Epistle there is no reference to any of whom it is intime.ted that they were in an official position, having the rnle over others, and to be snbmitted to. The pa.ese,ge oh. xii. 6-8 does not apparently refer to any regnlar ordained ministry, as will be seen from the notes in loco. For references to one in other Ohurches, cf. 1 Oor. xvi. 16 ; Phil. i. I ; Col. iv. 17 ; 1 These. v. 12, 13; 1 Tim. iii. 1, seq.; v. 17; 2 Tim. ii. 2; Titns i. 5; Heb. xiii. 17; J as. v. 14; .Acts vi. 5, seq.; xiv. 23; xv. 2, 4, 23; xx. 17, seq. Bot absence of allusion is no sufficient proof of non-existence. It may, however, have been the case that the Roman Christians were as yet an nnorganized body, united only by a common faith, e.nd meeting for worship in various houses, the gifts of the Spirit supplying the place of a settled ministry, and that it was reserved for the apostles St. Peter and St. Paul afterwards to organize it, e.nd provide for a due succession of ordained clergy. .As to the exercise of the gifts of the Spirit in the early period before the universal settlement of the Ohm-ch order which afterwards prevailed, see notes nnder eh. xii. 4-7.
§ 7. WHETHER ?rlilNLY A JEWISH OB. A Gl!lliTILPl CHURC1L Another question that has been much discussed, and this partly with reference to the supposed intention of the Epistle, is whether the Roman Church at that time was ma.inly a Jewish or a Gent;ile one. St. Paul's way of addressing it can leave hardly any doubt that he regarded it as the latter. This is shown, to begin with, by his introduction, in which he speaks of his apostleship for obedience of faith among all the nations, among which, he continues, those whom he addresses were, and gives as his reason for being ready to preach the gospel to them that he is debtor both to the Greeks and to the barbarians, and that the gospel is the power of God nnto salva- tion, though to the Jew first, yet to the Greek also. Then afterwards, in eh. ix.-xi., where the position and prospects of the Jewish nation are under review, when he comes to admonition, it is to the Gentile believers that he addresses it, bidding them not be high-minded, but fear, lest God, who spared not the natural branches of the olive tree, spare not them (eh. xi. 13-24); and in his concluding admonitions (eh. xiv. 1-x:v. 16) it is the enlightened and free from prejudice that he ma.inly admonishes to bear with the infirmities of the weak, the latter being presumably, as will be seen, prejudiced believers of Jewish race. Doubtless, as appears nlso from the Epistle itself, Jews, who are known to have been numerous in Rome, would be included among the converts, and probably many Gentiles who had previously been proselytes to Jude.ism. Such may have been the original nucleus of the Church; and the first evangelists may, e.a St. Paul was wont to do, have announoed the gospel first in the synagogues; but it seems evident that, when St. Paul wrote his Epistle, Jews did not consti- tute the main body of the Ohuroh, whioh is addressed M essentially e. Gentile one. The same conclusion follows from what occurred when St. Paul arrived nt Rome. At first, in o.coordanco with the principle he alwa1a ,·ill INTRODUCTION TO
acted on, he oalled the ohief of the Jews together to his lodging, who seem, llB has been seen, to have known little, or profeseed to know little, of the Christian community. With them he argued for e. whole day, from morn- ing till e,ening, a.nd ma.de an impression on some ; but, perceiving their general adverse attitude, he declared to them "that the salvation of God is sent unto the Gentiles, and thilt they will hee.r it 11 ( Acts xxviii. 17-29). From this it seems to follow that his ministrations thenceforth would be mainly among the Gentiles. Later on a.lso, when he wrote to the Philip- pia.ns from Rome, it is in the pa.le.ce (or Pnetorium), and among those of Cll'lB8.1"1s household., that he intimates that the gospel was ta.king hold (Phil. i. 13; iv. 22). The fa.et of the &rgument of the Epistle being based on Jewish ideas, and presupposing aoqua.intance with the Old Testament, affords no valid a.rgnment against the Church to which it was sent having been in the ma.in a Gentile one. The same fact is observed in other Epistles addressed to what must have been mainly Gentile Churches. In fact, we find the gospel always annonnced by apostles and evangelists as the issue and fulfil- ment of the old dispensation; and for 11, full understanding of it, as well as of ita evidences, it would be necessary to indoctrinate all converts in the Old Testament (see note nnder eh. i. 2). It is trne that, in preaching to the Athenians, who had as yet no knowledge of the Scriptures, St. Paul dis- courses on what we me,y call natural religion only (Acts xv.ii.); and so also at Lystm (Acts xiv. 15-17); but doubtless in preparation for baptism all would be instructed in the Scriptures of the Old Testament. It is observ- able too that even in this Epistle, though its main argument is based ~n the Old Testament, yet there a.re parts which appeal to philosophical thinkers genera.lly, and which would seem especially suited for cnltured Gentiles, en.eh a.e, in eh. i.14-16, the writer seems to expect to have among his readers at Rome. Such passages are eh. i. 18-ii.16, where the guilt of the world a.t large is proved by a review of human history, and appeals to genera.I human consciousness; and the la.tter part of eh. vii., where the experienoe of the hu.ma.n soul nnder the operation of law bringing convic- tion of sin is e.n.a.1yzed.
§ 8. PuBPosB OP THB EPISTLE.
We may nerl consider the apostle's purpose, as distinct from the occa- sion, in sending BUCh an Epistle as this is to the Roman Church. We ca.nnot, in the first place, regard it, as some have done, as written with a polemical intention, either a.gain.et the J ewe, or the J a.daizers among Ohris. tians, or any others. Its tone is not polemical. It is rather a carefully re880ned tbeologicaJ. treatise, drawn up with the view of setting forth the writer's views of the mea-oing of the gospel in it.B relation to the La.w, to prophecy, and to the universal needs of mankind. The chapters (ix.-xq· abo11t the preaent position and fu.ture prospects of the Jews have no appear- THE EPISTLE OF PAUL TO THE ROMANS. ix