Sermon Tone Analysis

Thursday May 10, 2007

Romans: Paul’s Three-Fold Identification of Himself to the Romans

Lesson # 6

Please turn in your Bibles to Romans 1:1.

Last evening we completed a five part introduction to Paul’s epistle to the Romans.

This evening we will study Romans 1:1 in which Paul gives a three-fold identification of himself to his readers.

The salutation of the letter is contained in Romans 1:1-7, which identifies the writer as Paul (verse 1) and the recipients of the letter as being believers in Rome (verses 6 and 7) and the subject as being Jesus Christ (verse 1:2-5).

Romans 1:1-7, “Paul, a bond-servant of Christ Jesus, called as 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 born of a descendant of David according to the flesh, who was declared the Son of God with power by the resurrection from the dead, according to the Spirit of holiness, Jesus Christ our Lord, through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith among all the Gentiles for His name's sake, among whom you also are the called of Jesus Christ; to all who are beloved of God in Rome, called as saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.”

Now, let’s study in detail verse one.

Romans 1:1, “Paul, a bond-servant of Christ Jesus, called as an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God.”

“Paul” is the proper name Paulos (Pau=lo$), which means, “little” and was used in Romans 1:1 by Paul rather than his Jewish name Saul since the Lord Jesus Christ authorized him to be the apostle to the Gentiles (See Acts 9:15; 22:21; Romans 11:13; 15:16; Galatians 1:15-16; 2:2, 7-9).

In Romans 1:1, Paul gives a three-fold identification of himself for his readers: (1) “A bond-servant of Christ”: Identifies his Master (2) “Called as an apostle”: Identifies his spiritual gift or office (3) “Set apart for the gospel of God”: Identifies his work or purpose in life.

“Bond-servant” is the noun doulos (dou~lo$), which in Greek thought referred to someone who belonged by nature to someone else and not himself and had his will bound up in the will of another who has power over him.

The Greeks valued and prized their personal freedom and viewed slavery as a debasing condition for their personal dignity was bound up in their freedom.

The writers of the Greek New Testament elevated the term doulos since it was considered a great honor to be a doulos of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Paul’s use of the noun doulos in identifying himself is significant since it was a word used with reference to slavery, which in the first century of the Roman Empire was a major institution.

Slavery was a major institution in the Roman Empire since from the third Century B.C. onward slaves flooded into Rome from all quarters as a result of their victories in wars.

For example, there were 75,000 enslaved prisoners from the first Punic War and in the second Punic War, 150,000 were enslaved from Epirus in 167 B.C.

Almost the same number arrived from Marius’s victory over the Germans in 102-101 B.C. and nearly, half a million slaves arrived into Rome from Caesar’s Gallic Wars.

Great slave markets such as Capua and Delos were set up to handle the tremendous influx of slaves into the Roman Empire and it was not unusual for 10,000 slaves to be auctioned off at Delos in a single day.

Every week slave dealers brought their human “merchandise” in from areas such as Africa, Spain, Gaul, Germany, the Danube, Russia, and Asia and Greece to the ports of the Mediterranean and the Black Sea.

Some slaves became professional men such as philosophers, teachers, artists and architects whereas criminals and the unfortunate were employed in the gladiatorial schools and some worked the mines and quarries.

There was a great distinction in Roman society between slaves and freeman since the Roman law of persons states that all men are either free or slaves.

The cruelty towards slaves is greatly exaggerated in our society today where slavery by and large is not practiced at all since domestic slaves were often treated as members of the family.

Will Durant relates that some epitaphs show “the most affectionate relations between masters and slaves” (Caesar and Christ, Chapter 15, page 334).

It was not unusual for slaves to risk their lives to protect their masters and many voluntarily accompanied their masters into exile and several gave their lives for their masters.

Many owners freed their slaves and proceeded to marry them and some treated them as friends such as Seneca who ate with his.

The largest slave owners in the Empire were the Emperors of Rome since the households of the Emperors were being continually replenished with slaves, as was the case with their bureaucracies.

There may have been as many as two million or more in the reign of Augustus and they may have formed nearly one-quarter to one-third of the total population estimates the historian Michael Grant.

