wormwood as referred to in the Bible a comet or meteor? Is the world being given scientific explanations for revelations? Would this help the Antichrist and other non-believers continue not to believe in God?

2. We’ve also added a FREE Toolbar that will make it easy for you to visit our forums. This toolbar has a built-in Internet radio. The Internet Radio feature is really nice and we feel you will enjoy it.

3. The Forums now have over 6500 postings and are growing daily. We have began moderating all of the postings in an effort to make the website an enjoyable place to visit. By moderating all of the postings it keeps you from having to go back and reread through topics. This was previously the case when Guests were moderated and Members were not.

4. Religion/God seems to really have taken a front seat in a lot of the forum postings recently. There have been some great conversations taking place between some very educated people. We truly enjoy seeing quality postings in our forums. Again, all of us here at 2012 Comet would like to thank you for your participation.

Stay connected and support 2012 Comet by downloading our free toolbar below.

Have a nice week!

2012Comet.com
Admin