3.4. The Purpose of the Epistle
Roman
is an unusual epistle in the Pauline corpus, for in it the apostle is
writing to the churches for whom he had not labored. Roman Christians
must have heard of him, but that is also, according to Thomas H.
Tobin, part of the problem the apostle is trying to address. Tobin
has rightly argued that the apostle is, in a way, trying to ‘make
right’ the false impression and allegations of his “anti-nomian”
gospel which is blamed for the moral dysfunction of the church in
Corinth.1
It has to be within the apostle’s intention to clarify this as a
strategic step to win the ears of his audience.
The
momentum is right for St. Paul to write to the Roman Christians as he
intends to preach the gospel farther west, and he wants to use this
opportunity for their edification, especially regarding the crucial
matter at hand: ethnic diversity and its cultural implication in the
church. For this purpose, he presents himself well. A long
introduction (1:1-17), about three times longer than the usual, is
meant to lay out the basic tenets of his conviction and his call as
an apostle of Christ. Here he sets the groundwork wherein Roman
Christians may heartily open their ears to what he wants to say
further. And his clarification, more than anything, becomes a
systematic exposition of his understanding of the Gospel, which
deserves to be called his “last will and testament.”
The
famous statement – your faith is proclaimed throughout the world –
that the apostle uses to start the conversation is a polite way of
saying: I heard many wonderful things about you, and also some
problems. His further statement adds to this intention. “For I am
longing to see you so that I may share with you some spiritual gift
to strengthen you – or rather so that we may be mutually encouraged
by each other’s faith, both yours and mine” (1:12). These words
in actuality are already happening on the part of the apostle by the
implication of the epistle. This requires some sort of authority, and
for the Roman Christians, given the previous discussion, authority
means Jerusalem. Therefore, while the reference to Jerusalem is made
towards the end of the epistle, it actually functions as an entrance
to benefit a further conversation, or rather edification. The apostle
Paul makes the effort to show to the Roman Christians that he is not
estranged from the Jerusalem church. In fact, he is even doing this
fund-raising for Jerusalem’s community of saints (15:25ff.). So if
he himself is connected to Jerusalem, as they are, then he is also
connected with them. This subject matter is followed by a prayer
request for his journey to deliver the funds to the poor in
Jerusalem. Such a gesture of spiritual humility and connection is
perhaps one of the primary reasons why this epistle is accepted and
preserved for us today.
The
apostle mentions in chapter one that he wants to come to Rome as he
has been longing to do for so long, and later in chapter 15 he
mentions that he actually
wants
to go to Spain through Rome. Instead of a contradiction, here St.
Paul tries to communicate his intention without offending the host,
whom he would like to meet in due time. In this mode of interaction,
it is assumed that the real intention is communicated after talking
about some other things. Usually, in this cultural presupposition,
the “other things” are those of secondary importance or some
small talk. Still in the case of the Epistle to the Romans, the
“other things” serve as important words for Christians across the
ages. The apostle is saying he wants to come to Rome, and then go on
to Spain; better than saying I want to swing by Rome on my way to
Spain.
The
apostle sets a distinction between preaching the good news as a
ministry, where he hopes to win some gentiles in Rome (1:13), and
preaching in order to “build a foundation” or to plant a church,
as he hopes to do in Spain (15:20). This may well indicate that there
might be a competition among the churches in Rome in regards to
making converts; hence it becomes important for the apostle to state
his intention in coming to preach the gospel also in Rome. We may
render this as sub-group dynamics. In SIT, in-group differences tend
to be overlooked in comparison with out-group, yet within in-group
interaction, these differences may be salient.
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1 Thomas
H. Tobin, Paul’s Rhetoric in Its Context: The Argument of
Romans (Massachusetts: Hendrickson Publisher, 2004), 11.
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