Romans Background

Before I get in to the first chapter of Romans, I think a little background is important. Paul wrote Romans while in Ephesus in the first couple months of the year 57. He was nearing the end of his third missionary journey, preparing to sail back to Antioch and from there return to Jerusalem. In Acts 18:21-Acts 20, we learn about Paul's time in Ephesus. I think this is really crucial to understanding some of the things that are brought up in the first chapter of Romans. Towards the end of his two years in Ephesus, a man named Demetrius who sold statues of the goddess Artemis at the temple started a riot by convincing the people that Paul was going to detroy their businesses by telling people that there was a God who was greater than Artemis. You see the Greeks (and the Romans as well, following in their traditions) believed in a religion of many Gods, which we know today as basic mythology. In Ephesus, there was a temple to Artemis (one of the seven wonders of the ancient world), the goddess of fertility, and most historians believe that over a million people traveled to Ephesus once a year to worship at the temple. Demetrius is seeing Paul take all these people away from worshipping at the temple and therefor stealing his business selling little statues. In Acts 19, Demetrius leads this mob of people (most of whom do not even know why they are there) into the theater. Once the people are there, they see Alexander, and immediately begin to chant "Great is The Goddess Artemis of Ephesus!" The important thing here is that Alexander is a Jew. They chant at Alexander because they believe he is the one who must have done something wrong and so they are intimidating him. This situation helps us to understand a relational thing that is taking place right now across the Roman Empire.

Racism. Bigotry. Elitism. These are not new things to these people, and they are not new things to us. They are outcomes of all that is broken within us. In the text of Romans, they are not even isolated to non-believers. Anyways, moving on.

The Roman Empire at this time takes over where the Greek Empire left off. The idea being that they worshipped the same way, the did government the same way, they were educated the same way, and they both believed in many, many Gods who each stood for something. So, within the Greek language that is used here by Paul when he refers to Greek and Non-Greek, he is referring to Greeks/Romans/Educated/Civilized and Foreigners/Barbarians. This is a phrase (Greek and Non-Greek) that would only be used by someone who is of Greco-Roman decent. In the same way, "Jew and/or Gentile," is a phrase that would only be used by a Jew. The language of the time that would be used to say this (Hebrew mostly, but there is a similar translation in the Greek) would be making a distinction between God's people (Jews) and Godless people (Gentiles). I say all this to point out the hatred between the two groups, Jews and Greeks/Romans, and also to point out the huge thing that makes Paul so special and makes him the only person who could write this letter to the Romans. Paul is both a Jew and a Roman.

To really wrap your head around this, imagine the civil-rights movement. Imagine that MLK was of mixed races. He would have opportunities to speak with those both black and white, and yet he would find pretty heavy opposition on both sides as well. This is Paul.

So, short recap. Jews and Greeks hate each other, and both worship different Gods. Both groups are convinced that they are the only ones of worth in the world. Both groups are convinced that they worship the true God(s). Paul is both, and is writing a letter to an emerging church in a city that was the center of the world at the time. He is writing the letter while teaching in Ephesus, on his way home from his third missionary journey. He has not yet been to Rome, and there are growing threats against his life as he heads back to Jerusalem. It is also important to know that Paul spends the second half of 57, as well as 58, and the first half of 59 in prison while in Jerusalem and Antioch. We are unaware from scripture wether or not he knew it fully, but Paul is definately aware of the possibility of being imprisoned or even killed. So, as he writes Romans he knows he may never live to actually visit these people or even write them again. This is important because Romans is perhaps the most concise explanation of the Gospel and all of it's implications. It is as if Paul wanted to leave the Romans a letter that would answer every question they may have as best as possible.

And so we begin...

11/21/06
Rob