PART II.

CHAPTER THE NINTH.

OF THE EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS.

I. Date and other Circumstances of this Epistle.II. The Introduction of the Gospel into Rome.— III. Design and Substance of this Epistle.

I. THIS Epistle was written from Corinth, A. D. 58, being the fourth year of the emperor Nero, just before St. Paul set out for Jerusalem with the contributions, which the Christians of Macedonia and Achaia had made for the relief of their poor brethren in Judæa (a). It was transcribed, or written as St. Paul dictated it, by Tertius (b); and the person who conveyed it to Rome was Phoebe (c), a deaconess of the church at Cenchrea, which was the eastern

(a) Rom. c. 15. v. 25 and 26. Acts, c. 20. v. I.

port

when the Gospel was propogated, Rome was the mistress of the world. The Epistles to the Corinthians are placed next, because Corinth was at that time the capital of Greece. Then comes the Epistle to the Galatians, who were not the inhabitants of a single city, but of a country in Asia Minor, in which several churches had been founded. This is followed by the Epistle to the Ephesians, Ephesus being the principal city of Asia Minor. Philippi was a Roman colony, which might, perhaps, cause the Epistle to the Philippians to be placed before those to the Colossians and Thessalonians, whose cities were not distinguished by any particular circumstance. The Epistles to Timothy have the precedence among those which are written to individuals, because there are two of them; or, because they are the longest; or, because Timothy was a frequent and favourite companion of St. Paul. Then follows the Epistle to Titus, who was a preacher of the Gospel; and the last of these Epistles is that to Philemon, who was probably a private Christian. The Epistle to the Hebrews seems to have been placed the last of all St. Paul's Epistles, because, as was just now observed, some doubts were at first entertained whether it were really written by that Apostle,

PART II.

CHAPTER THE NINTH.

OF THE EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS.

I. Date and other Circumstances of this Epistle.— II. The Introduction of the Gospel into Rome.— III. Design and Substance of this Epistle.

I. THIS Epistle was written from Corinth, A. D. 58, being the fourth year of the emperor Nero, just before St. Paul set out for Jerusalem with the contributions, which the Christians of Macedonia and Achaia had made for the relief of their poor brethren in Judæa (a). It was transcribed, or written as St. Paul dictated it, by Tertius (b); and the person who conveyed it to Rome was Phoebe (c), a deaconess of the church at Cenchrea, which was the eastern

(a) Rom. c. 15. v. 25 and 26. Acts, c. 20. v. I.

port

port of the city of Corinth. It is addressed to the church at Rome, which consisted partly of Jewish, and partly of heathen converts; and throughout the Epistle it is evident that the Apostle has regard to both these descriptions of Christians.

II. ST. PAUL, when he wrote this Epistle had not been at Rome (d), but he had heard an account of the state of the church in that city from Aquila and Priscilla, two Christians who were banished from thence by the edict of Claudius, and with whom he lived during his first visit to Corinth. Whether any other apostle had at this time preached the Gospel at Rome, cannot now be ascertained. Among those who witnessed the effect of the first effusion of the Holy Ghost, are mentioned, "strangers of Rome, Jews and Proselytes (e)," that is, persons of the Jewish religion, who usually resided at Rome, but who had come to Jerusalem to be present at the feast of Pentecost. It is highly probable that these men, upon their return home, proclaimed the Gospel of Christ; and we may farther suppose that many Christians, who had been converted in other places, afterwards settled at Rome,

(d) Rom. c. I. v. 13. c. 15. V. 23. (e) Acts, c. 2. V. IO.

Rome, and were the cause of others embracing the Gospel (ƒ).

III. BUT by whatever means Christianity had been introduced into Rome, it seems to have flourished there in great purity; for we learn from the beginning of this Epistle, that the faith of the Roman Christians was at this time much celebrated (g). To confirm them in that faith, and to guard them against the errors of Judaizing Christians,

(f)" It may seem," says Mr. Milner, in his Ecclesiastical History, "to have been purposely appointed by Infinite Wisdom, that our first accounts of the Roman church should be very imperfect, in order to confute the proud pretensions to universal dominion which its bishops have, with unblushing arrogance, supported for so many ages. If a line or two in the Gospels, concerning the keys of St. Peter, has been made the foundation of such lofty pretensions in his supposed successors to the primacy, how would they have gloried if his labours at Rome had been so distinctly celebrated, as those of St. Paul in several churches? What bounds would have been set to the pride of ecclesiastical Rome, could she have boasted of herself as the mother church, like Jerusalem, or even exhibited such trophies of scriptural fame, as Philippi, Thessalonica, Corinth, or Ephesus? The silence of Scripture is the more remarkable, because the church itself was in an early period by no means insignificant, either for the number or piety of its converts; 'their faith ⚫ was spoken of through the whole world.' Romans, c. 1. v. 8." Vol. 1. sect. 12.

(g) Rom. c. I. v. 8.