Historical background 

The very public disputes between Messianic Jews and Judaizers (see Why Seek 3: Manifesto of Freedom) had an unexpected consequence of great significance for the future of Christianity in the Roman Empire. The disputes drew the attention of the Roman authorities to the Christians as a separate group following a different religion from Judaism. The Jewish religion was recognised as a national religion within the Empire and was therefore legitimate, and during its earliest decades, Christianity was protected by being part of Judaism.

There were many cults in different parts of the Empire which were hated and despised by the Romans. As soon as Christians were identified as being separate from Judaism they were regarded as a cult. Christians in Rome, both Jew and Gentile, were seen to be part of an illegitimate cult that might present a threat to the Empire. As F. F. Bruce says, “Christianity thus stood revealed as a movement not recognised or licensed by law – a religio illicit.” He goes on, “It was in accordance with Roman tradition to take severe measures against Eastern cults, which acted as disintegrating and revolutionary firmaments in Roman society.”¹

Beginning of Christian persecution

The persecution of Christians - which was to last for more than two centuries - began in the time of Nero, who was never popular with the general public in Rome. The great fire of Rome in A.D. 64 sharply increased popular dislike of his government, and there were widespread rumours that he was responsible for the deadly blaze, which destroyed innumerable homes and livelihoods. Historians believe that in order to divert public blame from himself, Nero seized upon the unpopularity of Christians to point the finger at them. This led to the arrest and terrible torture and death of countless Christians – many in public arenas and some even in the gardens of Nero’s Palace, where they were set on fire to provide light for the entertainment.

Both Peter and Paul lost their lives in Rome in A.D. 64. Two years later, war also broke out in Judaea, and lasted four years - until, by A.D. 70, most of Jerusalem, including the temple, was destroyed. This meant that the Christians could no longer look to the apostles in Jerusalem for leadership or to the teachings of Jesus. Instead, they looked for leadership to centres such as Antioch, Corinth and Alexandria, where leadership was strong.

Paul’s objective in Romans

Paul evidently foresaw the danger to the gospel, and especially to the Gentile believers, as a result of the disputes among the believers in Rome. His overwhelming desire was for unity between Gentile and Jew through faith in Jesus, and this was the express purpose of his writing what we know as the book of Romans - to deal with the disputes and to promote unity.

His overwhelming desire was for unity between Gentile and Jew through faith in Jesus.

He began his letter with the declaration that all human beings, Jew and Gentile, are sinners and deserve the wrath of God. God’s righteous judgement would be shown equally to those who kept the law and those who did not. He used Abraham being justified by faith and not by law to show how God was fulfilling His promise that all people would be blessed through the descendants of the Patriarch. This promise was being fulfilled through the death and resurrection of Jesus, by which faith in Him was being extended to the Gentiles.

The problems of sin

Paul deals with the problems of sin in chapters 5 to 7 in order to lay the foundation for his teaching of life through the Spirit, “The mind of sinful man is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace… Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God” (Rom 8: 6-8). Paul sets out the work of the Spirit in chapter 8, which he concludes with the unforgettable words, “For I am convinced that neither death nor life….. nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rom 8:38-39).

In the central three chapters 10-12, Paul shows the unique value of the Jews in revealing to the Gentiles the amazing depths of spiritual truth that are embedded in the history and heritage of the children of Israel – “Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable his judgements and his paths beyond tracing out!” (Rom 11:33). All this is now available to the Gentiles and Paul pleads with them, “Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind” (Rom 12:2). What Paul wanted to see was that both Jew and Gentile would love each other – hating evil and clinging to the good; “devoted to one another in brotherly love” (Rom 12:9). In chapter 13 he sets out his beautiful love poem offering his definition of love in unforgettable terms. Then in chapters 14 and 15 he deals specifically with the issues that were dividing the communities.

Justification apart from the Law

At this stage we need to reflect upon Paul’s teaching on justification apart from the law, which was the central theme of his letter to Rome. When Paul wrote it, he was on his way up to Jerusalem, taking a gift that had been supplied by the Gentile Christians in Macedonia and Achaia for the support of the poor and needy in Judaea and Jerusalem.

