Background Notes for the Book of Romans Historical context a rough timeline

Transcription

1 Background Notes for the Book of Romans Historical context a rough timeline First and foremost, the Gospel and the New Testament writings are grounded in historical truth. These are not myths, or fanciful, wishful thinking, or a scholastic/religious attempt to create an ideal world and motivate people. This really, really happened! It is true because it is objectively true and is rooted in history. Here is a rough timeline to help us keep some pertinent things in perspective: ~ 753(747) BC Rome is established (tradition says by Romulus; 747 = 1 st year of the 8 th Olympiad) ~ BC Translation of the Old Testament (at least the Torah) into Greek (Septuagint) ~ 4-3 BC Jesus born ~ 30 AD Death, burial and triumphant resurrection of Christ (the ascension, and Pentecost, etc.) ~ 33 AD The stoning of Stephen ~ 42 AD Death of the Apostle James (first and only recorded of the Apostles) ~ AD First Missionary Journey by Apostle Paul ~ 49 AD First general conference or council in Jerusalem (deals with gentile converts) ~ 49 AD Edict by Claudius expelling Jews and Christians from Rome (possible first persecution mentioned in 10:32-34) see Acts 18:2 (important clue) ~ AD Second Missionary Journey by Apostle Paul ~ AD Third Missionary Journey by Apostle Paul ~ 54 AD Emperor Claudius is poisoned and Nero succeeds him. ~ AD The Book of Romans written while Paul was most likely in Corinth ~ 64 AD The great fire of Rome ~ AD Persecution of Christians by Nero (possible first persecution in 10:32-34) ~ 65 AD Possible date of the writing of Hebrews (and seems best) ~ 66 AD Start of Jewish revolts against Roman rule in Judea ~ 67 AD Death of the Apostle Peter ~ 68 AD Death of the Apostle Paul ~ 69 AD Four different Emperors in Rome in one year; Vespasian starts his dynasty ~ 70 AD Roman army under Titus captures Jerusalem and destroys the temple ~ 79 AD Pliny the Elder killed in Pompeii during eruption of Vesuvius ~ AD Persecution of Christians by Domitian (Domitian assassinated in 96 AD) ~ AD Persecution of Christians by Trajan (Christianity outlawed but not hunted) ~ Persecution of Christians by Marcus Aurelius (Christians hunted, PolyCarp dies) ~ 122 AD Emperor Hadrian builds his wall in Britain ~ 135 AD Hadrian orders destruction of Jerusalem after 3 years of rebellion ~ AD Persecution of Christians by Septimus Severus (Perpetua dies) ~ AD Persecution of Christians by Deius (requires public sacrifice bishops of Rome, Jerusalem & Antioch die. Bishop of Smyrna caves and many other too beginning of great church controversy of how to deal with those who do not stand firm) ~ AD Severe persecution of Christians by Diocletian & Galerius ~ 313 AD Edict of Milan Christianity is officially tolerated

2 What do we know about the capital city, Rome? What of this capital city that Paul writes to even though he has yet to see it? Think the equivalent of Washington DC. But that is a weak analogy. And the weakness lies not in Rome but in Washington! At the time of the writing of this letter, Rome has been a Capitol for roughly 800 years. The breath of the Roman Empire stretched out some 6000 miles, roughly a 1/4 of the circumference of the earth. The Coliseum was a sophisticated, multi-venue entertainment facility holding gladiator contests, chariot races, and even sea battles with war ships in water. Remember that the size of the Roman merchant ship was not exceeded until the fifteenth century. However, we have no indication of ice hockey - yet! In 2012 the population of Federal DC is roughly 630,000 and the area is ~ 61.4 square miles. It was established in 1789 to be the neutral location of the federal government. In 2011 the population of Rome (Italy) was approximately 2.8 million and the area is roughly 500 square miles. The city is ancient. It was established around 750 BC. However, around the time in question, (50 AD), it is estimated that the population of Rome was ~ 1 million people. The area at that time was ~ 5.3 square miles. In other words, the density of population in ancient Rome was roughly 20 times that of current day Washington DC! What can we learn about the letterʼs recipients? We SHOULD want to know what the faith means for us. We SHOULD want to know what are the important issues, what are the important truths that we claim to believe and inform us about what or whom to put our trust and hope in. In this letter, written to the believers living in the capitol city of the super-power of the known world, the Apostle Paul lays all this out for us. I hope you are excited about this. I hope you are anticipating that there is treasure here for us to dig out together, and that under the grace and mercy of God and the powerful working of the Holy Spirit, it will penetrate and impact every area of our lives. OK, so what can we learn about the audience? What reasonable conclusions can we draw from this? Integrating the various data available to us (much of it from the book of Hebrews) suggests the audience as several house churches in Rome. None of these house churches were directly established by Paul, but he did have close relationships with some of their leaders. Some of them are 2 nd generation Christians who have been Christians for a while and have already gone through a time of limited persecution (mainly losing their possessions and property) and are shortly to face a season of harsher persecution. Some in the community are actually thinking about going back to Judaism (which they came out of) as a way to escape the hard times they see coming. There are some clues from the text of the New Testament and other sources (historical and archeological) that help us understand the audience a bit: The audience was part of a Christian community (house churches) and not just separate families groups. There are indications that the setting was urban rather than rural and remote. They may be a house church loosely connected with other house churches in that urban area The Apostle Paul shows an awareness of several house churches (Romans 16:3-15) one of which is led by Pricilla and Aquila (at least it meets in their house) There are no existing excavations of common housing in Rome but they have discovered significant numbers of large apartment buildings with shops on the ground floor and family dwellings on the upper levels used by craftsmen, artisans and prosperous families. There is evidence that the different house churches in Rome where largely independent there was no central bishop to integrate the separate churches until much later External sources confirm the generosity of the churches in Rome the community is praised for their selfless generosity by the author of Hebrews.

