No. 5. >> I'm glad I asked that question. You have helped to clarify some misunderstandings on my part. Now, may I also ask: What were Paul's main reasons for writing this epistle? Were there any problems at that congregation in Rome that we should know about? >>PROFESSOR DAVID I. M. LEWIS: Thank you, Eric. And now going to the reasons that Paul wrote the epistle to the Romans. I would like to point out first that Paul wrote this epistle to a group of Christians in churches that Paul himself did not personally found. When Paul wrote the letter to the Romans, he had not yet been to Rome. There are two epistles in the New Testament Canon of Paul that he wrote to churches he did not found. One is Romans. The other is Colossians. And so, Eric, one of the main reasons that Paul wrote this epistle to the Romans is that you might say this in a sense is his letter of introduction to the Roman Christians. Here he is introducing himself, Paul, and the Gospel that he, Paul, has been preaching among the Gentiles. This is his letter of introduction you might say. He sends it to them ahead of time so when he gets to Rome, he will not be a complete stranger. And we actually know this by looking at Romans itself so I would ask you first to turn to the introduction of Romans, Romans Chapter 1 beginning at Verse 8. Paul writes: First I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you. Because your faith is proclaimed in all the world. Now, just recall, this would be the place in the epistle where you would find the health wish. And notice that Paul has turned this into a prayer of Thanksgiving for the Romans. Going on in Verse 9: For God is my witness who I serve with my Spirit and the Gospel of his son that without ceasing, I mention you always in my prayers asking that somehow by God's will I may now at last succeed in coming to you. For I long to see you. That I may impart to you some spiritual gift to strengthen you. That is that we may be mutually encouraged by each other's faith, both yours and mine. I want you to know, brothers, that I have often intended to come to you but thus far have been presented in order that I may reap some harvest among you as well as among the rest of the Gentiles. I am under obligation both to Greeks and to barbarians, to the wise and to the foolish. So I am eager to preach the Gospel to you, also, who are in Rome. And so here we see that one of Paul's intentions for writing this letter is that Paul has not been to Rome. But he plans to come to Rome. And so he is introducing himself and the Gospel that he has been preaching to the Christians in Rome hopefully so that they will receive him in the right spirit. And that Paul then could have a beneficial ministry also among the churches in this Rome. Now, Eric, when we turn to the conclusion of the letter, we see again in Romans 15 beginning at Verse 22 Paul writes: This is the reason why I have so often been hindered from coming to you. But now since I no longer have any room for work in these regions and is since I have longed for many years to come to you, I hope to see you in passing as I go to Spain and to be helped on my journey there by you once I have enjoyed your company for a while. There again, Paul says very clearly that he plans to come to Rome. But notice that in Chapter 15 we get one further nuance to Paul's intentions. He's planning to go to Spain. And he's hoping that the Christians in Rome would support him in his mission to Spain. So in a sense, Romans is not only Paul's letter of introduction to the Christians in Rome, it is also a missionary appeal for support in the missionary activity that Paul plans to conduct in Spain. Keep in mind, Eric, that when Paul conducted his mission work in the eastern part of the Roman Empire in Asia Minor and in Greece, his base of operations was the city of Antioch. Paul served in Antioch. He was a member of the congregation at Antioch. And it is from Antioch that he and Barnabas were first sent to conduct missionary activity. Well, Paul's intention now is to conduct similar activity in the western part of the Roman Empire. And here it would make very clear sense that the city of Rome, the premiere city in the west, would be a good place for him to base his operations. And so the letter of Romans is his letter of introduction and then with that a request for help in his missionary activity. Paul introduces himself to the Christians in Rome. Christians most of whom he has never met. And he asks them to support him in his missionary activity. Therefore, we can see that what Paul is really doing is trying in a very organized and systematic way present to these Christians the Gospel that he has been preaching in the east and which he now hopes also to preach in the west. And so here we conclude simply by saying that this is Paul's letter of introduction. And a request for help in his apostolic ministry to the people at Rome. Now, Eric, you asked in addition if there were any problems in Rome that Paul was addressing. Now, this would actually be a very logical question to ask because when we consider all of Paul's other letters, he often is specifically addressing problems in the churches to whom he's writing. For instance, Galatians was written because the Christians of Galatia abandoned the pure Gospel that Paul had preached. And they were listening to the false teachers, the Judaizers, who were telling them that they had to follow Jewish customs to be truly saved. There was a problem that Paul was addressing. When we consider I Corinthians, there are a number of problems that Paul was addressing in that epistle. And so many scholars have wondered: Were there problems in Rome that Paul is now taking the opportunity to address? And some scholars have suggested that Paul is actually addressing conflict between Jewish Christians and Gentile Christians in the city of Rome. Now, Paul never expressively says that this is what he's doing. But these scholars would argue on the basis of internal evidence in the epistle of Romans itself that there was this problem and that Paul is addressing this problem. For instance in Romans 2 when Paul is making his case for the universal sin of all human beings, both Gentiles and Jews, Paul seems to attack the Jewish self confidence that they possess the torah that this somehow makes them better than the Gentiles. And people would say: Why would Paul be making that argument if there weren't some Jews in Rome who may have thought that they were better than the Gentile Christians because they were Jews and because they had the torah? Then later in Romans 3:29, Paul makes an argument that God is not only the God of the Jews but also the God of the Gentiles. And so again, some scholars would see this as internal evidence that perhaps some Jewish Christians in Rome made the case that: God is our God and he's not your God. So Paul has to respond saying: No, God is the God of everybody. And then some people believe that Paul is specifically addressing Gentile arrogance in Romans 11 Verse 11 and following. Where Paul uses the illustration of an olive tree. And he's mentioned that some of the natural branches of this olive tree have been cut off while wild branches have been sown in. Well, that olive tree is the Israel, the people of God. And the wild branches that have been sown in are the Gentiles. And the natural branches that have been cut off are the Jews who have not believed in Jesus. And Paul makes an argument to the Gentiles that they should not be prideful or arrogant to those Jews that have fallen away. Because just as much as God took away the natural branches, he could remove those Gentiles should they fail to be faithful, too. So people would say this is internal evidence that there was also a problem in Rome of Gentile Christians being arrogant and lording it over Jewish Christians. And then finally, Romans 14 Paul discusses external piety and religious practices. And people read this and say that there is a problem between Jews and Gentiles. Now, there were some Jews who believe that you had to follow the torah. Specifically you had to eat kosher to truly be a pious Christian. And there were others who were arguing their freedom as Christians not to have to worry about those things. And so they would say that reading Romans 14 we see that there was this conflict between Jews and Gentiles in Rome. Now, Eric, I myself am undecided about whether any of this is actually the reason that Paul wrote. There are some scholars who believe very strongly that Paul was addressing these problems in Rome. But there are many other scholars who believe that we don't know about the Roman situation to go this far and say that these problems were there. What I will say this is when Paul is speaking about these issues about Jew and Gentile believers and how they relate, it's very likely that this was a problem in Rome. Because this seemed to be a problem everywhere where Christianity was. One of the great challenges of that age was how the Jewish believers would interact and relate with the Gentile believers and vice versa. And so it's very likely that Paul could have been addressing problems in Rome. Or he could have been addressing problems that the church faced everywhere. And in presenting his Gospel, addressed these concerns specifically in his epistle to the Romans, as well. And so what we do know is that Paul intended this letter to be his letter of introduction and a request for missionary aid. Maybe he was also addressing specific problems in the church at Rome, as well.