Romans Intro

Glorious Gospel of Jesus Christ

Romans 1:1–7 ESV

Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God, which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy Scriptures, concerning his Son, who was descended from David according to the flesh 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, 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, including you who are called to belong to Jesus Christ, 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.

Context:

Written by the Apostle Paul, Around 57 A.D. Paul was nearing the end of his third missionary journey. Most likely he wrote this letter while he was in Corinth.

Main Theme:

The glorious gospel of Jesus Christ (Romans 1:1, 9,15-17, 15:16,19-20)

Recipients:

Believers living in Rome, the capital city of Italy. Some that were Paul’s friends and missionary co-workers. The congregation at Rome at this time was a combination of Jewish and Gentile converts (Romans 1:5,6,13, 2:17)

Purpose:

He wrote to the congregation at Rome to give and reinforce instructions for their church life together (Romans 15:15). He addresses matters such as: The universal need of the gospel for all people, justification and sanctification, the Holy Spirit and the believer, the believers relationship to the government, and unity and divisions in the congregation.

The Apostles' chief emphasis in Romans is on God’s justification of sinners by Grace through Christ.

3 Points of Emphasis:

The heart of a follower of Christ

The Gospel “Good News” is Jesus Christ

What is Grace?

Point #1: The Heart of a follower of Christ:

Verse 1:

Paul, a slave of Christ Jesus, [a]called as an apostle, having been set apart for the gospel of God,

Paul: Roman name meaning “Little One”

Saul: Jewish name after Israel’s famous first king

This shows his humility in putting forth his name (Paul’s heart)

In the OT, Saul started out good, but ended bad (1 Samuel 9-11 and 1 Samuel 31).

In NT, Saul started off bad and ended well (Acts 9).

All of this happened because of Jesus’ grace that was placed upon him.

Servant or Slave; Greek Word doulos

Are you a slave to Christ and God or the World? You can’t be both

Title of great humility

Having been purchased to belong to Christ

Are you dedicating your entire life to Christ? He doesn’t ask for part of your heart, he requires 100% of it.

“Apostle”: The distinctive qualifications of the apostles were that they were directly and personally called and commissioned by Jesus.

A “slave” or doulos is a general Christian word (every disciple looks to Jesus Christ as Lord), but an apostle is a special title reserved for the 12, Paul and perhaps one or two more like James the son of Zebedee). As an apostle he had been set apart for the gospel of God.

As a Pharisee, Paul had set himself apart for the law, but now God had set him apart for the gospel. As an apostle it is Paul’s responsibility to receive, formulate, defend, maintain and proclaim the gospel.

1 Corinthians 15:8-10

8 And last of all, as [a]to one untimely born, He appeared to me also. 9 For I am the least of the apostles, [b]and not worthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. 10 But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me did not prove vain; but I labored even more than all of them, yet not I, but the grace of God with me.

When you read this text you can almost feel the passion that is coming out of Paul.

Words to describe Paul: Humble and Humility

Point #2:The Gospel “Good News” is Jesus Christ:

Verse 2:

“Which He promised beforehand through His prophets in the holy Scriptures”

That is to say, although God revealed the gospel to the apostles, it did not come to them as something completely new, because he had already promised it through his prophets in OT scripture. (Daniel 7, Isaiah 53).

Daniel 7:13-14:

13  “I kept looking in the night visions, And behold, with the clouds of heaven One like a Son of Man was coming, And He came up to the Ancient of Days And came near before Him.

14  And to Him was given [a]dominion, Glory, and a kingdom, That all the peoples, nations, and men of every tongue Might serve Him. His [b]dominion is an everlasting [c]dominion Which will not be taken away; And His kingdom is one Which will not be destroyed.

Paul insisted that it was according to the scriptures that Christ died for our sins and was raised on the third day. In this way both the Law and the Prophets pointed to the truth of the gospel.

This was not God’s plan B or an afterthought.

We see it throughout the scriptures OT and NT: doing, dying and rising of Jesus Christ.

