Monday, May 17, 2010

Audio Series on Romans 9-11

HT:Onesimus

Here is a good audio series on Romans 9, 10, and 11 by historian / preacher David Pawson. Pawson argues that Paul wrote the epistle to the Romans in order to address the problem of antisemitism among the Gentile Christians in Rome.

The Roman Church was initially exclusively Jewish, then over time Gentile converts were added. At some point Emperor Claudius ordered all Jews to leave Rome (likely because they were bickering over whether or not Jesus was the Christ). After the death of Claudius, Nero permitted the Jews to again return to Rome.

These edicts impacted the demographics of the Roman church. The church was first Jewish, then because a mixture of Jewish and Gentile, then became exclusively Gentile, then finally was again a mixture of Jews and Gentiles. When the Jewish Christians returned they were not welcomed by the Gentile Christians. The Gentiles were arguing that the Jews were now rejected by God. Pawson argues that the purpose of Paul's letter was to address the exclusion of the Jews, and that Romans 9-11 in particular addresses this issue.

Romans 9
Romans 10
Romans 11

4 comments:

Jnorm said...

Interesting. I never heard that argument before.








Christ is Ascended!

Tony said...

Thanks for the links.

Onesimus said...

Thanks for giving these recordings a wider circulation.

Tim

Sr Crystal Mary Lindsey said...

I love David Pawson.
The very first Christian Church, noted in Acts 25:5,was 'the Sect of the Nazarene's.'dingue
I was amazed when I first read about it...and all these years I had thought it was the Church of Rome...
I am a Sally by the way..
But I ususally just say Christian.