King James Bible Dictionary

strong; powerful

RO'MAN, adjective [Latin Romanus, from Roma, the principal city of the Romans in Italy. Rome is the oriental name Ramah, elevated, that is, a hill; for fortresses and towns were often placed on hills for security; Heb. to be high, to raise.]

1. Pertaining to Rome, or to the roman people.

2. Romish; popish; professing the religion of the pope.

Roman catholic, as an adjective, denoting the religion professed by the people of Rome and of Italy, at the head of which is the pope or bishop of Rome; as a noun, one who adheres to the papal religion.

RO'MAN, noun

1. A native of rome.

2. A citizen of Rome; one enjoying the privileges of a roman citizen.

3. One of the christian church at Rome to which Paul addressed an epistle, consisting of converts from Judaism or paganism.

Ruled by:

Augustus Caesar
Luke 2:1

Tiberius Caesar
Luke 3:1

Claudius Caesar
Acts 18:2

Nero
Philippians 4:22

Citizenship in:

By nativity
Acts 22:28

By purchase
Acts 22:28

Rights of citizens:

General references
Acts 16:37; Acts 22:25-29

Of trial
Acts 25:16

Of appeal
Acts 25:10; Acts 25:21

1. The first historic mention of Rome in the Bible is in 1 Macc. 1,10, about the year 161 B.C. in the year 65 B.C., when Syria was made a Roman province by Pompey, the Jews were still governed by one of the Asmon'an princes. The next year Pompey himself marched an army into Judea and took Jerusalem. From this time the Jews were practically under the government of Rome. Finally, Antipater's son Herod the Great was made king by Antony's interest, B.C. 40, and confirmed in the kingdom by Augustus, B.C. 30. The Jews, however, were all this time tributaries of Rome, and their princes in reality were Roman procurators, On the banishment of Archelaus, A.D. 6, Judea became a mere appendage of the province of Syria, and was governed by a Roman procurator, who resided at C'sarea. Such were the relations of the Jewish people to the Roman government at the time when the New Testament history begins.
2. Extent of the empire .

   Cicero's description of the Greek states and colonies as a "fringe on the skirts of barbarism" has been well applied to the Roman dominions before the conquests of Pompey and C'sar. The Roman empire was still confined to a narrow strip encircling the Mediterranean Sea. Pompey added Asia Minor and Syria. C'sar added Gaul. The generals of Augustus overran the northwest Portion of Spain and the country between the Alps and the Danube. The boundaries of the empire were now the Atlantic on the west, the Euphrates on the east, the deserts of Africa, the cataracts of the Nile and the Arabian deserts on the south, the British Channel, the Rhine, the Danube and the Black Sea on the north. The only subsequent conquests of importance were those of Britain by Claudius and of Dacia by Trajan. The only independent powers of importance were the Parthians on the east and the Germans on the north. The population of the empire in the time of Augustus has been calculated at 85,000,000.

3. The provinces .

   The usual fate of a country conquered by Rome was to be come a subject province, governed directly from Rome by officers sent out for that purpose. Sometimes, however, petty sovereigns were left in possession of a nominal independence on the borders or within the natural limits of the province. Augustus divided the provinces into two classes

   (1) Imperial; (2) Senatorial; retaining in his own hands, for obvious reasons, those provinces where the presence of a large military force was necessary, and committing the peaceful and unarmed provinces to the senate. The New Testament writers invariably designate the governors of senatorial provinces by the correct title anthupatoi , proconsuls. (Acts 13:7; 18:12; 19:38) For the governor of an imperial province, properly styled "legatus C'saris," the word hegemon (governor) is used in the New Testament. The provinces were heavily taxed for the benefit of Rome and her citizens. They are said to have been better governed under the empire than under the commonwealth, and those of the emperor better than those of the senate.

4. The condition of the Roman empire at the time when Christianity appeared has often been dwelt upon as affording obvious illustrations of St. Paul's expression that the "fullness of time had come." (Galatians 4:4) The general peace within the limits of the empire the formation of military roads, the suppression of piracy, the march of the legions, the voyages of the corn fleets, the general in crease of traffic, the spread of the Latin language in the West as Greek had already spread in the East, the external unity of the empire, offered facilities hitherto unknown for the spread of a world-wide religion. The tendency, too, of despotism like that of the Roman empire to reduce all its subjects to a dead level was a powerful instrument in breaking down the pride of privileged races and national religious, and familiarizing men with the truth that "God had made of one blood all nations on the face of the earth." (Acts 17:24,26) Put still more striking than this outward preparation for the diffusion of the gospel was the appearance of a deep and wide-spread corruption, which seemed to defy any human remedy.

