-1-
I am coming for a visit
ROMANS 1:1-13
The Apostle's introduction and reason for writing to them.
I want to preface this study of Romans with a few quotations from others who have studied and commented on this letter of St. Paul's.
John Knox said that it is “unquestionably the most important theological work ever written” (The Interpreter’s Bible, Vol 9, 355).
Samuel Coleridge said, “I think that the Epistle to the Romans is the most profound work in existence” (Table Talk, 232).
John Piper said, “Romans is the most important letter ever penned.”
Matthew Henry: “This epistle to the Romans is placed first, not because of the priority of its date, but because of the superlative excellency of the epistle, it being one of the longest and fullest of all” …
The apostle Paul penned fourteen of the twenty-seven New Testament books. In all of the other cases Paul was writing to a group of believers that he had been responsible for getting together and forming into a church-plant.
This is the Apostle Paul's letter to a church he did not 'plant'. He had never even visited this church. He does, however, have a number of friends who live in Rome and are part of the church there. He wants to visit there shortly, and he is sending this letter ahead of himself by the hand of a woman named Phoebe. Phoebe, by the way is from Rome and is well loved and respected by the church community there.
The nature of this book is very special. Martin Luther was changed in his beliefs regarding salvation as a result of his in-depth study of Romans. A whole myriad of subjects and truths are expanded on by Paul in this tremendous letter.
Here is a brief background to Romans. Paul, a missionary church-planter, has over the past number of years made three tours of Asia, each successive tour growing in length. It was during his last short visit to Corinth that he wrote this letter to the church at Rome. He stated his intentions … To go first to Jerusalem to bring the collection of funds that was raised and collected for the poor in the Jerusalem church, then to Rome, on his way to Spain.
Fresh on Paul's mind would be the encounters he just had in Galatia with Judaisers. These people were following Paul. As he left a church, they would come in and 'correct' Paul's mistakes. They said that Paul was leaving out some essential things, such as forcing Gentiles to be circumcised and to practice Jewish law. One might conclude that these were Orthodox Jews who were using this method to try to destroy Paul's work, but actually, a Judaiser was a so-called Christian. That is, they believed in Jesus as their true messiah and Savior. They continued practicing as Jews, but with the one difference from all other Jews … they believed in Jesus.
As we get into this book we will get a sense of Paul's intense beliefs regarding salvation and how it related to both Jews and Gentiles. It is because of this that we have in our possession a marvelous book of gospel truth.
That was a very brief comment on who Paul was … now a brief picture of what the Roman church looked like.
All churches during this period of history were totally different from what we are familiar with in our western world. They met in small groups and grew by dividing. Church buildings did not become and 'idea' until 250 years later. So typically, they would meet in a suitable home and in some cases rent a hall. We discover in Paul's first letter to the Corinthians that they periodically 'all came together into one place' to have communion together. Churches were named after the city in which they ministered.
The church in Rome also met in multiple small groups … but when Paul addresses them … it is to the church in Rome, as if it were a singular large church in the city somewhere.
So let's begin:
Ro 1:1 ¶ Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God,
As Paul begins his letter in the normal fashion of the day, he states who he is. If he is listing these things according to any importance, we notice that the first and most important title that he gives himself is, Servant of Jesus Christ. What about you and me? What is your title? Is there any more important title that you could give yourself than this; Servant of Christ. All Christians, including ministers/pastors ,should always see themselves first and foremost as servants.
This servant of Christ was called to be an apostle. An apostle was a category of service that carried with it authority. Jesus set first in the church … apostles (see Luke 6:13) . 12 of them (only). He knew who Judas was at the very outset and chose him anyway. Judas removed himself from the group and also from this life. The apostle John in Revelation 21 describes the future Holy City, the New Jerusalem as it descends from the sky, downwards, to the new earth … as having 12 foundations, each with a name of one of the apostles (Rev 21:14). We rightly would assume that one of the foundations would not be named after Judas. So who fills in the one that would be blank? Either Matthias, a man chosen by the small group just before the day of Pentecost … or Paul, a man chosen by God. Paul believed he was was the one. He called himself an apostle 'born at the wrong time'. Many people refused to believe that Paul actually was an apostle and therefore would have no particular reason to obey him. In Paul's Second letter to the Corinthians he gives a very strong defense of his authenticity as an Apostle of Jesus.
