Setting the Stage

I am by no means a scholar on Rome, so I pray that my feeble attempt to "set the stage" will at least give us an idea of Rome was like in Paul's time.

The year the book of Romans was written was approximately AD 56.
Most likely the book was written from Corinth, by Paul.
Paul had never visited this group of believers in Rome, though he had wanted to for quite a
while (Romans 1:13)

The city of Rome:
A population of over 1 million, with up to a third of these being slaves.
Magnificent buildings along with massive areas of extreme poverty, slums.
     There was a two tier population: the rich and the very poor, there was no middle class.
This was not a place that was kind to criminals, slaves, etc.
     Definitely not a place you would want to get arrested or end up in jail.
There were about 420 temples to Roman gods and gods of conquered people.
     These pagan gods did not exactly encourage a "moral" lifestyle.
     Living a life of Christian values would have been a tough battle, with many obstacles.

The Christians in Rome:
They were established as a result of the Dispersion
     This was basically a spreading of Christians due to persecution in Jerusalem.
     Ironically, Saul (now Paul) was a key player in that persecution before his conversion!
This was a strong group of believers (Romans 1:8)
     Consisted of Jews (Romans 2:17, 4:12) and Gentiles (Romans 11, 15:15,16)

Purpose?
What is the book of Romans all about? People much smarter than me have described this beautiful book in many ways. It's a book of doctrine, it's the righteousness of God revealed, it's the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I think it's all of this, and I look forward to digging in with anyone who would like to.

If anyone has any other information that would help us get a better idea of what times were like in and around Rome in the days of Paul, please share!

The format of this bible study is very fluid. I will post on the blog and leave it open to discussion through the comments section. The pace of the study will be determined by the amount of interaction on any given post.