“Paul and the Gospel of God”

I. The MESSENGER of the Gospel - (1:1)

As the messenger of the Gospel, Paul describes himself in THREE WAYS in the opening verse:

A. A Servant (δοῦλος) of Jesus Christ

The emphasis of Paul’s usage of “δοῦλος” is that he is a “slave belonging to an owner” (translated, ‘bondservant’)!

For Paul, this began at his calling recorded in (Acts 9)

Acts 9:4–6 CSB

4 Falling to the ground, he heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?” 5 “Who are you, Lord?” Saul said. “I am Jesus, the one you are persecuting,” he replied. 6 “But get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.”

B. Called as an Apostle (ἀπόστολος)

Interestingly, Paul wasn’t the FIRST person to know about his role as “Apostle!”

The reluctant Ananias was given the news before Paul:

Acts 9:15 CSB

15 But the Lord said to him, “Go, for this man is my chosen instrument to take my name to Gentiles, kings, and Israelites.

C. Set Apart (ἀφωρισμένος) for the Gospel of God

Again, from the Book of Acts, Paul gives his defense before King Agrippa and relates the words of Jesus:

Acts 26:16–18 CSB

16 But get up and stand on your feet. For I have appeared to you for this purpose, to appoint you as a servant and a witness of what you have seen and will see of me. 17 I will rescue you from your people and from the Gentiles. I am sending you to them 18 to open their eyes so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a share among those who are sanctified by faith in me.’

II. The MESSAGE of the Gospel - (1:2-4)

Two things about the Gospel:

A. Promised Beforehand - (v.2)

Titus 1:2 CSB

2 in the hope of eternal life that God, who cannot lie, promised before time began.

Luke 1:70 CSB

70 [Zechariah’s prophecy] just as he spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets in ancient times;

Conservatively, Jesus fulfilled over 300 prophecies!

B. Centered in Jesus - (vv.3-4)

Five descriptions of Jesus:

1. God’s Son (τοῦ υἱοῦ αὐτοῦ - ‘the Son of Him’)

2. Jesus Christ (Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ)

“Christ” (Χριστοῦ - ‘Anointed one, Messiah’) is not Jesus’ last name, but rather it is WHO HE IS!

3. Our Lord (τοῦ κυρίου ἡμῶν - ‘the Lord, ours’)

4. A Fulfillment of Promise - “…a descendant of David according to the flesh”

5. Appointed to be the Powerful Son of God - (v.4)

Two things declare Jesus to be the Son of God:

(v.4b) - “…according to the Spirit of Holiness”

Matthew 3:16 CSB

16 When Jesus was baptized, he went up immediately from the water. The heavens suddenly opened for him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming down on him.

(v.4c) - “…by the resurrection of the dead”

“It is the resurrection that sets him apart and authenticates his claim to deity. Had Jesus not risen from the dead, he would be remembered today only as a Jewish moralist who had some inflated ideas about his own relationship to God and made a number of ridiculous demands on those who wanted to be his disciples” - John Stott.

If we get everything else wrong in our church (our distinctives, our leadership, our structure, our praxis (how we live out our theology), our worship style, etc.), we must get this right: Our MESSAGE must be centered in Jesus Christ!

III. COMMISSION Through JESUS - (1:5-7)

A. WHAT? - (v.5a)

1. “…we have received grace - We are FORGIVEN through Jesus!

2. “…and apostleship! - We are SENT by Jesus!

B. WHY? - (v.5b)

“…to bring about the obedience of faith for the sake of his name”

As we looked at this last week, there is a theme of obedience throughout the letter!

Romans 16:26 CSB

26 but now revealed and made known through the prophetic Scriptures, according to the command of the eternal God to advance the obedience of faith among all the Gentiles—

Robert Mounce - “Faith is not intellectual assent to a series of propositions but surrender to the one who asks us to trust him. To surrender is to obey.” He later writes, “Any other response [other than obedience] would be inadequate. Apart from a changed life there is no real faith.”

E. Best comments that “faith and obedience go inextricably together. Only in obedience is there faith, for faith is not emotional feeling or intellectual acceptance but active response to a person.”

C. WHO? - (vv.5c-7)

1. “…among all the Gentiles” - (v.5c)

2. “To all who are in Rome…” - (v.7)

Three things are said about the Romans:

a. They are “…called by Jesus Christ” - (v.6b)

b. They are “…loved by God” - (v.7b)

c. They are “…called as saints.” - (v.7c)

IV. A PRAYER for ROME - (1:8-13)

A. PRAISE for Their Faith - (v.8)

Romans 16:19 CSB

19 The report of your obedience has reached everyone…

It’s interesting that “faith” and “obedience” are synonymous in Paul’s mind.

B. The DESIRE of Paul to “…come to Rome” - (vv.9-10)

The phrase, “whom I serve in my spirit” uses the verb, λατρεύω - “to perform religious rites as a part of worship—‘to perform religious rites, to worship, to venerate, worship.’”

In fact, λατρεύω can be translated as “serve” or “worship” and illustrates the truth that to serve is to worship; to worship is to serve!

How did Paul “serve/worship”? - (v.9b)

Romans 1:9 CSB

9 God is my witness, whom I serve with my spirit in telling the good news about his Son—that I constantly mention you,

C. To STRENGTHEN the Romans - (v.11)

It was quite surprising to me to see how my favorite commentaries said that Paul did NOT mean “spiritual gifts” (as defined in Romans 12 and 1 Corinthians 13), but rather that he is using the words in a more general sense of being the result of his teaching or exhortation.

Their argument is that it is the Holy Spirit that distributes gifts, and not Paul.

The PROBLEM with that argument is that there are NUMEROUS instances of the leadership of the church (apostles and elders) laying hands on individuals for either APPOINTING them to ministry, or GIFTING them for ministry!

Acts 6:6 CSB

6 They had them stand before the apostles, who prayed and laid their hands on them.

Acts 13:2–3 CSB

2 As they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.” 3 Then after they had fasted, prayed, and laid hands on them, they sent them off.

1 Timothy 4:14 CSB

14 Don’t neglect the gift that is in you; it was given to you through prophecy, with the laying on of hands by the council of elders.

1 Timothy 5:22 NASB95

22 Do not lay hands upon anyone too hastily and thereby share responsibility for the sins of others; keep yourself free from sin.

2 Timothy 1:6 CSB

6 Therefore, I remind you to rekindle the gift of God that is in you through the laying on of my hands.

I believe the BEST understanding of this passage is that Paul means what exactly what he says!

We should NEVER teach that a verse does not mean what it says because of our lack of clarity!

D. For MUTUAL ENCOURAGEMENT - (v.12)

Stott - “No sooner has he dictated these words than he seems to sense their inappropriate one-sidedness, as if he has everything to give and nothing to receive.”

E. Paul’s DESIRE for a “…fruitful ministry!” - (v.13)