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.
If Jesus Himself does not call, the office does not exist. Many today claim the office but cannot describe a true calling. Rather, they have been appointed by men, and what they might call an inner witness (and that’s a phrase that needs examining too).
One thing for sure. We must accept the notion that the Scripture is clear about: there are and always have been false apostles:
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2 Corinthians 11:12-13. Paul wanted to “cut off the opportunity from those who desire an opportunity to be regarded just as we are in the things of which they boast. For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into apostles of Christ. And no wonder! For Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light.”
Look at the second letter to the Ephesians. It’s found in the book of Revelation, chapter 2, verse 2. “… You have tested those who say they are apostles and are not, and have found them liars.”
How do you test a would-be apostle? For starters, Do they have real miracles? Do they have serious persecution, scars? Do they teach the Scriptures that the original apostles wrote? Do they have proof of an actual call from Heaven by Jesus? All of the true apostles knew that the others had been called by Jesus. They traveled with Him. Even Paul had witnesses on the road to Damascus that a miraculous encounter had taken place.
Paul wants the Roman church to know that, incredible as it might seem to them, he is an apostle on the same level as the others. When he is speaking before King Agrippa, just before his journey to Rome, he gives us the specifics of that call (Acts 26:16-18): (Jesus is talking.)
“I am Jesus whom you are persecuting. Rise, stand on your feet; I have appeared to you for this purpose, to make you a minister and a witness both of the things which you have seen [right now, the resurrected Jesus] and of the things which I will yet reveal to you. I will deliver you from the Jewish people, as well as from the Gentiles, to whom I now send you, to open their eyes, in order to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who are sanctified by faith in Me.”
Very specific!
We must spend a little more time on this subject of apostles, as it is so vital for today’s church.
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Apostle. Greek, One sent. The word missionary is from another language, the Latin, but it means the same thing. So those who claim there are no apostles of any kind, have to back up a little when they speak of missionaries, since that name is not in Scripture, but it means the exact same thing as apostle. The differentiation between a Scripture apostle and any in our day is that the originals were apostles of, called by, Jesus, personally, supernaturally. All others are apostles of the church, sent out, gifted, a true blessing, but not authoritative.
A word about the apostolic movement of our day. There is a movement known as the NAR that truly believes that authoritative apostles are being restored to the church. In their thinking the church needs a total restructuring, with themselves at the top.
Rome teaches that the bishops of Rome are the successors of the authoritative apostles. That apostles never ended their ministry.
Fact is the apostles played their role in the first century. They were given the doctrines that have become the foundational teachings of the church in every generation. They were given accompanying miracles to attest to their validity. They died. They are no longer with us, except in the Scriptures. They played their role. We now have their writings as the foundation. I am sharing with you even now the work of an apostle, but I am not one. What I say to you is totally authoritative, because of their authority, not my own.
Be aware that these men and this movement exist. It is a major factor in the present church culture. It seems like it is not going away. Many faces you see on Christian TV are men who believe they are apostles and have authority over your lives. Many revivals and movements of the church overseas are NAR related. This is huge. Be aware and awake. They sound good, look good, but they are not the real deal. The foundation is not going to be laid again!
“Separated to...”
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We are not all called to be church leaders, but we are all called to be separated. You don’t have to do this to yourself. It will happen to you as you follow Jesus. Separated is passive here. It was done by God. Saul of Tarsus was in big with the Jewish people. He was surrounded by many who shared his opinions and goals. He did not work alone. He was part of an anti-Jesus movement. He had connections. He was on his way up, a rising star in the Jewish brotherhood.
And he was a Pharisee! The word Pharisee means “separated”. Two hundred years before Jesus, a group of Jewish men decided that the Greek culture had had too many inroads into their own way of life. They separated themselves. They would not participate in the Greek ways.
They would be holy unto God. Separate. Pharisee.
But when God called him on that Damascus Road, he was separated by God! God did it! Connections broken. Old things passed away. Old friends removed. Old ideas replaced.
All of this happened with Martin Luther, too. He had no desire to leave the established church. He loved that church. But that church left him, when he received the true Gospel from this very book of Romans.
