The Annotated Bible, Vol 2 The Holy Scriptures Analysed and Annotated The New Testament RomansEphesians Classic Reprint

Excerpt from The Annotated Bible

The wicked system which goes by the name the church of Rome claims that Peter had much to do with the church there and was the first bishop in Rome. This is done to uphold the claims of the papacy. But it is a mere invention, lacking all historical support. Long before Paul ever addressed the Saints in Rome, Peter had made in Jerusalem declaration which confined his ministry to the circumcision (to Jews) while the Gcntne field was left to Paul. And when James, Cephas (peter), and John who seemed to be pillars, perceived the grace that was given unto me, they gave to me (paul) and Barnabas the right hands of fellowship, that we should go unto the Gentiles and they unto the circumcision (gal. Iiz9). Peter wrote two Epistles addressed to scattered Jewish believers. He does what the Lord told him to strengthen his brethren, and nowhere does he claim the exalted position into which the Romish apostate system has put him. That no Apostle had anything to do with the foundation of the local assembly in Rome seems fully established by Paul's statement in chapter xvz20. If Peter had anything to do with the church in Rome, if he had founded the church there, Paul would have certainly made some mention of him. And when later the Apostle Paul wrote his great prison Epistles, not a word did he say about Peter's presence and activity in Rome. These and other evidences are conclusive. Perhaps Jewish believers were used in carrying the gospel to the capital of the Roman Empire; or Gentile believers may have been the means of proclaiming first the good news there. While the assembly in Rome was composed of Jews and Gentiles, the latter were predominant, for the names mentioned in chapter xvi are nearly all Gentiles. Many of these may have been Jewish prose lytes. That this church was also troubled with a Judaizing element, teachers who demanded the keeping of the law and circumcision as a means of salvation, may be learned from the warning exhortation at the close of the Epistle. N ow I beseech you, brethren, mark them which cause divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned; and avoid them. (xvizl7). This may explain the different objections raised and answered in the Epistle, objections which would come mostly from a Jewish mind. See iiizl, 5, 7, 31 ivzl, vizl, 15; viiz7: il4, 19, 30' xizl, 11. However, there are conclu sive proofs in the Epistle itself which show that the Gentiles were the more numerous in the Roman assembly. Paul addresses them as the Apostle of the Gentiles and in chapter xvzl6 he writes, that I should be the minister of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles, ministering the Gospel of God, that the offering up of the Gentiles might be acceptable, being sanctified by the Holy Spirit.