Welcome back! Today, we will be covering a church in a city that everyone is familiar with: Rome. It doesn’t matter if you’ve read the Bible cover to cover or have never read a page of it in your life, because we are all very familiar with the city of Rome. It has a deep historical significance, and still exists to be a popular destination in today’s culture. The city has worked hard to maintain its deep and rich history, and stands to be a testament of architectural marvels. However, this post is going to dive into a part of Rome’s history that isn’t explored as often: the early Christian church in Rome. Before we get to the church in Rome and learn about Paul’s letter, we need to get a full understanding of Rome and its history around the time Paul wrote his letter to the church in Rome.
About Rome
Rome is a city located in Italy, and was the capital of the Roman empire. There had already been an existing church in Rome when Paul made his first visit to Rome, and it contained both Jew and Gentile believers. In 49 AD, almost ten years before the book of Romans, Emperor Claudius kicked all Jews out of the city of Rome, regardless of their individual beliefs about Christ, because there were getting to be too many heated debates and arguments about it. This is natural: Jesus was kind of a big deal! The book of Acts actually records this fact in chapter 18 when Paul goes to visit Corinth: “he found a Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontus, recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla, because Claudius had commanded all the Jews to leave Rome.” (Acts 18:2). During this time, the church in Rome only contained Gentile believers, who made lots of changes to the church. The Jewish members had kept many Old Testament traditions, such as circumcision and dietary restrictions, in effect, but the removal of the Jews meant that the Roman church quickly lost these traditions, as they were not things they had grown up accustomed to.
However, Emperor Claudius died in 54 AD, which gave the Jews the freedom to go back to their congregation in Rome. To their surprise, the Gentiles had taken away the traditions that were so important to them. This became a big issue, and was one of the many topics that kept the Jews and Gentiles here so divided and split.
Paul’s Letter to Rome
Paul’s letter to the church in Rome, formerly known as Romans, was written around 56-58 AD, which comes seemingly right after 1st and 2nd Corinthians. Paul is writing this letter to the church in Rome, which he says in Romans 1:7, but it differs from the church in Corinth because his audience has never even met him before. In the last post, we learned how Paul intimately knew the church of Corinth, and was writing letters to provide encouragement to the people that he knew. In Romans, though, Paul’s letter begins with an introduction of himself. It is likely that these people had heard of Paul and his travels to spread the gospel, but Paul hadn’t even visited Rome at this time. “...I mention you always in my prayers, asking that somehow by God’s will I may now at last succeed in coming to you.” (Romans 1:10) Here, Paul mentioned that he would love to come visit, and he actually does (we’ll talk about his visit to Rome later).
Paul’s letter can be divided into four main groups, three of which describe the Gospel in lengthy explanations. This was crucial, as the devotional applications of Jesus’ death and resurrection are in every part of a believer’s life. Paul wanted to make it clear why Jesus died and came back, as well as what happens next. This is also why we use the Romans Road to bring people to Christ: this is the clearest explanation of the entire Gospel in the whole Bible.
The first section, which consists of chapters 1-4, describes the righteousness of God. Paul explains how the Gentiles are guilty of sin by showing how they turned from Jesus, and then says that the Jews are just as guilty, if not more! The Jews have been given the law from the very start, so if anyone would follow it, it would be them. If you’ve read the Old Testament, though, you know that there are countless times where the Jews have disobeyed God and done what was right in their hearts. Therefore, there is no one that can say that they are found righteous in God’s eyes by their works alone. “For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” (Romans 3:23). This is important, because we will never understand our need for a Savior until we see that we are inherently broken and need a Savior to save us. Then, Paul explains how faith is able to justify us and make us right in the eyes of God. He does this through the example of Abraham. “No unbelief made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised. That is why his faith was ‘counted to him as righteousness.’” (Romans 4:20-22) This provides a hope that, even though we are sinful, there is a way to be seen as righteous.
Next, in chapters 5-8, Paul describes a new way of living. When we become saved and ask God to wipe our sins away, we become free from the bondage of sin forever. In the Old Testament, sin offerings were done often, as an animal could not atone for all of the world’s sins forever. “For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.” (Hebrews 10:4). Through this school of thought, no one was ever truly free from sin: it was a continuous cycle of sinning and repenting. Total freedom from sin was a new concept, and it was probably hard for the Jews to grasp, as it was so different from all they had been taught previously. Jesus came to do what the law couldn’t do, and that is to turn us from laws into love. God isn’t as concerned about us following the law as he is about our hearts towards him. If we follow the laws he sets, it is proof that we genuinely want to fulfill our purpose and glorify God in everything that we do. If you think about it, establishing a law for Israel was simply to prove that laws could not provide freedom: the Jews could still sin as much as they desired! “For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do.” (Romans 8:3)
The third section, found in chapters 9-11, speaks about the Jews. God’s new covenant opens up to Gentiles, so that every person is able to hear the word of God and become righteous. This is great news for the Gentiles, but does this mean that the Jews are now forgotten? Paul puts it like this: “Has God rejected his people? By no means!...God has not rejected his people whom he foreknew.” (Romans 11:1a,2a). Paul explains it using the example of a plant. Jews saw the Gospel as cutting Jews off like dead branches of a plant. Instead, Paul states that Gentiles have simply been grafted into the plant. If you are not familiar with the term “grafting”, that’s okay. Grafting is a method used to help plants grow stronger than before. Paul uses this metaphor to show that Jews are not being cut off: Gentiles are being added in!
The last part of Romans, in chapters 12-16, shows the church in Rome what they need to do with what they have been given. Now that Paul has explained the Gospel and cleared up any potentially confusing pieces, he shows what this church needs to do: unify! “May the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one another, in accord with Christ Jesus, that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God.” (Romans 15:5-7) In the past, Jews and Gentiles were seen as separate, but now that Paul has shown in Romans 10:12 that there is no distinction between the two, all members of the church body are called to be unified as one. There are many times in history where Satan has attempted to divide the church, because a divided church means that the Gospel isn’t being spread out. Paul understands this, so his command to his audience is serious.
Altogether, these four sections of the book of Romans flow together to bring a full understanding of the Gospel, no matter who you are. It gives a clear understanding of the “what” and “why” of Jesus’ death and resurrection, as well as the “what now”.
Paul’s Journey to Rome
Acts 27-28 gives a detailed explanation of Paul’s entire trip to Rome, including a dangerous storm at sea and an unexpected pit stop at Malta due to the storm. He arrived in Rome around 60 AD, a few years after his letter. When he arrived, a Roman soldier kindly allowed Paul to live with him while Paul began his ministry in Rome. He ended up staying there for about two years, and was able to freely share the Gospel. Even though his journey there was arduous and unusual, God brought Paul to where He wanted him to be, and gave him safety without hindrance while at Rome.
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I hope that this was an encouragement for you, and that you learned something new about the book of Romans. This is a series that I am quickly growing more and more fond of, and find it very interesting to study the individual churches and why Paul chose to write a letter to them. The next post will be about the church in Galatia, so challenge yourself to spend time in the book of Galatians in the next two weeks and make connections between the book and Galatia’s history. I love you all!
P.S. - If you want to understand themes and books of the Bible better, and get more context for Biblical characters and stories, the Bible Project has been an instrumental piece of my research, and very clearly presents all ideas. Check them out!
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