That will take place in your life if it has not. I have found that it is not a one-time separation. As I learn new things in the Word, and begin sharing them, there are always some who don’t get it, or don’t want it, and I am separated to move on, alone if necessary. Eventually we will be separated from this body and this planet. Separation is a good thing, though not very pleasant at first.
Young children are known to have separation anxiety. When Mom leaves the room, the baby wants to know, “Is she coming back?” We don’t like separation. It tears away at our flesh. But God heals the wounds and unites us to things and people that are far more valuable than that from which we were separated.
“The Gospel of God.”
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This word, euangelion, will be used sixty times in the letter. The epistle begins with the word in the first verse, and ends with it in the third last verse. And it is sprinkled all the way through. This letter is about good news.
According to Macarthur, now on page 9 of his commentary, that word “Gospel” was a common term in the cult of emperor worship. I’m quoting now:
“Many of the Caesars claimed deity for themselves and demanded worship from every person in the Empire, free or slave, rich or poor, renowned or unknown. Favorable events relating to the emperor were proclaimed to the citizens as ‘good news’. The town herald would stand in the village square and shout ‘Good news! The emperor’s wife has given birth to a son,’ or ‘Good news! The emperor’s heir has come of age’.”
Paul brought a new meaning to the word. This was the “Good News!” of God! Man’s news, even though it be about an emperor, is inferior to God’s news. The old ways cannot save us. We needed something new. And God has revealed this news in detail to the apostle Paul who in turn shares that information with us. We need to grab every detail!
1:2
“Which He promised before through His prophets in the Holy Scriptures.” What Gospel are we talking about? We just learned that it is
1. the Gospel of God. It is also
2. the Gospel that God promised through the prophets in the Holy Scriptures.
The Gospel did not begin in the New testament books. This was not an after-thought, some totally new concept. Muslims like to suggest that just as Jesus had a new revelation superseding that of Moses, so Muhammad had a new revelation that perfects Jesus. Our response is that Moses and Jesus taught the same thing. Moses anticipated Jesus in every law, every
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sacrifice. The Old Testament prophets predicted the life and death and resurrection of Jesus. Jesus Himself said He did not come to destroy the law, but to fulfill it. Muhammad’s “revelation” was totally disconnected from the Scriptures of God, and was an obvious attempt to overshadow and confuse the narratives already given in their completion by the end of the first century.
Every trained Jew knew about the Holy Scriptures. In Paul’s day there were twenty-two books. They were not yet called “The Old Testament” as we call them, because the New Testament books had not yet circulated and been collected into a unit. They were simply “The Scriptures”.
Jesus used that term often: Matthew 22:29, to the Sadducees He said, “You do err, not knowing the Scriptures.” Mark 14:49, before He died, “The Scriptures must be fulfilled.” Luke 24:27, after the resurrection, “He expounded to the disciples, from all the Scriptures.”
Jesus believed in and quoted often from, those twenty-two books!
But you say, I thought there were thirty-nine books in the Jewish Scriptures, or what we call the Old Testament. Our Scriptures are identical to theirs, but arranged differently. Combine the two books of Samuel into one; two books of Kings into one; two books of Chronicles into one; Ezra and Nehemiah, one; the twelve minor prophets, one; and with Josephus’ help in the first century, Ruth and Judges, one; Lamentations and Jeremiah, one. Twenty two books, made to correspond to the twenty-two letters in the Hebrew alphabet.
God, somewhere in those twenty-two books, made some promises of good news. Peter verifies this in 1 Peter 1:10-12:
“Of this salvation [of Jesus] the prophets have inquired and searched carefully, who prophesied of the grace that would come to you, searching what, or what manner of time, the Spirit of Christ who was in them was indicating when He testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ and the glories that would follow. To them [these same prophets] it was revealed that, not to themselves, but to us [you] they were ministering the things
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which now have been reported to you through those who have preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven…”
Some scholars have found over three hundred such promises. We will look at a few.
