Romans 1:1-7 || Collection of Biblical Commentaries

Romans 1:1-7
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Romans 1:1-7
Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle,
separated unto the gospel of God, (Which he had promised
afore by his prophets in the holy scriptures,) Concerning his Son
Jesus Christ our Lord, which was made of the seed of David
according to the flesh; And declared to be the Son of God with
power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection
from the dead: By whom we have received grace and
apostleship, for obedience to the faith among all nations, for his
name: Among whom are ye also the called of Jesus Christ: To
all that be in Rome, beloved of God, called to be saints: Grace
to you and peace from God our Father, and the Lord Jesus
Christ.
Paul. Instead of subscribing a name at the end of a letter, the
custom was to introduce it at the beginning. See other Epistles
of Paul; also Act 23:26. For a sketch of Paul, see Introduction;
also see notes in Vol. I. on Act 13:9.
Called to be an apostle. "To be" is not in the original. Paul
simply states that he is "a called apostle," not one appointed by
men, but called by Jesus Christ. He was called when he "saw the
Lord," an essential to apostleship. See notes 1Co 9:1; also Act
26:16. His setting apart at Antioch (Act 13:2) was not this call,
but it came direct from Jesus Christ. As some Judaizing teachers
tried to destroy his apostolic authority, he found it necessary on
several occasions to show that his commission was directly from
the Lord.
Separated. Set apart to the work of the gospel. Christ set him
apart, and his whole life was consecrated to his divine glory.
Which he had promised afore, etc. This gospel was no
innovation, but a fulfillment of God's long-cherished plans, and
had been promised through the prophets of the Old Testament.
Indeed the Old Testament is a system of types, shadows and
promises pointing forward to the coming of Christ. "Of him have
all the prophets borne witness."

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Concerning his Son. The Son of God is the very center of the
gospel, and the promises are all concerning him.
Born of the seed of David. The two natures combined in the
Son, according to the flesh, are pointed out in this and the
next verse. As to his human body, he was a descendant of
David, his mother being of David's lineage.
But declared to be the Son of God. Though in human form
he was demonstrated to be divine by power, such power as he
displayed in mighty miracles, and especially by the greater
miracle of his own resurrection from the dead.
According to the spirit of holiness. It must be noted that this
is a contrast with according to the flesh in Rom 1:3, and hence
must refer to our Lord's holy nature. The body was descended
from David, but the pure, holy life was demonstrated to be
divine. One was a human nature; the other was a divine nature.
This nature is spoken of as "the spirit of holiness," because it is
contrasted with sinful flesh.
Through whom. Through Jesus Christ, who is the subject
spoken of.
We have received. Paul refers to himself, and perhaps to other
apostles.
Grace. The grace, the favor and mercy of heaven granted to all
saints.
Apostleship. All saints were not apostles, but one must be a
saint to be an apostle. Without the general grace he could not
have the special gift of apostleship.
For obedience to the faith. The apostleship was given in
order to lead all nations to obedience to the faith. The faith is a
synonym for the gospel. Observe that it is a system of

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obedience. In the apostolic age there were no recognized
believers but obedient believers.
Among whom are ye also the called. From among "all
nations" (Rom 1:5). The members of the church at Rome,
though partly Jews, were mostly Gentiles. They had heard the
gospel call, had obeyed it, and were now "the called of Jesus
Christ." In the next verse, they are said to be "called to be
saints."
To all that are in Rome. To all Christians in Rome. The letter
is addressed to the church in the great imperial city. Rome was
the capital of the world, the home of Nero, the emperor, the
largest city on earth, supposed to contain about two million
inhabitants.
Saints. All Christians were called saints by the New Testament
writers. Any one consecrated to a holy life is a saint.
Grace to you and peace. This is the ordinary New Testament
Christian salutation. It is the expression of a prayer that God the
Father and our Lord may bestow favor and peace upon them.
The Father is the source, and our Lord Jesus Christ the mediator
and procurer of these blessings. It is plain that Paul was not a
Unitarian.
Romans 1:1-7
The Gospel of God
Rom 1:1 . Romans is the first letter of the New Testament. If
you have just started your journey to read through the Bible
with Romans, you have made a good choice. In it you’ll discover
how God saw you while you were unsaved and how He sees you
now that you know Him. This knowledge will give you assurance
of having made the right choice. You will still have to learn how
to walk on the Christian pathway, but at least you will know the
pathway itself is correct.
Paul (as inspired by the Holy Spirit) was chosen by God to speak

