Romans 1.5a-Paul Received from the Lord the Spiritual Gift of Apostleship
Wednesday May 16, 2007
Romans: Romans 1:5a-Paul Received from the Lord the Spiritual Gift of Apostleship
Lesson # 9
Please turn in your Bibles to Romans 1:1.
This evening we will continue with our study of the book of Romans.
Last Thursday, we began a study of Romans and in particular the salutation that appears 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).
In Romans 1:1, Paul identified himself to his readers by giving a three-fold description of himself.
Then, on Sunday morning we studied Romans 1:2, in which Paul further defines the gospel that he proclaimed as the fulfillment of prophetic expectation in the Old Testament.
Last evening we noted Romans 1:3-4, which identifies to Paul’s readers the subject of the epistle, who is the Lord Jesus Christ.
This evening we will study Romans 1:5a, and read where Paul communicates to the believers in Rome that through the Lord Jesus Christ, he has received grace and apostleship in order to minister to the Gentiles.
Romans 1:1-5, “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.”
“Through whom” is the preposition dia (diav) (dee-ah) means, “through,” which expresses intermediate agency that is denoted by the masculine singular genitive form of the relative pronoun hos (o^$) (hos), “whom,” which refers to the Lord Jesus Christ.
Therefore, this prepositional phrase expresses the fact that the Lord Jesus Christ is the intermediate agency by which Paul received grace and apostleship in order to present the gospel to the Gentiles.
Paul employs the first person plural form of the verb lambano (lambavnw) (lam-ban-o), which “we have received” even though he has already identified himself as the sole author of the epistle in Romans 1:1, thus rendering the plural here as an “epistolary” or “editorial” we.
The editorial “we” (also known as the epistolary plural) is the use of the first person plural by an author when he is in reality referring only to himself.
Paul is “not” referring to the other apostles with the first plural “we” since he alone of all the apostles was the apostle to the Gentiles.
The prepositional phrase that immediately follows the first person plural form of the verb lambano and expresses the purpose of his apostleship indicates this, eis hupakoen pisteos en pasin tois ethnesin (eij" uJpakohVn pivstew" ejn pa'sin toi'" e[qnesin), “for the obedience of the faith among all the Gentiles.”
“Grace” is the noun charis (xavri$) (khar-ece), which refers to the unmerited blessing, gift, commission and office that Paul received at the moment of his salvation, which he identifies as his office as an apostle.
Grace is all that God is free to do in imparting unmerited blessings to those who trust in Jesus Christ as Savior based upon the merits of Christ and His death on the Cross.
Trench states “charis implied a favor that was freely done without claim or expectation of return.” (Synonyms of the New Testament, page 181 and 182).
The Greeks used the word in reference to a favor done by one Greek to another out of sheer generosity and with no expectation of payment in return or no expectation of reward and referred to giving with no strings attached.
In the Hellenistic period, charis was a term for demonstrations of a ruler's favor.
The word was mainly used in the plural for “gifts” and in Hellenism, to show charis to people came to suggest favoritism and it was also used for the showing of grace in court.
In the Greek New Testament usage charis denotes the grace of the worthy to the unworthy, of the holy to the sinful.
The concept of charis in the Greek New Testament is consistently defined in terms of God’s gracious act of redemption that is found in the Person and Finished Work of Christ on the Cross.
Incorporated into the meaning of charis in the Greek New Testament is that the believer is beneficiary of the love of each member of the Trinity.
They are the beneficiaries of the love of God before salvation in that the Trinity loved the entire human race self-sacrificially.
The believer after salvation is the object of the love of God since they possess the life and righteousness of God through imputation at the moment of salvation.
Grace is God treating us in a manner that we don’t deserve and excludes any human works in order to acquire eternal salvation or blessing from God.
Grace means that God saved us and blessed us despite ourselves and not according to anything that we do but rather saved us and blessed us because of the merits of Christ and His work on the Cross.
Grace excludes any human merit in salvation and blessing (Eph. 2:8-9; Titus 3:5) and gives the Creator all the credit and the creature none.
