Romans 1:1-17 // The Gospel Power

The Intro

The letter to the Romans is one of the most influential bible books ever written. Yes, all of scripture is extremely important and the inspired word of God, but there is something special about the book of Romans. This is one of the essentials to understanding the gospel, doctrines of christianity, and connecting the Old Testament and its importance in scripture and the foretelling of God’s justice.

This is one of the few books of the new testament that I have not gotten teach or lead. I am truly excited to go through this book and I believe all of us will be different by the end of this series.

Please, pray for your hearts right now. This is an opportunity to truly know scripture and to defend it well. Our Life Group with through a book called expository apologetics by Voddie Bachaum and one of the key, essential tactics in defending your faith, is knowing the gospel. Voddie Bachaum will encourage all believers that if you know the gospel, you can defend your faith as many, if not every argument stems from it.

Take notes and ask questions. You have a wonderful opportunity to know the gospel more and to live it out every day. From repentance of sins to loving God; and articulating the good news of Jesus Christ while also explaining the bad news of how every person is born into.

You all had a chance to read through the scripture and try to point out just one thing that stands out to you. Repetitive words that you see. Listening to sermons and reading books on Romans is an excellent tool but God’s word is also sufficient and do not be surprised when you truly try and learn with a sincere heart, how God will illuminate your minds to understand heavenly truths.

Let’s pray.

The Context

There are some important elements that you need to know before we officially start the first chapter.

The Timeline - 57 A.D

Most scholars will state that this letter is written in 57 A.D. Paul’s conversion was around 33 A.D. I have though also heard that some scholars believe it was a little later and closer to one of his last letters written. However, what you need to realize is that the book of Romans, even though it is one of the first letters of Paul you see in your Bibles, it is not the first letter written.

Paul had been a missionary and preacher amongst many areas and it’s taken him a while to write this letter to Rome. He has been wanting to visit them and has heard great things, but we don’t see Paul ever truly getting to visit them. We see that he was eventually imprisoned in Rome but scripture does not fully confirm he got to visit them.

The Audience - Jews and Gentiles

You will see different sections of Romans actually specifically talk to a certain group of people. Jews and Gentiles. This letter is written to both and while the verses apply to all of us to this day, it is essential in understanding what Paul was saying as we know the context of whom he is writing to. Jews had a much different background than gentiles as they knew the old testament! Paul will use their knowledge of the old testament and connect Jesus to it.

Romans 1:7 ESV

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.

Paul did not establish this church and scripture seems to indicate that neither did the apostle Peter. It sounds as though he did know many of the saints and who are saints? We all are saints. Saints means ones who are set apart, which is us.

The First Part - Greetings // Romans 1:1-7

Let us all stand and read this together.

Romans 1:1–7 ESV

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.

Who is Paul? (Romans 1:1)

1. Paul is a servant (slave) of Christ Jesus

R.C Sproul has a quote on this where he actually prefers the older translations when they would say bondservant or slave because Paul has been bought by Jesus Christ.

1 Peter 1:18–19 ESV

18 knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, 19 but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot.

2. Called to be an Apostle

Paul is not boasting in anything else that he is truly called by God to be an apostle. An apostle, specifically in this context, had the authority from God to basically preach/write scripture because they were direct eye-witnesses of Jesus and/or were directly with Him in Jesus’ ministry. Paul was the exception for God truly calling him out of his foolish and persecuting ways to being an apostle of Jesus Christ. This is important, Paul has the authority from God to write this through the holy spirit working within him.

3. Set Apart for the Gospel of God

Apostle means one sent, which is unique to Paul, but we all share in this where Paul is set apart for the Gospel of God. Paul was one of the greatest missionaries to have ever lived, He truly was set apart for the gospel of God, but something to think about, we all are called to do the same.

Who is His Message From? (Romans 1:2-4)

You see this wonderful connection that the Gospel of God was promised beforehand through the old testament, because the “holy scriptures” you see in verse 2 is referring to the old testament, through David since Jesus came through the line of David, and this now leads to Jesus Christ our Lord.

This message if from God, the end of verse 1 connects into this. This is not a commentary of the bible, this is the divine word of God. The gospel has always been the plan and Paul will elaborate on this more so later. This message is from God to declare Jesus Christ.

What is the application? (Romans 1:5)

You read this that this message is from God to declare Jesus and He has given us grace and apostleship, for what?

Obedience of Faith

What this verse is saying is that through the grace of God and Pauls apostleship is meant for the gospel to go among all the nations. But this is key, and we talked about this when we went over what real faith looks like. You are not meant to hear the gospel and go on your merry way. You are meant to hear the gospel and respond with obedience of faith. Other translations will state obedience to the faith.

John stott writes: “The obedience of faith is not a separate act from faith but an integral aspect of it, reflecting a life transformed by the gospel.”