Genesis 3:15. The seed of the woman will crush the head of the serpent. (the prophet Moses)
“And I [God] will put enmity between you [Satan/serpent] and between your seed and her Seed [offspring]; He [Seed of woman] shall bruise your head, and you [Satan] shall bruise His heel.” [ Satan will win a temporary victory, followed by the total demise of this enemy.]
Psalm 16:10-11. Jesus will rise from the dead. Conquer sin and the grave. (Peter quotes this Psalm and calls David a prophet)
“For You [God] will not leave my [David’s, Jesus’] soul in Sheol [place of the dead], nor will You allow Your Holy One [can only mean Jesus!] to see corruption. You will show me the path of life.”
The prophet Isaiah pictures perfectly the ugly scene we call Calvary.
Isaiah 53: 3-6
“He is despised and rejected by men, a Man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief. And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him; He was despised, and we did not esteem Him. Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed… the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.”
The prophet Jeremiah speaks of a new covenant that will be coming to us, as a result of what Jesus will do. Jeremiah 31:33-34
“This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts;
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and I will be their God, and they shall be My people… I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.”
The prophet Joel also talks of that day, when the Spirit of God will make all things new. Joel 2:28, 32
“And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh… whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.”
The prophet Micah tells us the very place where Jesus will be born, hundreds of years before the fact. Micah 5:2
“But you, Bethlehem… though you are little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of you shall come forth to Me the One to be Ruler in Israel, whose goings forth are from of old, from everlasting.”
And this Gospel is
1:3
“Concerning His Son Jesus Christ our Lord…”
The news is not good news unless it is about Jesus.
Paul is very specific here. His Name means something. First He is Jesus, the Savior. In Hebrew, Joshua or Yeshua. The deliverer. The one who took us out of the land of bondage and will take us into the promised land, as the original Joshua did. The one who took our sins in His own body on the tree, canceling the debt we owed and could not pay. Jesus. Savior.
Then He is Christ. The anointed one. The Messiah. The King chosen from the foundation of the world because He existed from before that foundation, through all eternity with the Father. The King of Kings.
And He is our Lord. He is Lord of all or not Lord at all. Lord of the universe but our personal Lord. You have known Him as Savior, well and good, but
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have you acknowledged Him as Lord, the only One Who has a right to order your life. Not just the Lord, but our Lord.
Savior, King, Lord.
I want to add here just a footnote about textual issues in the Bible. Why now? Because we have already come to a textual issue. Definitely not serious, but worthy of note as an intro to the whole topic of textual criticism, then we hurry back to the text.
It is the teaching of the Christian Church through the ages that only the original documents of the inspired writers are inspired of God. The transmission of these texts for so many thousands of years is a story of a miracle, but not of perfection. Some of the ancient texts, from which we obtain our translations, vary from each other on minor things. If you translate from one text, you get one reading. If you translate from another, you get another.
So it is not enough to say, well, my Bible comes from the original and yours doesn’t.
I have in my study two Greek texts. Neither are originals. We have no originals. These two texts differ from one another in minor points. Some swear that the Textus Receptus, which helped give us the KJV and the NKJV, is the Greek text we should follow. And they have good reasons.
Others are convinced, also by good reasons, that the Nestle-Aland text is the one to follow. Do your study. Decide which text is best.
No doctrine of any importance to us is at stake, but we should be aware of the issue. Right here in Romans 1:3 there is a variation. If you were not reading a KJV related text just now, you did not see the words “Jesus Christ Our Lord” in verse 3. Those words are not in the Greek. Not here. And as you are reading along in the Greek in verse 4, the words show up.
Either way, the text is true. We are talking about His Son, who by the way, is Jesus Christ our Lord, wherever the words are found. There are things
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like this, some more serious, but none so serious as to challenge, as I say, any doctrine of importance to us.
We don’t stress over such things, but we are not blind either, and we should be ready when a critic comes along trying to tear the Scriptures down. We simply reply that the originals were inspired of God, and the translations we have contain all the truth necessary. And if you want proof of the pudding, tell them, try the eating. Come to Christ and see if His Word is not true and powerful and alive. We should be able to point to our own lives as testimony of the truth of Scripture!