He says that he was 'set apart for the gospel'. Specifically he says that his Gospel ministry was to the gentiles.
…. Inasmuch then as I am an apostle to the Gentiles, I magnify my ministry Ro 11:13
Ministers should always see themselves as 'set apart for the gospel'. There are a lot of other less important areas that some of us ministers think we should 'specialize' in. But if we specialize in any area other than the gospel, we are expending time and energy in an area that is less important than the true calling of God …. the gospel. This gospel should consume all his thoughts, his talents and his time.
Moving on to the next verse:
Ro 1:2 (The gospel) 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,
Notice Paul's reverence to scripture. The phrase, in the holy Scriptures gives us a clue of the foundational and fundamental belief of the apostles and early church leaders of that day. Because the gospel had been promised in the holy scriptures, the old testament bible, there could be no doubt at all that the promise would be fulfilled. After all, this is God doing the promising.
In verses 3 and 4 we have one of the most basic doctrines of the Christian church today. Jesus was a real man. Jesus was (is) really God. Paul says that Jesus is 100% God and and was 100% man. He says that Jesus was 'declared to be' the Son of God … by whom? Who declared it? Actually in this case it is not a person, it is an event that did the declaring. What event? The resurrection from the dead. Nothing else could say it so clearly. Jesus predicted it. He said it in Mark 8:31 “And he began to teach them, that the Son of man must suffer many things, and be rejected of the elders, and of the chief priests, and scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again. Anyone can say or declare something. But when the resurrection actually happened … that declared Jesus to be the Son of God in such a way that there could be no doubt at all.
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,
When Paul says 'we' he is referring only to himself. From Jesus Paul has received his commission to be an apostle. And this commissioning is to be ' among all the nations'. Peter and James would be serving in the Jewish circles, but Paul's ministry would be everywhere else.
6 including you who are called to belong to Jesus Christ
We assume from this wording that the 'make-up' of the church in Rome would be gentile and not so much former Jews.
1:7 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.
The first six verses are Paul's stating who this letter is from. Now verse 7 says who it is to.
The statement, to all those in Rome is qualified by the next phrase. If there were no qualifying phrase, then we have Paul writing an open letter to literally everybody in Rome. He is not doing that. In fact, there are no books in the Bible that are written to unbelievers. Every book is written to and for believers.
What are the qualifying words that follow? those in Rome who are loved by God and called (to be) saints.
Paul is writing to Christians.
One quick comment is in order to clarify something in verse 7. Called to be saints, is really called saints in the Bible Greek text. It leaves the wrong impression to say called to be … That is where the early Catholic church gets the idea that a person does not actually become a saint until sometime after they die. This is a mistake. We are called saints the moment we convert to receive Jesus as our Saviour. The word saint means 'holy one'. Are you holy? Not yet? Yes, you are. When you invited Jesus to come into your heart to become your Lord and Saviour … He came in … and made your inner spirit holy. That is what we call the new birth. That new spirit that just came to life within you at that moment was sinless and holy. And it stays sinless and holy. Consider what the Apostle John said, Whoever has been born of God does not sin, for His seed remains in him; and he cannot sin, because he has been born of God. 1John 3:9
I realise that the above verse raises questions. And not only that, some other versions do not say it the same way. Let's try to clear it up. First of all, we know that we still sin. The problem is in the first word .. whoever. We are not accustomed to referring to our spirit as a WHO. We might say “My spirit, it is ...” We refer to our spirit as an 'it'. John refers to your spirit as you. If we put a different emphasis on the first word for a moment, we can clear this up. Change the first word to what or that which has been born of God does not sin, for His seed remains in him; and he cannot sin, because he has been born of God.
We Christians are three-part persons. We are body soul and spirit. Before you invited Jesus into your heart you had a living soul and a living body but a dead spirit. It is our spirit that cannot sin. It is holy. That makes us saints.
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Paul wishes them the best … and then begins his letter to them.
8 ¶ First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is proclaimed in all the world.
Wow. What would it take for that to be said about us? The Christians in Rome … most of whom Paul had never met, living in the darkest, most wicked city in the known world … are living out their faith in such a way that they are becoming known all over the world. Rome is the city of Nero. He hates Christians. He is making sport of them by having them thrown into the arena, then turning loose lions out of their cages, and then seeing how long a christian will last. They are first given the chance to 'recant' and denounce the name of Jesus. When they refuse to do that, the lions are released. It was a sport. Very likely bets were placed. And in such an environment, Christianity was flourishing and their faith was being spoken of in churches of the known world.
9 For God is my witness, whom I serve with my spirit in the gospel of his Son, that without ceasing I mention you, (10 )always in my prayers, asking that somehow by God’s will I may now at last succeed in coming to you. (11) For I long to see you ...
It is really hard to imagine Paul's prayer life. Paul says that he has been praying for them … without ceasing. Paul had others on his prayer list. In second Corinthians Paul is listing the many hardships that he endures day in and day out. Then he adds, 2Co 11:28 And, apart from other things, there is the daily pressure on me of my anxiety for all the churches. Surely his prayer time consisted of mentioning many other churches and individuals as well. I would think those churches that he personally had planted would be on the top of his list. But here we read that he prays constantly for a church that he had not yet ever visited. The next verses point out two specific things he prayed for:
11 For I long to see you, that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to strengthen you--
12 that is, that we may be mutually encouraged by each other’s faith, both yours and mine.
Number one, he prayed that it would be possible to see them face to face
and number two – to be able to give them something that would strengthen them.
Some commentators think that the gift(s) that he wanted to leave with them, were the gifts mentioned in First Corinthians chapters 12 – 14. Many other commentators disagree and say that this is not referring to the supernatural gifts of the Spirit. I agree with the later. Why? For more than one reason, but in chapter 12 where he mentions a list of spiritual gifts, he refers to them as already having been given, not as something he will give them when he gets there. And for another reason, in verse 12 above, he says that is is the exchange of 'faith' that will be taking place when he gets there.
Simply put, Paul is saying, “When I get there I have some things to give you that will really strengthen your faith, and I think there are things that I will receive from you that will be strengthening to me”. I could say the same thing about sharing my commentary on Romans to a study group …to those who are reading these words … I pray that I have something worthwhile to give you.
Apparently Paul has wanted to do this for some time. He says;
13 I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that I have often intended to come to you (but thus far have been prevented)1, in order that I may reap some harvest among you as well as among the rest of the Gentiles.
Regarding Paul's travels, sometimes it was the Holy Spirit that stopped him from going somewhere. At other times he said it was the Devil. In this case he says it was the fact that he wanted to minister in areas where no one had ever gone before.
What about us? Do we pray before we travel or make a 'big move'? Here is our word from God: James 4:13 Come now, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit" — 14 yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. 15 Instead you ought to say, "If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that."
So Paul's reason for writing to the Roman church was to give them a 'heads-up' concerning his visit. But this book turned out to be so much more as we will see in the coming chapters.
1 Romans 15:20 and thus I make it my ambition to preach the gospel, not where Christ has already been named, lest I build on someone else’s foundation,
22 ¶ This is the reason why I have so often been hindered from coming to you. 23 But now, since I no longer have any room for work in these regions, and since I have longed for many years to come to you, 24 I hope to see you in passing as I go to Spain, and to be helped on my journey there by you, once I have enjoyed your company for a while. 25 At present, however, I am going to Jerusalem bringing aid to the saints.
I want to preface this study of Romans with a few quotations from others who have studied and commented on this letter of St. Paul's.
John Knox said that it is “unquestionably the most important theological work ever written” (The Interpreter’s Bible, Vol 9, 355).
Samuel Coleridge said, “I think that the Epistle to the Romans is the most profound work in existence” (Table Talk, 232).
John Piper said, “Romans is the most important letter ever penned.”
Matthew Henry: “This epistle to the Romans is placed first, not because of the priority of its date, but because of the superlative excellency of the epistle, it being one of the longest and fullest of all” …
The apostle Paul penned fourteen of the twenty-seven New Testament books. In all of the other cases Paul was writing to a group of believers that he had been responsible for getting together and forming into a church-plant.
This is the Apostle Paul's letter to a church he did not 'plant'. He had never even visited this church. He does, however, have a number of friends who live in Rome and are part of the church there. He wants to visit there shortly, and he is sending this letter ahead of himself by the hand of a woman named Phoebe. Phoebe, by the way is from Rome and is well loved and respected by the church community there.
The nature of this book is very special. Martin Luther was changed in his beliefs regarding salvation as a result of his in-depth study of Romans. A whole myriad of subjects and truths are expanded on by Paul in this tremendous letter.
Here is a brief background to Romans. Paul, a missionary church-planter, has over the past number of years made three tours of Asia, each successive tour growing in length. It was during his last short visit to Corinth that he wrote this letter to the church at Rome. He stated his intentions … To go first to Jerusalem to bring the collection of funds that was raised and collected for the poor in the Jerusalem church, then to Rome, on his way to Spain.
Fresh on Paul's mind would be the encounters he just had in Galatia with Judaisers. These people were following Paul. As he left a church, they would come in and 'correct' Paul's mistakes. They said that Paul was leaving out some essential things, such as forcing Gentiles to be circumcised and to practice Jewish law. One might conclude that these were Orthodox Jews who were using this method to try to destroy Paul's work, but actually, a Judaiser was a so-called Christian. That is, they believed in Jesus as their true messiah and Savior. They continued practicing as Jews, but with the one difference from all other Jews … they believed in Jesus.
As we get into this book we will get a sense of Paul's intense beliefs regarding salvation and how it related to both Jews and Gentiles. It is because of this that we have in our possession a marvelous book of gospel truth.
That was a very brief comment on who Paul was … now a brief picture of what the Roman church looked like.
All churches during this period of history were totally different from what we are familiar with in our western world. They met in small groups and grew by dividing. Church buildings did not become and 'idea' until 250 years later. So typically, they would meet in a suitable home and in some cases rent a hall. We discover in Paul's first letter to the Corinthians that they periodically 'all came together into one place' to have communion together. Churches were named after the city in which they ministered.
The church in Rome also met in multiple small groups … but when Paul addresses them … it is to the church in Rome, as if it were a singular large church in the city somewhere.
So let's begin:
Ro 1:1 ¶ Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God,
As Paul begins his letter in the normal fashion of the day, he states who he is. If he is listing these things according to any importance, we notice that the first and most important title that he gives himself is, Servant of Jesus Christ. What about you and me? What is your title? Is there any more important title that you could give yourself than this; Servant of Christ. All Christians, including ministers/pastors ,should always see themselves first and foremost as servants.
This servant of Christ was called to be an apostle. An apostle was a category of service that carried with it authority. Jesus set first in the church … apostles (see Luke 6:13) . 12 of them (only). He knew who Judas was at the very outset and chose him anyway. Judas removed himself from the group and also from this life. The apostle John in Revelation 21 describes the future Holy City, the New Jerusalem as it descends from the sky, downwards, to the new earth … as having 12 foundations, each with a name of one of the apostles (Rev 21:14). We rightly would assume that one of the foundations would not be named after Judas. So who fills in the one that would be blank? Either Matthias, a man chosen by the small group just before the day of Pentecost … or Paul, a man chosen by God. Paul believed he was was the one. He called himself an apostle 'born at the wrong time'. Many people refused to believe that Paul actually was an apostle and therefore would have no particular reason to obey him. In Paul's Second letter to the Corinthians he gives a very strong defense of his authenticity as an Apostle of Jesus.
He says that he was 'set apart for the gospel'. Specifically he says that his Gospel ministry was to the gentiles.
…. Inasmuch then as I am an apostle to the Gentiles, I magnify my ministry Ro 11:13
Ministers should always see themselves as 'set apart for the gospel'. There are a lot of other less important areas that some of us ministers think we should 'specialize' in. But if we specialize in any area other than the gospel, we are expending time and energy in an area that is less important than the true calling of God …. the gospel. This gospel should consume all his thoughts, his talents and his time.
Moving on to the next verse:
Ro 1:2 (The gospel) 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,
Notice Paul's reverence to scripture. The phrase, in the holy Scriptures gives us a clue of the foundational and fundamental belief of the apostles and early church leaders of that day. Because the gospel had been promised in the holy scriptures, the old testament bible, there could be no doubt at all that the promise would be fulfilled. After all, this is God doing the promising.
In verses 3 and 4 we have one of the most basic doctrines of the Christian church today. Jesus was a real man. Jesus was (is) really God. Paul says that Jesus is 100% God and and was 100% man. He says that Jesus was 'declared to be' the Son of God … by whom? Who declared it? Actually in this case it is not a person, it is an event that did the declaring. What event? The resurrection from the dead. Nothing else could say it so clearly. Jesus predicted it. He said it in Mark 8:31 “And he began to teach them, that the Son of man must suffer many things, and be rejected of the elders, and of the chief priests, and scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again. Anyone can say or declare something. But when the resurrection actually happened … that declared Jesus to be the Son of God in such a way that there could be no doubt at all.
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,
When Paul says 'we' he is referring only to himself. From Jesus Paul has received his commission to be an apostle. And this commissioning is to be ' among all the nations'. Peter and James would be serving in the Jewish circles, but Paul's ministry would be everywhere else.
6 including you who are called to belong to Jesus Christ
We assume from this wording that the 'make-up' of the church in Rome would be gentile and not so much former Jews.
1:7 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.
The first six verses are Paul's stating who this letter is from. Now verse 7 says who it is to.
The statement, to all those in Rome is qualified by the next phrase. If there were no qualifying phrase, then we have Paul writing an open letter to literally everybody in Rome. He is not doing that. In fact, there are no books in the Bible that are written to unbelievers. Every book is written to and for believers.
What are the qualifying words that follow? those in Rome who are loved by God and called (to be) saints.
Paul is writing to Christians.
One quick comment is in order to clarify something in verse 7. Called to be saints, is really called saints in the Bible Greek text. It leaves the wrong impression to say called to be … That is where the early Catholic church gets the idea that a person does not actually become a saint until sometime after they die. This is a mistake. We are called saints the moment we convert to receive Jesus as our Saviour. The word saint means 'holy one'. Are you holy? Not yet? Yes, you are. When you invited Jesus to come into your heart to become your Lord and Saviour … He came in … and made your inner spirit holy. That is what we call the new birth. That new spirit that just came to life within you at that moment was sinless and holy. And it stays sinless and holy. Consider what the Apostle John said, Whoever has been born of God does not sin, for His seed remains in him; and he cannot sin, because he has been born of God. 1John 3:9
I realise that the above verse raises questions. And not only that, some other versions do not say it the same way. Let's try to clear it up. First of all, we know that we still sin. The problem is in the first word .. whoever. We are not accustomed to referring to our spirit as a WHO. We might say “My spirit, it is ...” We refer to our spirit as an 'it'. John refers to your spirit as you. If we put a different emphasis on the first word for a moment, we can clear this up. Change the first word to what or that which has been born of God does not sin, for His seed remains in him; and he cannot sin, because he has been born of God.
