Words

My studies at Winebrenner have turned me to the topic of a passage in Romans. The section I am to write a paper and teaching outline on is Romans 14:13-17 which discusses judging one another. A topic that is quite apro po for our culture today. What does it mean to judge, when do we judge, when do we not judge? These are all questions one can ask, although my study has yet to get into the meat of the passage. I am currently reviewing some history of the book and the people to whom it was written. This background information does have implications for the questions raised, but I am not yet ready to declare what those implications are. My historical overview has only begun with a look at Douglas Moo’s work, The Epistle to the Romans, I will then move into a look at F.F. Bruce’s work, Romans; through both I hope to gain a general sense of the historical cultural context of the book. Moo in a short thirty pages addresses some issues that I hope to explore here.

In looking at the church at Rome, questions arise concerning its nature. Was it comprised of Jewish people or Gentile people or both? To what group was Paul writing in his letter? Other questions concerning the nature of the letter also arise. Does the highly general nature of the letter (chapters 1-11) suggest that Paul was composing a treatise of his theology? Were there things going on in his life that would cause him to write on specific issues? For part one we will look at the historical context of the church of Rome and what Douglas Moo’s work has to say.

Moo believes that the church at was both Jewish and Gentile, however the majority was Gentile. A large reason for this large Gentile population was that in AD 49 the emperor of Rome expelled all the Jews from the city of Rome. It is likely that most (if not all) Jewish Christians also left at this time (Rome did not distinguish between Judiasm & Christianity). Around AD 55 when the emperor died, Jews were allowed to return and some did. Since Paul wrote the letter around 55 - 59 AD it is likely that at least some of the Jews had returned. But to what kind of a church at Rome had they returned? The Gentile Christians had remained in Rome and were leading the church for six years, so chances are they came back to a highly Gentile church. Is this cause for any conflict? The Jews, who have the law and the prophets, who feel superior to Gentiles because of their heritage, would find themselves in a minority position. The Gentiles, who have been leading the church for six years, would find themselves looking down from a power position. Does this over emphasize or speculate what was going on at the time? Maybe, but there is definately good reason, both historically and biblically, to believe this was most likely what was occuring at the time of Paul’s writing. Would this then affect what Paul choose to say? Or were there other reasons from Paul’s own life that would cause him to say this as opposed to that. In part two we will explore what was happening in the life of Paul at this time that influenced his writing.

Can we already not see how this historical information affects what Paul meant when he wrote the passage at hand (Romans 14:13-17)? In the biblical reader’s attempt to grab the illocution, the divine communicative act (see Vanhoozer’s First Theology), the author’s (both divine and human) intended meaning, it is imperative that one understand the historical context of the situation. This is not to raise the historical context above the literary context, but it is to underscore the fact that writers use words in certain ways for certain reasons that are grounded in the time and place of their writing. It is the faithful reader’s duty to understand these things so that they may truly grasp what the author intended. For therein lies the illocution that God intended for us to take and through his Spirit make perlocution (take the meaning of the passage and put it into our life: interpretation to application).

Part Two will look at the apostle Paul’s historical context to the book of Romans.