Interpretations of Romans 12:1-2

The range of opinions in the literature seems to reflect contrasts between conservative and liberal approaches to Scriptural interpretation, as well as between Roman Catholic and Protestant tendencies. Conservative scholars would generally like to argue that all 14 of the Pauline epistles are exactly as Paul himself wrote them. In contrast, liberal scholars tend to argue that most of the ôPaulineö letters are probably not by Paul himself and that none of PaulÆs letters may have survived exactly as he originally wrote them, because of the efforts of compilers and editors during the next 50 or so years. (Romans and I Corinthians were once considered exceptions to this generalization, but several scholars discussed here doubt the inviolability even of Romans, though others still accept it. )

In practice, most scholars take an intermediate position. Even most conservative scholars admit that the Epistle to the Hebrews (which does not make any claim to be by Paul) and the Pastoral Epistles seem to present a theology and address a situation very different from that of Paul in the least-disputed letters (e.g., Rom, Gal, I Cor, a

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2-15 as a whole, is that of the ôoccasionö for the letter: to whom was Paul speaking, and why? As Smiga states, the two major schools of thought on this issue are that (a) Paul is addressing the Christian community in Rome, perhaps (as traditionally thought) to prepare the way for his arrival, and so, in chapters 12-15, is commenting on specific problems the community has been facing; or (b) Paul is writing Romans as a theological essay in the form of a letter because of his own felt need to articulate his beliefs. A major difficulty with possibility (a) is that, in all of PaulÆs other letters, when he addresses specific problems and offers advice on them, he apparently is responding to specific questions or information concerning communities that he himself has helped to found. This was not the case with the community in Rome, as far as is known; so it is not clear why his advice would have been sought, if it had been, or why he would have felt free to offer it, if it had not been. Given these unanswered questions, many scholars think it more likely that Rom 12-15 was intended as a moral handbook than that it was advice on specific Roman problems. On Rom 12:1-2 itself, there are differences of opinion about just what moral con
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Some common words found in the essay are:
Christian Jewish, Jerusalem Romans, Christian Smiga, Hellenistic Jewish, Age However, Cor Thess, Catholic Protestant, Christ Paul, Jews Paul, St Paul, rom 121-2, rom 12-15, moral conduct, conservative liberal, romans trans, philadelphia pa, paul romans, exactly originally, smiga argues, 2 april,
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Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page)