At Rome, a quarter of the inhabitants were slaves and the average price of a slave was $400 and the dress of slaves in Rome was no different than the freeman and this was for public security since the percentage of slaves far exceeded freeman in the Empire.

The Word of God does “not” condemn slavery since the nation of Israel was permitted by the Lord God to make slaves of those whom they conquered in battle (Lev.

25:44-46; Num.

31:26-28; Ecc.

2:7) and the apostles never condemned slavery and neither did our Lord.

The Word of God never commands slaves to seek their freedom or leave their masters or rebel against them but slaves who had the opportunity to gain their freedom by legal means were not condemned for doing so, but were encouraged (1 Cor.

7:21).

Paul taught Christian slaves that they were in reality slaves of the Lord and therefore, were in reality serving Him since He purchased them out of the slave market of sin with His spiritual death on the cross (See 1 Corinthians 7:20-24).

In the days of the patriarchs and ancient Israel, slavery was the accepted way of bailing out the destitute and under a compassionate master was a comfortable existence (See Exodus 21:5-6; Deuteronomy 15:12-17).

Paul was “not” a slave of Christ Jesus since he was not compelled to serve the Lord against his will but rather he was a “willing servant” of the Lord.

Romans 1:1, “Paul, a bond-servant of Christ Jesus, called as an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God.”

“Christ” is proper name Christos (xristov$), which in classical Greek identifies that which has been thus smeared or anointed.

In the Greek New Testament, it is used only as a noun, either as an appellative (“the Anointed One, the Christ”) or a personal name (“Jesus Christ” or “Christ”).

Because it is Aramaic equivalent (meshicha), it corresponds to the Hebrew mashiach and denotes someone who has been ceremonially anointed for an office.

In the Old Testament, three office bearers are expressly described as mashiach i.e. as anointed with oil: (1) Prophet (2) High priest (3) King.

Therefore, the noun Christos signifies the three-fold offices held by our Lord: (1) Prophet (2) Priest (3) King.

The anointing of oil on the individual assigned by God to one of these offices signified that he was empowered by the Holy Spirit.

In the Old Testament, oil signified the presence and power of God the Holy Spirit, thus the Messiah or Christ was One Who was totally and completely guided and empowered by God the Holy Spirit.

The Messiah is characterized by permanent possession of the Spirit, which enables or empowers Him as the Messianic Ruler to reign with integrity and wisdom.

Christos is a technical word in the Scriptures for the Messiahship and uniqueness of the humanity of our Lord Jesus Christ as the Spirit-filled, God-Man and designates Him as the One Who provides salvation for all mankind.

The word designates the humanity of our Lord as the promised Savior for all mankind and signifies that He is unique as the incarnate Son of God and totally and completely guided and empowered by the Spirit as the Servant of the Father.

Iesou ( )Ihsou) is the Greek spelling of the Hebrew word Jehoshua, “Jehovah saves,” and refers to the perfect human nature of our Lord.

The noun Christos is a “possessive” genitive denoting ownership meaning that the Lord Jesus Christ owns Paul.

Therefore, when Paul states that he is a servant of Christ Jesus he is acknowledging the fact that he has been redeemed by the Lord Jesus Christ from the slave market of sin and is now possessed by Him.

Redemption is that aspect of the saving work of Jesus Christ on the cross whereby all of humanity has been purchased out from the slave market of sin in which they were born spiritually dead and delivered to the freedom of grace (See 1 Corinthians 6:23).

The humanity of Christ purchased the entire human race out from the slave market of sin by means of His voluntary substitutionary spiritual death on the Cross.

1 Peter 1:18-19, “knowing that you were not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold from your futile way of life inherited from your forefathers, but with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ.”

All believers have left the slave market of sin and become slaves of Christ through personal faith in Jesus Christ.

By identifying himself as a doulos, “a servant” of Christ Jesus, Paul is putting himself on the same plane as his readers indicating that he seeks to serve them in some way and not lord his authority as an apostle over them.

Paul displays his humility by inserting the word doulos, which emphasizes the fact that we have all been bought with a price including Paul, the greatest of all believers (1 Cor.

6:23; 7:20).

The purpose for which the believer has been purchased out of the slave market of sin is to serve the Lord and other members of His body and not self.

The Lord Jesus Christ served us by redeeming us and by redeeming us, we as His purchased possession, have been given the opportunity and the privilege of serving Him who is now our Master (See Deuteronomy 10:12).

