Imagens das páginas
PDF
ePub

Gentiles. Paul the apostle was raised up just at this

time.

In the whole of the Acts of the Apostles, and in the writings of Scripture, nothing is to be found which intimates Peter's destination to the West, to Rome; but Paul was chosen, by the Lord himself, for the capital of the world. This inward spirit already impelled him early toward Rome; he testifies to this fully: Rom. 1: 10-16, " Not to the Greeks only, but also to the barbarians," to those who are not Greeks, i. e. to the Latins, was he "a debtor." (Compare Rom. 15: 23-25, where he declares his whole circle of operation in the East as closed.) This thought never left him; Rome always lay before his eyes as the goal of his course, as the theatre of his call to the Gentiles. "After I have been at Jerusalem, I must see Rome also" (Acts 19: 21).

Finally, the voice of the Lord himself points him to Rome; here must he preach the gospel: "Be of good courage, Paul," it said to him, " as thou hast borne witness for me at Jerusalem, so must thou bear witness of me at Rome also" (Acts 23: 11). Where do we find such testimonies of Peter? There is not a single trace of one.

We now pass over to the Church of Rome. The founding of this church must have taken place after the first dispersion of the disciples; and we certainly shall not fail in correctness, if we place it not before A. D. 48. We take it for granted that, already some years earlier in the great intercourse of the world in which Rome stood, individual Christians came to Rome from Palestine and gained adherents among the Jews; but this was far from founding a community or congregation, a church, which could not be so easily effected in Rome, the seat of heathendom, where in general they looked with contempt on everything that came from Palestine. We reject the fable of Peter's arrival at Rome in A. D. 42, or as Natalis Alexander would have it, in A. D. 45 (according to Acts xii.),'

1 But according to this story which makes Peter first preach the Gospel in Rome, this did not take place before A. D 45. In A. D. 38, he left Rome, say Natalis, Baronius, and others; seven years he was in Antioch; in a. D. 45, he was imprisoned, therefore he did not come to Rome before A. D. 46.

and we hold upon what is historically accredited. In A. D. 58 Paul wrote his Epistle to the Romans (Natalis places it in A. D. 47), before he had come into personal contact with them. And yet we find the fullest acquaintance, the most intimate intercourse, the closest connection between the apostle and the church at Rome. The whole 16th chapter is full of it. Ver. 1-15, "I commend unto you Phebe our sister, which is a servant of the church which is at Cenchrea; that ye receive her in the Lord, as becometh saints, and that ye assist -her in whatsoever business she hath need of you; for she hath been a succorer of many, and of myself also. Greet Priscilla and Aquila my helpers in Christ Jesus; (who have for my life laid down their own necks; unto whom not only I give thanks, but also all the churches of the Gentiles) likewise greet the church that is in their house. Salute my well-beloved Epenetus, who is the first fruits of Achaia unto Christ. Greet Mary, who bestowed much labor on us. Salute Andronicus and Junia, my kinsmen, and my fellowprisoners, who are of note among the apostles, who also were in Christ before me. Greet Amplias, my beloved in the Lord. Salute Urbane, our helper in Christ, and Stachys my beloved. Salute Apelles, approved in Christ. Salute them which are of Aristobulus' household. Salute Herodion, my kinsman. Greet them that be of the household of Narcissus, which are in the Lord. Salute Tryphena and Tryphosa, who labor in the Lord. Salute the beloved Persis, which labored much in the Lord. Salute Rufus chosen in the Lord, and his mother and mine. Salute Asyncritus, Phlegon, Hermas, Patrobas, Hermes, and the brethren which are with them. Salute Philologus, and Julia, Nereus and his sister, and Olympas, and all the saints which are with them." These passages furnish many conclusions:

1. From verses 4, 14, 15, it is evident that the church of Rome, at the time when Paul wrote this epistle, did not yet form a completed church with a public place of assembling; the Roman Christians came together in the houses of certain members; the most considerable of these assemblies or conventicles, perhaps Paul names all, were those in the

houses of Prisca and Aquila, of Asyncritus, Phlegon, Hermas, Patrobas, Hermes, of Philologus, of Julia, of Nereus, and of Olympas. To reckon its numbers according to this view, the church of Rome could not at that time be very large, and it could not accordingly yet be very old.

2. Paul had not yet been in Rome, and yet he was very familiar with the circumstances of the church of Rome; he knew almost all its distinguished members. And indeed he knew most of them personally, as is evident from that enumeration which we beg our readers to examine closely. How long must he have already stood in connection with them; how often have interchanged communications with them? It appears that the Romans had directly chosen him as their patron in the Lord; had sought the spiritual, apostolic point of support in him, the apostle of the Gentiles, who had twice penetrated to their neighborhood, even to Corinth, Philippi, Thessalonica, and Illyria.

3. And if now we consider more closely these men and women whom he salutes, we find that they were most of them Paul's intimate acquaintances and also his fellow-laborers and disciples.

