Our Lord Jesus Christ Series

Introduction

The themes in the book of Romans include our need for a savior, the righteousness of Jesus Christ and our spiritual condition as sinners. The book is clear that Jesus came to save us. This is the gospel and in Romans Paul makes this his central focus. We are saved when we put our faith in Jesus Christ who died for us on the cross. Paul dives right in, and these opening verses go straight into these great themes of our faith.

Most of the background we find written about the book of Romans come from somewhere besides these opening verses. When Paul introduces himself in the book of Romans, he does not give his background. He introduces himself as a servant of Christ Jesus. He gives the background to Jesus Christ who called him. This is a book about the gospel and who Jesus is.

Paul speaks of 13 important theological concepts. If we understand every term in these seven verses we have a strong theological foundation as disciples of Christ. These terms are:

God

Son of David

Son of God

The resurrection

The Holy Spirit

Messiah

Scriptures

Grace

Faith

The church

The gospel

Apostle

The great commission

When we read the entire first chapter and get much more about sin and justification by faith we can say that understanding Romans chapter 1 gives us a solid theological foundation as a Christian.

Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle and set apart for the gospel of God— (Romans 1:1)

Paul wrote Romans while he was in Corinth at the end of his third missionary journey. He had done the pioneer church planting ministry as he said, “from Jerusalem to Illyricum,” and he was ready to go to Rome as a launching pad to take the gospel ministry to what was then the regions beyond in Spain, the more remote place.

He has never been to Rome when he wrote this. Paul had been close to Rome when he went to Illyricum, just a trip across the Adriatic Sea and then a brief land journey away. Although he had not physically been there the church in Rome was loaded with some of his best partners from his last twenty plus years of ministry.

When we look at Romans chapter 16 and see the list of Paul’s partners in the gospel ministry who he mentions by name it becomes apparent that though Paul had never visited Rome he was very connected to many people there. His main partners of the work in Corinth, Aquila and Pricilla had returned to Rome by this time.

The Gospel and the prophets

The Bible as we have now, contains the Old Testament and the New Testament. There is a difference in the two testaments, and yet there is a harmony. From the fall of man in the Garden of Eden there have been prophesies about the coming Messiah. These promises about the Messiah were clearly proclaimed by the prophets.

the gospel he promised beforehand through his prophets in the Holy Scriptures (Romans 1:2)

Paul was serious about his statement that the gospel was promised beforehand by the Old Testament prophets. The book of Romans contains 84 quotes of Old Testament passages. The theme of Romans which is Romans 1:17 comes from one of these prophets, a quote from Habakkuk 2:4. That is the verse that says, “but the righteous shall live by his faith.”

The gospel we have through the coming of Jesus Christ and his death and resurrection is what the prophets wrote about and what they longed for. We live in that great future day. Yes, there is more ahead when Christ comes again and that too is what the prophets foretold, but now, as we live in this time where Jesus has already died and risen and we put our faith in him and are justified by our faith, this is the gospel that was promised beforehand.

Jesus the Son of God and Son of David

In verse 3 we find two significant statements of Jesus Christ in this verse. He is the Son of God and Son of David. This verse communicates the incarnation of Jesus, that he is fully God and fully man. The Son of God communicates he is fully God and as the Son of David he is fully man.

regarding his Son, who as to his earthly life was a descendant of David, (Romans 1:3)

Jesus was the Son of David which pointed to him being the awaited Messiah. This was what the crowds shouted when Jesus came to Jerusalem on Palm Sunday riding on a donkey. (Matthew 21:9) The Son of David is the Messianic title given to Jesus in the Genealogy of Jesus this is in the opening verse of Matthew (Matthew 1:1).