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to you about this pathway in this letter. In Rom 1:1 he tells
what he is going to talk about – the gospel of God. The gospel
you accepted was not devised by man, but it went out from
God. It is His gospel.
Rom 1:2 . In the past God spoke of this gospel through His
prophets. You can read about it in the Old Testament, called
“the holy Scriptures” in this verse. During the time of the Old
Testament, God tested people repeatedly to see if they would
serve Him, but they failed each time. Finally, God made it
known that He Himself would act. This happened when He sent
His Son.
Rom 1:3 . The contents of the gospel of God are centered in the
Son of God. It is the gospel of God “concerning His Son”. This
gospel is not a religion, but rather about a Person with Whom
you now have a living relationship through faith. Much can be
found regarding the Son of God in the Bible. You can only begin
to grasp the real meaning of any portion of Scripture if you are
able to see what it has to say about the Lord Jesus.
Rom 1:3-4 mention two things regarding Him that are important
to be able to understand the contents of this letter. First, He
was “born of a descendant [lit. seed] of David”. As the Son of
David, He was entitled to the throne of Israel in Jerusalem.
Since Israel has rejected Him, His ascent to the throne has been
delayed. In Romans 9-11 you will see how God will fulfill all the
promises He made to David.
Rom 1:4 . Secondly, what is spoken of the Lord Jesus comes
from the rejection of Him by His people, Israel. He, Who as Man
died on the cross, “was declared the Son of God with power”
when He rose from the dead. That He is Son of God with power
not only was made clear by His own resurrection, but already
during His life on earth, when He raised up other persons who
died. Think of Lazarus, the young man of Nain and the daughter
of Jairus.

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His resurrection from among the dead (since everyone else has
remained dead) was “according to the Spirit of holiness”. This is
an important addition. Everything the Lord Jesus did during His
life was in total agreement with the Holy Spirit. Since all was in
harmony with the will of God, we know He committed no evil in
His life.
But in the three hours of darkness He certainly did come into
contact with evil. He was made sin and bore our sins in His
body. Therefore God judged Him for our sins and gave Him the
wages of sin, which is death. When He rose from the dead, the
Spirit of holiness could unify Himself completely with Him since
all sin and wrong deeds were completely judged by Him. If you
can now see Who the Lord Jesus is and what He has done, it will
not be difficult to acknowledge Him as the Lord of your life, as
Paul says at the end of Rom 1:4 .
Rom 1:5-7 . Paul was so impressed by this Person that he
wanted to go out to all nations to bring people to obedience of
faith to Him. I hope something will radiate from your life and
mine, both in our words and deeds, so others will come to
obedience of faith in the Lord Jesus.
Now read Romans 1:1-7 again.
Reflection: Tell God in your words Who the Lord Jesus is to you.
Romans 1:1-7
Instead of using the usual, conventional form of brief address in
this letter, Paul extends the customary salutation in a truly
Christian and apostolic manner, in order to include in his
opening greeting the wish for the highest spiritual well-being of
the brethren in Rome. A servant Paul calls himself. The word, if
used alone, denotes the Christian, so far as he, in the discharge
of his special Christian calling, surrenders himself completely to
God’s will, and excludes his own preference. But Paul modifies
the word by calling himself a "servant of Jesus Christ," not a
bondman or slave, as the literal meaning of the word in classical

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language would have it, since this term contains something of
reproach, but a man who is under an obligation to Christ which
he can never fully and adequately discharge. He had given,
entrusted himself, his person, his life, his powers, to his Lord
and Savior Jesus Christ; he was wholly devoted to Him in the
spirit of sacrificial obedience, to the constant, complete, and
energetic performance of the divine will. Whereas, however, he
had this relation toward Christ in common with every true
believer, there was one distinction which he enjoyed, very
unusual and singular. He was called as an apostle by a special
vocation from God, by an immediate call, Act 9:1 ff. ; Gal 1:12.
The special prerogative of the apostolate was his: he had seen
the risen Lord, 1Co 15:8, he had received direct
communications from Him, 1Co 11:23; 1Co 15:3. As an apostle,
Paul was separated, set apart from other men, given a special
office, appointed unto the Gospel of God, for its special ministry.
It is the Gospel of God, the glad tidings of which He is the
Author, which His grace made possible. The message which Paul
brought, by word of mouth and by letter, was not an indefinite
philosophy, but the Word of God, as it is intended for the
salvation of men.
This Gospel of God, these glorious, happy tidings, is not a new
doctrine, but one which had promised before through His
prophets in the holy writings, or Scriptures, the ancient truth,
proclaimed by the most credible witnesses, codified in
guaranteed writings. Paul’s words here are a testimony to the
inspiration of the Scriptures as they were then known to the
Jews. It was God that made the proclamation in olden times;
they were His prophets that preached and wrote, not what
suited their fancy but what His Holy Spirit told them to put down
for future generations; and therefore the writings that have
come down through the ages are holy, as a product of the holy
God and His Holy Spirit. The fact that the doctrine of Paul
coincided fully with the testimony of the prophets is comforting
also to us as an assurance that the Gospel, as preached in our
midst, is the eternal truth.

