Saul the Pharisee, Paul the Apostle: An
Introduction to the Epistle to the Romans
Esther Wee—Sydney, Australia
Verses and passages in the Epistle to the Romans are frequently cited
as bases for doctrinal and theological positions. While necessary, such
selective extraction does not do full justice to Paul’s greatest and most
sublime work. In this epistle, a breathtaking diversity of topics fit together
neatly and perfectly within Paul’s main thrust, much like how a diverse and
changing landscape form the perfect backdrop through which the one mighty river
flows. This article provides an introduction to the historical background of
both the apostle and the city.
THE CENTRAL MESSAGE OF ROMANS
The Book of Romans comprises
sixteen chapters covering topics both theological and pastoral. Despite
explanatory excursus, the razor-sharp and disciplined mind of Paul, a former
Pharisee trained in the Torah, maintains a firm grasp of the central message,
even as he steers the reader along with the requisite flow of logic and
argument. And it is a marvelous message indeed! The true God, the God of Israel,
had been faithful to His covenantal promises to Israel through and in the work
and person of Jesus the Messiah; through His birth, life, death, and
resurrection. Both the church in Rome and indeed the whole world would need to
hear of the good news.
This covenantal faithfulness of
God is still being unveiled to man, even till this day, because of Jesus’
willing faithfulness and obedience. When the good news is met by a response of
faith, the power and grace of God works unto the salvation of man, to the Jew
first and then to the Greek (Rom 1:1–6, 16–17). The latter representing the
Gentiles in the flesh, “being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and
strangers from the covenants of promise,” who are now made members of the
reconstituted household of God (Eph 2:11–22). How great the mercy and wisdom of
God! How significant a debt owed to the Jewish nation!
THE OCCASION OF THE EPISTLE
Paul probably wrote this epistle
around AD 56–57 from Corinth, at the close of his third missionary journey
during a three-month sojourn in Greece (Acts 20:2–3), and just before his
return to Jerusalem, bringing with him relief and aid from the churches in
Achaia and Macedonia (Rom 15:25–26). At that moment of writing, Paul’s host was
Gaius (Rom 16:23), whom Paul had baptized in Corinth (1 Cor 1:14).
Paul had long intended to visit
Rome and, prospectively, Spain (Rom 1:8–13; Acts 19:21; Rom 15:23–26, 28) but
had been hindered (Rom 15:22). So when he learned that Phoebe, a “servant of
the church” in Cenchrea[1] (Rom 16:1–2), was going to Rome
on her own business and could thus personally deliver his epistle to the Roman
church, Paul seized the opportunity to express his desire to visit the Roman brethren
and to inform them of his plans.
Besides holding this divine office
of the church, Phoebe was also described as “a patron” προστάτις
[prostatis]
of Paul and others like him (Rom 16:2). In ancient Roman society, a Patronus, or benefactor, was a person from a certain social
class who used his/her private wealth for public good; necessarily then, a man
or woman of substance and honor. Phoebe was thus an ancient—though no less
shining—example of one who used her wealth to do good deeds and to serve Christ
(1 Tim 6:18); as was Gaius who played the generous host not only to Paul but
also to the whole church. These two are one of many exemplars to the modern
Christian of how the unheralded acts of charity and hospitality are crucial
support to workers in the field. In short, while not everyone can be a Paul,
anyone could be a Phoebe or a Gaius.
HISTORICAL BACKDROP
How was the church established in
Rome? Second century accounts tell of Peter coming to Rome to announce the Messiah
to the sizeable Jewish community of Rome after his miraculous escape from
prison (Acts 12). In AD 49, Emperor Claudius expelled all Jews from Rome “since
the Jews constantly made disturbances at the instigation of Chrestus”
(Suetonius).[3] And that was how Paul met Aquila
and Priscilla, a Jewish couple from Rome who had gone to Corinth after their
expulsion from Rome (Acts 18:2).
