The Pulpit Commentary — Romans — Section 52

l, JEWS AND PROBJlJLYTEB ll'BOH ROUE WERE PRESENT AT THE Pr,NTECOSTAL All'FU- BION OIi' THJll SPinIT. '!'hie ie expressly stated In .Act.a ii. 10. Some of these, we may assume, received the truth as preached by Peter and the other apostles and were converted to the new faith (.Acts ii. 41). If we further suppose that th; proirelyt,es mther than the born Jews, became interested in Christianity, then we can understand how, in the composition of the Church at Rome, the Gentile element seems to have been stronger than the Jewish. The new converts, in returning to Rome, would have affinities with Gentiles more than with Jews, and so the faith would be propa,,,at;,,.,d in the one direction more than in the other. We proceed to a. second important f~t. II. GREEK NAMES PREDOMINATE IN THE SALUTATIONS 011' TIIE LAST CHAPTER OF THIB EPISTLE. This throws clear light upon the composition of the Church when Paal wrote his Epistle. The Jewish element was in a. minority, while the Gentile element abounded. Now, we can easily understand how populations gravitated from the provinces to Rome, and so converts would be going up from time to time from the Gentile Churches to the metropolis, and so swelling the Gentile element in the metropolitan Church. This seems indicated by salutations in eh. xvi. addressed to some fellow- workers with Paul, who do not seem to have come from Rome, like Aquila and Priscilla, but to have emigrated to it. A. third fact must be noted. III. 'l'HE JEWS WERE EXM!:LLED FROM RoME BY THE EHPEBOR CLAUDTI;S. Now, while this may not have affected in any great degree the numerical proportion in the little Christian Church, we know that it led to some Jewish Christians, e.g. Aquila and Priscilla (Acts xvili. 2), leaving the metropolis for other places. Upon this providence Paul's knowledge of the Church at Rome very largely depended. As he WTought with .Aquila. and Priscilla. at tent-making, they would have many a long talk about the Church they had been con1.,.ected with in Rome, and to which they subsequently returned. IV. THE JEWS, WHEN PAUL AT LENGTH CAME TO RoME, SEEM TO HAVE RAD LITTLE KNOWLEDGE 011' THE CHBISTIANB. This is evident from .Acts x.xviii 22. If we remember the population of ancient Rome, also that the Christian congregation had not, as far as we know, any church edifice giving notoriety ~ them, but were meeting appa- rently in the house of .Aquila (eh. xvi. 5), then we can understand the ignorance of Christianity the Jews possessed or pretended at Paul's advent. The little Christian. conventicle would be easily hid in the great city. The Church at Rome, then, from the foregoing facts, seems to have been a. congregation of believing Christians, cccupyi.ng no very commanding position in the eye of the public, isolated in a large measure from other Churches, yet very influential through its existence in the metropolis. Its major portion was Gentile; and on this account it received the special attention of Paul as "the apostle of the Gentiles." Some, who went up from provincial Churches to the capital, seem to have carried Paul's teaching with them, so that he had a. kind of spiritual fatherhood towards at least some of them, and a. brotherhood towards all How in the Epistle he fortifies them against the errors by which they should be beset, will appear a.s we proceed. It was a la.dy, Phcebe, who ca.rried up the precious document, She seems to have gone up on some business matters, and for her in these circumstances Paul seeks a.ssistance a.nd sympathy (eh. xvi. 1, 2). V. LET UB NOW NOTE THE SU11STANCE OF HIS OPENING ADDRESS TO TfilS CO'.S"GREOA- TION AT Ro:r.rn. (Vers. 2-7.) And here we notice: 1. His gospel is that of the risen SaviO'UT. This is God's "glad tidings" that his Son, who had been made of David's sced according to the flesh, and delivered in human nature unto death for us, had been declared to be his Son by the powerful, resistless demonstration of his resurrection from the dead. Paul and these Roma.n Christia.ns were, therefore, in the ha.nds of a living, holy Being, no less I\ Person than the Son of God, whom death and resurrection had denationalized nnd mnde Lord of all nations, who could a.nd would dispose of them, Gentiles as well as Jews, as he pleased. 2. Paul declares that he hnd received from this risen Jesus grace and apostleship. We saw in our previous homily how he wns first converted, and then wns called to the npostolio office. Now, this apostkship contemplated the subjection of all nations to the faith of Christ. It was a mi~hty trust which w&s thus committed to Paul. This Epistle shows how anxiously he tried to discharge it. 3. These Romnn Christinns are also the called of Jt1,-us Christ. J:.'or though there may not be such oclat connected with individua.l oonversion, as iu Paul's ,ase on the way to Da.m!lstus, there is yet as real o.n interview between the risen 46 THE EPISTLE OF PAUL TO THE ROMANS. [on, 1. 1-82.