Jesus told the Pharisees, “You search the Scriptures because in them you think you have eternal life.” In other words, you put every word in order, and look all over the Book to be sure you have the right meanings, but the obvious message, Me, you don’t get.”
This Book has it all. We preach this Word even if no translation is absolutely perfect. Preach what’s in the Word, Jesus, and results will follow.
“who was born of the seed of David …”
This Jesus, the King, was born of the seed of David.
From Solomon, right? Let’s look at it in the Old Testament. Solomon’s descendants were the kings of Judah. Men whom you probably know. Rehoboam. Asa. Jehoshaphat. Uzziah. Hezekiah. Then some bad kings. Then Josiah. Then more bad kings. Worse and worse. But all were descended from David , down to Christ, right?
Josiah’s son was Jeconiah. Also called Jehoiachin. Also called Coniah. He was a real loser, and brought the Lord to a conclusion that one never thinks he’ll see, reading the Bible through for the first time: Israel would have to be suspended as a nation.
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But before I continue on with the line, we must look at Jeremiah, the prophet who lived when Coniah lived. Look at Jeremiah 22:28 ff, a prophecy about this wicked man and his descendants:
“Is this man Coniah a despised, broken idol -a vessel in which is no pleasure? [ answer, yes ] Why are they cast out, he and his descendants… O earth, earth, earth, hear the Word of the Lord! Thus says the Lord: Write down this man as childless [note, “as” but not actually]. A man who shall not prosper in his days; for none of his descendants shall prosper, sitting on the throne of David, and ruling anymore in Judah.”
Seed of David. Solomon. Some good kings. Some bad. Josiah. Jeconiah. Look at Matthew 1: Jeconiah had a son: Shealtiel. One son after another until we come into the first century and a man named Joseph.
Look how Matthew describes the lineage of Jesus: Jacob begot Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom (Mary) was born Jesus who is called Christ.
The prophecy was true. No one from the seed of Solomon, that leads through this evil Jeconiah, will sit on David’s throne. Joseph did not.
But someone from the seed of David will.
Only explanation: must be another son of David through whom the Messiah will reign. Hence we have Luke’s genealogy, thanks be to God. Luke 3:23ff. We go backwards, starting with Jesus. “Being (as was supposed!) the son of Joseph...” But he wasn’t the son of Joseph. And Joseph’s father is not Jacob in Luke, it is Heli. The scholars have concluded that this was his father-in-law, that is, Mary’s father.
Trace it back, and you come to David through another son, verse 31. Nathan. God’s Word must always be true. Jesus is of the seed of David, and heir to David’s throne, not through the cursed line, but through a blessed one.
“According to the flesh.”
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The word flesh is used in two ways in Scripture as far as humans are concerned. It is on one hand, merely the physical part of who we are. Flesh and blood. But Paul and others, knowing the Scriptures and knowing of the fall of man, uses the term “flesh” to describe fallen man’s nature.
Obviously we are talking here of flesh and blood. He was, humanly speaking, the seed of David. Divinely speaking, He was descended from, and one with, the Holy Spirit. God Himself.
That brings up a lot of issues about the nature of Jesus, that I think I must pass up here, except to say that this Jesus is all God, and all man, in a union we shall never fathom. It is beyond us, how God can become a man. The Witnesses and the Muslims and the Jews just write it off as impossible and throw accusations of blasphemy our way.
But it’s true anyway. John 1:14, the Word, second person of the Holy Godhead, Emmanuel – God with us - became flesh, and so sanctified that flesh that it was perfect from the beginning. Though there was no Immaculate Conception of Mary, an invention of Rome, there was indeed such a conception of Jesus.
1:4
“and declared to be the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead.”
Still talking about Jesus here. Jesus Christ, and using the tense of verse three, where He was born, was also declared to be, the Son of God. A declaration was made. A decree sounded forth. A definition of Sonship and power was sent to the world. He was shown to be God’s Son by rising from the dead. Notice that this resurrection is not like Lazarus and others, a resuscitated corpse. But a totally re-done, glorified person, which the Word says is a model of what is going to happen to us!