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The origin of the Gospel is divine; its agreement with the
testimony of the prophets cannot be questioned; its content is
Jesus. It treats of His, God’s, Son, God Himself, in the Gospel,
testifies of His Son. The Son of God, whose eternity and divinity
is emphasized by the name, Psa 2:7, was born of the seed of
David according to the flesh. The only-begotten Son of the
Father, Joh 1:14; Col 1:15, assumed human nature as a
descendant of David, His mother Mary being of the house and
lineage of David. Of the seed of David He was born, according to
the flesh, Luk 3:23 ff. ; His was a true human nature, flesh and
blood like that of all men, all human beings. He was made in the
likeness of men, Php 2:7, though not after the usual conception
and birth; He was made like unto us, His brethren, in every
respect, subject to the same weaknesses and ills which flesh is
heir to, but without sin, Heb 2:17.
This same Jesus, however, that is a true human being is at the
same time declared, ordained, appointed, constituted, the Son
of God in power, the almighty Son of God. He was always the
Son of God, but in the state of His humiliation He had hidden His
divine majesty under the form of a servant. But now He was
manifested, established, as the Son of God with the full
possession of the divine glory and majesty. The Son of David,
the weak and despised Jesus of Nazareth, according to His
human nature, exercises unlimited authority, absolute
sovereignty. And all this was brought about according to the
spirit of holiness, according to His higher, heavenly, divine
nature, 2Co 3:17. This unique nature is called a spirit of
holiness, because it belongs to the superhuman, supermundane
world, because it is found only in Him that is above all, at the
right hand of God in the heavenly places, Eph 1:20-23 "The
whole Gospel of Paul is comprehended in this historical Jesus,
who has appeared in the flesh, but who, on the ground of the
spirit of holiness, which constitutes His essence, has been
exalted as Christ and Lord. " It is the eternal Godhead that now,
since He has been exalted to the right hand of God, appears in
Christ and determines His entire manner of being. His divine
nature has permeated, charged, His human essence with its

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glory and power. And all this is true in consequence of, by, the
resurrection of the dead. By His death, Christ laid aside all
human weakness forever. Then He arose from the dead. It was
a true resurrection or returning to life; He entered into a new
life and being; He assumed the unlimited exercise of the divine
attributes which had been transmitted to His human nature. For
that reason also, in and with the resurrection of Christ, the
resurrection of the believers unto eternal life is guaranteed, 1Co
15:12 ff. All these wonderful things are stated of Jesus Christ,
the God-man, anointed by God to be the Savior of the world,
and therefore our Lord, the Master and King of all believers. All
the works of His office He performed, and still performs, in order
that we may be His own and live under Him in His kingdom, and
serve Him in everlasting righteousness, innocence, and
blessedness.
This same Lord Jesus Christ who has been revealed in such a
wonderful way is also the One through whom Paul received
grace and apostolate. By the activity of the exalted Christ, Paul
was converted, He was made partaker of the grace of God in the
Redeemer, of full and complete forgiveness of sins. And then, as
a special distinction, he received from Jesus, the Lord of the
Church, the office of apostle, Gal 1:1. He belonged to the
special class of teachers whom the Lord gave to the Church in
the early days for the establishment of His kingdom in the
hearts of men. It was the purpose and object of his labors in his
office to establish the obedience of faith among all nations, in
the midst of all Gentile peoples. The purpose of Paul’s preaching
was to work faith, to create in the hearts of men obedience to
the norm and rule of the Gospel; for Christian faith is essentially
such willing obedience, Rom 10:16; 1Pe 2:8; 1Pe 4:17. The
preaching of the Gospel, which was the essential work of the
apostolate among the Gentiles, has in itself the power to work
assent and faith. And therefore the faith of the Christians, by
which they accept Jesus as their Savior, serves for the
glorification of the name of Jesus, that Christ’s name may be
above every name. In the Gospel Jesus is preached, in it He is
revealed to men, and their acceptance of His salvation redounds