After the Claudian
edict, the Roman church would have been left with non-Jewish Christians, god-fearers
and former proselytes to Judaism who likely distanced themselves from all
things Jewish in the context of the expulsion of Jews. However, when Nero
reversed the decree in AD 54, the Jewish Christians who kept the Torah
returned, likely, leading to internal tensions. This could have been a
contributing factor, but not the sole reason, Paul undertook to write a tome
such as the book of Romans.
Paul may also have intended to use
Rome as a base for his evangelistic operations in the western Mediterranean
(Rom 15:18–19, 23). However, conscious of the Jew-Gentile tensions in the Roman
church, he strove to avert a repeat of the “Antioch incident” (Gal 2). He
wanted to avoid any hint of Jewish superiority but needed to dispel any notion
that the boat of gentile Christianity could be free of Jewish moorings (Marcionism[4]
of the second century). To this end, Paul expounded on how the God of Israel
was faithful to His covenant with Abraham and in so doing, showed His
righteousness and fulfilled His promises to and, as well, through Israel. His
central theme was a very Jewish explanation to the gentile world of a Jewish
Messiah who was also the Savior of the gentile world. Paul takes pain to write
of the Jewish roots of Christianity—the root supported the branches, not vice
versa.
Therefore, to better understand
this Pauline epistle and all of the New Testament writings, we must first
understand something of Judaism in Paul’s time—known as the period of “Second
Temple Judaism”—for this is the historical grid of all New Testament writings.
SECOND TEMPLE JUDAISM
All Second Temple Jews shared some
fundamental beliefs and hopes.
First, the basic principle of Judaism—a striking contrast to the pervasive paganisms
of the day—was their belief in the God of Israel, the one true God; the first
monotheistic faith, a faith of high morals and ethics in keeping with an all
holy God.
Second, Israel was the elect
people with whom this one true God had entered into a solemn covenant. Israel
was given the Law (Torah), which marked them out as the elect people. The Jews recognized
that grace preceded covenant and Torah-keeping was the expected and faithful
human response to the covenant. There is no evidence that Second Temple Judaism
was a self-righteous legalistic scheme of salvation earned through the works of
the law. To impose this grid upon the Pauline epistles is to detract from a
more accurate understanding of Paul. The apostle to the Gentiles was
nonetheless Jewish.
Third, the ancient Jewish prophets
spoke of God’s promises for the one future for Israel and the entire world,
where God would act to redeem Israel, execute universal judgment, defeat
Israel’s enemies, deliver the remnant faithful Israel from oppression, and, to
right all wrongs, condemn the sinner and justify (vindicate) the righteous. The
land of promise and the whole world would be renewed and restored, and the
temple would be cleansed. This would be the new creation (Isa 32:14–20, 35:1–10,
41:17–20; Ezek 40–48). The kingdom of God would finally come on earth as it is
in heaven. For those who believed in the resurrection, God would bodily raise
the dead to live in the renewed Israel and renewed world—the age to come (Ha Olam Haba). Thus, history was discussed
and spoken of in terms of two ages—“this age (Ha Olam
Hazeh)” and “the age to come (Ha Olam
Haba),” terms that Jesus and Paul clearly used within
the Jewish sense (Mt 12:32, 13:40; Lk 20:34–35; Gal
1:4).[5]
The agreement on fundamental
beliefs ended here. The bitter reality of Roman rule was everywhere seen and
felt, making it painfully evident that the covenantal promises were not yet
fulfilled. Judaism itself was far from a state of homogeneity! How to hasten
the kingdom of God and the age to come and overthrow the Romans, the erstwhile
archetype of God’s enemies? How to know who would be and not be justified and
vindicated in the future? Why the delay in the coming of the kingdom of God?
Opinions and interpretations of the law and the prophets were sufficiently
diverse amongst the sects and groups as to make attainment of their hope—“the
age to come”—appear impossible.
First, there was the Qumran
community of the Dead Sea Scroll fame who practiced a radical separation from
the rest of society. They believed that their version of Torah interpretation
and keeping would mark them out as “true Israel” and ensure future vindication.
