Jerome Murphy-O'Connor, Paul. A Critical Life.
Chapter 13: Looking Westward, p. 323-340

(Detailed summary)

The messengers who had brought the bad news from Corinth returned there with 2 Corinthians 10–13. In this text, Paul promised a visit soon (2 Cor 12:14; 13:1–2). Even though his concern for the Corinthians consumed him, he could not, however, leave Illyria immediately and abandon the new converts to the sole protection of the Holy Spirit. It was his responsibility to establish the young community on a solid foundation. One can easily imagine the redoubled fervor with which he worked, striving to accomplish as much as possible before the arrival of winter forced him to undertake the long journey south.

We know nothing of the reception Paul received in Corinth, but it seems that chapters 10 through 13 of the Second Epistle to the Corinthians had a beneficial effect. If the Corinthians did indeed contribute to the collection for the poor in Jerusalem (Rom 15:26), it is unlikely that the community as a whole, or even a majority, had turned away from Paul. Moreover, during the winter of 55–56, he had the opportunity to compose his letter to the Romans, his most accomplished theological argument, which was part of his preparations for the future. After accompanying the collection to Jerusalem, he planned to go first to Rome, then to Spain (Rom 15:24, 28). One gets the impression that he had no intention of returning to Corinth.

1. The Textual Problems of Romans
   The manuscript tradition attests to eight different versions of the Epistle to the Romans. Most of the issues concern the presence or absence of chapters 15 and 16, and the placement of the doxology (Rom 16:25–27). Furthermore, in some manuscripts the words we have set in italics in the following verses are missing:
   • 1:7: “To all God’s beloved who are in Rome, the saints”
   • 1:15: “Hence my desire to preach the Gospel to you also who are in Rome”
   The absence of any mention of Rome would make this letter so generic that it could be addressed to any church. In fact, it is likely that scribes would have removed any reference to the city of Rome in order to give it a more universal character. Similarly, since chapter 15 contains personal elements, scribes would have considered this a threat to the letter’s universality and would have eliminated it.

   Today, there is near-unanimity among biblical scholars that the letter written by Paul contained the entire passage Romans 1:1–16:23. There are doubts regarding Romans 16:24, but none regarding the doxology (Romans 16:25–27). Considering the content, style, and epistolary practice, some biblical scholars argue that it is unlikely Paul is the author: this is not his typical way of concluding his letters, and the word “Christ” is not mentioned when he writes: “according to the revelation of a mystery kept hidden for ages past, but now made known” (Rom 16:25b–26a).

   The most heated debates among biblical scholars concern whether Rom 16:1–23 belongs to the original letter. As early as the 18th century, some hypothesized that Rom 16:1–23 constituted a separate letter addressed to the Ephesians. Following the 1937 publication of P⁴⁶, which contained only 15 chapters, some believed this confirmed their hypothesis, before it was realized that this manuscript did not contain the original version of the epistle’s text.

   In our view, Rom 16:1–23 cannot be an independent letter and is part of the entire Letter to the Romans. Let us analyze Rom 16:1–17:

   Then, I commend to you our sister Phoebe, a deacon of the church at Cenchreae, 2 so that you may welcome her in the Lord, as is fitting for the saints, and help her in whatever she may require from you, for she has been a benefactor of many and of myself as well. 3 Greet Prisca and Aquila, my coworkers in Christ Jesus, 4 who risked their necks for my life, to whom not only I give thanks but also all the churches of the gentiles. 5 Greet also the church in their house. Greet my beloved Epaenetus, who was the first convert in Asia for Christ. 6 Greet Mary, who has worked very hard for you. 7 Greet Andronicus and Junia, my fellow Israelites who were in prison with me; they are prominent among the apostles, and they were in Christ before I was. 8 Greet Ampliatus, my beloved in the Lord. 9 Greet Urbanus, our coworker in Christ, and my beloved Stachys. 10 Greet Apelles, who is approved in Christ. Greet those among the [slaves] of Aristobulus. 11 Greet my fellow Israelite Herodion. Greet those among the [slaves] of Narcissus. 12 Greet those workers in the Lord, Tryphaena and Tryphosa. Greet the beloved Persis, who has worked hard in the Lord. 13 Greet Rufus, chosen in the Lord, and greet his mother—a mother to me also. 14 Greet Asyncritus, Phlegon, Hermes, Patrobas, Hermas, and the brothers and sisters who are with them. 15 Greet Philologus, Julia, Nereus and his sister, and Olympas, and all the saints who are with them. 16 Greet one another with a holy kiss. All the churches of Christ greet you. 17 I urge you, brothers and sisters, to keep an eye on those who create dissensions and hindrances, in opposition to the teaching that you have learned; avoid them.

