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  • From: "Runar M. Thorsteinsson" <Runar.Thorsteinsson AT teol.lu.se>
  • To: <corpus-paul AT franklin.metalab.unc.edu>
  • Subject: Re: Did Paul know Peter's travel locations?
  • Date: Tue, 25 Jun 2002 13:13:09 +0200


David,

you wrote:

I used to believe that Rom 15:20 "And in this way I desire to preach where
Christ has not been named, so as not to build on another person's
foundation" indicated that, so far as Paul knew, no-one had previously
evangelized in Rome. However, I now realise that Rom 15:19-24 taken
together indicate exactly the opposite.

I had previously read 15:20 as indicating that Paul didn't want to tread
on someone else's toes. However, 15:20-21 together can be read to suggest
that he would have been doing exactly that if he had gone to Rome any
earlier, because someone else was there before him. 15:23 suggests that
his work in other areas is done, and it is now OK for him to simply visit
on his way to Spain.



Perhaps you might consider that Paul was not actually speaking of Rome in
15:20-21. As a part of Paul's account of his apostolic authority and mission
(vv. 15-21), vv. 20-21 do not refer to Rome but to his previous missionary
work "from Jerusalem and as far around as Illyricum" (NRSV). Simultaneously,
these words offer an explanation why Paul had not been able to come to Rome
in spite of his stated desire to do so (vv. 22-29; cf. 1:10-13). In other
words, Paul explains to his audience in Rome that he has been occupied with
proclaiming the "good news" in the east, yet only where Christ had not been
named so as to not building on "someone else's foundation" in these regions.

If we take it that the Isaiah reference in v. 21 functioned as a "canon" for
Paul's missionary work in general, and that "someone else was [in Rome]
before him" it is difficult to see how Paul could not have stepped on
"someone else's toes" by writing his letter, in which he seems indeed to be
proclaiming God's "good news" to the Roman audience (see 1:15).

Best wishes,

Runar M. Thorsteinsson

Faculty of Theology
Department of Theology and Religious Studies
Lund University
Sweden

Runar.Thorsteinsson AT teol.lu.se
www.teol.lu.se




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