Hi Jeff,<\/p>\n
Got a quick question for you. Do we know who started up the congregation in Rome? Of course, we know that it wasn’t Paul from the way he words his epistle to them, but I wondered just who did or if we even know.<\/p>\n
Thanks.<\/p>\n\t
The quick answer is, no, we have no idea. Unlike many of the other churches to whom Paul wrote, Paul did not have a hand in starting this particular work. The church there had a good reputation (Romans 1:8) and was in existence for a number of years before Paul wrote to them (Romans 15:23).<\/p>\n
The church is mostly composed of Gentile people (Romans 1:13; 11:13), but there were those who had converted from Judaism there as well (Romans 2:17-23; 7:1). Philo mentioned that there were many Jews in Rome, brought there from earlier battles. Most were no longer slaves because “being made captive in war, and brought into Italy, they were set at liberty by their masters, neither were they compelled to change the rites of their fathers” [Philo, Leta. Ad Caium<\/em>]. The church in Rome appears to have been a large congregation because Tacitus, a Roman historian, referred to the Christians in A.D. 64, during Nero’s persecution, as being “an immense multitude” [Annals <\/em>15.44].<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Question: Hi Jeff, Got a quick question for you. Do we know who started up the congregation in Rome? Of course, we know that it wasn’t Paul from the way he words his epistle to them, but I wondered just who did or if we even know. Thanks. Answer: The quick answer is, no, we…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[726,120],"class_list":["post-38672","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-church-history","tag-romans"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":86240,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-could-peter-be-in-rome\/","url_meta":{"origin":38672,"position":0},"title":"How could Peter be in Rome?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 2, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I read from many early Church fathers that Peter was in Rome and preached in Rome. Still, in Galatians 2:7-9 at the Jerusalem Council, the agreement is made that Peter would only go to the Jews, not the Gentiles, so Peter would be breaking that agreement if he went\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":38640,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/people-paul-knew\/","url_meta":{"origin":38672,"position":1},"title":"People Paul Knew","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 17, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Text: Romans 16:1-15 \u00a0 I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Certain sections of the Bible are difficult to read, such as the genealogies with all the unfamiliar names \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The beginning of Romans 16 is similar, even though it is a list of personal greetings to people Paul knew in Rome \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0B.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Too often\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Audio"","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3750,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/can-a-church-organize-tasks-without-elders\/","url_meta":{"origin":38672,"position":2},"title":"Can a church organize tasks without elders?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 20, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I would like your thoughts on organizing works in a church that does not have the luxury of elders, such as visitors,\u00a0 attendance,\u00a0 sick members, evangelism. Can men be appointed or volunteer to serve as leaders over these areas with an assistant? Wouldn't this make these areas offices?\u00a0 Do\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":38105,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/was-peter-in-rome\/","url_meta":{"origin":38672,"position":3},"title":"Was Peter in Rome?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 26, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Was Peter in Rome? Answer: The supposition that Peter was in Rome is based on \"She who is in Babylon, elect together with you, greets you; and so does Mark my son\" (I Peter 5:13). Babylon is used as a representation of a city given over to sensuality and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":59949,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/letters-of-commendation\/","url_meta":{"origin":38672,"position":4},"title":"Letters of Commendation","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 15, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"by Terry Wane Benton The question is not about coming to Christ and being added to His one universal body. The Lord adds to that church (Acts 2:47). But, the Lord does not add us to a particular local congregation. We have to \"join\" those local disciples (Acts 9:26). There\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":25660,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/why-was-timothy-put-in-prison-in-rome\/","url_meta":{"origin":38672,"position":5},"title":"Why was Timothy put in prison in Rome?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 19, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I was researching the web for any clues I might gain as to the author of Hebrews, when it was written, etc. and I found your web page. As you know, there are many theories. I tend to believe that it was Paul, possibly Luke \u2014 translating Paul\u2019s Hebrew\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38672","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38672"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38672\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38672"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38672"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38672"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}