Paul And His Greeting To The Roman Church Series

1:1.

“Paul.” We first meet him on the Damascus Road. But his life is told in other parts of the book of Acts, and the epistles. Circumcised the 8th day. Sent to Jerusalem to study eventually under Gamaliel, the grandson of Hillel, the most famous rabbi of Jewish history, except for Jesus Himself.

Paul is busy persecuting the church when Jesus stops him. In his account to King Agrippa he mentions that Jesus told him it was hard for him to kick against the “goad.” Macarthur points out that a goad was a “long pointed stick used to herd stubborn livestock. He was poked in the flank or just above the heel.” He adds that this was a common expression used to indicate opposition to deity. Paul must have been shocked to find that what he thought was pleasing God, was not.

We see Ananias in the book of Acts account, fearfully approaching him, praying over him, baptizing him.

Paul picks up the story himself in places like 1 Timothy 1:12-15:

Jesus “…counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry although I was formerly a blasphemer, a persecutor, and an insolent man; but I obtained mercy because I did it ignorantly in unbelief…”

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Galatians 1:16-24. He is led, like His Master, into the desert to hear from God, to set the stage for the rest of his ministry. He eventually meets with other apostles. He joins up with Barnabas and begins an itinerant ministry, starting churches, imparting the Spirit, working miracles. These two split up, and God provides Silas. Timothy. Titus. After three missionary journeys into Asia and Europe, he is arrested in Jerusalem.

Eventually he is sent to Rome, to whom he is writing now.

Paul was a man saturated with the Scriptures of His day, what we would call the Old Testament. You will notice in this letter alone references to Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Deuteronomy, Hosea, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Malachi, Joel, Nahum, 1 Samuel, 1 Kings, Ezekiel.

Using the Jewish Scriptures against the Jewish beliefs put him at odds with the Jewish leadership. And the Jews found ways to get him in trouble with Gentile leadership, as they had with Jesus. Thus the description found in 2 Corinthians 11:23-28:

“… in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequently, in deaths often. From the Jews five times I received forty stripes minus one. Three times I was beaten with rods; once I was stoned; three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I have been in the deep; in journeys often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils of my own countrymen, in perils of the gentiles, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren; in weariness and toil, in sleeplessness often; in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness- and besides all this, what comes upon me daily, my deep concern for all the churches…”

“A bondservant of Jesus Christ.”

Bondservant. KJV, Servant. Greek, Doulos. A slave. In 1 Corinthians 3:5 he is diakonos, a mere table waiter, a servant. And in that same book, 4:1, he is a galley slave. Those are the men at the bottom of the boat, rowing.

Paul uses the Hebrew understanding (thus elevating the concept as might have been experienced in the Roman world) as in Exodus 21:5-6. “If a

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slave [who could go out free after so many years of service] plainly says, ‘I love my master, my wife, and my children. I will not go out free.’ Then his master shall bring him to God, and he shall bring him to the door or the doorpost. And his master shall bore his ear through with an awl, and he shall be his slave forever.”

He is not one captured by some brutish master who beats him every day. But he sells out in love to one who is worthy of submission. One who cares for him and his family.

Paul loves his Master. What He wants, Paul will do. My Master doesn’t beat me every day, Paul would say. He took a beating for me. He takes care of me. I’m his forever. End of conversation.

Do we consider ourselves servants of Jesus in this manner? Isn’t He a good Master? Hasn’t He been good to us? Does He treat us badly? Does he ask us to do things we cannot do? Then, can He expect to receive obedience from us the moment He calls on us? Are we willing to say, “I will not be free” to live this life my own way, “I will serve you forever”?

“Called to be an Apostle.”

Paul was Called. We toss this word “called” around a lot. I’m talking about the actual audible Voice of Jesus here. Not appointed by men. Nowhere are Christ’s true apostles appointed by men in Scripture. You say, what about Matthias? I believe he was appointed by men, but not necessarily directly by Jesus. This mystery of who is the twelfth apostle is not resolved in Scripture, but please understand that there were twelve apostles called directly by the voice of Jesus, even after Judas is ruled out.