Tuesday, October 6, 2020

Internal Evidence against the Epistle to the Romans being Paul's Self-Introduction to the Roman Christians

 

 

 

Mutual Knowledge between Paul and Roman Christians

 

The fact that Paul has never been to Rome when he writes Romans is often used to argue that this letter serves as Paul’s self-introduction to the Roman Christians. This assumption must be reexamined. On the basis of both internal and external evidence, I suggest that Paul actually knew much about the Roman Christians and that they knew something of him as well.

 

Internal Evidence

 

At several points in the letter, Paul reveals that he is aware of circumstances among his auditors.

 

(1) The list of greetings in 16:3-16 demonstrates that Paul knows, or knows of, at least 27 people (Paul greets 26 people by name as well as Rufus’ mother [v. 13] who is not named) in the city plus those who belong to families he names (vv. 10-11). As this list shows, Paul knows individuals in Rome, and is also aware that they meet together in homes and in whose homes they gather. This is the clearest evidence that Paul has knowledge of the situation in Rome in some detail.

 

(2) In 11:13-32, Paul directly addresses gentile believers and their arrogance regarding Jewish believers. Unless Paul is aware of such attitudes among his listeners, this directness would be out of order.

 

(3) In 13:1-5, Paul draws upon conventional Jewish wisdom and early Christians tradition in order to offer advice to the Roman Christians about appropriate relation to governing authorities (Dunn lists Wis. 6:3-4 and 1 Pet. 2:13-17 as parallels [Romans 9-16, 759). His specific advice regarding taxes in vv. 6-7, however, finds no parallel in those traditions. This suggests that in 13:1-5 Paul prepares his audience with general guidance on relationships with governing authorities, drawn from familiar traditions, which he then applies in vv. 6-7 specifically to a matter he knows to be a point of controversy in Rome.

 

(4) In both 6:17 and 16:17, Paul speaks of the “teaching” the Roman Christians have received. Paul can only do so if he is aware of the kind of instruction given to his hearers by others . . . the fact that Paul can say he writes “as a way of reminding” (15:15) the Roman believers indicates he knows something about what they have been taught in the past.

 

(5) In 3:8, Paul asks, “And why not say (as some people slander us by saying that we say), ‘Let us do evil so that good may come’?” (NRSV). Paul’s parenthetical remark shows that he believes his hearers know of such criticism made against him. He could only do so on the basis of some knowledge of circumstances among the Roman Christians.

 

(6) Paul commends the faith (1:8), maturity (15:14), or obedience of the Roman Christians as “known to all” (16:19).

 

(7) Harry Gamble, Jr. believes the nature of Paul’s argument in chs. 9-11 also presupposes knowledge of his audience. Gamble asks “how the tortuous effort in chs. 9011 to comprehend and explicate the unbelief of Israel fits into the letter structurally and thematically; that problem is all the more intractable if it has no relevance to the Roman church” (The Textual History of the Letter to the Romans, SD, vol. 42 [Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans, 1977], 136).

 

In other words, there is no reason for this detailed argument unless it has relevance for known issues in Rome.

 

(8) Paul’s argument betrays not only his knowledge of their situation, but also of their knowledge of him. For example, Paul’s brief comments about the collection (15:26) would hardly makes sense unless his audience knows something of his ministry in Macedonia and Achaia. He also indicates that he is aware the believers in Rome already know of his desire to visit them (1:-11, 13; 15:18-23) (Sam K. Williams, “The ‘Righteousness of God’ in Romans,” JBL 99 [1980]:250-51. Contra Fitzmyer, Romans, 246).

 

These factors make it difficult to deny that Paul had at least some knowledge of the Christians and their circumstances in Rome. In particular, once ch. 16 is accepted as part of the original letter sent to Rome, some knowledge of the situation there becomes certain. (James C. Miller, The Obedience of Faith, The Eschatological People of God, and the Purpose of Romans [SBL Dissertation Series 177; Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature, 2000], 116-18; see pp. 118-21 for a discussion of the external evidence)