ADDRESSEES
ADDRESSEES
Assuming that the text printed in our Greek and English Bibles is correct (for which see the next section), the letter is addressed to "all in Rome who are loved by God and called to be saints” (Rom. 1:7; cf. also 1:15). We have no definite evidence about the origin of the church in Rome or about its composition at the time when Paul wrote to it.
In about A.D. 180, Ireneus identified Peter and Paul together as founders of the Roman church (Adv. Haer. 3.1.2), while later tradition names Peter as the founder and first bishop of the church (e.g., the Catalogus Liberianus [A.D. 354]). But neither tradition can be accepted. The letter itself makes clear that Paul was a stranger to the church in Rome (see 1:10, 13; 15:22), and it is unlikely that Paul would be planning the kind of visit described in 1:8-15 to a church founded by Peter. Nor is it likely that Peter went to Rome early enough to have established a church there. 3 Since no other apostle is associated with the founding of the church in Rome, we may agree with the assessment of the fourth-century "Ambrosiaster” that the Romans "have embraced the faith of Christ, albeit according to the Jewish rite, without seeing any sign of mighty works or any of the apostles.” 4 If, then, we are to speculate, the most likely scenario is that Jews converted on the Day of Pentecost (see Acts 2:10) were the first to bring the gospel to the great capital.
"Ambrosiaster” is probably also correct in thinking that Christianity in Rome began among Jews ("according to the Jewish rite”). Jews made up a significant part of the citizenry of Rome by the end of the first century B.C. 5 Here, as Paul found, was the most fertile seedbed for the planting of the gospel—especially if returned pilgrims from Pentecost first planted the seed. That there were Jewish Christians in Rome by (probably) A.D. 49 is attested by the statement of Suetonius that Claudius the Roman emperor "expelled the Jews from Rome because they were constantly rioting at the instigation of Chrestus” (Life of Claudius 25.2). It is generally agreed that "Chrestus” is a corruption of the Greek Χριστός (Christos, “Christ”, G5986) and that Suetonius’s remark refers to violent debates within the Jewish community in Rome over the claims of Jesus to be the Christ. That this incident occurred in 49, as the fifth-century writer Orosius claims, is less certain, although the date receives indirect confirmation from Acts 18:2, where Luke says that Aquila and Priscilla had recently come to Corinth from Italy "because Claudius had ordered all the Jews to leave Rome.” 6
Since the Romans at this point would not have distinguished Jews from Jewish Christians, both would have been affected by Claudius’s expulsion. But as with similar expulsions on other occasions, the edict probably did not stay in force for long, and less than a decade later we find Aquila and Priscilla back in Rome (Rom. 16:3). During its enforcement, however, the edict must have had a profound impact on the church in Rome. In the absence of Jewish Christians, those Gentiles who had been attracted to Christianity would have taken over the church, and Jewish Christians who then returned would probably be in a minority, and perhaps viewed with some condescension by the now-dominant Gentile wing. 7
When Paul writes his letter, then, we may be certain that there were both Gentile and Jewish Christians in Rome, probably meeting in several house churches rather than in one large gathering. 8 Does Paul write to this mixed community as a whole? Or does he address himself to one segment of the community only? Only the evidence of the letter itself can answer these questions.
In turning to the letter, however, we are confronted with apparently conflicting data.
On the one hand, there are indications that Paul had a Jewish-Christian audience in mind: (1) he greets the Jewish Christians Priscilla and Aquila and his "kinsmen” Andronicus, Junias, and Herodion (Rom. 16:3, 7, 11); (2) he addresses himself to a Jew in chapter 2 (e.g., v. 17); (3) he associates his readers with the Mosaic law: they are "not under law” (6:14, 15) because they have "died to the law” (7:4); and note 7:1: "I am speaking to those who know the law”; (4) Paul calls Abraham "our forefather” (4:1); and (5) much of the letter is devoted to issues that would be of particular interest to Jewish Christians: the sin of the Jews (2:1-3:8); the Mosaic law, seen in terms both of its inadequacy (3:19-20, 27-31; 4:12-15; 5:13-14, 20; 6:14; 7:1-8:4; 9:30-10:8) and of its establishment in Christ (3:31; 8:4; 13:8-10); the significance of Abraham, the fountainhead of Israel (ch. 4); and the place of Israel in salvation history (chs. 9-11).
