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was not the apostle to the Gentiles, but to the Jews (Galatians 2:7-9). It seems most plausible, therefore, that Paul, and not Peter, should be the first apostle directly connected with the great church at Rome, representing, as it did, in a unique way the church o f the Gentiles. Further, it should' be remembered that Paul made his boast that he would not build upon any other man’s foundation (15:16-24). “ For Paul the writing o f such a didactic epistle to a church o f which he knew Peter to be the founder and bishop, would not have been according to the prin ciple o f his apostolic independence, an impossible inconsistency (cf. 15:15; 16:17 with 15:20).” The church o f Rome was in existence at and before the time o f Paul’s writing this epistle (1:8-13). The church was already in well-organized form (12:5, ff., cf. Acts 16:5).- It seems evident from 1:8, in which , the faith o f the Roman church had spread throughout-the then-known world, that the church had already been sometime in existence. The church at Rome seems to have been founded by converts under the preaching o f Peter and the Apostles on the Day of Pentecost and of the Apostle Paul during some o f his missionary journeys (Acts 2:10; Romans 16:7). . Doubtless the persecution that arose at , the time o f the stoning o f Stephen drove many to seek refuge in the capital city, which at that time was noted for its religious toleration. The edict o f Claudius (Acts 18,:2) may also have caused many to flee to Greece, where they heard the Apostle Paul preach, were converted, and went back to Rome as preachers o f the gospel, and thus founded the Christian Church. W e know certainly that Aquilla and Priscilla fled from Rome (Acts 18:2) and stayed with Paul at Corinth, and then went again to Rome (1 Corinthians 16:19) as teachers o f the gospel and leaders of the church (Romans 16:3). It is evident that at the time o f Paul’s writing, the church met in their house. The list of
it is absolutely certain that Paul claims to have been the recipient o f a special unique revelation (Romans 16:25, 26; Ephe sians 3:1-13, cf. Galatians 1:11-2:10), such as had not been made to any o f the other apostles. , This revelation concerned the doctrine o f the Church. The Time and Place of Writing. This epistle to the Romans was probably written in the spring o f 58 A. D. in the house o f Gaius, a Corinthian Christian merchant (1 Corinthians 1:14; Romans 16:23). Tertius, a companion o f Paul, is the scribe or amanuensis (16:22).. Paul is about to leave Corinth ( “these parts” ) for Jerusalem (15:23) by way o f Macedonia (Acts 25) on his third missionary journey. Paul arrived at Jerusalem' with the col lection for thè saints at Pentecost (Acts 20:16; 21:26). This leads us to ,place the date about 58 A. D. The Church at Rome. The Roman Catholic claim that Peter was the founder o f the church at Rome is without ' adequate historical basis. Out side o f Roman tradition, we have no evi dence that Peter was the first bishop o f the church at Rome, or indeed that he was evér in Rome at all. I f Peter had been in Rome at the time o f the writing o f this epistle, Paul would surely have greeted him, together with the others mentioned in chapter 16. It would sorely have been discourteous for Paul not to have saluted Peter even before the others named. Further, it seems improbable that Peter was in Rome at the time o f the writing of the> epistle to the Philippians (63 A. D .), for Paul speaks in 2 :20 o f beifig practically forsaken except for Timothy. The words o f this passage could hardly be true o f a fellow apostle, had he been there. Paul needed specific direction from Christ to pass over into Europe (Acts 16:9). Such direction, it seems to us, would have been unnecessary if any other apostle had been in that place. May not the reason that the Holy Spirit did not allow Paul to go to Asia (Acts 16:6) have been that Peter had already been working there? Peter
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