William Campbell’s Romans– The Dialogue Part Five

Last updated on: May 26, 2023 at 1:56 am by Ben Witherington

William Campbell’s Romans– The Dialogue Part Five 2023-05-17T13:02:18-04:00 Ben Witherington

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Q. Let’s talk about the notion that Jewish Christians in Rome were part of and meeting with the synagogue community. Where exactly is the historical evidence for this notion, as opposed to their meeting in homes and in workshops, as you mention at one point? I can’t find it. I see the evidence that people like Prisca and Aquila or Paul went and bore witness in synagogues, but the idea of their meeting regularly with Jews in the synagogue I can’t find, especially after they had come to embrace Christ, which is precisely what got them sent into exile— arguing about Christ with non-Christian Jews (see Acts 18 and even Tacitus’ remark). I don’t think this part of Nanos’ view works. Where did the men from James find Peter in Antioch? Meeting and eating in a Gentile home there, to which they objected and Peter withdrew. And I would also ask, where is the evidence that the audience Paul is addressing in Romans has a large quotient of God-fearers in it? It seems clear to me, especially with the vast amount of OT references and discussion that Paul is assuming there are some actual Jewish Christians who could help them understand that dense argument, otherwise, if it’s instructions for Gentiles who don’t know or barely know any OT, it goes right over their heads. In other words, they are listening to this, even though the argument is directed at negative attitudes towards Jews by Gentiles. And while we are on this point, I don’t see why Paul needs to say ‘I am speaking to you Gentiles’ if in fact there is no one else being addressed in the audience. Can you explain why you think otherwise?

A. There is no evidence that Paul and other Jews who followed Christ, stopped going to the family place of worship if and when they began to follow Christ. We have evidence of spontaneous crowds gathering in Jerusalem or elsewhere, meetings ‘in an upper room’, and people meeting at the house of A or B. But this information is not exclusive-it does not tell us whether they stopped going to the synagogue (remember that the others in the family would still be doing so). We also learn that in some cases in some places, there were problems when some Jews accepted the good news. But nowhere do we have firm and clear evidence that all Christ-following Jews ceased synagogue worship entirely, or that this was the same pattern in every city or town hundreds of miles apart (and with no TV)! We just don’t know for sure, but if we were to surmise from modern parallels, it would be difficult to presume the exact same pattern throughout the USA or Europe.)

Also it is begging the question to interpret Paul and other Christ-following Jews as going back to the synagogues only to share Christ (I think you mean by that “to preach Christ”). A s the NT shows, Jesus and others like Paul could be invited to preach if they attended the synagogue.

But if Paul had already got into trouble or caused trouble in one place, he would be less likely to be invited to speak when he went to the next nearby town or city. All I am saying is that it is an assumption without evidence, that Jews who began to follow Christ would only return to the synagogue to preach about Christ. Remember that there would not in the early days, as yet be a Christ-following group in every town or village, and we would not want to suggest that those who began to follow Christ would cease to worship anywhere. It is more likely in my opinion that there would be, where this was possible, examples of joint attendance at synagogue and at other informal Christ-following groups at least temporarily. Also synagogues acted as guest-houses for travelling Jews where strangers could find hospitality and contacts, so that even if they were unable to preach, Jews like Paul who travelled far, would still be glad of a safe place to rest and eat appropriate food with their own people.

The assumption that there were God-fearers in Rome is a general assumption that there were God-fearers in most places where Paul had contacts. It is probably widely agreed that their presence in synagogue gatherings facilitated the spread of the gospel to gentiles. It is also an assumption that there may have been Jewish Christ followers among those Paul addressed in Romans. But whether or not there were God-fearers the interpretation of the text of Romans has to make sense for gentiles because this is whom Paul says he is addressing as we argued above. It follows on that if there were God-fearers this would help to explain why Paul feels they would be able to understand something of the scriptures. For a start Phoebe knew most likely the content of the letter and thus would have been able to explain.

History and Religion

Education and Religion

Uncategorized

Is Paul only addressing Gentiles in Romans?

Previous Post

May 25, 2023

William Campbell's Romans-- The Dialogue Part Four

Next Post

May 27, 2023 William Campbell's Romans-- The Dialogue Part Six

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Uncategorized

Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 August 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz