Romans 1:1-7--Paul's Greeting to the Church in Rome

Romans 1:1-7
English Standard Version

Greeting​
1 Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God, 2 which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy Scriptures, 3 concerning his Son, who was descended from David according to the flesh 4 and was declared to be the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord, 5 through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith for the sake of his name among all the nations, 6 including you who are called to belong to Jesus Christ,

7 To all those in Rome who are loved by God and called to be saints:

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

---

I personally love the book of Romans, and I can't think of any better time to start studying it than Easter Sunday.  By the time we are done with the book of Romans we should know about the nature of man, the nature of God, the nature of Jesus, and the one true gospel that is the same for all peoples in all places at all times--whether they were Old Testament saints or New Testament believers, Jew or Gentile, male or female, slave or free.  There is one way of salvation for any and all which come to God.  Salvation is by grace alone, through faith alone and is in Christ alone, just like we studied in the book of Galatians.  In fact, much of what we studied in the book of Galatians will also be here in the book of Romans, but a much more formal argument will be given here.  In fact, this book has been used for years to teach lawyers in secular law schools how to prepare and present their legal cases and arguments.  So, if you start to fell like you're on trial here during some of the first few chapters of the book of Romans, that's exactly how you should feel as the first few chapters read like God's indictment against everyone--pagans, Jews, and Gentiles.  We'll get to some of those famous passages in chapters 1, 3, and 6 later.

For now though, let's focus on Paul's introduction to this letter.  First, it is important to notice that Paul identifies himself as an apostle--that is that He is saying that he has seen the risen Christ and has eyewitness testimony to offer on the subject of salvation because he has been sent by Jesus with authority over the Church to teach and correct, but also to evangelize and make the gospel known to the Gentiles.

Paul says that the same gospel that he is preaching is the gospel that was set forth ahead of time in the Law and the Prophets.  There is not a "different gospel" of the Old Testament than there is of the New Testament, the difference is just that the Old Testament saints believed in the future atonement that would be made on their behalf whereas we are now looking backwards at the cross and believing in something that has already occurred.

Next, Paul definitively says that the gospel has always been and will always be about Jesus Christ, the Son of God, descended of King David, according to the flesh.  That is that Jesus' nature is 100% God and 100% man, and that He is the promised Messiah that fulfills the covenants given to Adam, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, and David.  We know He is the Son of God because He has been raised from the dead and now is both Lord and Christ (that is Messiah).  That is why this is such a perfect day to start this book.

By him, Paul says that his team that is helping him write this letter "have received both grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith for the sake of his name among all the nations, including you who are called to belong to Jesus Christ,"  That is quite the mission statement!  Let's unpack that a bit.  Paul says that he received grace as a gift from God and also his apostleship as a gift from God.  Is not something he deserved or earned in any way--it is a gift that he cannot brag about.  The purpose he was given this gift was not for himself, but to bring about obedience in the faith for the purpose of glorifying the name of Christ from people of all the nations of the world--specifically among those who have been called to belong to Jesus Christ.  That idea of predestination is one of the big themes of the book of Romans, and it is this book that kicked off the Reformation.  There is nothing "new" about what is called "reformed" theology, because as we will see later in the book of Acts and as we've already seen in the book of Galatians, Paul makes sure that this gospel that he is preaching is identical to that which Peter, James, and John are preaching in Jerusalem and in the surrounding areas.

Paul then identifies his audiences as the church in Rome--those who are loved by God and called to be saints.  Sainthood is not what many imagine it to be.  The New Testament is clear that all believers are saints.  It is not a special title conferred by the Church or that one receives after death or that you must do something to earn--it is something that we are because that is what God has made us once we are saved.  So, Paul is writing this letter to people who he knows are the genuine article.  They are definitely loved by God as His children and they have been transformed from sinners to saints.  That is going to make some of what gets said in the first few chapters a little weird.  Why does Paul need to lay out the indictment against sinners if he's not talking to sinners?  We'll talk about that a bit more as we go along, but remember that gospel is just as necessary for saved people as it is for lost people, and Paul wants to make sure that they know they have believed the one true gospel.

Finally, Paul wraps up his greeting in a way he often does in his letters--"Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ."  This "grace and peace" welcome and closing is almost Paul's signature.  We see it in almost every letter that he writes and it gives me confidence that this is something that he actually wrote or at least dictated to someone else to write for him, as many of his letters were written by others he was travelling with.  We'll see the whole group of people that are with Paul while he's writing that letter when we get to the very end of the book.  For now though Paul is going to make his opening argument, and he's not going to pull any punches.  It's going to be very easy in the rest of chapter 1 to think Paul is talking about "those people" who are not like us, but it will become obvious in chapters 2 and 3 that Paul's intention is to show that all of us apart from Christ are these people here in chapter 1 and that there is no advantage to being Jew or Gentile.  Whether we have the Law of God or are ignorant of it, we all still stand guilty and condemned by the knowledge of God that we do have because everyone knows enough to know that God exists and they willfully choose to rebel against Him.  Think that's a little harsh?  Keep following along with us and hear Paul's case.  I think you will find it compelling.