First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is being reported all over the world. – Romans 1:8

Today’s Scripture Reading (January 24, 2018): Romans 1

Somewhere in the late 40’s or early 50’s, the Roman Emperor Claudius expelled the Jews from Rome. It was not the first time. The Jews had been expelled from the city at least twice before. The first time was in 139 B.C.E., more than a century before the rise of the Roman Empire. Then, the Jews were evicted from the city for excessive missionary practices. Emperor Tiberius used the same reason to expel the Jews in 19 C.E. So as Claudius rises to the throne believing that he is the Great Reformer of Religions, and with an innate bias against proselytizing or missionary activities, it might have seemed to be only a matter of time before the Emperor would expel the Jews once again. For the most part, it was the Druids who suffered under Claudius’s wrath early on in his reign. But eventually, Claudius got around to issuing the proclamation that would send most of the Jews packing.

But this time was also different from the other two expulsions. The historian Suetonius describes Claudius’s decision to expel the Jews this way; "Since the Jews constantly made disturbances at the instigation of Chrestus, he (the Emperor Claudius) expelled them from Rome." The mention of Chrestus is widely acknowledged to be a reference to Jesus Christ. So this time, it wasn’t Judaism that was at the focal point of the Emperor’s wrath; it was Christianity.

What followed was a grand experiment that was forced upon the Christian Church. Up until this moment in time, Christianity was very much a Jewish sect. The Jerusalem Council, which severed the Christian Church from Judaism, had just taken place (48 C.E.). It would still be years before the effects of the council would be fully felt by the churches that existed outside of Palestine. That meant that these churches were likely still being led by Jewish Leaders, like Paul and the Apostles. When Claudius expelled the Jews from Rome, in effect, he had just created the first Gentile Church, led by non-Jewish leaders. And no one was exactly sure what that meant – nor were they sure if the Christian Church at Rome would even survive.

A few years later, as Paul sits down to pen a letter to the Roman Church, he is comfortable in declaring the success of the forced experiment. He is thankful for the Romans because their faith was being reported throughout the world. There is no doubt that, in the mind of Paul, the success of the Roman Church was critical, and he had likely spent many nights agonizing over the situation in prayer. The Roman Church, merely because it existed at the heart of the Roman Empire, was a highly visible church. And, therefore, Rome had become a highly visible test of the actions taken by the Jerusalem Council. The question of whether a non-Jewish Christian Community could survive was now being answered in the view of everyone.

But God has been faithful, and Paul made sure that the Roman Gentiles knew that he thanked God for their faith – and for their faithfulness. Even though the church had been deprived of its leaders, it continued to move forward in the faith, and the people of Rome deserved to be commended.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Romans 2