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to His glory.
Having thus explained the content and glory of the Gospel and
of his office in the proclaiming of the wonderful message, Paul
turns directly to the members of the congregation at Rome,
telling them that they, the great majority of them, belonged by
birth to the Gentile peoples, but were nevertheless the called of
Jesus Christ. The call of Jesus Christ through the Gospel has
been effective in their case; by virtue of His call they belong to
Him as His own, they have been regenerated or converted, they
have become subjects of Christ. But not only to these Christians
from the Gentiles, to all, rather, that are beloved by God in the
city of Rome, belong to God as His beloved children, to all that
are called saints, that have become saints by the call of God,
that have been separated from the world and been consecrated
to God, Paul addresses himself. They were not called by God
because they were holy, but their holiness is the result of His
call, issued to them out of His great love, an expression of His
sincere love for them. Note that Paul addresses all the members
of the congregation at Rome with these honoring titles. To him
they all are beloved of God and called saints, just as we today
consider all the members of a true Christian congregation as
dear children of God, even though hypocrites may be found in
their midst.
Instead of the short formula which custom demanded in formal
letters, Paul’s love causes him to expand the word into a
greeting showing the full measure of his regard. He wishes them
all grace, the full mercy of God, the free forgiveness of their
sins, the basis and source of every good gift that comes down
from above. He-wishes them peace, as the happy result of the
possession of grace and mercy. We have peace with God
through our Lord Jesus Christ. His redemption has removed the
cause of strife, the Father is reconciled to us. This happy state
of the assurance of God’s grace, of the certainty of His
reconciled heart, should continue and their faith in these gifts of
God be strengthened. God the Father should grant these
blessings, but they should, at the same time, proceed also from

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Christ Himself, in whom we have the right to call God our Father
and expect the fullness of spiritual blessings at His hands. God
the Father and Jesus Christ are thus in the same measure and
with equal force the Source of our salvation. Such comfort there
is in faith in Jesus the Savior.
Romans 1:1-7
Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ.
Authentication and salutation
I. The apostle.
1. Paul was not the name by which he was always known,
but was assumed shortly after the commencement of his
mission to the Gentiles. The practice of assuming a Gentile,
in addition to the original Hebrew name, was then common,
and indicated a loosening of the bonds of religious
exclusiveness.
2. Servant of Jesus Christ. Not a hired servant (μίσθιος ἢ
μισθωρὸς), nor a voluntary attendant (ὑπηρέτης), nor a
subordinate officer (ὑπηρέτης), nor a ministering disciple
(διάκονος); but a slave (δοῦλος). Yet the title is very far from
denoting anything humiliating. That, indeed, it must do if the
master were only human. Even though the slave should be
promoted as minister of state, the stigma of servitude was
not removed; for the despot might, at any moment, degrade
or destroy him. We may therefore rest assured that to no
mere man, however exalted, would St. Paul have willingly
subscribed himself a slave. But to be the bondmen of the
Lord Jesus Christ, whose property he was both by right of
creation and redemption; all of whose requirements were
known to be in absolute accordance with truth and
righteousness, and to all of which his own renewed heart
responded with most lively sympathy, was the truest liberty
and the highest dignity.
3. This dignity St. Paul participated in common with every
other disciple; but, unlike many others, he had been called to
the office of an apostle. Those thus called were constituted

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“ambassadors for Christ,” being chosen, qualified, and
deputed by Him to transact business with their fellow men in
respect to His kingdom. The twelve had been chosen by the
Master during the days of His flesh, and had companied with
Him during His earthly ministry (Act 1:21). St. Paul had not
enjoyed this advantage. Nevertheless, he, too, was an
apostle by Divine call (Gal 1:1). True, he was confessedly,
because of the lateness of his call, “as one born out of due
time” (1Co 15:8); but his call was not the less real or
effectual. And in all that was requisite, he was “not a whit
behind the very chiefest apostles” (2Co 6:5; 2Co 12:12).
4. He had not only been called, but specially “separated unto
the gospel of God.” Like Jeremiah (Jer 1:5), so, too, St. Paul
was “separated from his mother’s womb” (Gal 1:15). His
parentage, birth, endowments, education, etc., had been so
arranged by God as to constitute him “a choice vessel” for
this very work (Act 26:16-19; Act 13:1-3).
II. The gospel to publish which he had been separated.
1. It had been “promised afore by the prophets in the Holy
Scriptures; so designated because they were written for holy
purposes, by holy men, inspired by the Holy Spirit, and
developed holy fruits.”
2. This gospel was “concerning His Son” [Divine dignity]
“Jesus Christ” [the personal name and official designation]
“our Lord” (absolute right of property and dominion).
(1) He was, as to His human descent, of “the seed of
David” (Rom 8:3; Gal 4:4-5; Heb 2:14). His “flesh” is His
complete human nature, in respect of which it is said that
“He increased in wisdom,” etc. (Luk 2:52).
(2) He had also a higher nature, here distinguished as
“the Spirit of holiness,” in respect to which He was not
made, not born, but instated with power in His proper
glory as the Son of God, by His “resurrection from the

