‘Greet My Jewish Friends Among You’

The Recipients in Romans Beyond Encoded Reader (Rom. 16:3–16)

Bibliographic Data

ID20249734
AuthorsB J Oropeza (0000-0003-3519-2084, Azusa Pacific University, corresponding author)
Year2025
Volume16
Issue12
Pages1563
Publication date2025-12-12
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueReligions (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 2077-1444 • E-ISSN: 2077-1444
PublisherMDPI AG (PUBLISHER • IT)
DOI10.3390/rel16121563
OpenAlexW4417266384
LanguageEN
References cited28

In recent years, a growing number of interpreters propose that the audience in Romans is purely gentile. Problematic for this position is that Jewish persons are greeted by Paul towards the end of the letter in Romans 16:3–16. Respondents appeal to an ancient epistolary convention suggesting that second-person greetings to a third party identify those who are not among the letter’s recipients. Also, the encoded reader is said to be a gentile. This study, however, presents from ancient epistolary conventions most relevant to Rom. 16 that second-person plural greetings assume the third parties are among the same community as the letter recipients. Internal evidence from Rom. 16:6 and 16:16 also confirms this viewpoint. As well, beyond the encoded reader, a reading that affirms the historical recipients of the letter suggests that these recipients include the persons who are named in Rom. 16

Appeal · Convention · Interpreter · Judaism · Plural · Biblical Studies and Interpretation · Freedom of Expression and Defamation · Interdisciplinary Studies: Technology, Society, and Humanities

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