Romans 1: 1 Paul, a bondservant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated to the gospel of God 2which He promised before through His prophets in the Holy Scriptures, 3concerning His Son Jesus Christ our Lord, who was born of the seed of David according to the flesh, 4and declared to be the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead.”
Paul was obviously the author of Romans. This is made clear just by the simple introduction that he gives at every beginning of his letters. Bondservant comes from the greek word doulous, a common NT word for servant. In Greek culture it was referred to the involuntary, permant service of a slave, Paul elevates this word by using it in its Hebraic sense to describe a servant who willingly commits himself to serve a master he loves and respects (Ex 21:5-6; Gal 1:10; Titus 1:1; Gen 26:24; Num 12:7; 2 Sam 7:5; Isa 53:11).
Apostle means one who is sent. In the NT, it refers to the 12 men Christ chose to accompany Him (Mark 3:13-19) and Matthaias, whom the other apostles chose to replace Judas (Acts 1:15-26). Christ gave them power to confirm their apostleship with miracles (Matthew 10:1; 2 Cor 12:12) and authority to speak as His emissaries. Every New Testament book was written either by an apostle or under his auspices (John 14:26). Their teaching is the foundation of the church (Eph 2:20). Christ Himself selected Paul for this position (Acts 9:15; 22:14; 26:!6; Gal 1:1) and trained him to fulfill this ministry (Gal 1:12,16).
Gospel of God, its noun and verb forms occur at least 60 times in this epistle. The Greek word for this phrase is “good news” (Mark 1:1). Rome incorporated it into its emperor worship. In contrast to this already we can see that Paul places the need for emperor worship in light of the Gospel of Yeshua. This will be an issue we will address in Chapter 13 the responsibility of the believer in government affairs. Paul’s good news in contrast with Rome’s good news is not from the emperor but from the Lord Yeshua. Its message is that God will forgive sins, deliverer from sin’s power and give eternal hope (1:16; 1 Cor 15:1-4) comes not only as a gracious offer, but also as a command to be obeyed (10:16). Paul was consumed with this message (1 Cor 9:23).
Which He promised before: Paul’s Jewish antagonists accused him of preaching a revoluntionary new message unrelated to Judaism (Acts 21:28). The OT is replete with prophecies concerning Christ and the gospel (1 Peter 1:10-12; Matthew 5:17; Heb 1:1). Yeshua was fully God while also full man. Yeshua was of the line of King David (Matthew 1:1). He was truly the Son of God and the Son of Man at the same time. This is the doctrine of the incarnation; that is God become man but still being God. The fact that Yeshua was the descendent of David also links Him to the Davidic covenant. When Christ returns to reign over all, He will fulfill God’s promise to David to give him a dynasty that will last forever (2 Sam 7:8-18).
His Prophets: This clearly refers to all the writers of the Old Testament, which would concern the Law and the Prophets (Acts 24:14). The Law-or the Pentateuch-was written by Moses, whom Scripture calls a prophet (Deut 18:15). Holy Scriptures: The rabbinical writings popular in the first century were often more studied than the Scriptures themselves, which may not have taught the gospel of God, the divinely inspired OT certainly did (Luke 24:25, 27,32,John 5:39; Acts 3:18; 7:52; 10:43; 13:32; 26:22.23; Gen 3:15). The Prophets spoke clearly of a New Covenant (Jer 31:31-34; Ezek 36:25-27; Heb 8:6-13) and of the Messiah whose sacrifice would make it possible (Isa 9:6-7; 53:1-12).
Born: Yeshua was conceived in a virgin’s womb by the Holy Spirit (Luke 1:35; Isa 7:14) and was delivered normally. This word just emphasizes that He is an actual historical figure. Many well known ancient writers including the Roman historian Tacitus (Annals 15.44), the familiar Jewish historian Josephus (Antiquities, 2.18.3) and Pliny the Younger (Letters 10.96-97) verify Yeshua’s historicity.
Seed of David: The Old Testament had prophesied that Messiah would be in the lineage of David (2 Sam 7:12-13; Psalm 89:3-4, 19,24; Is 11:1-5; Jer 23:5-6). Both mary, Yeshua’s mother (Luke 3:23,31); and Joseph, his legal father (Matthew 1:6,16; Luke 1:27), were descendants of David. John makes believing that Christ has come in the flesh a crucial test of orthodoxy (1 John 4:2-3). Because he is fully human-as well as fully God-He can serve us as man’s substitute (John 1:29; 2 Cor 5:21) and as a sympathetic High Priest (Heb 4:15-16).
Declared: The Greek word from which the English word horizon comes from, meaning to distinguish. Just as the horizon serves as a clear demarcation line, dividing earth and sky, the resurrection of Yeshua serves clearly divides Him from the rest of humanity, providing irrefutable evidence that He is the Son of the Living God. Son of God: This title refers 30 times in the Gospels identifying Yeshua as the same essence as God (John 1:34,49; 10:36; 11:27; 19:7; Heb 1:5; 2 Sam 7:14). The resurrection clearly declared that Yeshua was deity, the expression of God Himself in human form. While He was eternally the Son in anticipation of His incarnation, it was when He entered the world in incarnation that He was declared to all the world as the Son of God and took on the role of submission to the Father (Psalm 2:7; Heb 1:5-6).
Spirit of Holiness refers to in His incarnation, Yeshua voluntarily submitted Himself to do the will of the Father only through the direction, agency, and power of the Holy Spirit (Matthew 3:16; Luke 4:1; John 3:34; Acts 1:2). Resurrection from the dead refers to His victory over death was the supreme demonstration and most conclusive evidence that He is God the Son (10:9; Acts 13:29-33; 1 Cor 15:14-17).