ROMANCE, noun romans', ro'mans.

1. A fabulous relation or story of adventures and incidents, designed for the entertainment of readers; a tale of extraordinary adventures, fictitious and often extravagant, usually a tale of love or war, subjects interesting the sensibilities of the heart, or the passions of wonder and curiosity. romance differs from the novel, as it treats of great actions and extraordinary adventures; that is, according to the Welch signification, it vaults or soars beyond the limits of fact and real life, and often of probability.

The first romances were a monstrous assemblage of histories, in which truth and fiction were blended without probability; a composition of amorous adventures and the extravagant ideas of chivalry.

2. A fiction.

ROMANCE, verb intransitive romans', ro'mans. To forge and tell fictitious stories; to deal in extravagant stories.

ROMAN'CER,

RO'MANCER, noun

1. One who invents fictitious stories.

2. A writer of romance.

ROMAN'CING,

RO'MANCING, participle present tense Inventing and telling fictitious tales; building castles in the air.

ROMAN'CY, adjective Romantic. [Not proper.]

RO'MANISM, noun The tenets of the church of Rome.

RO'MANIST, noun An adherent to the papal religion; a Roman catholic.

RO'MANIZE, verb transitive

1. To latinize; to fill with Latin words or modes of speech.

2. To convert to the Roman catholic religion, or to papistical opinions.

RO'MANIZE, verb intransitive To conform to Romish opinions, customs or modes of speech.

RO'MANIZED, participle passive Latinized.

This epistle was probably written at Corinth. Phoebe (Romans 16:1) of Cenchrea conveyed it to Rome, and Gaius of Corinth entertained the apostle at the time of his writing it (16:23; 1 Corinthians 1:14), and Erastus was chamberlain of the city, i.e., of Corinth (2 Timothy 4:20).

The precise time at which it was written is not mentioned in the epistle, but it was obviously written when the apostle was about to "go unto Jerusalem to minister unto the saints", i.e., at the close of his second visit to Greece, during the winter preceding his last visit to that city (Romans 15:25; comp. Acts 19:21; 20:2, 3, 16; 1 Corinthians 16:1-4), early in A.D. 58.

It is highly probable that Christianity was planted in Rome by some of those who had been at Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2:10). At this time the Jews were very numerous in Rome, and their synagogues were probably resorted to by Romans also, who in this way became acquainted with the great facts regarding Jesus as these were reported among the Jews. Thus a church composed of both Jews and Gentiles was formed at Rome. Many of the brethren went out to meet Paul on his approach to Rome. There are evidences that Christians were then in Rome in considerable numbers, and had probably more than one place of meeting (Romans 16:14, 15).

The object of the apostle in writing to this church was to explain to them the great doctrines of the gospel. His epistle was a "word in season." Himself deeply impressed with a sense of the value of the doctrines of salvation, he opens up in a clear and connected form the whole system of the gospel in its relation both to Jew and Gentile. This epistle is peculiar in this, that it is a systematic exposition of the gospel of universal application. The subject is here treated argumentatively, and is a plea for Gentiles addressed to Jews. In the Epistle to the Galatians, the same subject is discussed, but there the apostle pleads his own authority, because the church in Galatia had been founded by him.

After the introduction (1:1-15), the apostle presents in it divers aspects and relations the doctrine of justification by faith (1:16-11:36) on the ground of the imputed righteousness of Christ. He shows that salvation is all of grace, and only of grace. This main section of his letter is followed by various practical exhortations (12:1-15:13), which are followed by a conclusion containing personal explanations and salutations, which contain the names of twenty-four Christians at Rome, a benediction, and a doxology (Romans 15:14-ch. 16).

