Let’s imagine we are in one of the Roman house-churches, listening to Phoebe, who has been entrusted by Paul with taking this letter from Greece to Rome, reading out what he’s written. What would his hearers be thinking? The great theme of sonship – being sons of God – would undoubtedly resonate with some of the listeners. Inheriting a great empire was a well-known theme. A hundred years before, Julius Caesar had adopted Octavian, subsequently known as Augustus; when Julius was deified after his death, Augustus styled himself ‘son of the deified Julius’. He was the adopted son, inheriting the
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