There are, first, Prisca and Aquila. He became acquainted with them at Corinth (Acts 18:1), as Jews who were driven out of Rome by the edict of Claudius; he won them for the gospel, and henceforward we see them his companions (Acts 18: 26. 1 Cor. 16: 19. 2 Tim. 4: 19).

There is, further, Epenetus an Asiatic whom he calls beloved, a proof of personal, intimate acquaintance. There are Andronicus and Junia his relatives, who have shared with him in his frequent imprisonments (2 Cor. 11: 23, etc.). There is Amplias in similar circumstances to him with Epenetus. There is Urbane, whom he calls his fellow-laborer, like his trusty companions Silas, Titus, Timothy, etc. There is Stachys his beloved. There is Herodion, his fellow country

man.

We cannot otherwise explain these relations than on the supposition that all these persons were disciples and companions of Paul, whom, when he could not, at the outset, come

to Rome, he sent forward from him to preach the gospel, which he afterwards finished himself. This is the more evident from the salutations of Timothy, Luke, Jason, Sosipater, Tertius, Caius, and Erastus added to those of Paul, who also had not yet been in Rome, and could only be so far acquainted with the church at Rome, as they were the friends and acquaintances of those who were Paul's disciples.

It is therefore established, that Paul's disciples, sent by him, founded the church at Rome; and that this founding can be in no way claimed for Peter, of whom, as of his disciples, we find no trace. This becomes perfect certainty when Paul, at the end, calls the gospel which had been preached to the Romans his gospel (Rom. 16: 35).

In A. D. 61 Paul himself came to Rome; he remained there two years, and he was able to preach the gospel undisturbed (Acts xxviii., close). What his disciples had begun and had conducted to a successful progress, he could now himself gloriously complete.

We will now see how Paul's activity was excited at Rome. Directly after his arrival in Rome, on the third day, he began, in his own dwelling, to gain the chiefs of the synagogue for the gospel (Acts xxix.). Luke relates how it was done, not without good success. We have seen it above. For two whole years, he now preached the gospel to the Gentiles without hindrance (Acts 29: 31), a proof that up to a. D. 63 Nero had not begun to persecute the Christians.

We have seen above, that at the time when Paul wrote to the Romans in a. D. 57 or 58, the church of Rome was yet inconsiderable, at least was yet not large. It was first increased and extended abroad by Paul's efforts and zeal.

He himself says, in the Epistle to the Philippians, that through him the gospel has been made known "in all the palace and in all other places;" that through him many of the brethren have waxed confident, fearlessly to preach the word of God (1: 12); yea, that even in the court itself he has gained followers (4: 22).

We know Paul's fellow-laborers in the gospel, those dear to him. Besides Barnabas, Silas, Sosthenes, Judas, Sopater,

Secundus, there are also Timothy and Titus, both mentioned in numberless places in the Acts and the Epistles. Aquila and Prisca, as we have seen above; Erastus (Acts 19: 22), Caius (Acts 19: 29. 20: 4. xxvii.), Aristarchus, Tychicus, Trophimus (Acts 21: 29. 20: 4), Luke, Mark (Acts 13: 5), Epaphroditus, and Epaphras, Justus (Acts 13: 7, 8), Demas, Artemas. All these men, from Timothy on, we find with him as fellow-laborers at Rome. They all are to be found in this position in the Epistles which he wrote from Rome. See Eph. 6: 24. Phil. 1: 1, 12. 2: 19, 23, 25. 3: 3. 4: 18. Coloss. 1: 1, 7. 4: 7, 9-12, 14. Philem. 23, 24.

At his second abode, too, for the most part, they are again with him; and they stand distinguished in the last chapter of the second Epistle to Timothy. Indeed Paul was the first who, as it were, made Rome the central point of the church; from Rome he held the West in connection with the East; his disciples went out and came back as messengers; from Rome Paul cared for the churches in Greece, Macedonia, and Asia Minor. All the men as they stand in the above-mentioned Epistles, as we have named them, were sent out from Rome by Paul to these churches. Here he mentions to Titus, whom he calls to him, that he had sent Artemas and Tychicus to the regions of the East (Tit. 3: 12), Timothy he calls back to him (2 Tim. 4: 12). Then he tells Timothy that Demas had gone to Thessalonica, Crescens to Galatia, Titus to Dalmatia, Tychicus to Ephesus, Erastus he had left at Corinth, and Trophimus was left behind sick at Miletus; he had Luke only still with him; therefore he should take with him Mark and come to Rome (2 Tim. 4: 10, etc.); Clemens he commends to the Philippians as a fellow laborer of his (Phil. 4: 3).

Finally, it is shown that all the important names which rendered glorious the first period of the church at Rome, Linus (2 Tim. 4:21), Clemens, Claudia, Hermas, Phlegon, Caius, etc., were Paul's disciples; the two first pretended successors of Peter were followers of Paul, not of Peter.

While Paul developed such a wide-spread and deeplypenetrating activity at Rome; while there he concentrated

« AnteriorContinuar »