Transcript Paul

ROMANS
BACKGROUND
Who founded the Roman Church?
Peter?
No…
“It has always been my ambition to
preach the gospel where Christ was
not known, so that I would not be
building on someone else’s
foundation” Rom 15:20
So who?
Who founded the Roman Church?
Paul?
No…
“…and since I have been longing for
many years to see you…” Romans
15:23
So who?
Who founded the Roman Church?
Probably returning Jews from
Jerusalem after the first Pentecost.
The beginning of the Church in Rome
was most likely in the Synagogues
amongst the Jews.
But this wasn’t the type of Church
Paul was writing to…
The best date for Paul’s letter is
c57AD at the end of his 3rd
missionary journey before going to
Jerusalem with the gifts from
Macedonia (Romans 15:25ff)
Bt something happened in Rome
around 49AD – the Emperor Claudius
expelled the Jews.
Claudius expelled them because of
their “rioting at the instigation of
Chrestus” Mentioned by 5thc historian
Orosius and also in
Acts 18:2
“There he (Paul) met a Jew named
Aquila, a native of Pontus, who had
recently come from Italy with his
wife Priscilla, because Claudius had
ordered all the Jews to leave Rome.”
Claudius died in 54AD
Jews would have started to return by
the time of Paul’s letter in 57AD.
But maybe it was now predominantly
a church that met in homes. Romans
16:5 “Greetings also to the church
that meets in their house.”
So what sort of mixture would the
churches in Rome have been like?
Paul’s audience was likely to be a majority
of Gentile Christians with a minority of
Jewish Christians.