who wrote roman?

[Ghostdog]

i always thought paul wrote roman but i just read at the end that someone named tertius wrote it

rom 16:22 I, Tertius, who wrote this epistle, greet you in the Lord.

[Michael37]

34 minutes ago, Ghostdog said:

i always thought paul wrote roman but i just read at the end that someone named tertius wrote it

rom 16:22 I, Tertius, who wrote this epistle, greet you in the Lord.

We read in the introduction that the letter is from Paul who, apparently due to his poor eyesight, often dictated to someone who could write better than him.

Rom 1:1-7  Paul, a bondservant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated to the gospel of God  (2)  which He promised before through His prophets in the Holy Scriptures,  (3)  concerning His Son Jesus Christ our Lord, who was born of the seed of David according to the flesh,  (4)  and declared to be the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead.  (5)  Through Him we have received grace and apostleship for obedience to the faith among all nations for His name,  (6)  among whom you also are the called of Jesus Christ;  (7)  To all who are in Rome, beloved of God, called to be saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

You can read numerous commentaries at this link from which I have pasted one:

Romans 16:22 - Verse-by-Verse Bible Commentary - StudyLight.org

Coffman's Commentaries on the Bible

I Tertius, who write the epistle, salute you in the Lord.

Tertius... means "third", many Roman names having been formed from the ordinal numbers, such as Primus, Segundus, Tertius, Quartus, Quintus, Sextus, Septimus, Octavius, etc. This Tertius was Paul's amanuensis the person who transcribed Paul's dictation, that usually having been the manner of Paul's writing. He customarily wrote a few lines at the end of his epistles with his own hand as a kind of signature. However, Galatians was written entirely by himself as he said:

 

Ye see how large a letter I have written unto you with my own hand (Galatians 6:11).

 

We are indebted to Hodge for this:

 

In order to authenticate his epistles, he generally wrote himself the salutation or benediction at the close; 1 Corinthians 16:21, "The salutation of me, Paul, with mine own hand"; 2 Thessalonians 3:17, "The salutation of Paul with mine own hand; which is the token in every epistle: so I write."[39]

 

Tertius was a Christian, and Paul honored him by asking that he write his own salutation to the brethren in Rome, which he did in these few words. Some have wondered at Tertius' greeting coming so far from the end of the letter; but such may be easily explained, either upon the probability that Paul wrote the rest of the: epistle himself with his own hand, or that there was a pause, or break, in the dictation at this point where the personal greetings were being included, before Paul proceeded to dictate the magnificent final doxology. Tertius' greeting belongs here where it was placed; and the custom of modern secretaries who type their initials at the very bottom of business letters does not reflect at all against the logic and appropriateness of the placement of Tertius' salutation.

Copyright Statement
Coffman's Commentaries reproduced by permission of Abilene Christian University Press, Abilene, Texas, USA. All other rights reserved.

Bibliographical Information
Coffman, James Burton. "Commentary on Romans 16:22". "Coffman's Commentaries on the Bible". https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/bcc/romans-16.html. Abilene Christian University Press, Abilene, Texas, USA. 1983-1999.

[Deborah_]

Whether or not Paul had problems with his eyesight, it was common practice in those days for important letters to be dictated to professional scribes. We know that the first letter of Peter was dictated by Peter to someone called Silas (or Sylvanus in some translations). (I Peter 5:12)

This was because parchment and paper were expensive, and most people didn't do much writing of their own. So a professional scribe would write more neatly (saving paper!) and was less likely to make spelling and other mistakes. They might also tidy up the author's grammar and sentence construction if appropriate (although this isn't likely to have been the case with Paul, who was well educated and fluent in Greek).

[Dennis1209]

On 3/5/2022 at 1:40 PM, Ghostdog said:

i always thought paul wrote roman but i just read at the end that someone named tertius wrote it

rom 16:22 I, Tertius, who wrote this epistle, greet you in the Lord.

In a couple of books in the New Testament, an emanuensis (amanuensis) is named. These are basically someone that transcribes and quotes what someone said in writing. The Gospel of Mark is a good example. Mark did not witness many of the things he wrote. Many believe Mark transcribed Peter's words. I have no doubt Paul is the author of Romans.

The most highly contested New Testament book on who wrote it is Hebrews. The majority believe Paul also wrote Hebrews. 

It seems evident Paul was visually handicapped and had an amanuensis (secretary). Most likely he struggled and wrote very big letters signing his salutation and name. I speculate his vision was lingering effects from his blindness on the road to Damascus?

2 Thessalonians 3:17 The salutation of Paul with mine own hand, which is the token in every epistle: so I write.