Romans 1:1-7

1-7

1:1a

Servant doulos Deuteronomy 15:16-17 “But if he says to you, ‘I will not go out from you,’ because he loves you and your household, since he is well-off with you, then you shall take an awl, and put it through his ear into the door, and he shall be your slave forever. And to your female slave you shall do the same.”

Paul has dedicated his life to be a servant, bondservant, slave of Jesus Christ, not physically piercing his ear like in Deuteronomy but dedicating all his efforts to the service of Jesus.

1:1b

Called to be an Apostle, he was called personally by the risen Christ on his way to Damasus, miraculously converted, as if there was an other kind of conversion, by Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit. The word means called, invited, chosen he did not volunteer to be an apostle himself, he was divinely called by Jesus.

1:1c

Paul was called, chosen, to be an apostle and he is dedicated, commited, or set apart, to the gospel of God. The rest of Paul’s life was to be dedicated to sharing, teaching, and spreading the gospel of God, the good news of Jesus Christ as our savior. These first three points are very similar to most of his greetings in the other epistles.

1 Corinthians 1:1 “Paul, called by the will of God to be an apostle of Christ Jesus, and our brother Sosthenes,”

2 Corinthians 1:1 “Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother, To the church of God that is at Corinth, with all the saints who are in the whole of Achaia:”

Galatians 1:1 “Paul, an apostle—not from men nor through man, but through Jesus Christ and God the Father, who raised him from the dead—”

Ephesians 1:1 “Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, To the saints who are in Ephesus, and are faithful in Christ Jesus:”

Philippians 1:1 “Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus, To all the saints in Christ Jesus who are at Philippi, with the overseers and deacons:”

Colossians 1:1 “Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother,”

1 Thessalonians 1:1 “Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy, To the church of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ: Grace to you and peace.”

2 Thessalonians 1:1 “Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy, To the church of the Thessalonians in God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ:”

1 Timothy 1:1 “Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by command of God our Savior and of Christ Jesus our hope,”

2 Timothy 1:1 “Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God according to the promise of the life that is in Christ Jesus,”

Philemon 1:1 “Paul, a prisoner for Christ Jesus, and Timothy our brother, To Philemon our beloved fellow worker”

Titus is a bit more like the in depth greeting found in Romans:

Titus 1:1-3 “Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ, for the sake of the faith of God’s elect and their knowledge of the truth, which accords with godliness, in hope of eternal life, which God, who never lies, promised before the ages began and at the proper time manifested in his word through the preaching with which I have been entrusted by the command of God our Savior;”

These three points ends the beginning of the greeting which mainly introduces himself and his qualifications of an apostle. the next section goes way more in depth than his normal greetings except in Titus.

1:2

The He in verse 2 is God and through Moses and all the prophets in the Old Testament prophesied about the new covenant in Jesus. As Jesus said himself when he taught the two men on the road to Emmaus after his resurrection in Luke 24.

Luke 24:27 “And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.”

1:3a

Concerning his Son, the son of God, Jesus the Christ, member of the Trinity existing together as one before creation in harmony.

1:3b

“who was descended from David according to the flesh”

As prophesied in the Old Testament with a covenant between God and David, Jesus is a descendant of David, from both his mother and his earthly father Joseph from the lineages in Matthew 1 and Luke 3. This is the lineage of his flesh, fully man and also fully God

1:4

Jesus was fully God and the son of God as declared or shown through the power of his resurrection from the dead, defeating death and showing his divinity and the promise of our resurrected perfected sinless bodies joining us at the end of the age as we spend eternity with God. Jesus Christ is our Lord and savior.

1:5

Through the work of Jesus on the cross, taking our punishment for our sins, his death, and his resurrection, through this work we now receive the unearned and unwarranted grace of God. But with God’s grace we also are to be messengers, apostle means messenger, and while we are not called to be capital A Apostles, we are to be messengers of the gospel, to bring about the obedience of faith, which is following the commandments of God and referring to our apostleship, to go out and fulfill the great commission to all nations, Jew and Gentile. And we are to do all that He commands for the sake of His name, for God’s glory, not for any of our own glory or praise.

Paul uses the phrase “obedience of faith” again at the end of Romans, Romans 16:25-26 “Now to him who is able to strengthen you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery that was kept secret for long ages but has now been disclosed and through the prophetic writings has been made known to all nations, according to the command of the eternal God, to bring about the obedience of faith—”

1:6

All of us who are called to belong to Jesus Christ, all of Paul’s fellow bondservants, all those who are saved and born again by the Spirit are to be messengers of God and have the obedience of faith.

This ends the second part of Paul’s greeting to the Romans, this middle part is what is not included in most of the other letters Paul wrote, the ones that are included in the Bible, and only Titus is similar only much shorter.

1:7

This ends the greeting from Paul to the Roman Christians this is very similar to the shorter greeting in Paul’s other letters. Those to whom he is writhing are loved by God and have the grace and peace of God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ.