The evidence has been overwhelming in critical scholarship in favor of Pauline authorship of this letter.

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A. Date: Winter A.D. 56-57 from Corinth

1. A Relative Chronology: Romans was probably written during Paul’s third missionary journey from Corinth:7

a. The letter was written when Paul was about to set out for Jerusalem (15:25)

b. Paul also considers himself to have completed his missionary work among the eastern provinces of the Roman Empire (15:19,23)8, therefore, the journey is most probably the one recorded in Acts 20--21 which begins from Corinth (cf. Acts 19:21; 20:1-3).

c. Paul desired to go to Rome (1:10-13), but had been prevented (1:13; 15:22); now he hopes to go there on his way to Spain (15:23-28), but first he is going to Jerusalem with the offering for the poor from the Gentile churches (15:25-27)

d. Therefore, in view of Paul’s setting, Corinth seems to be the place from which Paul wrote (Acts 20:1-3)

Other indications that Paul wrote from Corinth are:

1) Paul commends Phoebe as a servant of the church in Cenchreae, Corinth’s eastern seaport (who probably carried the letter to the Romans) 16:1-2

2) Paul sends greetings from Gaius in whose house he was staying who may well have been the same Gaius mentioned in 1 Corinthians 1:14 as the one whom Paul baptized in Corinth 16:23

3) The greeting from Erastus the city treasurer may have been the Erastus who stayed in Corinth (cf. Acts 19:22; also 2 Tim. 4:20).

2. A More Absolute Chronology: Paul probably wrote Romans between A.D. 56-57

a. Paul seems to have stood before Gallio, the proconsul of Achaia, in the summer of A.D. 51 on his second missionary journey9

b. After staying many days in Corinth (Acts 18:18) Paul set out for Syria and remained some time in Ephesus (perhaps early fall AD 52; Acts 18:19-21)

c. Paul then returned to Caesarea, went down to Jerusalem, and then up to the church in Antioch where he spent some time (perhaps late fall of AD 52 through winter of 52/53; cf. Acts 18:22-23)

d. Paul began his third missionary journey from Antioch through the Galatian region (spring-summer of A.D. 53) and reached Ephesus in the fall of A.D. 53 where he remained for two to three years (AD 53-56; Acts 19:8,10; 20:31)

e. Therefore, Paul’s return to Corinth through Macedonia was probably in the spring or summer of AD 56 (Acts 20:2-3)

f. Paul probably arrived in Corinth in late fall of AD 56, and remained through early 57

Therefore, Romans, which was written from Corinth on the third missionary journey (see above), was probably written in the winter and early spring of AD 56-57.10

B. Destination: A Jewish/Gentile Church in Rome

1. There was an early church in Rome (possibly from before A.D. 49)

a. There was certainly a church already in Rome when Paul wrote the book of Romans (1:13; 15:23-24)

b. From a statement by Suetonius, there may be evidence that Christianity was in the capital of Rome by A.D. 4911

c. This church may well have been started through converts of Paul who lived in Rome12, rather than through any particular evangelistic effort13 since neither Paul (in Romans), nor Luke (in Acts),14 nor any other NT document mentions any.

2. The Composition of the church in Rome was probably mixed (Jewish/Gentile)

a. Rather than one large church, the Romans seem to have been made up of five household churches:

1) Five households are greeted (16:5,10,11,14,15)

2) Paul does not address the letter to the “Church” at (cf. 1 Cor. 1:2; 2 Cor. 1:1; 1 Thess. 1:1), but to “all that are at Rome”15 (1:7).

b. The Romans were made up of both Jews and Gentiles (with a probable emphasis upon Gentiles)

1) Paul writes to Gentiles

a) Paul was an apostle to the Gentiles (1:5; 11:3; Gal. 2:7-8)16

b) Paul speaks to Gentiles who receive mercy through Jewish unbelief (11:12-13)

c) Paul compares the Romans with other Gentiles, not just Gentiles (1:12-14)

d) Paul refers to the Jews as “my” brethren, and not “our” brethren (9:3)

e) Out of the twenty-four names in chapter 16, over one half are Latin and Greek

2) Paul writes to Jewish believers

a) Paul wrote with many references to the Old Testament (but see Galatians too)

b) Paul speaks of Abraham as “our” father in 2:1 (but see 1 Corinthians 10:1 where he does the same thing)

c) Chapters 9--11 are about the nation Israel (but they show that those who had privilege could loose it)

d) Paul describes a Jewish/Gentile problem in the church (“weak and strong”)