Romans 1

Background:

The letter of Romans was written from Corinth on Paul’s third missionary journey around 57 A.D.

Rome had a large Jewish population (estimated at forty to fifty thousand), in part because the city itself naturally drew people from the provinces, in part because Pompey the Great had brought many thousands of Jews to Rome as slaves after his conquest of Jerusalem in 63 b.c.e. Many of these were liberated thereafter, with the result that most Jews in Rome would have occupied the status of slaves or freed persons.

It is fairly safe to assume that Christianity was founded in Rome from Romans who were at the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost, who then went back to Rome being converted and spreading the gospel there.

A.D. 49 Emperor Claudius banned all Jews from Rome. According to Roman historian, Suetonius this was b/c of an antagonism between Judaism and Christianity which was producing “tumults.” This left Gentile Christians there. Eventually Claudius’ edict expired and the Jews returned.

Romans was written to both Jews and Gentile believers (1:7). He wrote the letter in order to gain financial support for his journey to Spain; to defend his apostleship to this church which he did not plant, and in an effort to ease tensions between Jewish and Gentile believers.