thin the
jurisdiction of "the apostle of the Gentiles," his direct appeal to the
Gentiles in xi. 13, and the statement of his priestly office exercised
over the Gentiles in xv. 16, show that the Church of Rome was Gentile
in character. The proper names in the Epistle afford us little
indication of the proportion of Jews and Gentiles. The majority of the
names are Greek, and four names are Latin; but the Jews of that time,
like the {162} Jews of the present day, often passed under Gentile
names. We know how the English Jews now disguise Moses as "Moss" Judah
as "Leo," and Levi as "Lewis."

The majority of the converts were probably in a humble social position.
When St. Paul wrote to the Philippians, there were Christians in the
imperial household itself, and it is possible that the Narcissus
mentioned in Romans may be the freedman of the Emperor Claudius, put to
death in A.D. 54. Ordinary slaves and freedmen seem to have been the
principal element among those who were first "called to be saints" at
Rome, but before long there were people of good birth and cultured
intelligence who turned gladly from the lifeless old Roman religion and
the fantastic new-fashioned Eastern cults to this original faith in the
incarnate God.

[Sidenote: Where and when written.]

St. Paul wrote this letter towards the end of his stay at Corinth, at
the close of A.D. 55 or the beginning of A.D. 56 (see xvi. 1; xv.
23-26, and Acts xix. 21).

[Sidenote: Character and Contents.]

St. Paul writes as the apostle of the Gentiles to the Christians of the
greatest of all Gentile cities. He does so with a solemn sense of
special responsibility. Profoundly impressed with the grandeur of the
Roman name, the position of this promiscuous little body of converts is
to him enormously significant. They are the representatives of the
faith of Jesus in the capital of the world; they are the first members
of a Church to which God seems to give the most magnificent of all
opportunities. And the thought is scarcely absent from his mind that
this may be the last Epistle he will ever send. He is going to
Jerusalem, and has a sad foreboding of what may await him there (xv.
31).

The manner and style which give the Epistle a unique place among the
works of St. Paul are caused by these considerations. He wishes to
tell the Roman Christians his very best ideas in the very best way:
this may be his last chance of doing so. He puts aside, then, all
clam