The book of Romans was most likely written around Acts 18:1-17

After this Paul left Athens and went to Corinth. ² There he found a Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontus, who had recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla, because Claudius had ordered all Jews to leave Rome. Paul went to see them, ³ and, because he was of the same trade, he stayed with them, and they worked together—by trade they were tentmakers. ⁴ Every sabbath he would argue in the synagogue and would try to convince Jews and Greeks.

⁵ When Silas and Timothy arrived from Macedonia, Paul was occupied with proclaiming the word, testifying to the Jews that the Messiah was Jesus. ⁶ When they opposed and reviled him, in protest he shook the dust from his clothes and said to them, “Your blood be on your own heads! I am innocent. From now on I will go to the Gentiles.” ⁷ Then he left the synagogue and went to the house of a man named Titius Justus, a worshiper of God; his house was next door to the synagogue. ⁸ Crispus, the official of the synagogue, became a believer in the Lord, together with all his household; and many of the Corinthians who heard Paul became believers and were baptized. ⁹ One night the Lord said to Paul in a vision, “Do not be afraid, but speak and do not be silent; ¹⁰ for I am with you, and no one will lay a hand on you to harm you, for there are many in this city who are my people.” ¹¹ He stayed there a year and six months, teaching the word of God among them.

¹² But when Gallio was proconsul of Achaia, the Jews made a united attack on Paul and brought him before the tribunal. ¹³ They said, “This man is persuading people to worship God in ways that are contrary to the law.” ¹⁴ Just as Paul was about to speak, Gallio said to the Jews, “If it were a matter of crime or serious villainy, I would be justified in accepting the complaint of you Jews; ¹⁵ but since it is a matter of questions about words and names and your own law, see to it yourselves; I do not wish to be a judge of these matters.” ¹⁶ And he dismissed them from the tribunal. ¹⁷ Then all of them seized Sosthenes, the official of the synagogue, and beat him in front of the tribunal. But Gallio paid no attention to any of these things.

Claudius was an interesting ruler.  On his fourth marriage, married his niece (brother’s daughter) and adopted her son Nero.  Yes, that Nero.  However, that marriage relationship is not what makes him interesting.  One of Claudius’s many passions was to see a return to the old beliefs of the state religion.  No, this wasn’t Christianity but the Roman pantheistic beliefs.  Amongst the laws, he saw put into effect, was a law to criminalize anyone who was proselytizing within Rome.

According to Suetonius (a Roman historian during this period), “Iudaeos impulsore Chresto assidue tumultuantis Roma expulit.” In English, “Since the Jews constantly make disturbances at the instigation of Chrestus, Claudius expelled them from Rome.”  Now to be clear, most scholars are unclear whether Chrestus is a mis-spelling of Christus (because they sound similar in ancient Latin), or was an actual individual during that time.  We don’t know.  However what we do know is what was occurring in Corinth.

The Greeks like to be very synchronic.  Being people dedicated to reason and intellect, some of the Greeks saw Jewish thought as very persuasive.  Also, some of the Jews saw truth in the reason and logic of many of the Greek writers.  Maimonides actually called Aristotle “half of a prophet”.  These Greek-Jewish people were known as Hellenistic Jews.

Because Hellenistic Jews were more receptive to new lines of thinking, the Christian message of Jesus the Messiah was very compelling.  So much so, that many debates took place between “Jews and Greeks.”

This chapter opens up with Paul leaving Athens.  Athens at this time was the center of new religious thought.  However, Pau went to Corinth, which was a modern Roman city established on the ruins of Corinth around 44BC.  This was a major center of commerce for Roma during this time and would be a good place for tentmaking.  In going through the market, I am sure that Paul found Aquila because of his trade and discovered later that he was a Jew.

However, Aquila was not just a Jew but a Jew from Pontus, a region by the Black Sea in Greece, and as we called it before, a Hellenistic Jew.  Aquila and his wife Prisca were probably both running “the shop.”  Aquila and Prisca are Latin names, not Greek, giving us a glimpse into their background.  Having Latin names indicates that they have contacts and connections beyond the Greek and Jewish hints given by Luke.  Also having a trade, like tentmaking suggests that Aquila may have had some rabbinical training like Paul.

Paul, having found a common brother in the faith, would have had many a good talk about the Jewish faith.  They had much in common between them with Aquila’s background, occupation, and religion during the week.  But on Saturday, Paul would spend his time in the synagogue.  While Paul may have had the same formation, thoughts, and theology of Aquila, I believe that Prisca (who became the more tender name of Priscila) was the one who shared Paul’s heart.

It was not Aquila who Paul mentions first in the book of Romans, but Priscila.  This is not normal unless the heart for those in Roma came from her, and not him.  Aquila may have had a heart for the Messiah, Priscila had a heart for the Messiah’s bride.  My guess is that Paul identified more with that love when writing the letter than he did the love of ideas.

Back to the synagog, notice that he was arguing with both the Jews and the Greeks trying to convince them of the messianic nature of Jesus Christ.  Jesus who is the living Torah.

Now another custom that you must know.  When the temple was active, there were three courtyards around the temple.  The courtyard of the Jews, the courtyard of women (Jewish), and the courtyard of the Gentiles.  To get to the courtyard of the Jews required passing through each of the prior courtyards.  Just before a Jew would cross from the Gentile’s court to the courtyard of women, he would remove his cloak, sandals, and headdress and shake them out, “lest the dust of the Gentiles profanes the temple.”

So when the Jews started to receive insults regarding his teaching, Paul used this as an object lesson to those Jews.  He shook the dust off his clothing indicating that he is leaving their profanity and “uncleanliness” in their synagog.

Now, this being the Shabot, Paul kept the Jewish custom of limited work on this holy day by only going next door to the synagog.  He entered the house of Titius Justus.  Titius is the first name of an Italian who was not a Roman citizen.  However, Titius’s last name was Justus, which may have been his title in the city.  Regardless of his importance, we see the best title of all, “a worshiper of God.”  Titius was a Gentile, not a Jew who worshipped God in the synagog.  So when Paul said, “I will go to the Gentiles,” he was not just being figurative, but literal.

So here we see Paul, keeping the law, but rejecting the works of the law.  He kept the law of Shabot, which is older than Moses, but rejected the purification laws of the Jews by entering into a Gentile’s house on Shabot.

Luke is not giving us just history here, but he is interweaving truths about our faith and how Paul was living this faith in Jesus Christ.  It was this act of faith on Paul’s part that caused the head of the synagog to believe in Jesus.

It is this tension between the law given by God which cannot be abrogated, and the laws of men used to shield us from the law.  This time of Paul’s life was very formidable and stands as a foundation for the letter to the Romans.

While I cannot say that the letter to the Romans was written at this time (51AD) or later (54-55AD), the words of the letter were formed in his mind, mouth, and heart.  It was this incident that steeled his resolve and welded his theology.

Next time you read through Roman’s think on this event, think about the conversations of Priscilla and Aquila.  Think about the actions in the synagog.  Realize the foundations of that great letter.  Remember he was leaving the center of new religious thought, to intertwine the faith of the Jews with the teachings of the Torah made flesh.