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 15:14-24, To Spain by way of Rome
Paul describes his priestly work of offering the Gentiles to God, from Jerusalem round to Illyricum, and his plan to visit Rome on his way to Spain and be helped on his journey there.
Romans 15:14-24, in every translation this tool compares.
Paul explains why he has written so boldly: God has given him a priestly task, serving the good news so that the Gentiles become an offering God accepts. He has preached in a great arc from Jerusalem to Illyricum, aiming at places where Christ was unknown. With that work done, he plans to visit Rome on his way to Spain and hopes the Roman church will help send him on.
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-ideas\/babel-and-the-nations\/","n":"Babel and the seventy nations","s":"Genesis 10 lists the nations of the world, seventy in the Hebrew text and seventy-two in the Greek. Jewish tradition counted the nations that way, and Deuteronomy 32 tells how God divided them and kept Israel as his own. Luke's list of nations at Pentecost recalls them.","r":""}
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-ideas\/hospitality\/","n":"Hospitality to travelers","s":"Taking in travelers was one of the great virtues of the ancient Mediterranean, above all among Jews. Messengers could travel light because they expected to be housed.","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":""}
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-ideas\/honor-and-shame\/","n":"Honor before a crowd","s":"Public standing was the currency of the ancient Mediterranean. People competed for honor and dreaded being shamed in front of others.","r":""}
Many Jews expected the nations one day to bring tribute to Jerusalem (Isaiah 60:11-14), and here the Gentiles themselves are the offering (the cultural backgrounds notes; Keener). There is little evidence of Jewish settlement there before the third century, so Paul could not begin in synagogues (Keener and his notes). A traveler bound for Spain went on from Rome to Tarraco, some 900 miles (the cultural backgrounds notes). To be helped on his journey meant having his costs covered; a direct request could cost honor, so Paul only implies it (Keener and his notes), and Carson, Moo and Morris count winning that support as a major reason for the letter, though not the only one. Why Spain is read two ways. Wright notes that "Tarragona boasted a large temple to Caesar," where Paul would long to announce Jesus as Lord. Heiser writes, "In Paul's day, Spain was where Tarshish was," the westernmost nation in the Table of Nations, so that reaching it would complete the reversal of Babel. Whether Paul ever got there is uncertain; the CSB Study Bible says scholars are divided.
- NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible, notes on Romans 15:16, 15:19, 15:24 and 15:28
- Craig S. Keener, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament, on Romans 15:16, 15:24 and 15:28
- CSB Study Bible, note on Romans 15:22-24
- N. T. Wright, Paul: A Biography, ch. 12, Corinth II
- Michael S. Heiser, The Unseen Realm, ch. 34, Infiltration
- D. A. Carson, Douglas J. Moo and Leon Morris, An Introduction to the New Testament, ch. 8, Romans, Purpose