Paul evidently thought that it was so important to get this message to Jerusalem that it was worth risking his own life.

It was important to Paul, as the apostle to the Gentiles, to be able to portray to the leaders of the church in Jerusalem that there was a unity between Jew and Gentile – that the gospel was achieving its purpose of breaking down barriers and bringing together in Christ men and women of all different ranks and races. Paul evidently thought that it was so important to get this message to Jerusalem that it was worth risking his own life. He was well aware of the dangers that awaited him. The warnings given to him in Acts 21 confirmed those dangers.

The status of Jew and Gentile

The leaders in Jerusalem had already accepted at the Council of Jerusalem that Gentile believers should be free from the full observance of the Torah (Acts 15). But the status of the Gentiles within the churches scattered across the Empire had not been settled. It was Paul’s aim to achieve complete unity based upon total equality; therefore the division between Jew and Gentile in Rome had to be settled. In Romans 15, Paul faced one of the issues that were dividing the two communities there. He himself held lightly to matters of food bought in the market and special days, but these were issues of sharp division between the two communities in Rome. In his letter, Paul urged Christians in both communities to put aside their differences and to find unity in Christ.

The older brother

The issue facing the Christians in Rome was one that would have long-term consequences for the whole Christian mission. The core problem was the status of the Jewish believers. Should they, as the older brother and guardians of the faith from the time of Abraham, be exercising a type of apostolic status within the whole Church? Or were the Gentiles, who were already becoming the numerical majority, to play a leading role in the Church as the gospel went out worldwide? This would inevitably reduce the Jewish believers to a small minority sect, which would be quite unacceptable to the messianic Jews and especially to the leaders in Jerusalem.

Unity in Christ

Paul’s position was that in Christ there is neither Jew nor Gentile - all are of one status, looking to Jesus as the sole head of the ecclesia. Paul also saw the necessity, at this stage, of teaching the Gentiles the precious spiritual heritage that the children of Israel had borne for centuries. It was for this reason that Paul had to teach them a Hebraic understanding of the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus. It could only be understood in terms of grace and not law, but this required teaching the Gentiles what the Jewish faction in Rome should have known and should have been able to interpret to their Gentile brethren.

Paul also saw the necessity, at this stage, of teaching the Gentiles the precious spiritual heritage that the children of Israel had borne for centuries.

Corporate responsibility

The promise to the Gentiles of sharing in the blessings promised to the children of Abraham was the central message Paul had presented in Galatians. The issue was the right of Gentile believers to become children of Abraham and inheritors of all that God had promised to him. This, like so many other concepts that Paul was drawing upon in his teaching in Romans, could only be understood in the context of the history of Israel, where collective responsibility within the family or tribe was woven into the fabric of the nation. When Achan, in Joshua 7, sinned by taking some of the plunder from Jericho, he and the whole of his family and livestock were held responsible as an act of collective responsibility for the misfortune that had come upon the nation through his disobedience, hence they had to pay with their lives. That was the ‘eye-for-eye’ type of justice in Israel until the time of Jesus.

It is this corporate responsibility within the family and tribal social institutions of Israel that was no doubt behind Paul’s teaching in Romans 5:12–20, that sin came into the world through one man, which caused the death of multitudes; but in the same way, the grace of God and His gift of new life came through one man, Jesus Christ, and it overflowed to many. Paul says, “For if, by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God’s abundant provision of grace and of the gift of justice reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ” (Rom 5:17).

The gift of justice in this context means being in a right relationship with God and thereby enjoying all the benefits and blessings of being on an entirely different spiritual plane, whereby eternal life has replaced the darkness of death and destruction.

The gift of justice in this context means being in a right relationship with God and thereby enjoying all the benefits and blessings of being on an entirely different spiritual plane, whereby eternal life has replaced the darkness of death and destruction.

This was what was given to the believers in the risen Jesus from the day of Pentecost. True believers would be thinking and living on an entirely different plane from the flat earth plane on which the rest of humanity existed. They would have a new understanding of life in Christ – living in the Spirit of God.

Notes

1 FF Bruce, The Spreading Flame, Paternoster Press, 1962, Carlisle, p 141.

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