1-25-40 Introduction ROMANS Genuineness of the Epistle. The Epistle to the Romans as a whole is universally admitted to be the work of St. Paul. Critics who have freely assailed the Pauline authorship of, for instance, Ephesians have left Romans alone. External testimony, in early allusions and quotations, is ample. But internal testimony, in the court of common sense, is abundantly adequate. It would demand a large credulity to believe that this Letter, in which long ranges of strong and subtle thought are inextricably interwoven with the deepest personal experiences and emotions, could be the product of literary personation; an art which can scarcely be said to have come to any sort of maturity till within modern times. Integrity of the Epistle. But a question has been raised whether the Epistle left St. Paul's hands just as we have it. Some features of the text, from the end of chap. xvi. onwards, invite inquiry of this sort. Are chaps. xv. and xvi., though certainly by St. Paul, suitable to a Letter to Rome? Particularly, does the list of names, xvi. 1-15, fall in with his relation to the Roman Mission? For we gather plainly from the Epistle that he had not yet visited Rome. Yet here is a group of names, of unexampled length, many of them mentioned with peculiar personal affection, and all belong to residents at Rome. May not this passage |