   1. “Then (de), I commend to you…”. The Greek particle de expresses continuity with what precedes it.

   2. Without the “holy kiss,” we would be missing a conclusion typical of Paul’s letters.

   3. “I commend to you our sister Phoebe” seems unusual for Paul, but there are examples, such as in Cicero, where a recommendation could be inserted into the conclusion of a letter, sometimes in reference to the recipient, but not always.

   4. Two of the groups greeted in Rom 16 were certainly domiciled in Rome. “Those among the [slaves] of Aristobulus” worked for the grandson of Herod the Great, who died in Rome around the late 40s. According to his will, they would have been integrated into another large household while retaining their distinctive name. From this perspective, Paul’s formula would translate as Aristobuliani. This interpretation is virtually certain based on the name of the next person mentioned. “Herodion” unambiguously suggests a connection to Herod’s family, since freed slaves took the name of their patron. In light of the above, it is plausible that “those among the [slaves] of Narcissus” were the slaves of the influential freedman of Claudius, who was assassinated shortly after his patron’s death in 54. They, along with his immense fortune, entered Nero’s household under the name Narcissiani, as inscriptions attest. If these identifications are correct—and they are widely accepted—these two groups can only be sought in Rome. It is inconceivable that such “inheritances” would have been moved en masse out of the Eternal City, much less to Ephesus.

   5. Paradoxically, the long list of people greeted in Rom 16:1–23 proves that Paul was writing to a community within which he had neither lived nor worked, and of which he was not a member. Paul was in the habit of not naming the recipients of his greetings, no doubt because it would have been inappropriate to single out individuals from a group whose members he knew all. This conclusion is confirmed by the Epistle to the Colossians, which is addressed to a church that Paul neither founded nor visited, where he mentions “Nympha and the church that meets in her house ” (Col 4:15).

   6. “Greet my beloved Epaenetus, who was the first convert in Asia for Christ.” This note contradicts the hypothesis that the letter was sent to Ephesus. The description of Epenetus as “the first convert in Asia for Christ” is more plausible if he was then outside his province. In Ephesus, this would have been common knowledge, just as Timothy’s status as Paul’s “co-worker” (Rom 16:21) would have been, and therefore Paul would not have needed to specify it.

   7. “the teaching (didache) that you have learned” (Rom 16:17). The Greek term didache, also used in Rom 6:17, refers to the body of Christian teachings. The unusual verb form suggests that Paul did not know who had instructed the Romans. If Paul had instructed the recipients, as would have been the case in Ephesus, he would have used the first person singular (see 1 Cor 15:1; Gal 1:8).

2. Planning for the Future

   In chapter 16, Paul greets 26 people, 24 of whom are named. He also mentions three house churches (verses 5, 14, 15) and two groups of former slaves (verses 10, 11), which may also have been house churches. He certainly knew some of them personally. Prisca and Aquila were with him in Corinth, then in Ephesus (1 Cor 16:19). The adjective “beloved” used for Epaenetus, Ampliatus, and Stachys cannot be a mere formality. If Rufus’s mother had also been a mother figure to Paul, he must have known her and her son. It is not surprising that Paul, during his ministry in Greece and Asia Minor, knew at least seven and at most nine Christians who had settled in Rome.

   What is significant is that Paul knew where these people were and was familiar with the names and merits of several other members of the Roman church. The conclusion that he had contacts in Rome before writing this letter is inevitable. Were these contacts coincidental or intentional? The presence of Prisca and Aquila in Rome points to careful planning. This couple, as we have seen, had provided Paul with a foothold in Corinth and had laid the groundwork for his ministry in Ephesus. If they now appear in Rome, it is evident that they had been sent by Paul in anticipation of his arrival.

   1. A Mission to Spain

      Rome was a well-established church, many of whose members had been raised in the cultural ethos of the Eastern Mediterranean. For these people, hospitality toward travelers was second nature, and Paul could count on their generosity. But then why did he lay the groundwork so meticulously by sending his close associates and gathering information about the church members? He must have had something specific in mind, as revealed in Rom 15:24: “when I go to Spain… I hope indeed to see you on my way there and to receive your help (propempo) in getting there, after first being filled, even if only a little, by your presence.” The Greek term propempo is a technical term in the New Testament used to denote the missionary support provided by a church. This term refers not only to financial support but to the fact that a community takes responsibility for a mission. Recall that during his first mission, Paul had been sent by the church in Antioch, which had taken responsibility for it. Now, Paul would ask the same of the church in Rome.