On the other hand, indications of a Gentile-Christian audience are equally evident: (1) in his address of the letter as a whole, Paul includes his readers among the Gentiles to whom he has been called to minister (Rom. 1:5-6; cf. also 1:13 and 15:14-21); (2) he directly addresses "you Gentiles” in 11:13 (continued in the second person plural throughout 11:14-24); and (3) Paul’s plea that the Christians in Rome "accept one another” (15:7) appears to be directed especially to Gentiles (see vv. 8-9).
We must consider several options in trying to reconcile these apparently conflicting indications of Paul’s audience in the epistle to the Romans. First, we could downplay the evidence of a Gentile-Christian audience and conclude that the letter is addressed entirely or mainly to Jewish Christians. 9 It has been argued, for instance, that Rom. 1:6 simply designates the Roman Christians as being "among those who are called to belong to Jesus Christ” or that τα έθνη (ta ethne, G1620) in verse 5 means "nations” rather than "Gentiles” (see RSV). But neither alternative is convincing. In a context dealing with Paul’s apostleship, τα έθνη almost certainly means "Gentiles,” and the connection between verses 5 and 6 (έν οίς έστέ και υμέΐς [en hois este kai hymeis], "among whom you also ”) is most naturally construed as numbering the readers of the letter among these Gentiles. 10
In light of these verses, then, we might be inclined to the opposite conclusion: that Romans is directed only to Gentile Christians. 11 Indeed, there is more to be said for a Gentile-Christian audience than for a Jewish-Christian one. Not only is Rom. 1:5-6 very significant, coming in the address of the letter as a whole, but the evidence for a Jewish-Christian readership is not all that strong. The direct address to "a Jew” in chapter 2 is a literary device and implies nothing about the intended audience. Calling Abraham our father (4:1) would suggest a Jewish audience only if Paul was including all his readers in the designation. But this is not clear: he may be thinking only of himself and other Jewish Christians. Paul certainly suggests that his readers have had some experience with the Mosaic law (6:14; 7:4), but there is a sense in which even Gentiles, according
to Paul, have been under the law. Moreover, many of the Gentiles in the Christian community in Rome were probably former God-fearers—worshipers of the God of Israel who had not been circumcised and thus had not been made members of the covenant community. As such, they would have learned much of the Mosaic law in the synagogue. 12 Finally, while much of Romans is indeed a debate with Judaism, it is not at all clear that such a debate would have been irrelevant to a Gentile audience. Quite the contrary. Gentiles as much as Jews needed to understand how the fulfillment of God’s plan in Christ related to the Old Testament people of God and his promises to them, and to the historical continuation of that people in contemporary Judaism. In this regard, it is important to observe that Paul’s teaching about the future of Israel in 11:1224 is specifically directed to Gentiles.
While there is much to be said for confining Paul’s audience to Gentile Christians, it is doubtful that we can exclude Jewish Christians entirely. Paul addresses himself to "all in Rome who are loved by God and called to be saints” (Rom. 1:7), and it is certain that there were Jewish Christians in Rome. If, as we maintain (see below), chapter 16 is part of Paul’s original letter to the Romans, at least those Jewish Christians mentioned there must be included within Paul’s audience. Moreover, the "weak in faith” whom Paul addresses in 14:1-15:13 are quite possibly to be identified with a Jewish-Christian faction.
So it appears that Paul is addressing both Jewish and Gentile Christians in Romans. This might mean that Paul addresses Gentile Christians in some passages and Jewish Christians in others. The most detailed attempt to understand the letter in this way is that of Paul Minear. He discerns no fewer than five separate groups in the Christian community in Rome and thinks each section of Romans has one of these groups specifically in view. 13 But Paul does not say enough to make clear the existence of so many distinct groups. Nor, with the exception of one or two passages (e.g., Rom. 11:1224), does this epistle hint at an audience restricted to only some of the Roman Christians. We must thus conclude that Paul addresses in Romans a mixed community of Jewish and Gentile Christians. 14 Almost certainly, however, Gentile Christians were in a majority large enough to justify Paul’s including the Christian community in Rome within the sphere of those Gentiles to whom his apostleship was especially directed.