Romans 1.7b-Salutation of Epistle-Grace and Peace

Wednesday May 23, 2007

Romans: Romans 1:7b-Salutation of Epistle-Grace and Peace

Lesson # 13

Please turn in your Bibles to Romans 1:1.

This evening we will continue with our study of the book of Romans.

In Romans 1:1, Paul identified himself to his readers by giving a three-fold description of himself.

In Romans 1:2, Paul further defines the gospel that he proclaimed as the fulfillment of prophetic expectation in the Old Testament.

In Romans 1:3-4, Paul presents the subject of the epistle, who is the Lord Jesus Christ.

Next, in Romans 1:5, we read where Paul states that he received the unmerited spiritual gift of apostleship at the moment of his salvation in order to bring about among the Gentiles the faith, which produces obedience to God.

In Romans 1:6, Paul identifies the recipients of this epistle as the called ones who are owned by Jesus Christ.

Last evening we noted Romans 1:7a, in which Paul further identifies the recipients of this epistle as the beloved of God and called saints.

This evening we will complete Romans 1:7 by noting Paul’s salutation.

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.”

“Grace to you and peace” is composed of the following: (1) The nominative (absolute) feminine singular noun charis (xavri$), “grace.” (2) The 2nd person plural dative (of recipient) form of the personal pronoun humin (u(min), which is from humeis (u(mei$), “to you.” (3) The connective use of the conjunction kai (kaiV), “and.” (4) The nominative (absolute) feminine singular noun eirene (ei)rhvnh), “peace.”

Both the nouns charis, “grace” and eirene, “peace” are nominative absolutes, which is a nominative that does not appear in a sentence but only in salutations, titles and other introductory phrases.

In Romans 1:7, both the nouns charis, “grace” and eirene, “peace” are nominative absolutes since they do not function in a sentence but rather in a salutation.

The personal pronoun humin, “to you” is a dative of recipient, which is a dative that appears in verbless constructions such as salutations and titles and here in Romans 1:7, the personal pronoun humin, “to you” is in the dative case and appears in a salutation, which is a verbless construction.

Humin refers to the individuals mentioned in Romans 1:7, “to all who are beloved of God in Rome, called as saints.”

We have the 2nd person plural form of humeis and should be translated “to all of you,” and not simply “to you.”

“Grace” is the noun charis (xavri$) (khar-ece), which 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.

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).

Jesus Christ was full of “grace and truth” (John 1:17) and the believer receives the grace of God through Him (John 1:16).

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).

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).

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).

Grace is an absolute and is no longer grace if we are saved on the basis of human works (Rom. 11:6).

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) and also trains the believer through undeserved suffering in order to achieve spiritual growth (2 Cor. 12:7-11).

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).

The believer is commanded to “grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ” (2 Pet. 3:18).

The believer experiences the grace of God while in fellowship with God, which is accomplished by obedience to the Word of God.

In Romans 1:7, the word charis, “grace” is a revelation of the blessings and benefits given to the believer at the moment of salvation, and which blessings and benefits are imparted by the Holy Spirit through the communication of the Word of God, which is the mind of Christ.

These blessings and benefits would include the revelation of the following: (1) character of God and the Lord Jesus Christ; (2) blessings effected by the work of the Trinity; (3) will of the Father; (4) provisions to perform the Father’s will, (5) rewards for executing the Father’s will.

The impartation of these blessings to the believer pivots off his obedience to the will of the Father.

Romans 1:7b, “Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.”

“Peace” is the noun eirene (ei)rhvnh) (i-ray-nay), which in classical Greek meant the state of peace in contrast to war, state of rest, contentment, inner peace and tranquility of soul, peace of mind.

Eirene to the Greeks did not primarily denote a relationship between people or an attitude, but a state, such as a “time of peace” or a “state of peace.”

It was originally conceived as an interlude in the everlasting state or condition of war and denoted the state or condition of peace in contrast to war.

The Greeks considered peace as the absence of war and as the foundation for national and personal welfare and prosperity.

In the Greek mind, eirene denotes the concept of the state of rest and also denoted the opposite of disturbance such as laughing.