      Why did Paul choose Spain as a mission field? It is possible that he was inspired by Isaiah’s eschatological vision: “I will guide their actions and their thoughts; I am coming to gather all the nations of every language; they will come and see my glory: yes, I will set a sign among them. Moreover, I will send survivors from among them to the nations: Tarshish, Put, and Lud, who bend the bow; Tubal, Javan, and the distant islands, who have never heard of me, who have never seen my glory; they will proclaim my glory among the nations” (Isa 66:18–19). Tarshish would refer to the western tip of the Mediterranean (see Jon 1:3; 4:2). This would correspond to Paul’s messianic understanding of his vocation, that of extending God’s reign to the ends of the known world. In Gal 1:15, Paul clearly states that he sees his life as foreshadowed in the Song of the Servant: “I have appointed you to be a light to the nations, so that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth” (Is 49:6). For Paul’s contemporaries, the “Sacred Cape”—today “Cape St. Vincent” in Portugal—was the edge of the world.

      However, this choice is surprising. Up to this point, Paul had moved in a world that spoke his language and where a network of Jewish institutions existed that he could draw upon. None of this existed in Spain. The Jewish diaspora did not extend further west than Italy. There were no God-fearing people in Spain who had any knowledge of Scripture. Likewise, few people spoke Greek. The interior was dominated by a staggering number of Iberian dialects. Latin was the language of administration, but few people spoke it. It is difficult to know to what extent Paul was aware of these obstacles. At the very least, he must have known that he was venturing into a world different from the one he knew, and needed the expertise of those who were closer to that world.

   2. A Winter in Greece

      When did Paul decide to go to Spain? It was probably during the summer of 55, while he was in Illyria. His letter (2 Corinthians 1–9) had been sent to the Corinthians, and he was free to undertake a new mission. And from Illyria, Rome was not very far away. So, after delivering the collection to Jerusalem, he could consider a trip to the other side of the Mediterranean. It was probably during this somewhat euphoric moment that he was also able to formulate his plan to send Prisca and Aquila to Rome.

      Then came the bad news from Corinth. He had to resign himself to spending the winter in Corinth as planned, but afterward he would have no more time for the childishness (1 Cor 3:1; 14:20) of that church. It was time for him to devote his energies to something more fruitful, and Rome could serve as a springboard for Spain. Rome would therefore be on the agenda for the summer of 56. So, as soon as the collection was delivered to Jerusalem, he would head west, which meant Prisca and Aquila would have to leave immediately for Rome to prepare the ground. Perhaps it was at this point that Paul, or someone in his circle, conceived the idea of writing the Letter to the Romans. Even if Prisca and Aquila could speak well of him to the Romans, a personal letter would undoubtedly be more effective in introducing him. But this was something new for him, for until then all his letters had been responses to community issues. Unfortunately, preoccupied with his mission in Illyria and the problems in Corinth that demanded his full attention, he had to postpone writing such a letter until winter. This would give him more time to gather further information about the Roman church, having previously sent Prisca and Aquila there.

      The Letter to the Romans was certainly sent in the spring of 56 at the latest.

3. The Writing of the Letter to the Romans

   This letter had several objectives. First, Paul needed to address a topic of interest to the community while also introducing himself and his gospel. The first thing he needed to know in order to write Romans 1–12 was that the community was primarily composed of God-fearing people—information that Prisca and Aquila may have shared with him during their initial meeting in Corinth. On the other hand, writing Romans 13–16 required detailed, up-to-date knowledge of the Roman community. Therefore, we can surmise that Paul first wrote Romans 1–12 during the winter of 55–56, but the rest of the letter only in the spring of 56 after receiving the information from Prisca and Aquila.

   1. Jew and Gentiles in Rome

      The origins of the Roman church are unknown. It appears, however, that it was the work of Christians of Jewish origin. The first mention of its existence is Suetonius’s remark about Emperor Claudius: “He expelled from Rome the Jews who were constantly causing disturbances at the instigation of Chrestus” (Claudius 24.4). As we have already seen, Claudius’s action likely affected only a single synagogue, which would explain why this expulsion is not mentioned in any Jewish source. Thus, a tiny fraction of Rome’s 40,000 or 50,000 Jews would have been involved.

      Paul’s focus on the relationship between Judaism and Christianity was likely inspired by the problems he encountered with the Judaizers in Corinth during the winter, and by his concern about how he would be received in Jerusalem with the collection.

