A.D. 381 heretics, pagans, and the dawn of the monotheistic state ( PDFDrive )

ones. In contrast, there is little interest in Romans in the east, where theologians
were drawn to the more mystical impulses of Pauline theology, his Christology,
and his teachings on the sacraments and the Holy Spirit. 6
For the historian of ideas, the question is why, after centuries of neglect, Paul
suddenly became so prominent. A clue might be found in a poem written in 416
by a Christian in Gaul who was watching the empire collapse around him.
This man groans for his lost silver and gold,
Another is racked by the thought of his stolen goods,
And of his jewellery now divided amongst Gothic brides,
This man mourns for his stolen flock, burnt houses, and drunk wine
And for his wretched children and ill-omened servants.
But the wise man, the servant of Christ loses none of these things,
Which he despises; he has already placed his treasure in heaven. 7
To those who had been used to the security of living in the comparative peace
and stability of the Roman empire, the disruptions of the fourth and early fifth
centuries must have been devastating. One only has to read the accounts of the
shock effect of the sack of Rome in 410 to sense the disorientation the news,
often spread by refugees, brought with it. It is always hard to evoke the mentality
of an age, but one can sense the helplessness of those who lived through these
years and, as a response, the readiness to see salvation in another world.
With this in mind, the sudden popularity of Paul’s Letter to the Romans makes
sense. The letter was written probably in AD 57 with the aim of securing the
assistance of the Roman Christian community in a mission to Spain that Paul
hoped to undertake, yet its importance is as one of the fullest and most
penetrating expositions of Paul’s theology. His own vision of God that he set out
in his letter is not a comforting one: God bristles with anger at those who have
offended him. The entire human race is sunk in depravity, ‘under the power of
sin’. Throughout the letter, ‘sin’ is presented as a malign power that holds
humanity in its grasp. ‘God has imprisoned all human beings in their own
disobedience’ (Romans 11:32). Paul has a particular obsession with sexual
misconduct, ‘the filthy enjoyments and practices with which they [non-
Christians] dishonour their own bodies’ and the ‘degrading passions’ that cause
both sexes to commit homosexual acts. (Romans 1:24-32). Not only is the
human race mired in sin, any search for salvation through living according to the
Jewish law, or, indeed, any system of law, is deeply flawed. Having dismissed
humanity’s own efforts to set itself right with God, Paul tells his readers that they