We Christians are three-part persons. We are body soul and spirit. Before you invited Jesus into your heart you had a living soul and a living body but a dead spirit. It is our spirit that cannot sin. It is holy. That makes us saints.
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Paul wishes them the best … and then begins his letter to them.
8 ¶ First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is proclaimed in all the world.
Wow. What would it take for that to be said about us? The Christians in Rome … most of whom Paul had never met, living in the darkest, most wicked city in the known world … are living out their faith in such a way that they are becoming known all over the world. Rome is the city of Nero. He hates Christians. He is making sport of them by having them thrown into the arena, then turning loose lions out of their cages, and then seeing how long a christian will last. They are first given the chance to 'recant' and denounce the name of Jesus. When they refuse to do that, the lions are released. It was a sport. Very likely bets were placed. And in such an environment, Christianity was flourishing and their faith was being spoken of in churches of the known world.
9 For God is my witness, whom I serve with my spirit in the gospel of his Son, that without ceasing I mention you, (10 )always in my prayers, asking that somehow by God’s will I may now at last succeed in coming to you. (11) For I long to see you ...
It is really hard to imagine Paul's prayer life. Paul says that he has been praying for them … without ceasing. Paul had others on his prayer list. In second Corinthians Paul is listing the many hardships that he endures day in and day out. Then he adds, 2Co 11:28 And, apart from other things, there is the daily pressure on me of my anxiety for all the churches. Surely his prayer time consisted of mentioning many other churches and individuals as well. I would think those churches that he personally had planted would be on the top of his list. But here we read that he prays constantly for a church that he had not yet ever visited. The next verses point out two specific things he prayed for:
11 For I long to see you, that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to strengthen you--
12 that is, that we may be mutually encouraged by each other’s faith, both yours and mine.
Number one, he prayed that it would be possible to see them face to face
and number two – to be able to give them something that would strengthen them.
Some commentators think that the gift(s) that he wanted to leave with them, were the gifts mentioned in First Corinthians chapters 12 – 14. Many other commentators disagree and say that this is not referring to the supernatural gifts of the Spirit. I agree with the later. Why? For more than one reason, but in chapter 12 where he mentions a list of spiritual gifts, he refers to them as already having been given, not as something he will give them when he gets there. And for another reason, in verse 12 above, he says that is is the exchange of 'faith' that will be taking place when he gets there.
Simply put, Paul is saying, “When I get there I have some things to give you that will really strengthen your faith, and I think there are things that I will receive from you that will be strengthening to me”. I could say the same thing about sharing my commentary on Romans to a study group …to those who are reading these words … I pray that I have something worthwhile to give you.
Apparently Paul has wanted to do this for some time. He says;
13 I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that I have often intended to come to you (but thus far have been prevented)1, in order that I may reap some harvest among you as well as among the rest of the Gentiles.
Regarding Paul's travels, sometimes it was the Holy Spirit that stopped him from going somewhere. At other times he said it was the Devil. In this case he says it was the fact that he wanted to minister in areas where no one had ever gone before.
What about us? Do we pray before we travel or make a 'big move'? Here is our word from God: James 4:13 Come now, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit" — 14 yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. 15 Instead you ought to say, "If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that."
So Paul's reason for writing to the Roman church was to give them a 'heads-up' concerning his visit. But this book turned out to be so much more as we will see in the coming chapters.
1 Romans 15:20 and thus I make it my ambition to preach the gospel, not where Christ has already been named, lest I build on someone else’s foundation,
22 ¶ This is the reason why I have so often been hindered from coming to you. 23 But now, since I no longer have any room for work in these regions, and since I have longed for many years to come to you, 24 I hope to see you in passing as I go to Spain, and to be helped on my journey there by you, once I have enjoyed your company for a while. 25 At present, however, I am going to Jerusalem bringing aid to the saints.