I don’t intend to spend time on ‘when, where, who, why’ as there are several sites on the internet (including Wikipedia) with many answers.
This letter was written in Greek, and it’s also worth pointing out that such letters in New Testament times were all written in
CAPITALLETTERSWITHNOPUNCTUATION
ANDNOGAPSBETWEENTHEWORDS!
However, if you are a native English speaker you will see that it isn’t as difficult as you may have imagined!
Think back to the start of the Christian church in Acts. Many had travelled to Jerusalem for Pentecost. So it is possible that the church in Rome was started by the returning ‘visitors from Rome’ (Acts 2:7-10) who had attended the festival of Pentecost, had experienced the coming of the Holy Spirit and had themselves been converted.
In Paul’s day the church contained a mix of Jews and Gentiles.
It seems that before Paul’s intended visit he wanted to explain his understanding of many fundamental Christian doctrines. But be prepared, some of Paul’s arguments are quite deep . . . .
Let’s read Romans 1:1-7 (I’ll comment as we go along)
1 Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle and set apart for the gospel of God –
So Paul introduces himself and presents his credentials. The title a ‘servant of Christ’ suggests a lowly person, but to be a servant of Christ actually means that the authority by which he writes is unquestionable. And not just a servant but an ambassador, specifically chosen and sent out as Christ’s representative.
Then characteristically he sidesteps to explain something – here:
Romans 1:2-4
2 the gospel he promised beforehand through his prophets in the Holy Scriptures 3 regarding his Son, who as to his earthly life was a descendant of David, 4 and who through the Spirit of holiness was appointed the Son of God in power by his resurrection from the dead: Jesus Christ our Lord.
What is this ‘Gospel ‘ – the ‘Good News’ of God?
This is not some new teaching – many had prophesied* that the Messiah would be a descendant of David, and would come into the world to bring salvation to those people who would answer his call.
Paul now returns to address the Romans 1:5-7
5 Through him we received grace and apostleship to call all the Gentiles to the obedience that comes from faith for his name’s sake. 6 And you also are among those Gentiles who are called to belong to Jesus Christ.
7 To all in Rome who are loved by God and called to be his holy people:
Grace and peace to you from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ.
In four places in this first chapter, (verses 5, 6,13,16) Paul seems to be addressing this letter to the Gentiles (but it doesn’t last and in later chapters he will specifically address the Jews). In verses 5 and 6 he explains that the Gentiles have been called by God, but then in verse 7 he confirms that actually they have all been called into a full relationship with Jesus. Here in verse 7 he explains that all people in Rome are loved by God and that grace comes to them from God through Jesus.
Now read Romans 1:8-17
8 First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is being reported all over the world. 9 God, whom I serve in my spirit in preaching the gospel of his Son, is my witness how constantly I remember you 10 in my prayers at all times; and I pray that now at last by God’s will the way may be opened for me to come to you.
Paul had heard so much about the Christians in Rome that not only did he pray regularly for them, but he longed to visit them in person.
11 I long to see you so that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to make you strong – 12 that is, that you and I may be mutually encouraged by each other’s faith
As soon as Paul had said this he realised that it could be taken the wrong way! So he explains that as they shared their faith they would all be encouraged. But at the same time he recognised that the Lord used his preaching to bring many unbelievers to faith and he felt called to minister with them.
13 I do not want you to be unaware, brothers and sisters, that I planned many times to come to you (but have been prevented from doing so until now) in order that I might have a harvest among you, just as I have had among the other Gentiles.
14 I am a debtor both to Greeks and non-Greeks, both to the wise and the foolish. 15 That is why I am so eager to preach the gospel also to you who are in Rome.
Paul had been specifically called by God to be an evangelist, and the strength of that calling meant that he almost felt he owed it to them as a debt that he must repay.
16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile. 17 For in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed – a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: ‘The righteous will live by faith.’
Now Paul states some basic facts:
He is almost proud (‘not ashamed’) to have been chosen to preach the gospel.
The gospel has the power to bring salvation.
It is for everyone.
It demonstrates and reveals God’s righteousness.
This same righteousness is available to all who believe.
The only way to receive it is by faith.
