The Book of Romans

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Was Paul’s letter to the Romans addressing the Christian community in Rome? I have heard people say both, yes and no.

God Bless
 
He sure wasm’t writing Nero. Who do you think he was writing to? It’s not that hard to figure.
 
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Britta:
Was Paul’s letter to the Romans addressing the Christian community in Rome? I have heard people say both, yes and no.

God Bless
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Really? It is clearly addressed to those in Rome in verse 7.
 
Comon Dude, it wasn’t Nero. And it wasn’t the Roman soldiers or the people of Rome who worshiped Roman gods. Hey my 4 yr old could figure that out. You Catholics should study your bible more. That is really a lame question dude.
 
“First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is being reported all over the world.” (1:8)

That cannot be referring to a community of non-believers. See also 1:11 and the litany of believers in chapter 16. I’m not aware of any commentator who suggests the epistle wasn’t written to a Christian community in Rome. There are surely debates about the composition of that congregation - whether it was primarily Jewish converts or gentile converts - but that it was a Christian congregation seems indisputable. Who do you know that says otherwise? Contrary to our friend tralon here, I’d guess it’s not a Catholic scholar.
 
SteveT said:
“First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is being reported all over the world.” (1:8)

That cannot be referring to a community of non-believers. See also 1:11 and the litany of believers in chapter 16. I’m not aware of any commentator who suggests the epistle wasn’t written to a Christian community in Rome. There are surely debates about the composition of that congregation - whether it was primarily Jewish converts or gentile converts - but that it was a Christian congregation seems indisputable. Who do you know that says otherwise? Contrary to our friend tralon here, I’d guess it’s not a Catholic scholar.
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Unfortunately, it has taken me a while to get back to you but I appreciate all the responses. I know the question seems obvious but I have heard different ideas.

I know non-catholics who have disputed that it was not really written to Rome as we know it today. I am trying to understand just who they think it was written to if not to Rome. They have stated that none of the communities which Paul was writing to exist today.

What about Corinth or Ephesus or Phillipi? They do not exist today as Corinth or Ephesus or Phillipi. What were the geographic regions of these areas back then? What about Rome?

Maybe I am making more sense in explaining what I am trying to figure out.

Thanks.
 
THe denial that Peter was never in Rome is used to debunk the theory that early Christianity headquarters was never in Rome some extend this to Paul never being in Rome both are ridiculous Paul explcitly says this and Peter says this using the code word Babylon for Rome. heck after the most of the Jews rejected Jesus the sole mission of the early church was to convert the Roman empire and the known world what better way than to convert the heart of the Empire than Rome herself. The early church fathers and church historian Eusebius say over and over again Peter and Paul established the church in Rome. It was an apostolic hub and after the fall of Jerusalme in 70 AD it was the primary apostolic hub. The epislte of Clement and Saint Ignatius point to the fact the church in ROme already established a place of preeminence by 90-100 AD. The denial of church history is clearly ahistorical. but when your going by the Bible alone it is easy to write of 1500 years of church history and to be ignorant.
Like Cardinal Neuman said “To be deep in histroy is to cease to be protestant.”
 
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Britta:
What about Corinth or Ephesus or Phillipi? They do not exist today as Corinth or Ephesus or Phillipi. What were the geographic regions of these areas back then? What about Rome? Maybe I am making more sense in explaining what I am trying to figure out.Thanks.
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Most Bibles have maps in them showing Pauls journeys. You can find the sites for these cities there. Rome is obviously on the west shore of Italy, Corinth is at an isthmus(sp) of Greece, Ephesus was in modern day Turkey, etc. Some of these cities are ruins today. 👍
 
Thanks for the awesome replies and information. In spite of the things I do know, I have to admit I am not confident with my geography. I believe the argument is an attempt to separate anything that might be closely connected to the RCC. I just wanted to be sure. There is so much misinformation out there.

None of my bibles have the geography as someone mentioned so I need to look into that.

Thanks again.
 
I like the commentaries in the Haydock Bible. So far it is the only Orthodox Catholic Bible with commentaries that I have seen. I haven’t gotten my hands on the Navarre Bible yet. But the Haydock Bible is good, he makes comments in the Apocalypse that certain symbols represent Martin Luther, John Calvin, and Henry VIII. I believe he said the false prophet was Martin Luther, it was too funny.
 
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metal1633:
Really? It is clearly addressed to those in Rome in verse 7.
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It might be clear to you - but to a trained theologian nothing is clear, all is muddy. :crying:

At college we had to write an essay. Simple title “Discuss the authorship of Ephesians”. Whereas most of us would start from the first word and say, “Ah, Paul is writing here”, some theologians wouldn’t. At the time it got me really cross and as a result, just for the sake of it, I wrote a very, very long, well argued - good, liberal theological arguments that ignore common sense - essay - and concluded like one commentary that Ephesians was really written by Onesimus, the slave from Philemon.

Blessings

Asteroid
 
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