3 Roman Christianity was originally Jewish (Hellenistic Jews). By the time of the Apostle Paul s Romans letter there was a large influx of Gentiles The church communities in Rome suffered heavy persecution under Nero starting shortly after the great fire of Rome (AD 64) to the suicide of Nero (AD 68) The Roman church communities faced a serious crisis during the persecutions. They suffered defections (Hebrews 10:25) and members 1) lost fervor; 2) grew weary of the growing hostility; 3) were increasingly attracted to the Mosaic law and a return to Judaism which would lessen suffering The 16 th chapter of Romans gives us a wealth of information about people in the church in Rome. Paul lists 27 different people by name. Among them are the first convert in Asia, a woman who was like a mother to Paul, three who were Paul s kinsman and two of whom spent time in prison along with Paul and became Christians before him. Also in that list are leaders of house churches (as many as three different ones) in Rome who are known and loved by all the Gentile churches. Paul addresses five different family groups and recommends to them a woman called Phoebe who very well may have carried the letter to them. Introductions like this were very important during times of persecution. And speaking of letters One thing to keep in mind is that this is a letter. Our culture is rapidly leaving letters behind but let's consider some important points about letters. A. They are written communications that don't disappear into the ether after you have experienced them. Usually, much more care is given to the writing than the speaking or off-the-cuff remarks. The writer can actually review and edit. But in this case, however, Paul dictated his letter to a scribe, who wrote down his spoken word - and his name is Tertius (16:22). B. Paul did not write this letter to get another book in the Bible! He wrote this letter, like his other letters, because his friends needed help! He was making this letter quickly, perhaps pacing as he was speaking and deep in thought while Tertius was madly scribbling down the torrent of run-on sentences. Paul was not off in his study carefully crafting the university textbook that he would be known for. So Paul was working hard to get all of his thoughts and ideas out with his audience in mind (some he knew, some he did not) and their problems clearly in focus. C. You can re-experience letters over and over again. You get to review them from a different perspective. Certainly, what you absorb in a letter from a loved one early in your life is different from what you absorb 3 or 4 decades later. Why? You have changed! You are not the same person you were when you first read it. You are wiser and have accumulated more knowledge between the readings. D. Letters have a definite source, the author, and a definite target audience that it is written to. What is most interesting is that the target audience does not define or limit who actually reads the message or material. Have you ever read someone else's journal? Shame on you! ;-) E. Letters provide one of the best windows we have into the past. Who has ever seen a history show where one of the main elements is the reading of letters of correspondence of that time period, often directly discussing the historical event in question. This was really pioneered/popularized by Ken Burn's in his history of the Civil War and it is almost unthinkable today not to include that element - even in books. This method is a great way to personalize what would often be just a dry charting of events and facts, all well and good in themselves, but the personalization is what grabs us and engages or connects us with that moment in time.