The LXX (Greek translation of Hebrew Old Testament) translators used eirene to translate shalom (swlv), “peace as the antithesis to war, health prosperity, soul prosperity, overt prosperity, a state of well-being, contentment of soul.”

In the Old Testament, “peace” was a state of well-being and was always viewed in relation to God.

In the Greek New Testament eirene has a two-fold meaning, “soul prosperity, and overt prosperity” and is used of both the relationship of peace with God and men.

Eirene is used of God as the author of peace (Rm. 15:33; 16:20; 1 Th. 5:23) since God as to His divine nature and essence is peace.

Eirene is used in relation to the reconciliation between unregenerate man and God through faith alone in Christ alone (Acts 10:36; Rm. 5:1; Eph. 2:14, 15, 17).

Romans 5:1, “Therefore having been justified by faith (in Christ), we have peace with God the Father through our Lord Jesus Christ.”

The word is used to describe the content of the Gospel message in Romans 10:15 and Ephesians 6:15, which when accepted by means of faith alone in Christ alone results in peace with God.

In relation to the believer it denotes the condition or state of the believer’s soul who is in fellowship with God and is one of the objectives of God the Holy Spirit in the process of experiential sanctification and is thus produced by Him (Galatians 5:22-23).

Galatians 5:22-23, “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.”

True peace is having a relationship with God, which can only be acquired by an unregenerate human being through faith alone in Christ alone.

The believer is eternally united with the Lord Jesus Christ at the moment of salvation through the Baptism of the Spirit (Galatians 3:26-28) and has peace positionally at the moment of salvation and by positionally, I mean that God views Himself as reconciled to the believer.

Peace for the believer is having fellowship with God and is trusting in the promise that God is for you and not against you (Romans 8:31-39) and which promise is based upon the fact Christ has died as the believer’s substitute in order that the believer might have fellowship with God.

Eirene is the tranquil or serene state or condition of the soul of the believer who obeys the Father’s will, which is revealed by the Spirit through the communication of the Word of God.

Romans 8:6, “For the mind set on the flesh (old sin nature) is death (temporal spiritual death, out of fellowship with God), but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace.”

Eirene is also the serene state or condition of the soul of the believer who goes to the Father in prayer in order to worship and adore Him and to present his needs and concerns in life.

God the Holy Spirit produces this tranquility of soul when the believer obeys His voice, which is heard through the communication of the Word of God.

Philippians 4:6-7, “At this very moment, all of you stop continuing to be anxious about absolutely anything, but rather, concerning anything at all by means of reverential prayer in the presence of the Father and by means of petition accompanied by the giving of thanks, let your specific detailed requests be repeatedly made known in the presence of the Father and as a result the peace produced by God the Holy Spirit, which is always superior to any and every human conception, will as a dogmatic statement of fact cause your hearts to be protected and as a result your thoughts by means of the doctrine of Christ Jesus.”

Romans 15:13, “Now may the God of confidence fill you with all contentment and inner peace in believing, that you may abound in confidence by means of the power of the Holy Spirit.”

This peace is synonymous with the Sabbath Rest in Hebrews 4:1-16, which the believer is urged to be diligent in applying the promises of God so that they might have peace in their souls.

Eirene is used often in relation to the experiential sanctification of the believer and is a direct result of being in fellowship with God, which is accomplished by obedience to the Word of God (Jn. 14:27; 16:33; Rm. 8:6; 14:17; 2 Co. 13; 11; Phlp. 4:7; Col. 3:15; 1 Th. 5:23; 2 Th. 3:16; 2 Tm. 2:22; Heb. 13:20; Jam. 3:18).

Colossians 3:15, “Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body; and be thankful.”

The believer is commanded to pursue this soul prosperity, which originates from God (1 Pet. 3:11) and is also instructed to be diligent to remain in fellowship with God (2 Pet. 3:14).

The believer’s peace is being content with what one has in life, and living life in view of eternity and is equating time with eternity, which brings contentment (Phil. 1:21; 4:10-13).

Eirene is the contentment one has as a result of knowing that one has peace with God through faith in Christ and is a soul prosperity that the world can’t give but what only what Bible Doctrine can give when applied in the soul under pressure.

John 16:33, “These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world (cosmic system) you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world (cosmic system).”