Second, the Pharisees, whom the
Qumran community identified as a dangerous rival group “who seek to smooth
things (flatter),[6]” have been variously identified
elsewhere with the “faithful ones” (Hasidim),[7] the traditionalists who opposed
Greek influence on the Hasmonean dynasty, the “wise”
(hakamin)[8]
successors of Ezra the scribe who interpreted and expounded on the Torah, and those
who adhered to strict rules of purity and kosher laws (haberim).[9] In the reign of Herod the Great,
the Pharisees bifurcated into two branches, the Shammaites
(“the strictest rigorists”) and the Hillelites (“the
more lenient”).[10]
Third, there were the Sadducees
who were of priestly descent and the aristocratic circle. They constituted a
politically powerful group. Famously, they disagreed with the Pharisees over
the question of the resurrection and were more concerned with preserving
present political power and privilege. Such people then, as now, are less
concerned with revolution or resurrection.
The rest of the population was groaning
under the double yoke of Roman tax and military ruthlessness. Brigandage was
rife, and rebellion ever simmering under the surface of Pax
Romana. Hatred of Rome and heightened expectations of
God’s kingdom was a dangerously combustible mixture. Many messiahs declared
their hand. The common people were glad to be just left alone to eke out a meager
living and to keep the Torah the best they could.
Into this splintered, highly
inflamed and inflammable world of Second Temple Judaism, our Lord was born and
Paul wrote. We are not to imagine that that age was an age of uniform spiritual
clarity. But as God shone His light into the world of darkness at that time,
God shines His light into the world through His church today.
SAUL THE PHARISEE—ZEALOUS FOR GOD AND THE TORAH
To which of these Jewish sects did
Paul belong? The apostle’s self-description of his religious and intellectual
heritage was: “Concerning the law [Torah], a Pharisee” (Phil 3:5). Saul had
been trained in and understood the Torah as a Pharisee, the precursor of
rabbinical Judaism. His mind was soaked in Torah, his life permeated with it,
and he possessed an overwhelming memory of it. His mode of logic and thought
was Pharisaic and rabbinical.
He used to sit at the feet of Gamaliel (Acts 22:3), the rabbi of the school of Hillel.
This school opposed force of arms and revolution and would accept foreign rule
provided they were left alone to study Torah. By the time Stephen was stoned,
Saul was clearly under the sway of the school of Shammai,
the other Pharisaic school whose interpretation of Torah was stringent and
strict. For them, there could be no other king over the land given to Israel
except the God of Israel Himself.
“Concerning zeal, persecuting the
church” (Phil 3:6): This was no ordinary zeal, which twenty first century
believers associate with servitude, prayer, or involvement in divine work. This
“zeal” was that of Phinehas who had impaled a spear
through the morally offensive couple (Num 25:11; Ps 106:30); of Elijah who
defeated and destroyed all the false prophets (1 Kgs 19:14) and latterly, of
Judah Maccabeus who waged armed resistance against the Greek Seleucids (I and
II Maccabees). This was a revolutionary zeal that would take up arms, if
necessary, to eliminate foreign domination and even renegade treacherous Jews
(read Christians) in order to hasten the “age to come.” It was a potent mixture
of religion and politics. As in those days, so it is now in the holy land.
Faithful Jews were defined as those who kept the Torah (according to the
respective sect’s interpretation); and only those who displayed such fidelity
to the covenantal God would be justified on the day of
the last judgment. Paul thought he was of “true Israel,” and he was bent on
eliminating all of God’s enemies and to hasten the age to come.
CONCLUSION
To perceive the worldview of Saul
the persecutor of the church is to perceive through the prism of historical,
religious, and cultural backdrop of Second Temple Judaism. This worldview, that
of his former self and of his unbelieving fellow Jews, is what Paul describes
as “a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge” (Rom 10:2). Proceeding to read
the Epistle to the Romans against the grid of Second Temple Judaism and to see
how Paul the apostle reinterprets and views afresh the same covenantal promises
of the ancient Jewish Scriptures is both exciting and revealing. In addition,
it turns out to form a snug fit with the Articles of Faith of the True Jesus
Church, reassuring us of “a zeal according to knowledge!”