Notice the parallel with verse three. In that verse Jesus is the seed of David, the Son of Man, according to, or by virtue of, in accordance with the fact of, His flesh. His human nature. The Word was made flesh.
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But Jesus is the God-man. In verse four He is declared to be the Son of God, according to the Spirit. The Spirit of Holiness. The Holy Spirit. It was the Spirit that brought Jesus back to life. Made flesh, but He remained the eternal Word. And if that Spirit that raised Christ from the dead, dwells in you, what…?
This dual understanding of Jesus’ sonship is further brought out by references to Psalm 2:7. Both Paul and the writer to the Hebrews bring out a truth of Jesus being the Son, but they bring out a different truth. First let’s read Psalm 2:7: God says,
“I will declare the decree: the Lord has said to Me, You are My Son, today have I begotten You.”
Here is how Hebrews handles this verse: The writer quotes David, then quotes two more passages to let you know what David meant.
First, 2 Samuel 7:14: “I will be to Him a Father, and He shall be to Me a Son.” We’re talking parenting here, and nothing else. He goes on again with another verse talking of “when He brings the firstborn into the world,” namely, “Let all the angels of God worship Him.”
Now Paul, in Acts 13:33 says that Psalm 2:7 is a proof of the resurrection. Here is God declaring publicly that this resurrected Jesus is His very Son, the One He brought into the world 30 years earlier. No contradiction.
Those who try to make Psalm 2:7 say one thing or the other thing, have to yield to the fact that it means both things.
Let this understanding put to rest the notion that Jesus was not really the Son of God until He rose from the dead, that somehow He was born again. When One is perfect and holy and sinless and God Himself, born again is not a necessity. Just another distraction from would-be revolutionaries of thought in the Christian church. We need to turn that dial off.
Jesus was (1 Peter 3:18) “put to death in the flesh, but made alive by the Spirit.” Already Paul is preaching the Gospel, in his greeting: God
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promised Messiah would come. He came. He died. He was raised from the dead. And Paul was called to be a messenger of that good news.
End of first sentence of the book of Romans.
1:5
“Through Him we have received grace and apostleship…”
“We”? Who is the “we” Paul is talking about here? “We” have received grace and apostleship. Conversion and vocation. Have all God’s people received grace? Of course. Apostleship? Not at all. No one at any time has ever taught that everyone is an apostle. And in the next verse Paul talks about his audience and says “you.”
The “we” is Paul’s humble way of referring to himself, and perhaps other apostles. Notice that same “we” in 3:9: “We have proved already that Jews and Gentiles are under sin.” When did he do that? In chapter one and chapter two. There again the “we” is Paul.
Ephesians 3:8 is a parallel verse to this one. Here he says “we” have received apostleship grace, to bring obedience to the faith to all the nations. In Ephesians he says that grace was given to him to preach Christ among the Gentiles, or “nations.”
“…for obedience to the faith.”
This is Paul’s message? Not “salvation by grace”? At first, the two phrases seem contradictory. But they are the same. When we call people to repent and believe the Gospel, the Good news of salvation, we are asking them to obey God’s invitation, to respond to Him. Our first obedience is believing. Then God lays out a life of obedience, but all led by the Spirit of God that dwells within, not slavish subservience to a written page. The New Covenant works from the inside. But it does work. And to see someone claiming to know Christ but not living a holy life is to see one who is a liar. Many will come in that day with outward claims. Didn’t we
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do this and do that? But their lives do not measure up. They never knew Him. They were never saved.
“…among all nations for His name.”
Was Paul boasting or at least exaggerating in his claim here? Did Paul go to all the Gentile nations and preach Jesus? Oh yes. Everywhere Jesus is preached and His Word is given out – by Gideons or missionaries or Korea’s Bible women – Paul preaches Jesus. Paul is preaching in many pulpits across our land. These are not our words. Our message is not our own. It is the message entrusted to Paul and his fellow apostles, who became the foundation stones of the church of Jesus.