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dead.” In order to estimate the full force of the apostle’s
statement, it ought to he remembered that men—the
Jewish rulers—had denounced Him as a blasphemer (Joh
19:7; Joh 5:18; Joh 10:33). They could not endure that
He, being manifestly a man, should make Himself God,
But the “resurrection” was God’s answer to their derision.
That act proclaimed, in reply to all that man had done,
“This is My beloved Son, hear Him.”
III. The object, extent, and result of His commission. He had
received “grace and apostleship.”
1. To promote “obedience to the faith”: i.e., first of all, men
must be taught the faith—i.e., the things to be believed (Mat
28:19). It is a mistake to suppose that Christian men are
called upon to believe they know not what, nor why (2Th
2:13; Joh 8:32). Now these things, proposed to faith not only
bring to us the tidings of peace and of new life in Christ, but
they propose to us a course of life to be pursued. They
require belief, in order to obedience; and make it plain that a
faith which does not result in obedience is a dead thing (Mat
28:20; Rom 16:26).
2. The apostle had received authority to promote this
obedience of faith amongst “all nations.” The Gentiles had
never grasped the truth of the universal brotherhood of man;
while the Hebrews, though very strictly separated from all
others, not only possessed the thought, but were preparing
the way for a reign of grace in which all the nations should be
blessed. That was the purport of the promise made to
Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and confirmed to David and his
son. Therefore the prophets sang triumphantly of one whom
the Gentiles should seek (Isa 11:10). The nation did not
indeed admit Gentiles on equal terms. They required that
these should assume the yoke of the Mosaic law. But now the
obedient to the faith from amongst all nations were to
constitute the true Israel of God.
3. The whole result was to be for the glory of “His name,” by

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whom our redemption has been accomplished. It was not for
the glory of Israel, nor of the apostles, nor of any number of
men (1Co 1:27-29; 2Co 4:6-7).
IV. The formal address and salutation. The things to be noted
are—
1. That the blessing sought for the saints was the grace of
God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ, so manifested as
to insure peace.
2. The specially Christian conception of God as our Father.
3. The significant association of God our Father and the Lord
Jesus Christ as the common object of prayer and the
common source of grace and peace. (W. Tyson.)
The opening address
I. The author.
1. Paul, once called Saul, of Tarsus, a citizen of no mean city,
a Benjamite, of pure Hebrew extraction, well trained in a
knowledge of the Scriptures, a free citizen of the Roman
empire, acquainted with the literature of Greece, by nature
endowed with great force of intellect, passion, and
resoluteness, of bold and ambitious spirit, a Pharisee of the
austerest type, zealous for the law, and hating its enemies,
real or supposed.
2. Yet a servant of Jesus Christ, by a free, rational
subjection. He stood before his Lord, like the angels which
stand before the throne of God, or like nobles in the court of
a mighty prince. How was this?
3. He received grace for his own salvation’s sake; and
apostleship to bring about the salvation of others.
4. He was an apostle to the Gentiles: while Peter and the
other eleven were apostles to the Jews.

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II. The persons addressed. The letter was written in 58. Think
what Rome was at that period—much like London at the close of
the last century, only without its Christianity. Its population
exceeded two millions, half of whom were slaves. Many families
were amazingly rich and luxurious: but far more, among the
freemen, were as lazy as they were proud, and as poor as they
were lazy. The population was low sunk in misery and sensual
degradation. In religion, the vulgar were besotted polytheists
and the philosophers avowed atheists. The Jews occupied a
quarter apart from the rest of the city. It is not known by whom
that Church was founded, but probably by some of the strangers
from Rome who were in Jerusalem at Pentecost, and was
composed principally of Gentile converts. To these would be
added such Jewish converts as had effectually separated
themselves from the synagogue. The Church seems to have
been one of singular purity, spirituality, and strength. Its
disciples were “beloved of God”; His “chosen saints.” And the
Church needs to be built up in its holy faith. It is not enough to
hear of Christ and believe in Him; to be converted and witness a
good confession; but to be fully instructed in the apostle’s
doctrine, and to continue in it, that we may grow up to the full
stature of a perfect man in Christ.
III. The subject matter of the Epistle.
1. It is an exposition of what is contained in the prophets.
Here is no new thing, but the historic verification and
doctrinal development of what the prophets declared.
2. It concerns the glad tidings of God, which relate all to the
salvation wrought out for men by Jesus Christ, who—
(1) Was a true man, and a lineal descendant of David, the
ancient king of Israel.
(2) Had also a Divine nature, called here the Spirit of
holiness, because it made Him absolutely immaculate; and
because by it He dwells in the hearts of His people to

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make them holy. By this nature He was God’s coeternal
Son. Such had He announced Himself when living, and His
claim was demonstrated, by irresistible evidence, by His
resurrection from the dead.
(3) Wills His gospel to be proclaimed among all nations.
IV. The spirit of the whole. This comes out in the benediction
and salutation of verse 7.
1. “Grace” is Divine favour. Its fruit and effect is “peace,”
which comprehends all gospel blessedness.
2. Grace and peace come from God the Father, and God the
Son. (T. G. Horton.)
The true preacher and his great theme
I. The true preacher.
1. His spirit: a willing bondsman—not by force or legal
orders, but by inward necessity. “Woe is me if I preach not
the gospel.” Bound by obligations that are as tender as silken
cords, but firm as adamant; too weak to fetter, but too
strong to break.
2. His preparation: “called” “separated” the Godward side of
the call to the ministry, and the ground of ministerial
authority.
3. His aim—
(1) From God—how high; to announce glad tidings from
God.
(2) For all men—how wide.
II. His great theme. The gospel is great because of—
1. Its Author, God: not about Him merely, but from Him. The
gospel has its source in God as the river in the fountain, the
beam in the sun. It is—
(1) The plan of the Creator for renewing His spiritual
creation.
(2) The proclamation of the Sovereign for producing
loyalty and peace.