Only those who have faith in Jesus will be declared righteous by him and so can live with him forever. (Romans 3:21-26)
The Old Testament (the Bible that Paul knew) contained a record of the history of God’s dealings with the people he had created. It was not a happy read, as it seems that in every generation people would deliberately turn their backs on the God who created them, and who still loved them.
Some people like to say that with the coming of Jesus, and with the way back to God opened to us by his death and resurrection, all people will now be saved.
Not so – although the call is to everyone, there continues to be a majority of people who want nothing to do with God, and he is not going to force people to love him. Does God care about them? As a true father he truly loves all he created, but that does not stop him from being furious with those who turn against him.
Read Romans 1:18-20
18 The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness, 19 since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. 20 For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities – his eternal power and divine nature – have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.
Do you remember the devil’s lie to Eve? ‘did God really say . . .?’
Many people now happily share another lie: ‘did God really create everything?’ and in so doing they ‘suppress the truth’.
Many people, including Christians, prefer to say that it’s not important, God could quite easily have used evolution. But that makes God a liar, denying the first verse in the first chapter in the first book in the Bible – God’s word.
That’s just an ancient myth they say.
Let me ask: when God spoke to Moses and gave him the Ten Commandments, was that also ancient myth, or was God actually speaking? (Exodus 20:1 – ‘and God spoke all these words’)
So when we get to the fourth commandment, is God still speaking?
(Exodus 20:8-11 – ‘For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy’)
Or how about when God first called Moses – read Exodus 4:1-5
1 Moses answered, ‘What if they do not believe me or listen to me and say, “The Lord did not appear to you”?’
2 Then the Lord said to him, ‘What is that in your hand?’
‘A staff,’ he replied.
3 The Lord said, ‘Throw it on the ground.’
Moses threw it on the ground and it became a snake, and he ran from it. 4 Then the Lord said to him, ‘Reach out your hand and take it by the tail.’ So Moses reached out and took hold of the snake and it turned back into a staff in his hand. 5 ‘This,’ said the Lord, ‘is so that they may believe that the Lord, the God of their fathers – the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob – has appeared to you.’
How long did it take God to make the snake? (And Moses certainly knew it was real!)
Perhaps we better look again at Romans 1:18
18 The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness,
No people say, it’s not that bad. It doesn’t really matter if you believe in evolution rather than creation.
I think the term ‘wrath of God’ suggests that it is more serious than we think.
Why is God so furious? Because Romans 1:19
19 since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them.
What has been made plain? Romans 1:20
20 For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities – his eternal power and divine nature – have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.
There are really only two conclusions you can make: either God created, or it just happened all by itself. And mankind in their arrogance prefer that idea, and so logically they can say ‘we don’t need God’. But interestingly, in saying that they are also admitting that God exists. And worryingly for them, in God’s eyes they ‘are without excuse’.
Read Romans 1:21-23
21 For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22 Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like a mortal human being and birds and animals and reptiles.
A lot of people accept that there is probably some ‘higher being’ and in the past they also realised that this ‘thing’ probably needed to be worshipped. So people made images out of stone, metal, and wood and worshipped them.
Look again at the phrase in verse 23 ‘the glory of the immortal God’ and now picture someone bowing down in worship to an image that he had carved out of a piece of wood.
No wonder God is furious.
So what is God’s response? Read Romans 1:24-32
24 Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. 25 They exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worshipped and served created things rather than the Creator – who is for ever praised. Amen.
26 Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural sexual relations for unnatural ones. 27 In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed shameful acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their error.
28 Furthermore, just as they did not think it worth while to retain the knowledge of God, so God gave them over to a depraved mind, so that they do what ought not to be done.
29 They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, 30 slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; 31 they have no understanding, no fidelity, no love, no mercy. 32 Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practise them.
There is a lot to unpack there, so we will look at that in our next study.
* (for example: Genesis 3:15, 49:8,10; Deuteronomy 18:18; Psalm 16:10 , 22:1-31, 40:1-17, 110:1; Isaiah 7:14, 9:6, 53:1-12, 63:1-3; Daniel 9:24-26; Micah 5:2; Zechariah 9:9; Malachi 3:1.)
