BIBLICAL TECHNOLOGIES: ROMANS PART 3

This letter was written to a vibrant church in the city of Rome. Although the origins of the church are unknown, it could have been established by new believers returning from Jerusalem following the Resurrection and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. When Paul wrote this letter he had not personally visited Rome, although he had desired to do so for some time. Few clues are included in the Epistle to the Romans about the Roman believers. Paul admired their faith and prayed regularly for them. It is evident that the church included both Jews and Gentiles. On the surface it does not appear that any problem in the church at Rome was the occasion for the epistle. However, there issome indication that the believers at Rome needed to be exhorted to live in harmony (14:1—15:13). 

Evidence in the Corinthian letters, in Romans, and in Acts indicates that Paul wrote to the Roman church from Corinth on his third missionary journey. When Paul composed the Corinthian epistles, he referred to a collection for the poor Christian believers in Jerusalem that was being gathered from the various Mediterranean churches (1 Cor. 16:1–3; 2 Cor. 8:1—9:1). 

By the time Romans was written that task had been completed and Paul was about to depart to Jerusalem to deliver the funds (15:22–29). The implication is that Paul planned to sail for Judea directly from Corinth. Phoebe also, a fellow believer, was about to leave Corinth for Rome. She was presumably the bearer of the letter from Paul to the Romans. Since practically all navigation on the Mediterranean Sea ceased after November 11 and was not resumed again until March 10, Romans was likely written in the fall of A.D. 57. A plot by the Jews, however, changed Paul’s travel plans. Instead of taking a ship from Corinth, he went through Macedonia by foot (Acts 20:3) and eventually left for Jerusalem from Philippi the next spring (Acts 20:6). Little did Paul know that his eventual arrival in Rome would be in captivity (Acts 28:17–31).