ROMANS, EPISTLE TO THE 103 ROMANS, EPISTLE TO THE
design at this particular time appears from a casual no- tice in Acts xix, 21.
The epistle, then, was written from Corinth during Paul's third missionary journe}', on the occasion of the second of the two visits recorded in the Acts. On this occasion he remained three months in Greece (Acts xx, 3). When he left, the sea was already navigable, for he was on the point of sailing for Jerusalem when he was obliged to change his plans. On the other hand, it cannot have been late in the spring, because, after passing through Macedonia and visiting several places on the coast of Asia Minor, he still hoped to reach Je- rusalem by Pentecost (xx, 16). It was therefore in the winter or early spring of the year that the Epistle to the Romans was written. According to the most probable svstem of chronology, this would be the win- ter of A.d! 54-55.
The Epistle to the Romans is thus placed in chrono- logical connection with the epistles to the (ialatians and Corinthians, which appear to have been written within the twelve months preceding. The First Epis- tle to the Corinthians was written before Paul left Eph- esus, the Second from Macedonia when he was on his way to Corinth, and the Epistle to the (ialatians most probably either in Macedonia or after his arrival at Corinth, i. e. after the epistles to the Corinthians, though the date of the Galatian epistle is not absolutely cer- tain. See Galatians, Epistle to thk. We shall have to notice the relations existing between these con- temporaneous epistles hereafter. At present it will be sufficient to say that they present a remarkable resem- blance to each other in style and matter — a much great- er resemblance than can be traced to any other of Raid's epistles. They are at once the most intense and most varied in feeling and expression — if we may so say, the most Pauline of all Paul's epistles. When Baur ex- cepts these four epistles alone from his sweeping con- demnation of the genuineness of all the letters bearing Raid's name {Paulits, cler Aposiel), this is a mere cari- cature of sober criticism ; but underlying this errone- ous exaggeration is the fact that the epistles of this pe- riod— Raul's third missionary journey — have a charac- ter and an intensitj' peculiarly their own, correspond- ing to the circumstances of the apostle's outward and inward life at the time when they were written. For the special characteristics of this group of epistles, see a paper on the Epistle to the Galatians in the Journitl of Class, and Sacr. Phil, iii, 289.
IV. Occasion and Object of Wi~iting. — These evident- ly grew out of the position and character of the persons addressed, and therefore involve a consideration of the Church at Rome and of the apostle's purposes with re- lation to it.
1. The opinions concerning the rjenend design of this letter differ according to the various suppositions of those who think that the object of the letter was sup- plied by the occasion, or the supposition that the apos- tle selected his subject only after an opportunity for writing was offered. In earlier times the latter opin- ion prevailed, as, for instance, in the writings of Thom- as Aquinas, Luther, Melancthon, CaU'in. In more re- cent times the other opinion has generally been advo- cated, as, for instance, by Hug, Eichhorn, and Flatt. Many writers suppose that the debates mentioned in ch. xiv and xv called forth this epistle. Hug, there- fore, is of opinion that the object of the whole epistle was to set forth the following proposition : Jercs ami Gentiles have equal claim to the kinr/dom of God. Ac- cording to Eichhorn, the Roman Jews, being exasper- ated against the disciples of Paul, endeavored to demon- strate that Judaism was sufficient for the salvation of mankind; consequently Eichhorn supposes that tlie po- lemics of Raul were not directed against Judaizing con- verts to Christianity, as in the Epistle to the (ialatians, but rather against Judaism itself. This opinion is also maintained by De Wette (Kinleiturifj ins Neue Testa- ment, 4th ed. § 138), According to Credner (^Eirdeitung, I
§ 141), the intention of the apostle was to render the lioman congregation favorably disposed before his ar- rival in the chief metropolis, and he therefore endeav- ored to show that tlie evil rejjorts sjiread concerning himself l)y zealously Judaizing Christians were errone- ous. This opinion is nearly related to that of Baur, who supposes that the real object of this letter is men- tioned only in ch.ix-xi. According to Baur, tlie Judaiz- ing zealots were displeased tliat by the instrumentality of Paul such numbers of Cientiles entered the kingdom of God that the Jews ceased to appear as the Messianic people. Baur supposes that these Judaizcrs are more especially refuted in ch. ix-xi, after it has been shown in the first eight chapters that it was in general incor- rect to consider one people better than anotlier, and that all had equal claims to be justified by faith. Against the opinion that the apostle, in writing the Epistle to the Romans, had this particular polemical aim, it has been justly observed by Rlickert (in the 2d ed. of his Commentar), Olshausen, and De Wette that the apos- tle himself states that his epistle had a general scope. Raul says in the introduction that he had long enter- tained the wish of visiting the metropolis, in order to confirm the faith of the Church, and to be himself com- forted by that faith (i, VI). He adds (ver. 1(5) that he was prevented from preaching in the chief city by ex- ternal obstacles only. He says that he had written to the Roman Christians in fulfilment of his vocation as apostle to the Gentiles. Tlie journey of Phoebe to Rome seems to have been the external occasion of the epistle. Paul made use of this opportunity by sending the sum and substance of the Christian doctrine in vvrit- ing, having been prevented from preaching in Rome. Paul had many friends in Rome who commuincated with him; consequently he was the more induced to address the Romans, although he manifested some hesitation in doing so (xv, 15). These circumstances exercised some influence as well on the form as on the contents of the letter; so that, for instance, its contents differ consider- ably from the F^pistle to the Ephesians, although this also lias a general scope.