Epistle To The Romans - The Church in Rome

The Church in Rome

Main article: Textual criticism See also: Early centers of Christianity#Rome

The most probable ancient account of the beginning of Christianity in Rome is given by a 4th century writer known as Ambrosiaster:

It is established that there were Jews living in Rome in the times of the Apostles, and that those Jews who had believed passed on to the Romans the tradition that they ought to profess Christ but keep the law … One ought not to condemn the Romans, but to praise their faith, because without seeing any signs or miracles and without seeing any of the apostles, they nevertheless accepted faith in Christ, although according to a Jewish rite.

From Adam Clarke:

The occasion of writing the epistle: … Paul had made acquaintance with all circumstances of the Christians at Rome … and finding that it was … partly of heathens converted to Christianity, and partly of Jews, who had, with many remaining prejudices, believed in Jesus as the true Messiah, and that many contentions arose from the claims of the Gentiles to equal privileges with the Jews, and from absolute refusal of the Jews to admit these claims, unless the Gentile converts become circumcised; he wrote this epistle to adjust and settle these differences.

At this time, the Jews made up a substantial number in Rome, and their synagogues, frequented by many, enabled the Gentiles to become acquainted with the story of Jesus of Nazareth. Consequently, a church composed of both Jews and Gentiles was formed at Rome. According to Irenaeus, a 2nd century Church Father, the church at Rome was founded directly by the apostles Peter and Paul. However, many modern scholars disagree with Irenaeus, holding that while little is known of the circumstances of the church's founding, it was not founded by Paul.

Many of the brethren went out to meet Paul on his approach to Rome. There is evidence that Christians were then in Rome in considerable numbers and probably had more than one place of meeting.

Jews were expelled from Rome because of Christian disturbances around AD 49 by the edict of Claudius. The conflict developed because Jewish Christians and Jews argued with one another over the validity of Jesus as the Messiah, see also Rejection of Jesus. Both Jews and Jewish Christians were expelled as a result of their infighting. The majority of people left in the Christian church at Rome would have been Gentile Christians. These gentile churches developed along a different trajectory from the Christian circles that grew out of Jewish synagogues.

Claudius died around the year AD 54, and his successor, Emperor Nero, allowed the Jews back into Rome, but then, after the Great Fire of Rome of 64, persecuted the Christians. Gentile Christians may have developed a dislike of or looked down on Jews (see also Antisemitism and Responsibility for the death of Jesus), because they theologically rationalized that Jews were no longer God's people. Fitzmyer argues that with the return of the Jews to Rome in 54 new conflict arose between the Gentile Christians and the Jewish Christians who had formerly been expelled. Historians question whether the Roman government distinguished between Christians and Jews prior to Nerva's modification of the Fiscus Judaicus in 96 (Jews paid the tax, Christians did not).

The Roman church would have to accept that the gospel was for the "Jew first and also to the Greek."