By means of faith, we accept the grace of God, which is a non-meritorious system of perception, which is in total accord with the grace of God.
Grace and faith are totally compatible with each other and inseparable (1 Tim. 1:14) and complement one another (Rom. 4:16; Eph. 2:8).
Grace, faith and salvation are all the gift of God and totally exclude all human works and ability (Eph. 2:8-9).
Ephesians 2:8-9, “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.”
The unique Person of the Lord Jesus Christ and His finished work on the Cross-is the source of grace (2 Cor. 8:9) and He is a gift from the Father (2 Cor. 9:15).
2 Corinthians 8:9, “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ that though He was rich, yet for your sake He became poor, so that you through His poverty might become rich.”
2 Corinthians 9:15, “Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift!”
Jesus Christ was full of “grace and truth” (John 1:17).
John 1:17, “For the Law was given through Moses; grace and truth were realized through Jesus Christ.”
The believer receives the grace of God through Him (John 1:16).
John 1:16, “For of His fullness we have all received, and grace upon grace.”
It is by the grace of God that Jesus Christ died a substitutionary spiritual death for all mankind (Heb. 2:9); therefore, the throne in which Christ sits is a "throne of grace" (Heb. 4:16).
Hebrews 2:10, “But we do see Him who was made for a little while lower than the angels, namely, Jesus, because of the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor, so that by the grace of God He might taste death for everyone.”
Hebrews 4:14-16, “Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin. Therefore let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”
The grace of God has been extended to every member of the human race because of the act of love and justice on the Cross when the Father imputed the sins of every person in history-past, present and future to the impeccable humanity of Christ in hypostatic union on the Cross and judged Him as a substitute for the entire human race (Titus 2:11).
Titus 2:11, “For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men.”
The message of God's saving act in Christ is described as the “gospel of the grace of God” (Acts 20:24), and the “word of His grace” (Acts 20:32; cf. 14:3).
By His grace, God justifies the undeserving and unworthy through faith in His Son Jesus Christ (Rom. 3:24).
Romans 3:23-24, “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus.”
Grace is an absolute and is no longer grace if we are saved on the basis of human works (Rom. 11:6).
Romans 11:6, “But if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works, otherwise grace is no longer grace.”
A Christian is someone who is a “partaker” of the grace of God (Phil. 1:7) and he is to live by the same principle of grace after salvation (Col. 2:6; Rom. 6:4) and is the Christian's sphere of existence (Rom. 1:7; 1 Cor. 1:3; Col. 1:2).
The believer who rejects this principle is said to have “fallen from grace,” (Gal. 5:1-5).
God in His grace and love disciplines the believer in order to get them back in fellowship with Himself (Heb. 12:5-12).
God in His grace also trains the believer through undeserved suffering in order to achieve spiritual growth (2 Cor. 12:7-11).
2 Corinthians 12:9, “And He has said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.’ Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me.”
The believer experiences the grace of God while in fellowship with God, which is accomplished by obedience to the Word of God.
The Word of God, which is the mind of Christ, manifests the grace of God and the application of it will reproduce the beautiful, virtuous character of Christ in the believer.
Therefore, since God has dealt graciously with the believer, the believer is in turn commanded to be gracious with all members of the human race, both believers and unbelievers (Eph. 4:32; Col. 3:13; 4:6; 1 Thess. 3:12).
Colossians 3:12-13, “So, as those who have been chosen of God, holy and beloved, put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience; bearing with one another, and forgiving each other, whoever has a complaint against anyone; just as the Lord forgave you, so also should you.”
The believer is commanded to “grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ” (2 Pet. 3:18).
Therefore, in Romans 1:5, the term charis, “grace” refers to the unmerited blessing, gift, commission and office that Paul received at the moment of his salvation, which he identifies as his office as an apostle.
Romans 1:5, “through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith among all the Gentiles for His name's sake.”
“Apostleship” is the noun apostole (a)postolhv) (ap-os-to-lay), which refers to the unique and temporary spiritual gift and office, which held maximum authority in the Church and was sovereignly delegated by the Lord Jesus Christ.
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.
