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RollAid to Bible Understanding
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ROLL
See SCROLL, ROLL.
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Romamti-ezerAid to Bible Understanding
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ROMAMTI-EZER
(Ro·mamʹti-eʹzer) [I have made lofty help].
A son of Heman selected by lot during David’s reign to head the last of the twenty-four Levitical groups of musicians at the sanctuary.—1 Chron. 25:1, 4, 5, 9, 31.
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RomanAid to Bible Understanding
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ROMAN
Originally, and in the restrictive sense, one who lived in the city of Rome, Italy. (Acts 2:10; Rom. 1:7) With the expansion of the empire the name took on broader meanings. Sometimes “the Romans” referred to the imperial authority that ruled; “Roman procedure” meant that authority’s methods of rule. (John 11:48; Acts 25:16; 28:17) At other times a “Roman” simply meant anyone having Roman citizenship, regardless of his nationality or place of birth.—Acts 16:21.
In the latter case one could become a Roman by purchasing citizenship, as in the instance of the military commander Claudius Lysias. Or one might be born a Roman, that is, be a Roman citizen from birth. The apostle Paul was such a one, for although he was a Jew by nationality, and born in the Cilician city of Tarsus hundreds of miles from Italy, yet from birth he was a Roman.—Acts 21:39; 22:3, 25-28; 23:26, 27; see CITIZEN, CITIZENSHIP.
Being a Roman citizen carried with it many privileges and protections. After Macedonia was conquered in 167 B.C.E. Roman citizens for the most part were exempted from paying taxes. Those provisions of Roman law known as Lex Valeria and Lex Porcia forbade the beating, whipping, torturing or the inflicting of any shameful punishment on Roman citizens, and also granted them the right to appeal a magistrate’s decision to a court of the people under the republic; at a later date, appeals were made direct to the emperor. For anyone to violate these Valerian or Porcian laws was a very serious matter, as was demonstrated twice in connection with Paul. (Acts 16:37-40; 22:25-29) Or if certain capital offenses were involved, citizens could request to be sent to Rome, there to stand trial before the emperor himself.—Acts 25:11, 12.
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Romans, Letter to theAid to Bible Understanding
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ROMANS, LETTER TO THE
A book of the Christian Greek Scriptures written by the apostle Paul to Christians in Rome. Paul’s writership has never been seriously challenged, and the book’s authenticity as a part of the sacred canon has been almost universally acknowledged by Bible scholars, with the exception of some who could not fit it in with their own doctrinal beliefs. Actually, the letter is in full harmony with the rest of the inspired Scriptures. In fact, Paul quotes copiously from the Hebrew Scriptures and makes numerous other references to them, so that the letter can be said to be most solidly based on the Hebrew Scriptures and the teachings of Christ.
TIME AND PLACE OF WRITING
The letter was written about 56 C.E., from Corinth. Tertius was evidently Paul’s secretary, writing at Paul’s dictation. (Rom. 16:22) Phoebe, who lived at Cenchreae, the seaport town of Corinth about seven miles (11 kilometers) away, was possibly the carrier of the letter. (Rom. 16:1) Paul had not yet been to Rome, as is evident from his remarks in chapter one, verses nine to fifteen. The evidence also points to the fact that Peter had never been there.—See PETER, LETTERS OF.
ESTABLISHMENT OF THE CONGREGATION AT ROME
The congregation may have been established by some of the Jews and proselytes from Rome who had visited Jerusalem on Pentecost Day, 33 C.E., had witnessed the miraculous outpouring of holy spirit and had heard the speech of Peter and the other Christians gathered there. (Acts chap. 2) Or others converted to Christianity later on may have taken the truth to Rome, for, since this great city was the center of the Roman Empire, many moved there in time, and many were the travelers and businessmen visiting there. Paul sends respectful greetings to Andronicus and Junias, his ‘relatives and fellow captives,’ “men of note among the apostles,” and who had been in the service of Christ longer than Paul had. These men may well have had a share in establishing the Christian congregation in Rome. (Rom. 16:7) At the time Paul wrote, the congregation had evidently been in existence for some time and was vigorous enough that its faith was being talked about throughout the whole world.—Rom. 1:8.
PURPOSE OF THE LETTER
It becomes clear in reading the letter that it was written to a Christian congregation composed of both Jews and Gentiles. There were many Jews in Rome at the time, having returned after the death of Emperor Claudius, who had banished them sometime earlier. Although Paul had not been in Rome to experience personally the problems the congregation faced, he may have been informed of the congregation’s condition and affairs by his good friends and fellow workers Priscilla and Aquila, and possibly by others Paul had met. His greetings in chapter sixteen indicate that he knew a good many of the members of the congregation personally. Paul knew that the chief opposition to Christianity at that time was coming from the Jews. He was thoroughly familiar with their teachings and their arguments against Christianity. Doubtless the objections that he alluded to and refuted were not hypothetical, but were objections actually advanced by the Jewish opponents. In the congregation at Rome these things may have been a source of questionings or even of disputes.
In Paul’s other letters he attacked specific problems and dealt with matters he considered most vital to those to whom he wrote. As to Jewish opposition, Paul had already written to the Galatian congregations in refutation, but that letter dealt more specifically with efforts made by Jews who professed Christianity but were “Judaizers,” insisting that Gentile converts be circumcised and otherwise be required to observe certain regulations of the Mosaic law. In the Roman congregation there did not seem to be such a concerted effort in this direction, but there were apparently jealousies and feelings of superiority on the part of both Jews and Gentiles.
The letter, therefore, was not merely a general letter written to the Roman congregation with no specific aim toward them, as some suppose, but it evidently dealt with the things they needed under the circumstances. The Roman congregation would be able to grasp the full meaning and force of the apostle’s counsel, for they were doubtless wrestling with the very questions he answered. It is obvious that his purpose was to settle the differences in viewpoint between Jewish and Gentile Christians and to bring them toward complete unity as one man in Christ Jesus. However, in writing as he did, Paul illuminates and enriches our minds in the knowledge of God, and exalts the righteousness and undeserved kindness of God and the position of Christ toward the Christian congregation and all mankind.
EARNESTNESS, LOVING-KINDNESS AND WARMTH OF FEELING
In commenting on the authenticity of the letter to the Romans, Dr. William Paley, English Bible scholar, said: “In a real St. Paul writing to real converts, it is what anxiety to bring them over to his persuasion would naturally produce; but there is an earnestness and a personality, if I may so call it, in the manner, which a cold forgery, I apprehend, would neither have conceived nor supported.”—Horce Paulinæ (1790).
Paul very straightforwardly and directly outlined the position of the Jews, and showed that Jews and Gentiles are on the same level before God, which required him to say some things that might have been considered
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