Paul introduces himself to the Roman Christians.
Paul, a bondservant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated to the gospel of God
a. Paul: The life and ministry of the Apostle Paul (also known as Saul of Tarsus) is well documented in Acts 8-28, as well as Galatians 1-2, and 2 Corinthians 11-12.
i. It is almost universally agreed that Paul wrote Romans from the city of Corinth as he wintered there on his third missionary journey as described in Acts 20:2-3. This is based on Romans 16:1 and 16:23 along with 1 Corinthians 1:14. A variety of commentators pick the date of writing anywhere from 53 to 58 A.D.
ii. When Paul wrote the Book of Romans, he had been a Christian preacher for some 20 years. On his way to Jerusalem, he had three months in Corinth without any pressing duties. He perhaps thought this was a good time to write ahead to the Christians in Rome, a church he planned to visit after the trip to Jerusalem.
iii. As Paul endeavored to go to Rome, the Holy Spirit warned him about the peril awaiting him in Jerusalem (Acts 21:10-14). What if he were unable to make it to Rome? Then he must write them a letter so comprehensive that the Christians in Rome had the gospel Paul preached, even if Paul himself were not able to visit them.
iv. Because of all this, Romans is different than many of the other letters Paul wrote to churches. Other New Testament letters focus more on the church and its challenges and problems. The Letter to the Romans focuses more on God and His great plan of redemption.
v. We know the Letter to the Romans was prized by the Christians in Rome; Clement of Rome’s letter in 96 A.D. shows great familiarity with Paul’s letter. It may be that he memorized it and that the reading of it became a part of virtually every meeting of the Roman church. As well, many scholars (Bruce and Barclay among them) believe that an edited version of Romans – without the personal references in Romans 16 – was distributed widely among early churches as a summary of apostolic doctrine.
b. A bondservant… an apostle: Paul’s self-identification is important. He is first a servant of Jesus Christ, and second called to be an apostle.
i. There were several ancient Greek words used to designate a slave, but the idea behind the word for servant (doulos) is “complete and utter devotion, not the abjectness which was the normal condition of the slave.” (Morris)
ii. “A servant of Jesus Christ, is a higher title than monarch of the world.” (Poole)
c. Separated to the gospel of God: The idea of being an apostle is that you are a special ambassador or messenger. Paul’s message is the gospel (good news) of God. It is the gospel of God in the sense that it belongs to God in heaven. This isn’t a gospel Paul made up; he simply is a messenger of God’s gospel.
i. Separated unto the gospel: “St. Paul may here refer to his former state as a Pharisee, which literally signifies a separatist, or one separated. Before he was separated unto the service of his own sect; now he is separated unto the Gospel of God.” (Clarke)
ii. “Some think he alludes to the name of Pharisee, which is from separating: when he was a Pharisee, he was separated to the law of God; and now, being a Christian, he was separated to the gospel of God.” (Poole)
d. The gospel of God: Other New Testament letters focus more on the church and its challenges and problems; Romans focuses more on God. “God is the most important word in this epistle. Romans is a book about God. No topic is treated with anything like the frequency of God. Everything Paul touches in this letter he relates to God. In our concern to understand what the apostle is saying about righteousness, justification, and the like we ought not to overlook his tremendous concentration on God.” (Morris)
i. The word “God” occurs 153 times in Romans; an average of once every 46 words – this is more frequently than any other New Testament book. In comparison, note the frequency of other words used in Romans: law (72), Christ (65), sin (48), Lord (43), and faith (40). Romans deals with many different themes but as much as a book can be, it is a book about God.
ii. There are many important words in the vocabulary of Romans we must understand. Bruce quotes Tyndale’s preface to Romans: “First we must mark diligently the manner of speaking of the apostle, and above all things know what Paul meaneth by these words – the Law, Sin, Grace, Faith, Righteousness, Flesh, Spirit, and such like – or else, read thou it ever so often, thou shall but lose thy labor.”
2. (2-6) Paul introduces his gospel to the Romans.
Which He promised before through His prophets in the Holy Scriptures, concerning His Son Jesus Christ our Lord, who was born of the seed of David according to the flesh, and declared to be the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead. Through Him we have received grace and apostleship for obedience to the faith among all nations for His name, among whom you also are the called of Jesus Christ;
a. He promised before through His prophets: This gospel is not new, and it is not a clever invention of man. Paul’s world was much like ours, with people who liked “new” teachings and doctrines. Nevertheless, Paul didn’t bring something new, but something very old in the plan of God.
b. Concerning His Son Jesus Christ our Lord: This is the center of Paul’s gospel, the “sun” that everything else orbits around. The center of Christianity is not a teaching or a moral system, it is a Person: Jesus Christ.
i. This Jesus has both a human origin (born of the seed of David according to the flesh), and an eternal existence (declared to be the Son of God). The evidence of Jesus’ humanity is His human birth; the evidence of His deity is His resurrection from the dead.
ii. The resurrection of Jesus shows His divine power because He rose by His own power: Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up again (John 2:19).
iii. “There is a sense in which Jesus was the Son of God in weakness before the resurrection but the Son of God in power thereafter.” (Morris)
c. Declared: This ancient Greek word (horizo) comes from the idea “to bound, define, determine, or limit, and hence our word horizon, the line that determines the farthest visible part of the earth in reference to the heavens. In this place the word signifies such a manifest and complete exhibition of the subject as to render it indubitable.” (Clarke)
d. Jesus Christ our Lord: It means something that the Apostle Paul called Jesus Lord: “This term could be no more than a polite form of address like our ‘Sir.’ But it could also be used of the deity one worships. The really significant background, though, is its use in the Greek translation of the Old Testament to render the divine name, Yahweh… Christians who used this as their Bible would be familiar with the term as equivalent to deity.” (Morris)
e. Through Him we have received grace and apostleship for obedience to the faith: Paul’s gospel impacts individual lives. It isn’t interesting theory or philosophy, it is life-changing good news.
i. The gospel gave Paul and the church grace and apostleship, and one reason those two gifts were given was to produce obedience to the faith. “Without the GRACE, favour, and peculiar help of God, he could not have been an apostle.” (Clarke)
ii. The gospel is big enough and great enough for the whole world; it must go out to impact all nations.
iii. The gospel had reached the Roman Christians, demonstrating that they are the called of Jesus Christ.