Tool Beta
The Ancient World Behind the Text
Pick a passage anywhere in the New Testament. See the customs and ideas a first reader knew without being told.
Romans 1:8-17, Longing to see Rome
Paul thanks God that the Roman believers' faith is spoken of everywhere, explains why he has not yet come, and states his theme: the good news is God's power to save everyone who believes, Jew and Greek.
Romans 1:8-17, in every translation this tool compares.
Paul thanks God for the Roman believers, whose trust in Christ is talked about widely, and explains that he has long wanted to visit them but has been blocked. He feels a debt to every kind of person, educated or not. Then he states the theme of the whole letter: the good news is God's saving power for everyone who trusts it, Jews first and Gentiles too.
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-ideas\/diaspora-jews\/","n":"Jews of the dispersion","s":"Most Jews of the first century lived outside the land, in cities from Parthia to Rome. They kept the law and their own synagogues, spoke Greek or Aramaic, and came up to Jerusalem for the feasts when they could.","r":""}
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-ideas\/house-churches\/","n":"House churches","s":"For their first three centuries Christians met in homes, the way some Jewish groups and private clubs did. A host with a large house gave the church its room, its table and often its protection.","r":""}
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-ideas\/greeks-and-barbarians\/","n":"Greeks, barbarians and the nations","s":"Greeks split humanity into Greeks and barbarians, people whose speech sounded like babble. Jews split it into Israel and the nations. Paul uses both maps.","r":""}
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-ideas\/imperial-cult\/","n":"Caesar worshiped as savior and lord","s":"Augustus and the emperors after him were hailed as savior, lord and son of a god, and in the eastern provinces they were worshiped. The titles the Gospels give Jesus were already being used for Caesar.","r":""}
Who first brought the gospel to Rome is not known. The ESV, CSB and cultural backgrounds notes point to Roman Jews who were in Jerusalem at Pentecost (Acts 2:10), and so do Carson, Moo and Morris, who reject the later tradition that Peter founded the church; Wright finds no first-century evidence for it, though the cultural backgrounds article Rome calls a later visit by Peter very probable. Rome's Jews met in many synagogues with separate leaders, which apparently helped the message spread (the article). Claudius expelled them, probably in AD 49. Keener thinks the church was then wholly Gentile until Claudius died; the article doubts that every Jew left, and Carson, Moo and Morris think the edict soon lapsed but left Gentiles in charge and returning Jewish believers a minority. Wright pictures the first readers across the Tiber: "it was in a crowded room in someone's house in the low-lying poorer district." Keener and his notes take verses 16-17 as the letter's thesis statement, and Wright sums up the clash: "Caesar claimed to rule the world; God's gospel claimed that Jesus did."
- Craig S. Keener, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament, introduction to Romans, Situation, and on Romans 1:16
- NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible, Introduction to Romans: Setting, note on Romans 1:16-17, and article Rome
- ESV Study Bible, Introduction to Romans, Purpose, Occasion, and Background
- CSB Study Bible, Introduction to Romans, Background
- N. T. Wright, Paul for Everyone: Romans, Part One, comments on Romans 1:8-13 and 1:14-17
- N. T. Wright, Paul: A Biography, ch. 12, Corinth II
- D. A. Carson, Douglas J. Moo and Leon Morris, An Introduction to the New Testament, ch. 8, Romans, Addressees
