Paul's Travel Plan
According to D. A. Carson, Douglas Moo and Leon Morris, three localities figure in Paul’s travel plans while he was composing this letter: Jerusalem, Rome and Spain (15:22-29). His immediate destination was Jerusalem (v. 25). He was to bring to the church in Jerusalem gifts given by Gentile Christian churches he had founded (vv. 26-27), though he was not sure whether Jewish believers would accept the gifts. It might have been for this reason that he asked the Roman Christians to intercede for him in this regard (vv. 30-31).
Paul's second stop was Rome although his ultimate destination so far as this travel is concerned was Spain (15:24, 28). This, however, is not meant to minimize Rome’s strategic importance in Paul’s travel plan but rather points to his sense of calling that he was called “to preach the gospel where Christ [is] not known” (v. 20). Also part of his purpose of stopping over to Rome was to request the assistance of Roman Christians on his journey to Spain (v. 24).
As Allen Ross puts it, "To [Paul] this church was strong enough to help him carry out further missionary activities. They are not called recent converts; they are not treated as having been improperly instructed, but seem to have been an organized and well-grounded congregation (15:14, 'filled with all knowledge, able also to admonish one another')."
If one to compare Paul’s travel plan with his missionary career recorded in the book of Acts, it would turn out that as of the writing of his letter to the Christians in Rome, he must have been approaching the end of his third missionary journey. Acts 19:21 and 20:16 report that Paul actually decided to return to Jerusalem, having in his mind Rome as his next destination.
Place of Writing
The most likely place of writing was Corinth. This is in light of Acts 20:3 which says that Paul spent three months in Greece, and the most probable place where he stayed, according to Carson, Moo and Morris, was Corinth (cf. 2 Cor. 13:1, 10). This is confirmed by Paul’s commendation in this letter of a woman named Phoebe who lived in Cenchrea, a city near Corinth (16:1-2).
Furthermore, Gaius who is said to be sending his greetings to the Romans in 16:23 may most likely be the same Gaius whom Paul baptized in Corinth (1 Cor. 1:14). An archaeological evidence also points to this fact: an inscription found at Corinth where the name of the city treasurer Erastus appears, who may be identical to Erastus mentioned in 16:23 who also sends greetings to the Romans.
Date of Composition
The date of the composition of this letter would then depend on the date of Paul’s three-month stay in Corinth, which might had been between 56 and 57 AD. It must be noted also that on the part of the Roman Christians, their congregation must already had been in existence for a number of years at this point in time, given the fact that Paul informed them of his desire to visit them “for many years” already (15:23).
There is actually little information about the beginning of the church in Rome. Contrary to the Roman Catholic claim that this church was founded by the apostle Peter, Ambrosiaster, a church father who lived in the 4th century AD, said that it was not founded by an apostle. What is clear, however, was that by the time Paul wrote his letter to the Christians in Rome, their faith was already known among their fellow believers throughout the Roman Empire (1:8).
References:
- Carson, D. A., Carson, Douglas J. Moo and Leon Morris (eds.). An Introduction to the New Testament. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan Publishing House,1992.
- Constable, Thomas L. Notes on Romans - 2009 Edition. Available online at www.soniclight.com.
- Gill, David W. J. “Erastus the Aedile,” in Tyndale Bulletin 40 (1989): 293-302.
- Ross, Allen. Introduction to the Book of Romans. Available online at www.bible.org.
Edwin Vargas - Edwin joined the faculty of Conservative Baptist Seminary – Asia as lecturer in Systematic Theology and New Testament Survey after ...
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