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(3) The pardon of the Great Father offered to His prodigal
sons. “Herein is love.”
2. The method of its fore announcement (verse 2). A gospel
which had been foretold by such men as Moses, David,
Isaiah, Daniel, and in such a way, is indeed a great gospel.
And just as by the dawn God promises day, by spring,
summer, so by old prophecy He “promised the gospel.”
3. Its subject. “His Son Jesus Christ.” Christ is great because
of—
(1) His position in regard to us. “Our Lord,” signifying His
dignity, claims and crown rights over us.
(2) His exalted human mastery (verse 3).
(3) His relationship to God, as proved by His resurrection
(verse 4). (U. R. Thomas.)
Christianity as an objective system
I. Its nature—a gospel (verse 1).
II. Its antiquity. It was promised before in the Holy Scriptures
by the prophets (verse 2).
III. Its central idea. The Lord Jesus Christ (verse 3).
IV. Its instrumentality. Men, apostles, with the truth, not priests
with things to do, but men with a truth to teach (verse 5).
V. The immediate and alternate aims. The obedience of faith in
the reception of the truth, a holy sainthood to the man who
receives it (verses 5-7).
VI. Its supernatural and spiritual elements. Grace and peace,
etc. (verse 7). VII. Its sphere. It is to go abroad into the whole
World, and be exhibited there (verse 8). (T. Binney.)
A servant of Jesus Christ
I. The highest title known in earth or heaven is “a servant of
God.”
1. At the commencement of their Epistles, Paul, James,
Peter, and Jude, use, indiscriminately, the expressions—
“servant of God,” and “servant of Christ,” as if they were
synonymous. It is one of the undesigned, and therefore

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strongest arguments for the Deity of Christ. James combines
the two. And in every case each apostle places it first as his
highest title—above his apostleship.
2. And were you to ask the man on earth nearest heaven,
“What are you?” or the saints in Paradise, or the angels—in
all their order and degrees—the response would be, “I am a
servant of Jesus Christ.”
3. And no marvel! The Lord Jesus Himself gloried in the
name. It designated Him in prophecy. It was His own
delineation of His work—“a Servant.”
II. How do we enter the service?
1. It begins with a vocation from God. It is not such as
anyone may say that he has it. It is a distinct call. Everyone
here might be inclined to say, “I am a servant of Christ—of
course I am.” When did you go to that “service”? There
cannot be “service” without an act of engagement. The
outward vocation—the pledge on either side—was at
baptism. But it was not there that it became real. It is real
when you begin to close, with certain inward impulses, which
have been at work in your heart by the Holy Ghost; and to
love God. This love is the child of liberty, and the service is
the child of love.
2. Now you are prepared for “service.” And you go, and in
some way or other—it may be at confirmation, or holy
communion—you go and consecrate yourself to His work.
“Lord, here I am. I am Thine. Accept me, fit me, teach me,
use me, as Thou wilt.”
III. The privilege of the service.
1. You are placed in close communication with your Master,
He tells you His secrets. “The slave knoweth not what his lord
doeth; but I have called you friends; for all things that I have
heard of My Father, I have made known unto you.”

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2. You serve “the King of kings and Lord of lords”; but you
serve One who was once a servant. Many an earthly servant
may sometimes have wished, “O that my master or mistress
knew what service is!” That is what you have. He
understands it all, and has the heart to feel, and the power
to help.
3. And to that same Master His servants bring all their work;
and as they lay it at His feet, He makes it clean, and
perfumes it with the odour of His own perfect service. What
has been wrong in it, He cancels: what is good, He accepts,
when He has made it—by what He adds to it—acceptable to
Himself.
4. And all along the sweet feeling of the servant is, “My
Master is pleased with me and my poor service. And all I am
doing, it is practice for a far higher and better service.”
IV. The character of the “service.” It does not much matter
what Christ’s servants do. They are His servants everywhere. It
is the motive which makes the service, not the action. If a
person desires to carry on his business upon Christian
principles—and directly or indirectly to honour Christ in the
world—that man is “a servant of the Lord Jesus Christ.” If
anyone does an act of kindness to another—if he give to the
poor, or minister to the afflicted, and if he see Christ in them—
then he does it to Christ, and he is “His servant.” If a man
humble himself for Christ’s sake, then that man is Christ-like in
His service, and he is a “servant” indeed. Or, no less, if a man
suffer patiently, for Jesus’ sake, he is “a servant of Jesus.”
Perhaps that is the highest service which combines the right
fulfilment, for Christ’s sake, of the greatest number of the duties
of life. The daughter whom every day her father, mother,
brothers, sisters, and servants, rise up to bless, and who, as she
has opportunity, goes out to the poor, and the sick, and the
schools about her, she is a truer “servant of Christ” than the
daughter who shuts herself up into the one narrower sphere of
her own selection. Practically, what you have to do, is to accept