      A striking feature of the style of chapters 1 through 11 of the Epistle to the Romans confirms that Paul had only a general understanding of the Church in Rome. He addresses an imaginary interlocutor, addresses objections and erroneous conclusions, and expresses himself in a dialogue punctuated by examples. He uses the diatribe, a pedagogical technique employed in the context of a school of philosophy. The choice of this technique reveals another facet of the quality of Paul’s education, and the sophistication with which he uses it betrays the give-and-take characteristic of many discussions. We can also infer that the questions and objections do not express the specific problems of his audience, but rather synthesize the experiences of many new converts. Paul had dealt with many Jews and Gentiles who were striving to understand their past and their present.

   2. Sin, Law, and Death

      The central theme of the Epistle to the Romans is that God not only desires the salvation of all, but has also set in motion a plan to ensure that His grace reaches every individual (Rom 3:29). The overarching proposition underlying the entire development of the letter is as follows: “The gospel is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes, first for the Jew, then for the Greek” (Rom 1:16). This conviction has guided Paul’s life since his conversion, and in this sense, the Epistle to the Romans crystallizes his gospel message. However, the way in which the power of the Gospel produces its effects was much better presented in his earlier letters. On the other hand, those letters did not adequately express Paul’s perception of humanity’s need for salvation. Thus, the originality of the Epistle to the Romans does not lie in its teaching on the how of salvation, but in its explanation of the why of salvation.

      A distinctive feature of the letter to the Romans is its use of the Greek word hamartia (sin). It first appears in Rom 3:9: “all, both Jews and Greeks, are under the power of sin.” Clearly, the word “sin” does not refer to the individual sins of people. To emphasize this aspect, the word will be capitalized: Sin. We can group Paul’s use of this word under three headings:

      1. Sin

         • “Through one man, Sin entered the world” (Rom 5:12a)

         • “so that we might no longer be slaves to Sin” (Rom 6:6)
         • “Do not offer your members as instruments of Sin” (Rom 6:13)
         • “you were slaves to Sin” (Rom 6:16, 17, 20)
         • “freed from Sin” (Rom 6:18)
         • “sold into slavery to Sin” (Rom 7:14)
         • “the Sin that dwells within me” (Rom 7:20)

      2. Sin and the Law

         • “For Sin will no longer have dominion over you, since you are no longer under the Law but under grace” (Rom 6:14)

         • “For without the Law, Sin is dead” (Rom 7:8)
         • “it makes me a prisoner of the law of Sin that is in my members” (Rom 7:23, 25)
         • “Jesus Christ has set me free from the law of Sin and death” (Rom 8:2)

      3. Sin and Death

         • “Sin entered the world, and through Sin, death” (Rom 5:12b)

         • “just as Sin reigned in death” (Rom 5:21)
         • “For the wages of Sin is death” (Rom 6:23)

      The term “Sin” functions like a myth or a symbol. It is in Gal 3:22 (“But the Scripture has imprisoned all under Sin”) that the word appears for the first time. In Rom 3:9–18, Paul clarifies this enigmatic statement by citing various passages from the Old Testament where humanity appears ungodly, ignorant of God, doing evil, deceitful, and murderous (see Rom 1:29–31). However, unlike his ancestors, Paul refuses to see in this situation anything that implies human responsibility. This is where the power of Sin comes in. According to him, humanity is perverted and distorted by a force beyond its control. This insight is rooted in Paul’s personal experience. As a traveler, he found himself compelled to be other than he would have wished. His commitment was to be another Christ, entirely devoted to the service of others. But to survive on the road, he first had to look out for his own interests. The conditions of his life compelled him toward selfishness and mistrust of others rather than love.

      This situation dates back to Genesis 3, where, in the history of humanity, a wrong decision was made by one person. From then on, according to Genesis 4:11, evil grew exponentially (Genesis 6:5). Wickedness became endemic, with sinners interacting with one another. All who are born into a corrupt society inherit its flaws. They have no choice but to internalize these values and pass them on, reinforced, to the next generation. They are slaves to the Sin that dwells within them. For Paul, Sin was not an external force, but a reality inherent in humanity—the accumulated power of lived adherence to a flawed value system. “God has imprisoned all people in their own disobedience” (Rom 7:10).

