Welcome to this series which gives a basic outline of the sequence from the initial creation of Romans, its transportation to the Roman Church, and the probable method it would have been received by the Roman Church. Its long. It has six parts. Here they are;

01 – Author, letter, and audience (current)

• 02 – Framing Romans (Rom 1-2)
• 03 – Framing Romans (Rom 2-3)
• 04 – Framing Romans (Rom 3-5)
• 05 – Framing Romans (Rom 2-1)
• 06 – Sneak Peek at the scripted text
  

a) Paul dictated the letter, Tertius writes

The apostle Paul was the author of the letter of Romans (Rom 1.1). In the introduction of the letter Paul names himself as the author.

[1:1] Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God (Rom 1.1)

However,

Paul did not write Romans. Paul dictated Romans to Tertius his scribe, who wrote down what he said.

[22] I Tertius, who wrote this letter, greet you in the Lord. (Rom 16.22).

Paul confirms this earlier in Romans saying,

‘I speak in a human way’ (Rom 3.5b)

and

‘Now I am speaking to you Gentiles’. (Rom 11.13)

Paul says he is speaking (Gk. λέγω). He is speaking before Tertius, as if to the Gentile believers in the Roman church.  For these reasons the paper refers to Paul’s communication in the letter as speech, and describes the utterances of the text as Paul speaking.

As the letter is nearing its completion, Paul does refer to Romans as if he was writing saying;

‘But on some points I have written to you very boldly by way of reminder’ (Rom 15.15)

What Paul is communicating by this statement, is that he is the author and therefore the owner of the letter. He does not mean he is the person who actually wrote it down on papyrus. We later find out Tertius is that person. Paul is speaking as if to the Roman believers, but he is also aware Tertius is writing what he says down on his behalf. Let me draw what this looks like using an example text from Romans 1.

Throughout this section ‘Dialogue’, I will be stringing together a series of main points. The first is;

D1) Paul spoke the text aloud in front of his scribe Tertius who wrote it down (Rom 16.22; 11.13).

b) Paul instructs letter bearer in the letters delivery

Paul’s intention was to send the letter to the Roman Church. This is made clear when Paul says;

[7] To all those in Rome who are loved by God and called to be saints: (Rom 1:7)

and

[15] So I am eager to preach the gospel to you also who are in Rome. (Rom 1.15)

The letter had to get to Rome and Paul wasn’t going to deliver it himself. So Paul must have instructed a trusted letter bearer to take the letter to the Roman Church. Scholars today suggest from Rom 16.1-2 that Phoebe carried the letter to Rome.

16 I commend to you our sister Phoebe, a servant of the church at Cenchreae, that you may welcome her in the Lord in a way worthy of the saints, and help her in whatever she may need from you, for she has been a patron of many and of myself as well. (Rom 16.1-2)

The text suggests that Paul hoped or expected Phoebe would still be at the Roman church when they received this instruction in order that she would benefit from his request.

As we will find out later there are a number of places where the letter is open to misinterpretation. I assume Paul was aware of that and took steps to avoid miscommunication to his audience. The letter bearer is the only person capable of transmitting that information.

Other than Paul, no one was more qualified to communicate the letter as Paul intended and correct any misunderstanding than the people present when he initially dictated the letter. If we assume Phoebe was present, we know she would have witnessed this process and understood how the letter was intended to be orally delivered. Otherwise if she was not there at the time, at some point Paul must have made sure she was aware of any areas of possible misinterpretation, so she could influence the way the letter was communicated to the Roman believers accordingly.

c) Letter bearer takes letter to the Rome

This is fairly self explanatory.

d) The letter is read aloud to the Roman Churches according to Paul’s instruction

How did Paul intend the audience would receive his letter?

