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  • From: "Stephen C. Carlson" <scarlson AT mindspring.com>
  • To: Corpus-Paul <corpus-paul AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [Corpus-Paul] Was Romans written from Ephesus?
  • Date: Sat, 24 Jan 2004 12:31:07 -0500

At 09:20 AM 1/24/04 -0700, Michael Pahl wrote:
>Stephen, for me there are many lines of evidence drawn together to point to a
>Corinthian provenance for Romans, not just 15:26-28. Of course, you have the
>relationship with Acts 20:1-4, which presents a similar sequence at a similar
>point in Paul's life, having evangelized much of the northeastern Roman
>Empire,
>spending a winter in Achaia preparing to return to Jerusalem and already
>thinking about Rome. One's perspective on this will naturally depend on how
>historically reliable one sees Acts, but the parallels in sequence and place
>in
>Paul's life are striking, and if one sees the "we passages" as from the
>author's
>own "autopsy" then this could be based on reliable information he had
>received
>(note the "we" starting up right after this, in 20:5).

Thanks a lot for your comments. In fact, if we're going to be using
Acts, Acts 19:21-22 already has Paul thinking of going to Rome when
he was still in Ephesus: "21 Now after these things had been accomplished,
Paul resolved in the Spirit to go through Macedonia and Achaia, and
then to go on to Jerusalem. He said, 'After I have gone there, I
must also see Rome.' 22 So he sent two of his helpers, Timothy and
Erastus, to Macedonia, while he himself stayed for some time longer
in Asia." The "we passage" starting right up in 20:5 places the "we"
in Macedonia, which puts the reliability of the Acts 19:21-22 information
on about the same footing as the Acts 20:1-4.

>You also have other
>indications in Romans 16 that point to Corinth, some more convincing than
>others. In 16:23 you have a wealthy, host "Gaius" mentioned, certainly an
>extremely common name but possibly the same as in 1 Cor 1:14. You also have a
>"city treasurer" name "Erastus" mentioned, possibly the same "Erastus" (an
>"aedile," I believe) inscribed on the pavement outside the Corinthian
>theater.

Note that Acts 19:21-22 places Erastus in Ephesus when Paul decided
to go to Rome. If I understand the logic of 1 Cor. 1:14 correctly,
Gaius was also with Paul in Ephesus when Paul wrote 1 Cor. That is,
the reason "that no one can say that you [the people at Corinth]
were baptized in my name" is that Crispus and Gaius were no longer
there. (This fits with, by need not require, Fellows' idea that
Crispus=Sosthenes, which I think is viable.)

>Now these could be coincidences (especially Gaius), but the clincher for me
>is
>16:1-2, where Paul commends Phoebe from Cenchreae apparently as the letter
>carrier to Rome. It's easier to see someone from Cenchreae carrying a letter
>to
>Rome from Corinth than from Ephesus.

As for Phoebe, Cenchreae is indeed much closer to Corinth than to Ephesus,
(in fact, it is a port on the east for Corinth), but Paul's co-workers are
very mobile, and letters are often sent opportunistically, i.e. sent along
with someone who was already planning to travel to the destination.

>One's perspective on the Rom 16 information
>will of course depend on whether one sees this chaper as originally part of
>Paul's letter, but you seem to think it was.

I'm satisfied with Gamble's study that Rom. 15-16 were removed from the
Western version of Paul's letter to make it more general, so the only
remaining difficulty for ch. 16 being originally part of Romans are the
Ephesians in ch. 16.

>Some thoughts for what they're worth...

Thank you very much for your thoughts; they're very helpful.

Stephen Carlson
--
Stephen C. Carlson mailto:scarlson AT mindspring.com
Weblog: http://www.mindspring.com/~scarlson/hypotyposeis/blogger.html
"Poetry speaks of aspirations, and songs chant the words." Shujing 2.35




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