And there is no replacing these apostles, or re-activating them, or restoring them, or re-defining them. No need to. The original apostles live! Their spirits are alive with Jesus. Their words are alive in His Book. Let no man add or subtract to these foundation stones. Let’s just keep building on what they laid down.
So notice how Paul is not shy in claiming his authority. No man living in the flesh today has this sort of authority. Paul says, I was given the faith. Now obey it. Pass it on. My domain is all the Gentile nations. Which, by the way, includes all you believers at Rome.
1:6
“among whom you also are the called of Jesus Christ.”
Not just all people in Rome. The called people. “Called” in the epistles is the effectual calling, the calling that cannot be resisted, the call of election. You are a part of this select special people, the people of God, a called people. Called to what? Called to be saints. Later in the epistle Paul will say that “whom He predestinated He also called…”
1:7
“To all who are in Rome, beloved of God, called to be saints.”
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Everyone in the church is called to be a saint. What is a saint? One who has been made holy by being forgiven and cleansed of all sin. One who has been set apart from the world, set on a different path. A new creation in Christ. Sanctified. “Saint” comes from that word.
Under the Old Covenant the Tabernacle was holy. The Temple was holy. So was the Ark of the Covenant, the tribe of Levi, all of Israel, the tithe, the Holy of Holies. But in our day, God Himself lives in us and we become the Holy Place. The saint.
We therefore must differ again with the church of Rome that specifies that a saint cannot be identified until after his death, and, say they, that part of that identification has to be the proof that the one in question worked a miracle or two.
All that is totally foreign to the Scriptural account of saints. It is a tradition of men. We are all called to be saints. And as we will find out later, those whom God calls, He eventually glorifies. All true Christians are saints.
Now. And forever.
Finally in his greeting comes his standard blessing,
“grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.” As in: 1 Corinthians 1:3, 2 Corinthians 1:2, Galatians 1:3, Ephesians 1:2,
Philippians 1:2, Colossians 1:2, 1 Thessalonians 1:1, 2 Thessalonians 1:2. To Timothy , he adds the word “mercy”, in 1 Timothy 1:2, and 2 Timothy 1:2, Titus 1:4. Then back to grace and peace in Philemon.
The fact that this greeting is not found in Hebrews has caused some to doubt that Paul wrote that epistle. None of that is life changing. What is important about this greeting is its content. Let’s look:
“Grace to you.” Incidentally, this is the name of John Macarthur’s website and media offerings. Here is the theme of Paul’s life and ministry. Not under the law, under grace. Moses cannot save you, but grace will. Can’t go to heaven by your own works, but only by grace. So I’m sending out
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this grace to you, I want you to have what I have. Grace was given to me, I am so unworthy! Now may God’s grace come to you! The message of grace is spreading everywhere, I want to be sure that this grace comes your way. The bad news is that you are lost forever if you try to keep the law of Moses. You are going to fail! But God has sent His grace to you by my preaching and the preaching of the other apostles. Take it, run with it, be saved by it!
And while you are receiving God’s grace, take His peace too. You can’t have peace if you are forever trying to please God by being good. Grace produces peace. They come in the same package and so I offer them to you in the same breath. Peace . Grace. Gifts of God. The war is over. Christ has won. Christ will enter your very person and give you His peace.
Receive it!
Notice that grace and peace come from the Father and the Son. But Jesus said, “Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you. Not as the world gives.” Is Jesus in opposition to Paul? Paul says it is from God the Father and Jesus. Jesus says, I give it.
Anything that comes from the Father also comes from the Son. And the Spirit. There is perfect harmony and unity between Father, Son, and Spirit. He that has the Son has the Father also. You can’t divide their persons and their functions. They are so much one that some religious enthusiasts have concluded that they are only one, and not three. No, there is a Threeness in their Oneness. I can’t explain it and neither can you, but we can depend upon it: Grace and peace come from the Father and the Son, via the Spirit that Jesus promised and that was poured out on the church at Pentecost.
It was Paul’s heart that God’s grace and peace would come to everyone to whom he wrote. These are not just words, this was not just a routine. He really meant it!
That is the end of the greeting portion. Now comes Paul’s introduction to the epistle, telling us why he is writing it.
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