背景Background

This letter was the first letter in Paul’s epistles, but not actually the first one written by Paul. It was probably written from Corinth in the early spring of 57AD, towards the end of Paul’s third missionary journey（aboutAD56-58) . There had been Christians in Rome as early as 49AD when Emperor Claudius expelled all Jews and Jewish Christians (including Aquila and Priscilla) for fighting about ‘Christus’ – the Christ or ‘Messiah’ (see Acts 18:2). The Gentile Christians were not expelled, however, and by the time Paul arrived in Rome in the spring of 60AD to await his trial by the Emperor Nero, Aquila and his wife had returned to Rome (where the Christians were meeting in their home). Paul was greeted on the road to Rome by fellow-believers (see Acts 28:15) and there were already Gentile Christians in Nero’s household (see Philippians 4:22) 《罗马书》是新约书信中排在最前面，但并不是保罗最先写的。这封信很可能写于歌林多57AD春天，在使徒保罗在他的第三次宣教之旅（约公元56-58年）期间。早在公元49年，克劳迪乌斯皇帝就驱逐了所有犹太人和犹太基督徒（包括亚居拉安和百基拉），因为他们为“Christus”（基督或“弥赛亚”）而进行争斗（见使徒行传18：2）。 然而，外邦基督徒并没有被驱逐，保罗于公元60年春天到达罗马等待尼禄皇帝对他的审判时，亚居拉安和他的妻子已返回罗马（基督徒在他们的家中聚会）。 信徒在通向罗马的路上向保罗致意（见使徒行传28:15），尼禄（Nero）家中已经有外邦基督徒（见腓立比书4:22）。

Meanwhile, in 57AD, Paul was in Corinth – the closest he’d ever been to Rome (see Acts 20:2-3 and 4 ). He intended to visit the believers in Rome after travelling through Macedonia and Achaia (northern and southern Greece) but he’d changed his plans and was about to return directly to Jerusalem with the gifts for the Judaean Christians from the believers in Philippi and Corinth (see Acts 19:21). 那时，在公元57年，保罗在哥林多，这是他去过罗马最接近的地方（见使徒行传20：2-3和4）。 他打算经过马其顿和亚该亚（北部和希腊南部）后访问罗马的信徒，但他改变了计划，并准备带着腓立比和哥林多信徒给犹太基督徒的礼物直接返回耶路撒冷（ 见使徒行传19:21）。

It was likely that the letter was dictated by Paul to Tertius, a Christian colleague (see Romans 16:22). Phoebe – a believer from Cenchrea (the eastern port of Corinth) – probably took the letter by hand from Corinth to Rome (see Romans 16:1-2).保罗很可能就在那个时候口述，由德丢代笔书写 (罗16:22)】，由非比-坚革哩(歌林多的东边海港）教会的信徒将信件从歌林多带到罗马。

英文经文和朗读链接：《罗马书Romans》第一章英文经文NIV链接； 《罗马书Romans》第一章dramatized NIV

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