7E. Five Roman Households

The church in Rome was a mixture of Jewish and Gentile believers who probably met separately in a number of different house churches. This historical reality created certain tensions and required a response from Paul to the effect that all believers should respect their ethnic, religious and social diversity and live together in unity (Romans 14:1-15:6). (8)

Five Households in Rome

There is currently no accurate way to determine how many house churches existed in Rome in Paul's day. Most of the evidence appears in Romans 16, which contains Paul's greetings and commendations to a number of individuals. Some of the named individuals were simply Paul's friends and coworkers, but when Paul names certain individuals and refers to "other" people in the same verse, he may have churches in mind. The possibilities include:

First, the house of Prisca and Aquila (Romans 16:3-5);
Second, "those who belong to the family of Aristobulus" (Romans 16:10);
Third, a group belonging "to the family of Narcissus" (Romans 16:11);
Fourth, Asyncritus and other named individuals whom Paul knew personally as well as "the brothers and sisters who are with them" (Romans 16:14); and
Five, Philologus, other acquaintances "and all the saints who are with them" (Romans 16:1 5).(8)

God's Beloved in Rome

The church at Rome did not operate like the Corinthian church. This, according to Robert Banks, explains the rather unusual greeting in Romans: "To all God's beloved in Rome, who are called to be saints" (Romans 1:7) instead of the "church" or "churches," as Paul writes in other letters (see 1 Corinthians 1:2; 2 Corinthians 1:1; Galatians 1:2; 1 Thessalonians 1:1; 2 Thessalonians 1:1). Banks argues that since ekklesia for Paul "cannot refer to a group of people scattered throughout a locality unless they all actually gather together, it is not possible for him to describe all the Christians in Rome as a church. The whole church of Rome never assembled in one place."(8)

Other Roman Households

In Romans 16, other congregations may be distinguished. The "brothers" with Hermas may refer to a house used both for Christian workers and for congregational meetings. The believers "from Caesar's house" (Philippians 4:22) and the Roman synagogues of the Augustesians and the Agrippesians, were probably congregations centering on the freedmen and slaves of those two households and meeting there. It is likely that they belonged to Narcissus, the wealthy freedman and confidant of the emperor Claudius, and to Aristobulus, the brother of Herod Agrippa I, who had lived in Rome. Upon their deaths, their households presumably became part of the imperial holdings but continued to be identified by their names.(1)

Questions for Discussion

1. Various house churches in Rome were run by either Jewish or Gentile believers. How would their worship have been different?

2. What do the diverse beliefs in Rome teach us about tolerance today?

Bibliography

"You are fellow citizens with God's people and members of God's household." Ephesians 2.19

^ top of page | next | previous