It’s tied to what we talked about in James how Faith is connected to works. Faith is connected to obedience. The gospel will transform lives as Paul says later it is the power of God for salvation in this chapter:

Pray and Reflect: How can you embrace the gospel in your life? What do you need to do?

The Second Part - Intentions // Romans 1:8-14

Romans 1:8–14 ESV

8 First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is proclaimed in all the 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, 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. 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), in order that I may reap some harvest among you as well as among the rest of the Gentiles. 14 I am under obligation both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to the wise and to the foolish.

Paul Thanks God because of their faith (Romans 1:8)

I need to do this more often in my personal prayer life and continue to pray to God in thanksgiving because of others proclaiming their faith to the whole world. This is something we all need to continue to do.

My homeboy David Guzik stated:

“Paul was thankful for the good reputation of the church in Rome. Because of its location, this church had a special visibility and opportunity to glorify Jesus throughout the Empire.”

The people around this church did not like them. But Paul was thankful for them.

Paul Prayed for and Longed to See them (Romans 1:9-13)

It’s interesting that Paul seems to state “As God is my witness” where we see in scripture let your yay’s be yay’s and your no’s be no’s. What Paul though is truly doing here that he is guaranteeing to them in his letter that he really longs to see them and is praying for them. This is different than saying “As God is my witness” I will pray for you. Paul is saying that he has been praying and indeeds longs to see them.

There is this longing to be with his fellow brethren and to be with them and to be encouraged by them and to do the same for them.

There is something special about fellow brothers and sisters in Christ. I got a glimpse of this on the retreat but when I got back, even though I was exhausted and needed rest, I was ready to see you all again and was excited for Wednesday night. I pray you all have this same longing for one another. This world is hard and tough, and when you follow Jesus, the world will not understand. You might start to feel like an outcast and your life starts to change, and that is maybe a good thing. You are turning to Jesus more and looking different and you should. But that is why it is so wonderful when we have Church and get to gether and be recharged and long for one another. When we do it together, it’s much easier and much more wonderful.

Pray and Reflect: Why is proclaiming your faith important? Are you praying for each other and desiring to see one another because of faith?

Transition: So in verse 14 we see that he longed to see them but was under obligation to preach to the greeks and to the barbarians, the wise and the foolish. This means that he preached to intelligent gentiles (known as greeks) and the not so intelligent (known as barbarians). He was occupied with these people and that was God’s will. He longed to see the people of Rome but God had other plans. This letter seems to have been written in 57 A.D and sounds like he got to Rome in 60-61 A.D.

The Third Part - Gospel (Romans 1:15-17)

Romans 1:15–17 ESV

15 So I am eager to preach the gospel to you also who are in Rome. 16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. 17 For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, “The righteous shall live by faith.”

This is setting up the entire letter. The entire letter is founded upon what the Gospel is. We had an entire retreat on this very topic and you are going to see in such great detail God’s redemptive plan has always been the case from the beginning of time.

Eager and Unashamed of the Gospel (Romans 1:15-16)

Many translations will say ready. Paul is ready to preach the gospel. This is what I’ve been praying more and more myself to have this desire to just want to preach the gospel. To be ready. This is engrained in Paul’s DNA. And we see though the huge reason for why he is ready to preach the gospel.

The Power to Save (Romans 1:16)

Paul is so eager and not ashamed of this gospel because he is not proclaiming an awesome self-help book that you can start to have more peace if you follow these tips and tricks. This gospel is no self-help book, but in fact the opposite. The gospel is actually the very realization that we cannot help ourselves. We are in an inherent, sinful state, that will be punished by a righteous and holy God. The only way that you can be saved from that, is through Jesus Christ not on your own. We will go into more detail on this next week on God’s wrath on the unrighteous.

Rome actually seemed to be trying to find salvation but in all the wrong places. Many philosophers knew that men were not in the right place:

Epictetus called his lecture room “the hospital for the sick soul.” Epictetus said that men were looking for a peace “not of Caesar’s proclamation, but of God’s.”

Epicurus called his teaching “the medicine of salvation.”

Seneca said that because men were so conscious of “their weakness and their inefficiency in necessary things” that all men were looking “towards salvation.”

Starts with Faith, Ends with Faith (Romans 1:17)

Literally, what “from faith for faith” means is that is starts with faith and ends with faith. That is the way the righteous live because works apart from faith are filthy rags in the eyes of God.

I don’t see scripture proclaiming that you say a one time prayer so to say and that’s it. A true life of faith has the genuine start that was probably a prayer, but it is a day to day process and we must live a life of faith til the end.

You know what is crazy though? He was in Rome under house arrest for 2 years. This means when he got there, he proclaimed the gospel to several people all within his home.