Paul and the Roman "Fruits"

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In the opening chapter of Romans, Paul writes “to all God’s beloved in Rome, who are called to be saints”. He thanks God because their “faith is proclaimed in all the world”. He wants to “be mutually encouraged by each other’s faith, both yours and mine”. So far, so good.

However, he goes on to say that he wants to “reap some harvest among YOU as well as among the rest of the Gentiles”, and states that he is “eager to preach the gospel to YOU also who are in Rome”.

Isn’t the Roman Church a thriving faith community already, by Paul’s own admission? Why would they need Paul to “preach the gospel” to them? If he’s only talking about glorifying the faith they all believe in already, then what is the “harvest” he wants to reap, “as among the other Gentiles”?

What’s Paul talking about here?
 
Hi OC,

This question seems to have perplexed many commentators, especially since, in 15:20, he declines to build on someone else’s foundations. We have to remember that Paul’s ultimate destination was Spain (see 15:24) and it is understandable that he should wish to stop in Rome on his way there. In that context, it is reasonable to interpret his desire to "evangelize " the Romans in a loose manner. Wherever he went Paul preached “Jesus Christ and him crucified”, whether he stayed five years or five days.

Verbum
 
Paul calls the Romans to be not just good, but holy … the harvest being the result of this holiness. In Rom 2 13 he goes on to say “For it is not the hearers of the law who are righteous in God’s sight, but the doers of the law who will be justified.”
 
The reference to “fruit” is vague in this context. It may be that Paul is anticipating that he will benefit personally from how the Roman Christians live out their faith.
 
Verbum said:
Hi OC,

This question seems to have perplexed many commentators, especially since, in 15:20, he declines to build on someone else’s foundations. We have to remember that Paul’s ultimate destination was Spain (see 15:24) and it is understandable that he should wish to stop in Rome on his way there. In that context, it is reasonable to interpret his desire to "evangelize " the Romans in a loose manner. Wherever he went Paul preached “Jesus Christ and him crucified”, whether he stayed five years or five days.

Verbum
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Paul wasn’t stopping off on his way to Spain.

He was brought there chained to a Roman guard to face trial- in A.D. 61.

When no one knew who he was or cared, the Centurion released him, and he stayed in Rome preaching and leading the Church there.

He mentioned going to Spain, but then the Nero persecutions got in the way.
 
steve53 said:
Paul wasn’t stopping off on his way to Spain.

He was brought there chained to a Roman guard to face trial- in A.D. 61.

When no one knew who he was or cared, the Centurion released him, and he stayed in Rome preaching and leading the Church there.

He mentioned going to Spain, but then the Nero persecutions got in the way.
Click to expand...
Paul wrote the letter prior to his arrest and discussed in it what his plan as a free man was. Of course, we know that God’s plan was quite different. 😉

Romans 15:24
When I shall begin to take my journey into Spain, I hope that as I pass, I shall see you, and be brought on my way thither by you, if first, in part, I shall have enjoyed you:
 
As I understand it, his intention was that he and the church in Rome would encourage each other by the faith that they all had, but he also wanted to preach the gospel and make converts among the hundreds of thousands of pagans and Jews. Bear in mind that at this time the Christians were a very small minority, and there were many of converts to be made.
 
Iam not sure but the harvest would be souls. We are called to spread the good news and bring people to faith in Christ.
 
Thanks for all your responses so far; I’m particularly going to meditate on the “harvest of holiness” idea (thanks, LongingSoul). I was just wondering why Paul, in a letter to the church at Rome, would speak of preaching the gospel to them, and reaping a harvest among them “as among the rest of the Gentiles”. I thought of this last night, though: perhaps the problem hinges on what “the gospel” means to Paul, at least in this particular context. Considering the issues he subsequently develops in the letter, I think that Paul’s “gospel” - his “Good News” - was not that salvation is available to everyone in Christ; rather, that salvation is available to Jews and Gentiles alike in Christ and in the Church - a subtle distinction, but an important one. I’m assuming that the church at Rome was a mixture of Jews and Gentiles, and perhaps there could have been superior/inferior distinctions being made (or at least felt). Perhaps Paul wants to remind everyone that all such differences were abrogated by the Redemption? Surely that is “good news” to the Gentile converts, at least.
 
I think you’re on the right track. I just finished reading “The Eternal City” by Taylor Marshall and he touches on this. The theory goes that Peter built the Church in Rome and it was composed early on with mostly Jewish converts (ie. Jewish Christians.) He is likely the “another man” mentioned in 15:20. All of the Jews in Rome, including Peter, and including most or practically all of the Church, were expelled from the city (early 40’s, I believe, but could be off a bit.)

When they were allowed back, and the Church began to reassemble, it wasn’t quite the same as before. This time around, there were more Gentiles than before and that unfortunately created a tension within the Church. The Jewish Christians who were there at the beginning kind of felt that it was THEIR church. I think a similar analogy may be between a parish that is traditionally American and english speaking, all of a sudden receiving many new members in a short period of time who are Mexican immigrants and spanish speaking. Some get bent out of shape. Anyway, as the theory continues, Peter may have persuaded Paul to write an epistle to them and explain the big picture of salvation, so to speak.
 
Peter was famous for hob-nobbing with Gentiles. He was criticized for this by the Christian leaders in Jerusalem, who were all Jews- to include James, the brother of Jesus.

So his church in Rome likely had a considerable number of Gentile converts, as well as Jews.

Claudius supposedly expelled the Jews from Rome early in his reign. This is not likely. Far more likely is that “Jews” and “Christians” became synonymous to the secular writers, and so Tacitus (or was it Suetonius?) reported that Claudius expelled the Jews, he actually meant the Christians. In Acts there are Christians described who were, in fact, expelled by Claudius.

That it was the Christians and not the Jews who were expelled is supported by the fact that King Agrippa, the Jewish king, was instrumental in Claudius gaining the Empire, according to Josephus.
Later when Agrippa gained control of Jerusalem (given to him by Claudius), he was responsible for the death of James the Disciple and the arrest of Peter. No friend of the Christians he.
 
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