John Calvin: “Christ came not on the earth unexpectedly, nor did he introduce a doctrine of a new kind and not heard before, inasmuch as he, and his gospel too, had been promised and expected from the beginning of the world.

Galatians 3:8

8 And the Scripture, foreseeing that God [a]would justify the [b]Gentiles by faith, proclaimed the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, “All the nations will be blessed in you.”

Point #3: Grace and Justification:

Verse 3:

“concerning His Son, who was born of the seed of David according to the flesh,”

The central subject of the gospel is Christ.

Yes, God the Father planned our salvation from eternity past

Ephesians 1:4

4 just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before [a]Him in love,

and in time God the Holy Spirit regenerates His elect according to the divine plan of salvation

Titus 3:5

5 He saved us, not by works which we did in righteousness, but according to His mercy, through the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit,

The gospel is centered around Jesus Christ.

The gospel at its core is the good news concerning Jesus’ person and work

1 Corinthians 15:1-4

15 Now I make known to you, brothers, the gospel which I proclaimed as good news to you, which also you received, in which also you stand, 2 by which also you are saved, if you hold fast [a]the word which I proclaimed to you as good news, unless you believed for nothing.

3 For I delivered to you [b]as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4 and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures,

This is a principal passage in which we are taught that the whole gospel is bound up in Christ, so that if anyone moves a single foot away from Christ they are withdrawn themselves from the gospel.

“According to the flesh”

Jesus Christ was 100% man and 100% God.

Not sinful flesh because he had no sin, but he had a human soul and body.

All of this was so that his sacrificial work from the cross in our place , we might be delivered from the penalty of our sins.

Verse 4:

Who was designated as the Son of God in power, according to the [b]Spirit of holiness, [c]by the resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord,

The resurrection was the pivotal point which marked the end of His humiliation on the earth and started the beginning of his exaltation into glory

“According to the Spirit of holiness”

Christ voluntarily submitted himself to do the will of the Father only through the direction and power of the Holy Spirit.

Verse 5:

Through whom we received grace and apostleship for the obedience of faith among all the Gentiles for the sake of His name,

“Through whom”

Refers to Jesus Christ as the agent in bestowing grace and appointing unto apostleship.

We have received grace…. Never earned.

It's not about us keeping certain laws or memorizing scripture.

What exactly is grace?

Saving grace is a virtue or trait in God that speaks about our unmerited, unearned and uncaused favor and goodwill toward us in Christ.

Grace is getting what we do not deserve from God.

Paul’s apostleship is broken down into 3 definitive things:

The Purpose

The Scope

The Goal

The Purpose:

“The Obedience”

submissive to the faith (Compliance to the message)

Responding to the demands of repentance and faith (Acts 20:21)

It is an objective faith

The Scope:

“Among all the nations”

Gentile nations, not just the Jewish

The Goal:

“For His name”

Jesus’ name, not his own

Verse 6:

“Among whom you also are the called of Jesus Christ;”

Among all the Gentile nations spoken of in the previous verse.

Even though they were not called to be apostles as Paul was, they are still called to Jesus Christ.

Verse 7:

“To all who are beloved of God in Rome, called as [d]saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.”

Paul is addressing all the Christians in Rome as a whole

Even in a Pagan city like Rome God still has believers in it. There would be several gatherings of believers in the city even though there was not a single church in Rome.

“Beloved by God”

Emphasizes that every single believer is dearly loved and treasured to God.

“Called as Saints”

This is a present term not something that will happen in the future or when they die. It is a present reality.

All true believers in all ages were called to be saints. Just like everyone’s salvation Paul’s salvation did not begin with himself, but with God because it is God who always starts the call to salvation. (1 Corinthians 1:9, 30)

Our calling to Christ is rooted in our predestination by the decree of God which will always bring justification and sanctification and ends with glorification.

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

This appears in all of Paul’s epistles.

Grace is unmerited

Peace does not mean the absence of turmoil, but inner serenity in the midst of it.