Romans 1: 1 – 4
Sold Out For Jesus
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.
I find language very interesting. For example, our English word ‘think’ comes from the Latin word ‘muse’. Now, if you put a letter ‘a’ before a word such as ‘amuse’ you get the idea of ‘not think’. Can you see the significance in just this word? There must be something Satan understands about not wanting human beings to think. As a society he has us spending billions each year in ‘amusements’ – things which keep us from thinking. Now stop and think why he would want to do that with us?
We begin our studies of all that the apostle Paul wrote starting with the book of Romans. In my years of studying the things Paul wrote, it is clear to me that he was very intelligent. I believe that he is one who wants us all to ‘think’. You do not think so? If you have some time briefly scan through all of Paul’s writings, you will note that he is the ‘question’ man of the bible. In order to make sure we get down pat certain biblical truths, he asks questions to get us to think.
Paul jumps right out of the gate and will hit us with two of the truths that we Christians have to make sure are solidified in our hearts. These two are ‘faith’ and ‘belief’. So, stop and take a few seconds to think what these two words really mean? Could you present to all of us in comprehensible language what they really mean? I do not see too many hands going up.
Can you see how important this issue is to our very lives? If we do not have concrete solid footing on basic beliefs, then we can and will fall susceptible to all weird doctrine.
Let me therefore ask you this question, ‘How are we saved?’ I think most of you would respond with the statement, ‘by faith’. This is true, but somehow I need more information.
Believing requires something to believe in. Is this point pretty clear to you? I see by your puzzled faces that we are not all on the same page. Let me say it again, ‘believing requires something to believe in.’
Do you believe that we humans require food to be able to live? We are all in agreement then that you think that this statement is true. Yet, ‘will all food keep us alive?’ Got you thinking now didn’t I?
There was a television program a few years back which was called, I believe, ‘Super Size It’. In this documentary a guy ate all his meals at a fast food restaurant. If the person who took his order asked if he would like to ‘super size’ his order, then he would agree. The significance of this test showed that eating this food all the time was killing him. His liver could not put up with this type of food and was literally shutting down. Within two weeks of the test, he was hospitalized. His doctor told him ‘straight up’ that he would die if he stayed on this diet.
I like pizza. However, if I just ate this every day would I be okay? - Of course not. So, can we all agree now that just eating food properly will keep us alive? In actuality, it is what we eat that counts. So, taking this truth, of what we eat is what really counts, and then relating it spiritually, it is what and Whom we believe in that counts. It is vital to our eternal lives.
You can see from this example that many other truths Paul will bring forth to us in the through the book of Romans.
We are saved by faith. This means that we are saved by our faith in God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Our minds and hearts are locked on The Holy Blessed Trinity As The Only True and Living God Almighty – El Shaddai.
Jehovah Elyon – The Lord Most High – Is The One in Whom I put my trust and belief in and in no one else. If you believe that there are other gods or ways to be saved or reach heaven, then our ‘beliefs’ are not the same. Yes, you have a ‘belief’ but your ‘belief’ and the Ones Whom Paul and the other writers of the bible point out, then your ‘belief’ is not the same as ours. Do you understand this point?
Today we are going to look at the first four verses of this book. Even though it is only 4 verses, we can derive a lot of awesome information. Paul is going to point out to us about the significance of the Gospel.
This letter was written by Paul to the Roman church in 57 AD just prior to his journey to Jerusalem where he hoped to deliver the money that he had collected from the Gentile churches on behalf of their Jewish brothers and sisters in Palestine who were facing severe drought. He was, however, aware of the dangers that faced him in Jerusalem and asked the Romans to pray for him, that he would be delivered from the enmity of the Jews, as it was his intention to visit them.
Rome was the only church to which Paul wrote for which he had had no part in its foundation. It had probably originally been started by Christian Jews and proselytes who returned to Rome after Pentecost, and many Christians would later have moved to it as the hub of the Roman empire, some of whom were known to Paul, as is evident from chapter 16. He was therefore not aware of any major problems there, and was able to concentrate in his letter on giving a full presentation of the Gospel of God.
Paul, a bondservant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated to the gospel of God
Please note the statement ‘A servant of Jesus Christ.’ This was both a title of humility and a title of honor. It was a title of humility in that it represented him as a slave, the lowest of the low, under the Lordship of Jesus Christ. By this he was making it clear that he was totally at Christ’s service and under His command, wanting only to please Him.
Paul was a free man. This condition was very rare at this time. So we see here that he was so ‘sold out’ for our Holy Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, he happily and willingly gave up his freedom for the One Who gave His Life in exchange for ours.
This word ‘bondservant’ however means a lot more than just a normal slave. Since slavery was so common at this time in existence, there would be situations where a slave had a good master. If the servant wanted to remain forever in service to this master, he would voluntarily state this position. He would be a love slave. The master would take this person and before witnesses, put a nail through his ear lobe thus signifying the consummation of this request. This is what Paul wanted the world to know about how much he loved our Great and Wonderful Precious Master, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
Paul saw himself, and was seen by the whole church, as one of The Lord Jesus Christ’s unique Apostles, as a result of his being ‘called’ by God to the honor by divine appointment. He knew that God had laid His hand on him in a unique way as certainly as the other Apostles had been especially called and appointed by Jesus Christ
Paul recognized that his position was not given to him through any works of his own. The Son Of God, Adoni Yeshua, our Lord Jesus Christ picked him – ‘called to be an apostle.’ If anybody had a problem with that then take it up with the boss. It is His church and He can assign anyone He chooses. The title apostle means ‘messenger’. Paul knew his assignment was the mandate to tell everyone possible ‘the Good News of God’- The Gospel.
It commences with a description of that ‘Good News (Gospel) of God’, which is what the letter will be all about, and it stresses some important things to bear in mind when we consider it:
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.
Firstly, The Lord Jesus Christ Is the Son of God Who has come down from Heaven. He Is revealed now and forever more to mankind as Adoni Yahweh – God The Father’s Anointed One – The Messiah. He was promised by God through His prophets in the Holy Scriptures (Writings). Thus it was not just something new based on men’s speculations, but was totally based on the words of the prophets as preserved in ancient Scriptures, words which had come forth from God through the centuries.
Paul was concerned to stress that this Good News of God had not arrived unannounced. It had been promised beforetime through the prophets in the Holy Scriptures (the Old Testament). Thus it was not something novel, but was something promised and prepared for through the inspiration of God’s revered messengers of old. These great and holy men of old had pointed forward to Jesus Christ, preparing the way before Him, just as heralds would proclaim the coming of a king. And it was promised in the Holy Scriptures, the widely honored sacred book of the Jews (the Old Testament) which was seen as containing God’s revelation to man. It bore the authenticity of firmly testified prophetic promises given through revered men of old, and contained within the sacred book of the Jews, a book which was honored, even in the Gentile world.
And this Son was ‘born of the seed of David according to the flesh.’ In other words He was born into the world as the promised, truly human, long anticipated, coming King of the house of David. That was His status human wise. In Him the hopes of the nation of Israel were coming to fruition. The importance of this lay in the fact that it connected Him with all the promises concerning the coming Davidic king contained in the Scriptures, commencing with the promises first made to David himself, and continuing throughout the prophets.
Paul points out that our Lord Jesus Christ Is The One Who Is Reigning now and forever on the Throne of David. Both His earthly mother [Mary] and His step-father [Joseph] were of the direct lineage or seed of king David.
But the addition of ‘according to the flesh’ (it would normally have been enough to say ‘born of the seed of David’) immediately draws our attention to the fact that a greater announcement is coming. For while the Gospel of God certainly reveals that He was truly human (‘the Word became flesh and dwelt among us as we read in the Gospel of John chapter 1 verse 14, that He was ‘born according to the flesh’, it also prepares us for something more outstanding. He was not only just a human being. In His human nature He was born of the seed of David, but He is now to be revealed as a greater than David, and as having pre-existed David.
For His greater manifestation came in that He was powerfully declared or, ‘appointed’ - to be the Son of God, in an act of power which revealed His own power. He was declared to be ‘the Son of God with power’, the Son of God powerful enough to bring about the resurrection. And His true divine Son ship was therefore made known by His immensely powerful resurrection from the dead, a resurrection in which He proclaimed the death of death, having triumphed over it once for all. All that could prevent the salvation of His people was dealt with through His resurrection, and what had preceded it, something which demonstrated Who He really was, the Savior of the world.
He was the first fruits of the resurrection; the One Who arose from among the dead. But it is also a reminder that when Jesus rose it was not only Him Who was to be seen as rising. Intrinsically it guaranteed the resurrection of all who would become His, of all who truly believed in Him, who then partook in His resurrection spiritually, awaiting the day of physical resurrection. In other words His deity is equally revealed by His own resurrection and by the resurrection of those whom He came to save.
So the resurrection of Christ is seen as having introduced a new era. By it He has been manifested as, and declared to be, God’s only Son, and by it He has broken the powers of death and Hell, those elements which stood in the way of our enjoyment of an eternal inheritance. Because He lives we can live also. Indeed, as we shall see, this is what the letter is all about, for whilst our acceptability with God (our ‘justification’) is undoubtedly something which is at the heart of the letter, it is the final result of that justification in our transformation and glorification which is its final goal which we will read about in chapter 8.
So, the question we all see before us and think about is this, ‘Who is this unique and powerful Son of God? He is ‘Jesus Christ our Lord.’ Firstly He is ‘Jesus’, Who will save His people from their sins. He is true man and true Savior. Secondly He is ‘the Christ’, promised and prepared for by God’s word and by the prophets, and now manifested to the world. And above all He is ‘our LORD’, Lord of the Universe, co-equal with God the Father.
Do you understand these truths thoroughly? This is why we just covered four verses. It is this important to build the foundation properly.