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whatever work the providence of God may give you. And if you
want to know what it is, in the providence of God, that you
should do, consult, after special prayer about it, your minister,
your Christian friends, your own judgment. A field of service will
be sure to open to you, in due time, if you look for it. There go
in, nothing doubting, and put all the Christ you can into it. (J.
Vaughan, M. A.)
The servant of Jesus Christ a willing servant
The following story well illustrates the force of δοῦλος, as
applied to the believer. A slave, on hearing that an Englishman
had purchased him, gnashed his teeth, knit his brows, and
declared, with true pathos and heartfelt indignation, that he
would never obey so unworthy a representative of the land of
boasted freedom. On learning afterwards, however, that his new
master had bid for and bought him in order to bestow upon him
his freedom, the poor negro was so overcome with joy and
gratitude, that he fell down at the feet of the man he had just
vowed never to serve, and exclaimed, “I am your slave forever”
(Psa 116:16). (C. Neil, M. A.)
Paul, the slave of Jesus Christ
I. No one had a more vivid sense of liberty and the right of
private judgment than this disciple of Gamaliel. He had all the
zeal of a Republican for the worth of manhood. He was a free-
born Roman citizen, and he never forgot it. He could make a
stand for his civil rights like a Hampden or a William Tell. He
allowed no privileged authority to rob him of his franchise. He
was the champion of personal liberty before the weak-minded
Felix, or the straightforward Festus, or the frivolous Agrippa.
And that famous declaration: “I appeal unto Caesar!”—it rings
down eighteen centuries like the sound of a war trumpet. “Paul,
a slave of Jesus Christ.” Yes, a slave—in body, mind, and spirit;
boasting of his slavery in the face of the world.
II. The authority of this Divine slave is proportionate to the
extent of his slavery. The more slave he is of the Supreme Mind
of humanity, the more right and power has he to be the founder

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of Christian theology. For what does this splendid slavery mean?
It is a soul finding a personality higher and better than its own,
and yielding allegiance to it. Slavery? It is liberty. It is moving
within God. “Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make
you free.” (H. Elvet Lewis.)
The mystery of loyalty—the master and the slave
1. Christianity has revolutionised the world, above all by
teaching the value and dignity of man as man. There is one
instance which exhibits this in the highest degree—“Paul, the
slave of Jesus;”
2. It is thus that he begins the most elaborate of his letters.
Now such a beginning is noteworthy for two reasons,
because—
(1) It is deliberately chosen, for only one other of his
Epistles opens in precisely the same way.
(2) In both cases the apostle is addressing those who,
fully in Rome, and in some measure in Philippi,
understood the proud position of Roman citizenship.
3. The gospel, however, had spread through every rank of
society; and so in these two cities there would be those who
understood the term of “master,” as well as those who, to
their sorrow, could not fail to realise the position of a “slave.”
4. Dwell for a moment on the title. This man gives of himself
an almost contemptuous description to the proudest people
in the world. And then think of the man who thus voluntarily
places himself in the ranks of the conquered. Brought up a
Pharisee, by his very training inclined to be proud,
uncompromising; to this must be added the possession of
learning, and a consequent sense of superiority, was ever
man less likely to submit willingly to the place of a slave?
Note—
I. The meaning of the apostle.
1. Complete submission of will to the commands of Christ.

