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  • From: "David Inglis" <david AT colonialcommerce.com>
  • To: <corpus-paul AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: [Corpus-Paul] Origin of Roman church
  • Date: Sun, 4 May 2003 12:22:22 -0700

On Sunday 4 May 2003, Frank Anthony wrote:

>I'm looking for a source that suggests the idea that Paul of Tarsus sent
the
>people in Romans 16 to Rome to transplant a cosmopolitan church there. I've
>heard some scholars suggest this, but haven't found it in print. The idea
is
>that after Claudius' ban was lift, Paul sent Priscilla and Aquila back to
>Rome to spearhead the church. And then sent many Gentiles there along with
>some Jews he knew personally, so that it would match the city.
>
>Any confirming thoughts on this theory would be appreciated.

Frank,

I can't quote any sources on this, but I think that the basic idea makes a
great deal of sense, and also (IMHO) provides a convincing solution for the
problem of the greetings in Rom 16. The problem, of course, is: Paul wrote
Romans from Corinth to prepare the (mainly) Gentile Christians then in Rome
for the visit he was planning to undertake. As far as we know he had never
been to any part of Italy at that time, so why in chapter 16 did he send
personal greetings to so many people, apparently in Rome, many of whom he
may never have met?

The key, I think, lies in having a correct translation of the greetings.
The GNB uses the phrases "My greetings to" and "Greetings also to" in vv.
16:8-9. Both these phrases suggest that Paul is sending greetings to people
who are either known to the recipients of the letter, or who are themselves
the recipients. However, in the NET these verses read, e.g.: "Greet
Ampliatus, my dear friend in the Lord. Greet Urbanus, our fellow worker in
Christ, and my good friend Stachys." In fact, in the NET all of vv. 3-16
start with the word "Greet." The NIV is the same, and the KJV is similar,
except that "Greet" and "Salute" are used interchangeably.

In the Greek the same one word - aspazomai - is used in all of vv. 3-16.
Strong's concordance defines this word (782) as: ". to enfold in the arms,
i.e. (by impl.) to salute (fig.) to welcome:- embrace, greet, salute, take
leave." In other words, Paul is not *sending* greetings from himself to
people who have been in Rome for some time. Instead, he is asking the
Christians in Rome to welcome, embrace, greet, or salute a group of
newcomers.

This changes the whole meaning of vv. 3-16. Priscilla, Aquila and the
others are not the recipients of the letter. Instead, they have either
recently arrived in Rome, or possibly, are actually traveling to Rome with
Phoebe, the letter bearer! After having been thrown out of Rome in 49 AD,
Priscilla and Aquila have either just returned home after 7-8 years, or are
on the way there. Of the others, some of them (the households mentioned?)
are probably returning home as well. The rest may well be disciples of Paul
who have been sent by him to prepare for his own trip to Rome.

Hope this helps

Dave Inglis
davidinglis2 AT attbi.com
3538 O'Connor Drive
Lafayette, CA, USA






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