Solving the Romans Debate
- Philadelphia Fortress Press 2007
- 324p
includes index and biblioraphy
CHAPTER 1. The Romans Debate: Narrowing the Options The Integrity of the Letter 10 Radical Partition Theories, 10 " A Fourteen-Chapter Version of Romans, 13 " A Fifteen-Chapter Version of Romans, 16 The Origin of the Roman Church 24 The Occasion and Purpose of Romans 26 A Summary of Paul`s Theology, 26 " The Jerusalem Trip as the Purpose for Paul`s Writing, 29 " Romans as Preparation for the Spanish Mission, 32 " Providing an Apostolic Foundation for a "Church," 34 o Exercising Authority as Apostle to the Gentiles, 37 o The Lack of a Concrete Situation at Rome, 37 o An Apologetic Purpose, 42 o Separate Jewish Christian and Gentile Christian Assemblies Urged to Worship Together, 49 o The Tension Between the Strong and the Weak over Mosaic Customs in the Wake of the Edict of Claudius, 51 Conclusion 52 CHAPTER 2, The Ethnic Identity of the Roman Congregations: The Internal Evidence An Exclusively Gentile Audience 54 The Letter Opening (Romans 1:1-7), 54 " The Thanksgiv-ing Section (Romans 1:8-15), o The Apostolic Parousia (Romans 15:15-16), 64 " A Direct Address to the Audience (Romans 11:13), 67 o Further Evidence of the Addressees as Gentiles (Romans 6:19; 13:11-14), 69 The Category of God-Fearer 70 Potential Evidence for Jewish Addressees 82 Knowledge of the Scriptures, 82 o Direct Address to the "Jew" (Romans 2:17-29), 87 " The Listing of Jews in Romans 16:1-16, 90 " Further Evidence for Jews in the Audience, 103 " The Weak of Romans 14:1-15:6,106 Conclusion 113 CHAPTER 3. Former God-Fearers or Synagogue Subgroup? 115 The Compatibility of Romans 14:1-15:13 with Jewish-Christian Relations in Rome 118 The Credibility of Paul`s Exhortations to Non-Christian Jews in Romans 14:1-15:13 "Your Brother," a Reference to Non-Christian Jews 123 The Monotheistic Character of the Appeal to the "Weak" 126 Romans 14:22b-23 as Condemnation of the "Strong" for Eating in Doubt 128 Internal Consistency in Romans 1-11 131 The Incompatibility of Paul`s Approval of the "Weak" and Their Observance of the Law 132 "Weak" as Meaning "Stumbling" 135 The Analogy of Abraham, Not Weak in Faith(Romans 4:19-21) 137 Other Evidence That the Weak Are Non-Christ-Believing 140 Evaluation 148 CHAPTER 4. Claudius`s Edict of Expulsion: The External Evidence 149 Suetonius: Chrestus/Christus? 150 The Date: 49 CE 158 The Expulsion of the Entire Jewish Population of Rome? 162 Dio Cassius versus Suetonius: Two Separate Actions 167 Christ-Believing God-Fearers Expelled? 171 Separate Christian Assemblies 181 Popular Anti-Judaism and the Evolving Roman Christian Community 193 Separation of Jews and Christians: Claudius to Nero 197 Summary 201 CHAPTER 5. Reading Romans with the Encoded Audience:Romans 7:7-25 and Romans 11:25-26 203 Romans 7:7-25: Resolving Perennial Conundrums 204 Romans 7:14-25, 204 . Romans 7:7-12, 214 . The Gentile God-Fearer`s Experience of Life "under" the Law, 223 Romans 11:25-26: New Emphases 235 "All Israel" as the Church: N. T. Wright, 236 . "All Israel" as the Jewish Remnant throughout History, 245