Eirene is used in the salutations of Paul with the noun charis to denote the daily peace the believer receives from fellowship with God (Rom. 1:7; 1 Cor. 1:3; 2 Cor. 1:2; Eph. 1:2; Col. 1:2; 1 Thess. 1:1; 2 Thess. 1:2; 1 Tim. 1:2; 2 Tim. 1:2; Titus 1:4; Phlm. 1:3).

In Romans 1:7, the phrase “grace to all of you and peace” contains a figure of speech called metonymy of the cause where we have the grace of God put for the revelation of the benefits and blessings of knowing the: (1) character of God; (2) Blessings effected by the work of the Trinity; (3) will of the Father; (4) provisions to perform the Father’s will, (5) rewards for executing the Father’s will.

Philippians 4:23, “May the grace which originates from the Lord Jesus Christ be communicated to your human spirit. Amen.”

Notice the word order, “grace” precedes “peace,” which is significant since we cannot experience peace until we accept by faith and appropriate grace that is extended to every believer through the Lord Jesus Christ.

The believer appropriates the grace of God by being obedient to the revelation of the Father’s will that is made known by the Holy Spirit to the believer through the communication of the Word of God by the believer’s divinely ordained pastor-teacher.

The believer’s obedience to the revelation of the Father’s will by the Holy Spirit through the communication of the Word of God will result in the believer experiencing the peace of God in his life.

When Paul says to the Romans “grace to all of you” he is referring to the fact that what he is writing to them under the inspiration of God the Holy Spirit is a revelation of the Father’s will and if this revelation of the Father’s will is obeyed, it will impart blessing to all of them and produce peace in theirs souls.

Romans 1:7b, “Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.”

“From God our Father”: (1) Preposition apo (a)poV), “from.” (2) Genitive ablative (of source) masculine singular form of the noun theos (qeov$), which is theou (qeou), “God.” (3) Genitive (of possession) 1st person plural form of the personal pronoun hemeis (h(mei$), which is hemon (h(mwn), “our.” (4) Genitive (of simple apposition) masculine singular form of the noun pater (pathVr), which is patros (patroV$), “Father.”

The preposition apo, “from” with the ablative of source theou, “God” indicates that grace and peace “originates from” God the Father.

The preposition apo, “from” with the ablative of source kuriou, “Lord” indicates that grace and peace “originates” not only “from” God the Father but also “from” the Lord Jesus Christ.

God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ are the source of grace and peace, which extend from both of them to every church age believer without exception.

Grace and peace originated from not only God the Father but the Lord Jesus Christ as well since all blessings flow to the believer because of the merits of Jesus Christ and His Finished Work on the Cross as well as the believer’s eternal union with Christ.

The preposition apo in its basic meaning means, “separation from,” and in Romans 1:7 it denotes the fact that grace and peace “originates” and “extends from” God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ to all of the Roman believers.

God the Father and the Lord Jesus are the “source” of grace and peace, which “extend from” God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ to every church age believer.

In Romans 1:7, the personal pronoun hemeis indicates possession expressing the “eternal relationship” that every church age believer “possesses” with God the Father.

The noun patros, “Father” functions as a genitive of simple apposition specifying the member of the Trinity from which grace and peace originate.

“Jesus” is the proper noun Iesou ( )Ihsou), which refers to the perfect human nature of our Lord.

“Christ” is proper name Christos (xristov$), which is a technical word designating 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.

“Lord” is the noun kurios (kuvrio$), which indicates the following: (1) Jesus of Nazareth’s equality with the Father and the Spirit. (2) His joint-rulership with the Father over the entire cosmos. (3) His highest ranking position as Chief Administrator in the divine government. (4) His absolute sovereign authority as Ruler over all creation and every creature. (5) His strategic victory over Satan and the kingdom of darkness in the angelic conflict.

The omission of God the Holy Spirit is not a result of inferiority since He is Lord and God also and is co-equal, co-infinite and co-eternal with the other members of the Trinity.

God the Holy Spirit is to glorify the Son in this dispensation (John 16:12-15), thus He is not mentioned in Romans 1:7, however, He will be glorified in the Millennium (Joel 2:28-29).