Christian service is directed toward both God and man with the former (serving God) acting as the motivation for the latter (serving man) (Eph.

6:5-9).

Galatians 5:13, “For all of you were elected to freedom, brothers, only do not exploit this freedom for indulging the sin nature, but rather through divine-love be serving one another.”

1 Peter 4:10, “As each one has received a special gift, employ it in serving one another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.”

Christian service is based upon the principle of reciprocal love, meaning that Christian service is the response by the believer to God self-sacrificially loving him in the manner in which He did at the Cross and reciprocating by self-sacrificially loving God in return in the same manner (See John 12:25-26).

The Servant of the Lord, the Lord Jesus Christ is the perfect example of servanthood and the believer is to imitate His example of self-sacrifice in order to serve God.

One must be properly motivated in order to perform Christian service that is acceptable to God.

Motivation is that which prompts a person to act in a certain way, the goal of one’s actions.

Christian service if it is to be acceptable to God must be motivated by our love for who and what God is, what He has done for us and the manner in which He loved us at the Cross.

The phrase “a slave owned by Christ Jesus” expresses the following: (1) Paul was carrying out his duties as a servant of the Lord Jesus Christ.

(2) Paul was experiencing a relationship with his Master, the Lord Jesus Christ, by serving Him.

(3) Paul had a servant’s mentality.

(4) Paul is acknowledging the fact that the Lord has power over him.

(5) Paul is honored to be a servant of the Lord.

(6) Paul by nature belonged to the Lord and not to himself.

(7) Paul as a servant of the Lord was occupied with the will of his Master.

Romans 1:1, “Paul, a bond-servant of Christ Jesus, called as an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God.”

“Called” is the adjective kletos (klhtov$), which means, “to be set apart to a particular office and function by someone,” thus, the word denotes that Paul is identifying himself as someone who was selected by the Lord Jesus Christ for the office of apostle, which is recorded in Acts 9.

This word indicates that Paul did “not” choose his position as an apostle for himself but that the Lord Jesus Christ Himself chose him for the position.

“Apostle” is the noun apostolos (a)povstolo$), which refers to the temporary spiritual gift of apostleship that held maximum authority in the church.

Our word “apostle” is a transliteration of the Greek noun apostolos (ajpovstolo$), which is an Attic Greek word that was used extensively in Athens in the 5th century B.C., literally means “one who is sent.”

It was used for admiral or general officer chosen by the consul to command a fleet or to command an army in a military expedition (generally against Sparta in the Peloponnesian Wars).

It was also used for a very unusual person who is chosen to command a band of Greek colonists in order to establish a settlement in some other part of the world (Corsica, Italy, Sicily, Western Turkey, Black Sea).

In the Greek New Testament, the noun apostolos has a four-fold usage denoting the following: (1) “Office” of apostle (Mt.

10:2; Rm. 1:1; 11:13; 16:7).

(2) “Spiritual gift of pastor-teacher” (14:4, 14; 2 Cor.

8:23; Phlp.

2:25; 1 Th.

2:6; Rev. 2:2).

(3) “Christ’s office of prophet” (Heb.

3:1).

(4) “Colonial apostles” used for pioneer missionaries before the canon of Scripture was completed that were sent by one of the twelve apostles as a missionary to some place (Barnabas [Acts 14:14; Gal.

2:9]; James [1 Cor.

15:7; Gal.

1:19]; Apollos [1 Cor.

4:5-9]; Silvanus [1 Thess.

1:1; 2:6]; Timothy [1 Thess.

1:1; 2:6]; Titus [2 Cor.

8:23]; Epaphroditus [Phil.

2:23]; Andronicus and Junias [Rom.

16:7]).

The spiritual gift of apostleship was given to only twelve men and existed exclusively during the pre-canon period of the church age and is no longer existent today since all twelve men have died and went home to be with the Lord (See Matthew 10:2-4).

The twelve men who were selected by the Lord Jesus Christ to the office of apostle were Simon Peter, Andrew, James, John, Philip, Bartholomew, Thomas, Matthew, Simon the Canaanite, James, the son of Alphaeus, not the lesser, Thaddaeus, also called Jude, and Saul of Tarsus, also known as Paul.