How Did the Romans First Come to Believe in Christ?

How did the Romans first hear about Jesus Christ and become believers? It is clear from Romans 1:1–15 that Paul had not yet met them, but their faith was already well known to others in the Empire. So how did they turn to trusting in Jesus without having Paul bring them the gospel?

Roman Travelers

Unlike his own congregations in other cities, the Roman Christ-community was not relatively new when Paul first writes to them. Paul tells this congregation that he wanted to visit them “many times” in the past (Rom 1:13 cf. vv. 8–10). It had existed long enough to gain a reputation among the churches for its faith.  The Roman community also appears to be mature and stable enough to support Paul’s future missions. That is one reason why Paul is writing to them; he hopes they will support his mission to Spain (Rom 15:24-28).

The Roman assembly’s longevity also seems supported in Acts 2:10–11. If the narrative has historical validity, it shows that visitors from Rome were among the hearers of Peter’s first message at Pentecost, only about 50 days after Christ’s death and resurrection.

Moreover, visitors to and from Rome may have also encountered Hellenistic Christ-followers through the synagogue of the Libertines (λιβερτῖνοι: Acts 6:9), who may have been freed slaves of Romans.* James Dunn affirms that, “Through such contacts and the normal travel of merchants and others to the imperial capital, the new faith would almost certainly be talked of in the synagogues of Rome within a few years of the beginnings in Jerusalem, and groups would have emerged within these synagogues who professed allegiance to this form of eschatological Judaism.”**

Such encounters are suggestive of how the gospel pollenated to Rome, perhaps even prior to Paul’s Damascus experience that forever changed his life.

Andronicus and Junia?

At least two individuals among the Roman congregants, Andronicus and Junia, had been believers even prior to Paul coming to the faith (Rom 16:7). Paul names them as apostles—“sent out ones” whose role was apparently to be travelling missionaries. Could they not be the first ministers or missionaries to Rome? Did the mother congregation in Jerusalem send them to Rome?

This would be comparable to the way the congregation in Antioch started. Travelers shared the gospel with locals, and then the mother congregation sent Barnabas to minister to them (Acts 11:19-24).

Conclusion

The Romans, it seems, first heard the gospel message through their visits to Jerusalem. They believed the gospel, went back to Rome, and shared their message with others who in turn also believed.

Notes

 * Cf. Craig S. Keener, Acts: An Exegetical Commentary (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2013), 2:1303, who continues that people “regularly moved to and from Rome (cf. Rom 16:3-15),” and he supports that immigration took place from Palestine to Rome: e.g., Josephus Vita [Life] 13; Corpus Inscriptionum Judaicarum 1:282, 362; 1:287–88, 370.

** James D. G. Dunn, Romans, WBC 38A (Dallas: Word, 1988), 1:xlvii.