In Acts 1:26, Matthias was selected to be an apostle by lot to replace Judas Iscariot, however, this selection was not honored by God since he was not personally selected by the resurrected Christ as the other eleven men were, nor did he demonstrate any sign gifts.
One of the requirements for holding the “office” of apostle was experiencing seeing the resurrected Christ as Paul had when defending his ministry in 1 Corinthians 9:1-2.
Another requirement for holding the “office” of apostle was that of possessing the “sign gifts” such as healing, which Paul demonstrated he had many times during the course of his ministry (Acts 14:10; 16:18; 19:11; 20:10; 28:8) or “tongues,” which Paul also demonstrated he possessed (1 Corinthians 14:18).
The office and spiritual gift of apostleship was not appointed until after the resurrection and ascension and session of the Lord Jesus Christ (See Ephesians 4:1-16)
Ephesian 4:1-3, “Therefore I, the prisoner of the Lord, implore you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called with all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing tolerance for one another in love being diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.”
Ephesians 4:4-6, “There is one body and one Spirit, just as also you were called in one hope of your calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all who is over all and through all and in all.”
Ephesians 4:7, “But to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Christ's gift.”
Ephesians 4:8, “Therefore it says, ‘WHEN HE ASCENDED ON HIGH, HE LED CAPTIVE A HOST OF CAPTIVES, AND HE GAVE GIFTS TO MEN.’”
Ephesians 4:9, “(Now this expression, ‘He ascended,’ what does it mean except that He also had descended into the lower parts of the earth?”
Ephesians 4:10, “He who descended is Himself also He who ascended far above all the heavens, so that He might fill all things.)”
Ephesians 4:11-13, “And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors-teachers for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ.”
1 Corinthians 12:28 parallels Paul’s statement in Ephesians 4:11.
1 Corinthians 12:28, “And God has appointed in the church, first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, administrations, various kinds of tongues.”
Ephesians 4:14-16, “As a result, we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, even Christ from whom the whole body, being fitted and held together by what every joint supplies, according to the proper working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love.”
Distribution of spiritual gifts was authorized by the Lord Jesus Christ as a result of His death, resurrection, ascension and session, however, the actual appointment of the spiritual gift of apostleship was made by God the Holy Spirit according 1 Corinthians 12:11.
1 Corinthians 12:11, “But one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually just as He wills.”
The spiritual gift of apostleship functioned under two categories: (1) Writers of the NT (2) Establishment of local churches: (a) The clarification of mystery doctrine (b) The maintenance of a true systematic theology with dispensational emphasis (c) The training of pastors (3) Establishment of local church policy.
Paul was personally commissioned by the resurrected Christ 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; Ephesians 3:1; 1 Timothy 2:7).
1 Timothy 2:5-7, “For there is one God, and one mediator also between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself as a ransom for all, the testimony given at the proper time. For this I was appointed a preacher and an apostle (I am telling the truth, I am not lying) as a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and truth.”
Romans 1:5, “through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith among all the Gentiles for His name's sake.”
The expression charin kai apostolen, “grace and apostleship” contains the figure of “hendiadys.”
This figure takes place when two nouns are used to express one idea or concept and it literally means “one by means of two” and takes place when the author uses two words but only one idea is intended.
The two words are of the same parts of speech, i.e., two nouns, and are always joined together by the conjunction “and” and are also always in the same case.
One of the two words expresses the thing, and the other intensifies it by being changed (if a noun) into an adjective of the superlative degree, which is, by this means, made especially emphatic.
In Romans 1:5, we have two nouns charin, “grace” and apostolen, “apostleship” and they are separated by the conjunction kai, “and.”
The noun apostolen, “apostleship” modifies and intensifies the meaning of the noun charin, “grace.”
Therefore, the figure of “hendiadys” indicates that these two expressions “grace and apostleship” do “not” refer to two separate things but rather refer to one thing.
The figure of “hendiadys” indicates that Paul is speaking of his office of apostleship as an unmerited spiritual gift that he received at the moment of salvation.
Therefore, we could translate this expression charin kai apostolen, “the gift of apostleship.”