Church in Rome in the First Century

Character of the theme--The Rome of Claudius and of Nero--Intercourse--Population--Slavery--The Freedman' Class--Alien admixture--The Jewish Colony and its history--Its privileges and characteristics--Judaism attractive--Proselytes and God-fearers'--The Synagogues--Soil prepared for Christianity--The Laureolus--The Jews expelled by Claudius--Aquila and Prisca at Corinth--Their antecedents and position--Their close intercourse with St. Paul--St. Paul at Ephesus--His Journey to Greece--He writes to the Roman Church from Corinth--The Epistle to the Romans: an Apologia--St. Paul's proposed visit to Rome--Three groups of Roman Christians addressed--The impelling motive of the Epistle--The Judaeo-Christians at Rome--The Salutations of Chap. xvi. 1-23--Genuineness of the passage--Criticism dealt with--The Church in the house of Prisca and Aquila--Was this Ecclesia Domestica existent before 57 A.D.?--The Apostles Andronicus and Junias--The households of Aristobulus and Narcissus--The auto-biographic passage Chap. xv. 14-29--Another man's foundation'--Was the other man St. Peter? 1-29 LECTURE II