4 F. Letters may be hard to get and confusing if we can't understand who the source and target audience is and in a way, get inside their heads. Therefore context is really important! This letter from the Apostle Paul to the church in Rome is filled with essential and eternal truths but it is also a product of Paul's life and experience and the life of the church in Rome at that point in time. May God grant us understanding and clarity as we read someone else's mail! This letter follows a standard format found in most ancient letters: A. A formal greeting (1:1-6) B. A prayer for the recipient's health (1:7) C. Thanksgiving given to the author's deity (1:8) D. The actual body or content of the letter (1:9-15:33) E. Final salutations and personal greetings. (All of 16) That this letter is to a church that Paul did not plant has a profound affect on what he says in it. In it Paul is clearly laying out his theology and the foundations he had developed and used for planting many churches. He is also equipping them to stand against wrongful, hurtful and very bad ideas. We get the idea from what Paul says in this letter (Romans 1:11, 15) and in Acts (19:21, 23:11) that he really wants to get to Rome. He has been trying to get there but just has not been able to do it yet. He wants to spend time with them, building them up in the faith, and being strengthen and encouraged himself. A number of them are close friends and fellow tradesmen (Acts 18:1-4) and beside, Paul is under obligation (Acts 9:13-16; 26:12-23) to preach to the Gentiles and there is no better strategic location in the entire known world than the capital of the Gentile world - Rome. And finally, something to know about a gospel The lion s share of the introduction is concerning the gospel. As we will see, this is not just any ol Gospel! It is more formally the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ (Jesus the Messiah). As a church we use this term a lot but what do we mean when we use the word gospel? Our word gospel is usually translated from the Greek word, euangelion, in the Latin it s evangelium and in English we get evangel, as in evangelize. This root gives us good news, or bringing good news. But there are specific connotations that go with this! When a king and his army would be victorious in battle say an invading army was threatening the land and its people they would send a messenger (angelos) with very good news that their king was victorious and that the land was saved and rescued from invasion, enslavement, death and destruction. This was cause for great rejoicing and great joy throughout the land. Like an ambassador, who does not speak on his own behalf but on behalf of the country or kingdom that they represent, a gospeling messenger speaks on behalf of the victor and the import of what that victory means for the people he is giving the message to. The messenger proclaims who the victor is, what the victory is and the impact of that victory for the people who are listening to him. What does this mean for us? What does this mean about the Gospel of Christ? When we speak to the Gospel of Jesus, or the Good News of Jesus we must address the same important information that the ancient gospel messenger did. We need to say who the victor is, what the victory is and the impact of this victory on the people we are speaking to. To do this well we must explain the real dangerous and precarious situation people are in. We must explain that Jesus has won a great victory for us and has rescued us from the danger we faced. Finally, we must address the impact of this victory, of what God, through the righteous life and obedience to death of His Son, Jesus, the Christ or Messiah has done for us.

5 Here are some important points to remember about this Gospel we are talking about: 1) There is a God, His is the creator of the universe and we are His creation and are subject to His rights and demands on us as our creator. This God is holy, righteous and perfect and demands this same holiness and perfection from us. 2) We are fallen and broken and bent and cannot meet God s righteous demands. We cannot save ourselves and we need and must depend on a savior to rescue us. Without one, we are lost and have not hope of rescue and salvation. 3) Jesus is that rescuer and not only pays in full the debt we could never pay and lived a life of perfect obedience which is imputed, ascribed and given to us. When God sees us (His people, those who place their salvation in Jesus hands) He sees Jesus. When God hears us, He hears Jesus. When God smells us, He smells Jesus. 4) The impact of what Jesus, the victor, has done for us is that we who once where spiritually dead have been made alive in Jesus. In Jesus we are justified. In Jesus we receive the gift and deposit of the Holy Spirit, which is the guarantee that God will do what He promised. In Jesus we are new creation and are being changed into the likeness of Him, our relationship with God has been reconciled and we have an eternity to be in God s presence and enjoy Him forever. The Gospel of Jesus Christ is all about the victory that Jesus has accomplished on our behalf. It is not about how we can have a successful and meaningful life. It is not about us. It is not about how Jesus enables us to live a righteous life. He did not just buy us the get out of Hell and into Heaven free card and we then take it from here. The Gospel of Jesus Christ is something we can all rejoice about. Jesus is the hero of the universe s story. Jesus is the hero of each of our own personal stories if we are in Him. Without Him we have no future, there is nothing but tragedy, sorrow, despair, brokenness, shame, anguish, enslavement and death. With Him there is salvation, life, a future, intimate relationship with the creator who made us and who made us for the purpose of glorifying and enjoying Him forever. If we have experienced such a great and thrilling salvation, why would we not desire to be messengers of this Good News? Some more resources: _id=