      For Paul, one of the erroneous values inherited by the Jews was a particular attitude toward the Law, which distorted its true meaning (Rom 7:10). At the heart of the Jewish faith lies the conviction of their election through a free act of God. By giving the Law, God established a covenant. Belonging to this covenant was necessary for salvation, and it entailed obedience to the precepts of the Law. But over time, there was a shift in the understanding of this covenant. For originally, obedience to the commandments was not conceived as a means of obtaining salvation—which came rather from God’s grace—but was nonetheless required as a condition for remaining in the covenant; and disobedience to the commandments led to damnation. But in the Jewish mind, if disobedience to the commandments of the Law caused damnation, it seemed logical that obedience to these precepts would guarantee salvation. Thus, despite a superficial adherence to the fundamental concept of free grace in election, in practice, all attention was focused on the observance of the commandments. A religion of grace expressed in the form of a covenant quickly became a religion of merit, at least in the collective imagination, if not in the treatises of theologians. For Paul, there was a reversal of values: the emphasis had shifted from the importance of the free gift of the covenant to the importance of obedience to the Law. Thus the Jews began to debate endlessly about points of the Law, rather than the mystery of grace. The Law took up all the space, even God’s own.

      This is why Paul, to ensure that God’s free gift in Jesus Christ retained its primacy, had to insist that the Law was entirely superfluous for all believers, Jews and non-Jews alike. God’s free gift is revealed in Christ’s self-sacrifice, a sacrifice that the Law had in no way anticipated. On the contrary, Christ is the new Law (Gal 6:2). Hence, it is understandable that Paul insists that Christ has put an end to the Law as it pertains to humanity (Rom 10:4). Once the purpose of the Law was definitively fulfilled in and through Christ, the means to achieve it (the Law) no longer had any reason to exist.

      The condition of the Gentiles, distorted by the self-centered values of the society into which they were born, and that of the Jews, made “captives of the law of Sin” (Rom 7:23), is summed up by Paul in a single word: death. This vision of the human condition stems from Paul’s conviction—already outlined in the Epistle to the Galatians—that the criterion of authentic humanity is the sacrificial love revealed in Jesus, who “did not seek his own pleasure ” (Rom 15:3), but suffered for all people (Rom 8:17), even to the point of dying for the ungodly (Rom 5:6). Without this creative impulse, a life turned inward by society or the Law can only be compared to the existence of a corpse. Those who do not love are the living dead.

      This brief summary of what Paul meant by Sin, Law, and death reveals the depth of his reflection on the circumstances of his ministry. An analysis of the human condition was essential for him to give his preaching a precise direction. His conviction that his listeners had to be freed from Sin before they could receive the Gospel and thus pass from death to life led to a commitment to be Christ—the power and wisdom of God—for others (1 Cor 1:24; 2 Cor 4:10–11).

   3. The Salvation of the Jews

      Although the tentacles of Sin reached into every stratum of humanity, Paul regarded his own people as its greatest victims. He and others had freed multitudes of Gentiles from the power of Sin, but very few Jews had accepted Christ as the Messiah. Why were those whom God had most privileged in preparing for the coming of the Messiah the most adamant in their rejection of Jesus? This mystery tormented Paul throughout his apostolic life. The urgency of this question was heightened by his apprehension regarding the reception he would receive in Jerusalem (Rom 15:31), which implicitly acknowledged the Jews’ growing hostility toward the movement of Jesus. The winter in Corinth gave him time to gather the scattered insights that had come to him over the years and to formulate a comprehensive response.

      The complex argumentation in chapters 9–11 of the Epistle to the Romans bears impressive witness to the depth of Paul’s knowledge of the Jewish Scriptures. The subtlety of his interpretation reveals once again the solidity of his intellectual training. The quality of his writing is also remarkable, and the hymn, in which he expresses his adoration with extraordinary eloquence (Rom 11:33–36), is undoubtedly his literary masterpiece.

      This outpouring of gratitude perfectly concludes the summary of the argument presented in Rom 11:25–32, where Paul reveals his solution to the problem of Israel’s salvation. He never doubted that God could deny himself and abandon those whom he had chosen and endowed with gifts (Rom 11:1–2). It was by reading Isaiah that he understood the means by which the Jews would be saved. In Rom 11:26, to support his thesis that “all Israel will be saved,” he quotes: “The Redeemer will come from Zion; he will turn away ungodliness from Jacob; and this is my covenant with them” (Isa 59:20–21); “when I take away their sins” (Isa 27:9). This is an allusion to the Parousia of Christ. In other words, the Jews will be saved exactly as Paul was. Just as Paul’s attitude was transformed by a completely unexpected encounter on the road to Damascus, where Christ took the initiative, so it will be for all Israel at the Parousia, when Christ appears in his glory. Then, the Jews will be no more able to reject him than Paul had been.