1. The date of this epistle is fixed at the time of the visit recorded in Acts 20:3 during the winter and spring following the apostle's long residence at Ephesus A.D. 58. On this visit he remained in Greece three months.
2. The place of writing was Corinth.
3. The occasion which prompted it,,and the circumstances attending its writing, were as follows-

   St. Paul had long purposed visiting Rome, and still retained this purpose, wishing also to extend his journey to Spain. Etom. 1.9-13; 15.22-29. For the time, however, he was prevented from carrying out his design, as he was bound for Jerusalem with the alms of the Gentile Christians, and meanwhile he addressed this letter to the Romans, to supply the lack of his personal teaching. Phoebe, a deaconess of the neighboring church of Cenchre', was on the point of starting for Rome, ch. (Romans 16:1,2) and probably conveyed the letter. The body of the epistle was written at the apostle's dictation by Tertius, ch. (Romans 16:22) but perhaps we may infer, from the abruptness of the final doxology, that it was added by the apostle himself.

4. The origin of the Roman church is involved in obscurity. If it had been founded by St. Peter according to a later tradition, the absence of any allusion to him both in this epistle and in the letters written by St. Paul from Rome would admit of no explanation. It is equally clear that no other apostle was like founder. The statement in the Clementines

   that the first tidings of the gospel reached Rome during the lifetime of our Lord is evidently a fiction for the purposes of the romance. On the other hand, it is clear that the foundation of this church dates very far back. It may be that some of these Romans, "both Jews and proselytes," present. On the day of Pentecost (Acts 2:10) carried back the earliest tidings of the new doctrine; or the gospel may have first reached the imperial city through those who were scattered abroad to escape the persecution which followed on the death of Stephen. (Acts 8:4; 11:10) At first we may suppose that the gospel had preached there in a confused and imperfect form, scarcely more than a phase of Judaism, as in the case of Apollos at Corinth, (Acts 18:25) or the disciples at Ephesus. (Acts 19:1-3) As time advanced and better-instructed teachers arrived the clouds would gradually clear away, fill at length the presence of the great apostle himself at Rome dispersed the mists of Judaism which still hung about the Roman church.

5. A question next arises as to the composition of the Roman church at the time when St. Paul wrote. It is more probable that St. Paul addressed a mixed church of Jews and Gentiles, the latter perhaps being the more numerous. These Gentile converts, however, were not for the most part native Romans. Strange as the- paradox appears, nothing is more certain than that the church of Rome was at this time a Greek and not a Latin church. All the literature of the early Roman church was written in the Greek tongue.
6. The heterogeneous composition of this church explains the general character of the Epistle to the Romans. In an assemblage so various we should expect to find, not the exclusive predominance of a single form of error, but the coincidence of different and opposing forms. It was- therefore the business of the Christian teacher to reconcile the opposing difficulties and to hold out a meeting-point in the gospel. This is exactly what St. Paul does in the Epistle to the Romans.
7. In describing the purport of this epistle we may start from St. Paul's own words, which, standing at the beginning of the doctrinal portion, may be taken as giving a summary of the contents. ch. (Romans 1:16,17) Accordingly the epistle has been described as comprising "the religious philosophy of the world's history "The atonement of Christ is the centre of religious history. The epistle, from its general character, lends itself more readily to an analysis than is often the case with St. Paul's epistles. While this epistle contains the fullest and most systematic exposition of the apostle's teaching , it is at the same time a very striking expression of his character . Nowhere do his earnest and affectionate nature and his tact and delicacy in handling unwelcome topics appear more strongly than when he is dealing with the rejection of his fellow country men the Jews. Internal evidence is so strongly in favor of the genuineness of the Epistle to the Romans that it has never been seriously questioned.

ROMANSH', noun The language of the Grisons in Switzerland, a corruption of the Latin.

ROMAN'TIC, adjective

1. Pertaining to romance, or resembling it; wild; fanciful; extravagant; as a romantic taste; romantic notions; romantic expectations; romantic zeal.

2. Improbably or chimerical; fictitious; as a romantic tale.

3. Fanciful; wild; full of wild or fantastic scenery; as a romantic prospect or landscape; a romantic situation.

ROMAN'TICALLY, adverb Wildly; extravagantly.

ROMAN'TICNESS, noun

1. Wildness; extravagance; fancifulness.

2. Wildness of scenery.

ROMAN'ZOVITE, noun A recently discovered mineral of the garnet kind, of a brown or brownish yellow color; named from count Romanzoff.