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  • From: "Justin Dombrowski" <jedombrowski AT msn.com>
  • To: "Corpus-Paul" <corpus-paul AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [Corpus-Paul] The audience of Romans
  • Date: Mon, 18 Apr 2005 20:14:03 -0400

I tend to hold a mixed view. I suspect the church was composed of: (1) Torah-observant Jews who believed in Jesus, (2) non-observant gentiles, and probably (3) some gentiles caught in the middle--e.g. observant gentiles, gentiles who are considering or pressured toward observance; and I don't think observant non-believing Jews were addressees.

I seriously fail to see how the letter could sensibly be understood as addressed only to normal gentiles or non-believing Jews, esp in light of Rom 2 and 7 which addresses both observant Jews (and dep. on how Rom 2 is read, observant or non-observant gentiles). I really don't think that since Paul defends a "gentilic" (i.e. Torah is abrogated) position suggests Jewish believers weren't addressees--that doesn't follow logically. It's also definitely not clear to me that Jewish believers in Rome were being repressed (e.g. by gentile Christians) at the time of Paul's writing, or that Paul was in need of defending them. I don't see either in the text. In fact, if the argument in the letter was prompted by a real problem over observance (a la Galatians), then possibly gentile Christians may have been the ones oppressed by Jewish believers.

I also suspect you're probably overreading or misunderstanding the introduction. It's generic just as the others are--it's neither gentile or Jew specific--and throughout the letter he is concerned about Christians generally, whether Jew or Greek (cf. v.16). And he certainly does identify himself with several parties throughout the letter--e.g. non-believing Jews in Rom 9-11 over against believing gentiles; (probably) believing Jews in Rom 7; all of the church through most of the letter. And there were without question plenty Jews in Rome in that period. So I don't think his intro was at all "suicide." And in addition, even if Paul is basically anti-Torah, it doesn't follow that therefore Jews or Jewish believers weren't his addressees. It simply means he disagreed with them.

Sincerely,
Justin D.

MA Student, Ancient Judaism
The Jewish Theological Seminary


----- Original Message ----- From: "Antti V J Mustakallio" <amustaka AT cc.helsinki.fi>
To: "Corpus-Paul" <corpus-paul AT lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Monday, April 18, 2005 9:50 AM
Subject: [Corpus-Paul] The audience of Romans



I would like to know what kind of opinions list members hold
concerning the audience of Paul's letter to Romans. I consider the
question a major problem.
There are two realistic alternatives: either Paul intended the
letter for Gentile Christians or then Paul addressed a mixed audience,
which included both Gentile and Jewish Christians. The latter option is
currently a majority view, but lately solely Gentile Christian audience
has been ably defended by some scholars (e.g. Runar Thorsteinsson in his
dissertation). There is, however, one major obstacle, in my opinion, to
concluding that the audience consisted only of Gentile Christians: the
letter is addressed to all believers in Rome (1:7) and Paul clearly
recognized the presence of Jewish Christian believers (ch. 16). Hence the
audience was necessarily a mixed one.
However, I must admit that the arguments put forward by advocates
of purely Gentile Christian audience are quite persuasive. Especially
problematic for me is to comprehend how in the world could Paul have begun
his letter in such a way when one considers the rhetorical situation of
Romans. To me it seems probable that there was some kind of a conlict
situation among Roman Christians: it was between those adhering to Mosaic
Law (mostly Jewish Christians) and those who felt to be free from the Law
(mostly Gentile Christians). It seems, moreover, that Jewish Christians
were more or less repressed in that situation. That is, they were in need
of Paul's support. The other thing which one is to take into account is
how were the Jewish Christians supposedly disposed towards Paul. Paul's
constant defending of himself and his Gospel in the letter speaks for
mistrustful audience. I think that it would have been wise that Paul would
have expressed interest towards his Christ-believing kinsmen and kinswomen
at the beginning of the letter. But precisely this cannot be found there!
On the contrary, Paul associates himself strongly with Gentiles and seems
to address Gentile believers (esp. 1:13-15). If the letter was really
addressed to Jewish Christians too, that kind of rhetorical strategy seems
irrational: it would be a rhetorical suicide!
All in all, both views of the audience are very problematic. This
important question has become a dead end to me.

Antti Mustakallio
PhD student
Department of Biblical Studies
University of Helsinki
Finland

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