Romans 1:5-7, “5Through Him we have received grace and apostleship for obedience to the faith among all nations for His name, 6among whom you also are the called of Jesus Christ; 7To all who are in Rome, beloved of God, called to be saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.”
Grace is the unmerited favor of God which God shows guilty sinners. This is the first reference in this book to the word grace, which is the most crucial aspect of the gospel message: salvation is a gift from God wholly separate from any human effort or achievement (3:24, 27; 4:1-5; 5:20-21; Eph 2:8-9). The word apostle in the sense of the word here refers to the 12 in a unique way, but in a broader sense it can refer to anyone whom God has sent with the message of salvation (14:14; Romans 16:7; Heb 3:1). Paul was an apostle in the second sense, although not a member specifically of the original 12.
Some have said that Apostles are long and dead, along with the Spirit gifts. To this, I would like to offer a counter argument. If we walk by faith in Yeshua, He will guide us all the way towards Himself speaking words to us to guide us. In the sense that He speaks to us, it is prophetic, but also in that same sense others must be able to speak to us from the Lord in order to help us walk by faith. Otherwise if we don’t wish to hold to this position we might as well never preach because nothing would ever be from the Lord Yeshua in the first place. Those who hold to the position opposing to this deny the work of the Holy Spirit speaking to us to guide us, because this is a fundamental and non complex issue. They make it complex, because they have not the Spirit of Yeshua Hamasriach in them.
Many will be offended by this, so lets go back. If you got the Spirit of the Lord in you, your going to want to know what it means to follow Him. One has to go to the Word of God to study to show themselves approved, but also to the Spirit of Truth in prayer to learn more in understanding His Word. God reveals Himself still through out circumstances and His power, for His name, that we would shine forth as beacons of hope in a dark world. If the Lord isn’t working miraculously then, I will argue with anyone who wants to step up to the plate, that God is at work even in the midst of our trials working out His miraculous plan of salvation in signs, miracles and wonders displaying His name as great to the nations of the world.
God is still living and active today. The problem is that we have lost sight of His sovernity, of His true love for His people. What we need is more people sent with a passion for His glory. What we need is more people sent with a laboring intensive passion to love and to declare His true Word. The Lord has always been an on time God for an on time answer. If we have a request let us lift it before the Lord Yeshua, hearing His answer as we would on a telephone call. One uses the telephone to communicate and in the same way we can use our telephone in prayer with the Lord Yeshua. Its time that we begin to grow in faith therefore we can grow also in obedience in faith.
Obedience to the faith is the true demonstration of true saving faith always produces obedience and submission to the Lordship of Yeshua Hamasriach (Christ Jesus; 16:19,26; 10:9-10; Matthew 7:13-14, 22-27; James 2:17-20). Called always refers in NT epistles to the call of God referring to God’s effectual call of elect sinners to salvation (8:28-30), rather than the general call to all men to believe (Matthew (20:16). This is an important theme throughout the book of Romans and for Paul as well. Yeshua calls all men to Himself, but not all people will come, because only those who are elected to Him will truly come to saving faith. One goes to a baseball game to see players hit and score runs. One doesn’t go to the baseball game to watch the pitcher pitch, they go to see the excitement of the players hitting homeruns. One doesn’t go to a basketball game to see the players not score, dunk, or shoot the three pointer. One doesn’t go to watch the defense play, but the offense.
In the same way that we the fans go to see our sport teams go score points, either by hitting the game winning jump shot or the game winning homerun, believers have been called to hit the 3 pointer at the half, the game tying homerun. Those who are called by the Lord Yeshua will be those who are no longer participants of the world system. By world system, I am not saying that they will not work and participate in the affairs of the world. We are called to be separate to the Lord. By separate we are suggesting here the importance of really knowing the Lord, and in taking time to know Him. By the world system, we are referring to the overarching authority that governs and controls our affairs.
In the same sentence what is important for us to understand, that one cannot say they are really His if they aren’t really doing what He asks them to do as His follower. Luther on this point made concessions; however, Calvin flat out said that if you didn’t show your faith, it wasn’t really faith at all. Luther’s problem was overcorrection, Luther’s was one of determination to build upon Luther. You see we have many who won’t come out and say what they think, because they are afraid they will get shot down. This is the wrong attitude to have. We have not a spirit of fear, but a spirit of freedom in His name. Its time to come out of the fear that traps you and into the abundance that God has for you.
Rome is the capital city of the Roman empire which Paul so very desired to go to. Paul’s desire to go to Rome was very great, but it’s a good thing for us that he wrote this letter. Romans is the greatest of the NT epistles, because it is not to correct theology in a church. The Roman church was going great at this time being built in the faith. It would be later that the Roman church was torn asunder by heresy, but at this point in church history the church was going well.
Beloved of God, called.. saints refers to three separate privileges that believers have. The Greek text records for us three of these privileges 1) God has set His love on His own (5:5; 8:35; Eph 1:6; 2:4-5; 1 John 3:1). 2) He has extended to them not only the general, external invitation to believe the gospel (Is 45:22; 55:6; Ezek 33:11; Matthew 11:28; John 7:37; Rev 22:17), but His effectual calling-or His drawing to Himself all those He has chosen for salvation (8:30; 2 Thess 2:13-14; 2 Tim 1:9; John 6:44). And 3) God has set believers apart from sin unto Himself so that they are holy ones (1 Cr 3:16-17; 1 Peter 2:5,9).
This then opens the chapter of Romans for us. Paul greets us and gives us some information that will be important in our study of Romans. We shall be dealing with a lot of high level theology here, but all will be explained. We have introduced such topics as the incarnation, and election, which shall be built upon as we go along.
Pastor David Jenkins