In the first century most letters were read aloud to their audiences. Consider some first century examples of how audiences interacted with scripture. Paul says to Timothy;

[12] Let no one despise you for your youth, but set the believers an example in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity. [13] Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to exhortation, to teaching. [14] Do not neglect the gift you have, which was given you by prophecy when the council of elders laid their hands on you. [15] Practice these things, immerse yourself in them, so that all may see your progress. [16] Keep a close watch on yourself and on the teaching. Persist in this, for by so doing you will save both yourself and your hearers. (1 Tim 4:12-16)

Paul instructs Timothy in the primary way scripture was interacted with in the first century saying, ‘devote yourself to the public reading of scripture’ and by keeping a close watch on himself and the teaching Timothy will save his hearers. In Colossians Paul says,

‘And when this letter has been read among you, have it also read in the church of the Laodiceans; and see that you also read the letter from Laodicea.’ (Col 4.16)

Paul imagines that the letter will be ‘read among’ them. Its probable the letter will be read aloud by one person when they gather so they can all hear, rather than they all read it individually when they are all together. Likewise in Thessalonians,

‘I put you under oath before the Lord to have this letter read to all the brothers.’ (1 Thes 5.27)

We can see from these quotes, Paul expects his letters to be read aloud to groups of believers when they gather together.

This same combination of public reading by the one, and hearing by the many is paired in Revelation. The apostle John says in Revelation,

[3] Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear, and who keep what is written in it, for the time is near. (Rev 1.3).

and there is a much repeated phrase that reinforces this first statement;

[7] He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’ (Rev 2.7,11,17,29; 3.6,13,22)

When John wrote revelation he expected the letter to be read aloud to the churches he was sending it to. Justin Martyr likewise, describes the early churches typical method of interacting with the scriptures,

“And on the day called Sunday, all who live in cities or in the country gather together to one place, and the memoirs of the apostles or the writings of the prophets are read, as long as time permits; then, when the reader has ceased, the president verbally instructs, and exhorts to the imitation of these good things. Then we all rise together and pray, and, as we before said, when our prayer is ended, bread and wine and water are brought, and the president in like manner offers prayers and thanksgivings, according to his ability, and the people assent, saying Amen.” (Ch 67, First Apology, Justin Martyr)

Randolph Richards in Paul and First-Century Letter Writing: Secretaries, Composition and Collection says, ‘Romans has more oratorical rhetoric and the strongest of oral features in Paul’s letters.’ He argues that Paul sent his representative to read his letter aloud to the Roman Christian audience.

Stirewalt in Paul, the Letter Writer says, ‘Paul is writing letters socially and theologically bound to the oral word. He does not conceive of a context in which, on reception, his word is not reanimated by oral speech.’

Douglas Campbell in The Deliverance of God: An Apocalyptic Rereading of Justification in Paul takes the idea of reading the letter aloud and goes further saying,

“For most people in the ancient world, reading was an aural and usually corporate experience. The people themselves were largely illiterate; their ‘reading’ was an experience of hearing the text. Indeed, even private reading was usually done aloud. This fundamentally oral/aural world was the setting in which Paul’s letters were composed and read – a setting we must recover, as best we can, if we are to hear them as Paul’s Roman Christian auditors probably did.

Paul’s letters were read out aloud by someone – presumably the letter bearer – to an audience. They were performed. In this sense, each letter exists for us rather like a script of an old play – but a script that often preserves only one actor’s lines (although an important one). …

In short, interpretation is best understood as the recovery of a set of performances by a letter bearer to an audience of listening believers.” (p531, ibid)

My main point here is – as a general rule;

Letters addressed to groups of people in the first century were intended to be read aloud to their audiences.

Letters written to individuals were obviously a likely exception. But our default assumption when we know a letter was written to a group of people, should be that the author assumed the letter would have been read aloud to them. They heard it, they didn’t read it. Same applies to Romans. There is a burden of proof for any interpreter of Romans who denies this.

We can assume with reasonable confidence that Paul expected the letter to be read aloud in a similar manner as he presented it to Tertius.