* It is in fact doubtful whetiier these Corinthian 'Puritans' were Judaizers at all, at any rate of the ordinary type ; see Lake, Earlier EpiMes, p. 219'ff.
t It is not, however, quite certain that these practised vege- tarianism : see Lietzmann, Com. ad loc, for the various traces of this type of asceticism in different quarters.
J For scrupulousness as to days see Gal 410 and Col 216^ where meat and drink are also mentioned ; for these cf. 1 Ti 43.
§ Cf. also the same writer's Paulus, Tiabingen, 1911, p. 4ff., Eng. tr., London, 1912, p. 9 ff.
At the same time Deissmann has carried his thesis too far. We may q\iote on the other side one who is equally qnalilied to speak from the point of view of the new iliscoveries : ' The letters of St. Paul may not be epistles, if by that we are to under- stand literary compositions written without any tlioughtof a particular body of readers. At the same time, in view of the tone of authority adopted by their author, and the general princii)les with which they deal, they are equally far removed from the unstudied expression of personal feeling, which we associate with the idea of a true letter. And if we are to describe them as letters at all, it is well to define the term still further by the addition of some such distinguishing epithet as " missionary " or " i)astoral." It is not merely St. Paul the man, but St. Paul the spiritual teacher and guide who speaks in them throughout' (Milligan, The New Testament Documents, London, 1913, p. 95).
If this applies generally, it applies with special force to Romans, which lias in it something both of the manifesto and of the homily.
5. The primitive Roman Church.— The bearing of the Epistle on the composition of the Roman Church and its supposed parties has already been discussed (§ 4). It remams to put together what we can gather as to the character of the community addressed by St. Paul. Since the time of Pomjiey (63 B.C.) there had been considerable settlements of Jews in Rome, and Latin literature is full of references to them, mostly of an unfavourable character (see quotations in Sanday-Headlam, p. xixf}'.). We may therefore safely assume tliat there would also be in Rome large numbers of those proselytes and ' God-fearers,' attracted by the monotheism and.ethical teaching of the Synagogue, from whom St. Paul and early Christian mission- aries in general drew many of their converts. The importance of the Jewish community also im- plies frequent direct contact between Rome and Jerusalem (cf. the connexion of the Herods with the Imperial Court). There was a .synagogue of Roman libertini at Jerusalem (Ac 6"), and strangers from Rome, ' Jews and proselytes,' are mentioned among the first hearers of the gospel on the day of Pentecost (2'"). It is not unreasonable to trace the first beginnings of Christianity in Rome to this fact. But possibly more important was the con- stant intercourse between such cities as Ephesus and Corinth and the capital. A Christian church would be founded there almost imperceptibly, ow- ing to the visits and migrations of converts, each of whom, after the manner of the first generations of Christianity, became a centre of missionary efibrt. There is at any rate no evidence of any definite projjaganda in Rome on the part of Peter or any other of the apostles before the period of our Epistle. The stories of an early preaching of Peter (7.1;. ) in the capital are comparatively late and unsupported. Our oldest authorities speak only of his martyrdom there at a later date. The evidence of Romans itself is certainly against any idea that he had visited Rome before the writing of the Epistle. It is true that the interpretation of 15-" is not undisputed, Lake and others seeing in the 'hindrance' the fact that the church had actually been founded by another — presumably St. Peter. But a careful reading of the passage shows that v.--, ' wherefore I was hindered these many times from coming to you,' refers to the urgent necessity under which St. Paul had lain of preach- ing in other districts first, not to the objection of intiruding on another's foundation. He clearly implies that the ' hindrance ' has now been removed ; he has, in fact, ' no more any further place in these regions' ; i.e. he has done his work. On the other hand, the objection that Rome was another man's
ROMANS, EPISTLE TO THE
KOMANS, EPISTLE TO THE 413
fotiiulation would be valid permanently, and it is most improbable that in these eireumstances St. I'aul would even have written to the Roman Church, at anj' rate witlmnt maUin;; tlie least reference to St. Peter's work and position there. There would not, however, be the same objection to writinj,' to or visiting a community in which Christianity had simply sprung up, as it were, of itself.
The remark of Suetonius [Claud. 25) that Claudius 'Jndicos, impulsore Chresto assidue tumultuantes, Homa expulit' (<'onfirmed by Ae 18") may well be an indication of the existence of Christianity in Rome c. a.d. 52.* It is true that 'Chrestus' may be the name of an actual indi- vidual (it was a common slave name), but more probably it represents ' Christus,' in which case we Iiave a hint either of .some Messianic disturbance of a <;eneral character or el.se, more specilically, of troubles arising between Jews and Christians owing to the jireaching of Jesus as Christ. The Roman historian miglit easily suppose from hear- ing the name that Christus, or Chrestus, was the actual ringleader. It may be that the reminder in Ro IS'"' of the duty of proper submission to the civil ])ower has a special reference to this event ; Christians are to hold aloof from every type of lawless action, and from anything which might lead, however unintentionally, to collision with those responsible for law and order. Lake, however (Earlier Epistles, p. 3921}'.), suggests that the passage is more general and refers to the danger of being mi.xed up in the agitations and abortive rebellions of the Zealots. It is at any rate im- portant as reflecting the Pauline and Lucan atti- tude to the Imperial power, in strong contrast to the hostility of the Apocalypse. And, written to Rome, it might have a considerable apologetic value if a copy of the Epistle chanced to come into the hands of anyone connected with the Court.