Rome

Rome, the capital of the Roman Empire on the Tiber in central Italy, was the political center of the world in which the New Testament was written and, in prophetic symbol, the archetype of the world-power arrayed against the people of God. Founded by tradition in 753 BC and grown by the first century AD into a metropolis of perhaps a million souls, Rome ruled an empire stretching from Britain to the Euphrates, holding the Pax Romana by which roads, commerce, and a common Greek tongue providentially prepared the way for the spread of the gospel.

For the early church, Rome was both a goal and a symbol. Paul, the apostle to the Gentiles, longed to preach there: "I am eager to preach the gospel to you also who are in Rome" (Romans 1:15), intending it as a base for further mission to Spain (Romans 15:24). His longest and most theological letter, Romans, was written to the believers there. In Jerusalem the risen Lord stood by him and said, "as you have testified about me in Jerusalem, so you must testify also in Rome" (Acts 23:11). Having appealed to Caesar (Acts 25:11), Paul reached the city at last as a prisoner, and the book of Acts closes with him there proclaiming the kingdom of God "with all boldness and without hindrance" (Acts 28:30–31) — a fitting end to the gospel's journey "to the end of the earth" (Acts 1:8).

A large Jewish community had lived in Rome since the second century BC. Luke notes that the Emperor Claudius had expelled the Jews, which is why Paul met Aquila and Priscilla, lately come from Italy, in Corinth (Acts 18:2). The gospel reached Rome early — visitors from Rome had been present at Pentecost (Acts 2:10) — and a vigorous church existed there by the 50s, whose faith Paul says was "proclaimed in all the world" (Romans 1:8). Under Nero, following the great fire of AD 64, that church suffered fierce persecution; ancient tradition places the martyrdoms of both Peter and Paul in Rome during this period. Peter likely writes from there under the veiled name "Babylon" (1 Peter 5:13).

This identification carries into the Bible's last book, where Rome becomes the great symbolic Babylon: "the woman... seated on seven mountains" (Revelation 17:9) — the famed seven hills of Rome — "drunk with the blood of the saints" (Revelation 17:6), whose luxury, idolatry, and persecution typify every human empire that exalts itself against the Lamb. Revelation's announcement, "Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great" (Revelation 18:2), assures the church that the city of man, however mighty, must yield before the eternal city of God.