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What those commands are, or mean, may be a matter, in
part at least, of question; but the point of importance is that
once discovered, they are to be unhesitatingly and entirely
obeyed. It has been said that “a Colt craves for a king.” It is
true of all mankind, and a true King for us there is. One who
understands man, whose sway is imperial, but whose laws
meet the deepest yearnings of the soul, and whose result is
blessing. To disobey such is to make life a scene of
slaughter; and obey Him and “the wilderness and the solitary
place blossom as the rose.”
2. Entire submission of judgment to the revelation of Christ.
To accept Christ at all is to accept Him as the absolute truth.
Hard sayings, mysterious doctrines, came from His lips. To
accept these in so far as they accord with our preconceived
notions, or suit our tastes and wishes, is scarcely to accept
them at all. To hold ourselves in submission to His revelation
is the attitude of mind suited to His followers: to that tone of
thought more light is given, and “spiritual things are
spiritually discerned.”
3. An entire and earnest effort to imitate the life of Christ. St.
Paul felt this robe a necessity, because that life was itself a
revelation. St. Paul, like others, might have set about to seek
self in a manner not altogether ignoble, but in the prudent
indulgence of legitimate ambition, and, indeed, he did so till
Christ crossed his path. He had taken one view of life, and it
was the wrong one. Here, in spite of all the world’s assertion
to the contrary, was the best, the noblest, the happiest life.
What is your line in life? A servant you are to whom you
obey; and your obedience will be regulated by that object of
imitation and attainment to which your desire is turned. Is it
pleasure? To seek it is, proverbially, to scare it from your
path; and if found in any degree, how soon it palls upon the
satiated soul! Is it reputation? Ah, me! it is a mere bubble
shining for a moment in a gleam of sunlight, then bursting
and gone. Is it riches? Our graveyards remind us that “we
brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry

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nothing out.” Nay, more. What is dearer, what more beautiful
than family life? If ever the weary worker may find an end
and an object in his work, it is to create around him those
objects of love which elevate and soothe. And yet they die.
4. That one attitude towards the Redeemer that is suitable in
a soul which has sinned. When we are fully alive to sin, how
little do the arguments with which before we cozened
ourselves when sinning then avail! We want—and we feel
that we want—a Redeemer. It is then that Jesus Christ is
precious. To waken to that great truth to which Paul
wakened—“loved me, gave Himself for me”—is to become
the willing, loving slave of the Redeemer.
II. The consequences of this Christian view of submission to
Christ.
1. It points to a large and loving recognition of all who name
the Holy Name. “Our common Christianity” is a dangerous
phrase, when it is meant to hint or encourage a doctrine of
indifferentism. But it is true and consoling when it expresses
that amongst all who are “baptized unto Jesus Christ” there
is a share in one main ground of common faith and hope,
which may unite them more at last than their differences can
divide.
2. It affects in a very serious sense the attitude of the
individual life.
(1) There is one striking difference between the Roman
servitude from which the apostle took his image, and that
condition to which it pointed. To be a “slave of Jesus
Christ” we must deliberately choose our Master.
(2) if we choose Christ, there follows necessarily a wholly
new view of our relation to mankind. “There is neither Jew
nor Greek, Barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free, but Christ
is all and in you all.”
(3) To have constantly before the mind an unblemished

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ideal, and that with the knowledge that all life, happiness,
and power are proportioned to our approach to that ideal;
and, further, to have learned that abundant help is offered
to essay the task, this must indeed have a powerful effect
on character.
III. The secret spring of such an attitude of mind. In the mind
of Paul there was no sort of question as to who Christ was. He
had had amplest opportunity of examining His claims, but no
amount of study, observation or evidence was enough. Divine
faith ruled his life. He recognised Christ as the Eternal God, who
was also the Representative Man, and recognising this, by the
grace given him, he acted on the recognition.
1. To do this was to live by faith. Henceforth he directed his
course by the visual efficacy of a fresher and fuller spiritual
sense directed upon the reality of the unseen world. That
reality was Christ’s, To submit to the absolute supremacy of
the same Master involves in each soul the supremacy of the
same principle, to “walk by faith.” Now the antagonist of such
a principle is to walk by sight. The man who lives by the
principle of “sight” may be respectable; but one thing he is
not doing, viz., seeking to guide his course and govern his
actions by habitual reference to an unseen, a loving Friend;
he has in no way staked his all upon the promise, and
committed his destiny to the keeping of “the Son of God.”
2. But as faith was allowed to exercise its sovereign sway,
there grew and deepened in the mind of the apostle an
intense personal love and loyalty towards Christ. This lay at
the root of his patient study of the mind of his Master, and
his unwearying effort to do His work. Henceforth life was
changed. Not only was he now baptized into Jesus Christ, but
he rose to the fulness of his regenerate life. One, the
Highest, had thought of him, even him. Could he ever forget
it? “The life that I now live in the flesh,” so he writes, “I live
by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave
Himself for me.” Jesus the Conqueror! Paul the slave! A great
love had overmastered Paul, and a faithful response was

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given.
(1) Loyal affectionateness is always beautiful. To see the
grey-haired man, melting into tenderness at the dear
memory of one, once loved, now gone—having once seen,
what heart can resist it? To see the little child, sweet,
gentle, retiring—flash into sudden enthusiasm, or grow
into sudden gravity of reproof in behalf of an absent
parent or friend—the heart is touched.
(2) Ah, me! the world grows cold and critical: young
hearts lose their freshness because they lose their
faithfulness; miss their nobility when hero worship is
dead. God save you from the cynical spirit. It is the
generous spirit that is the brave spirit; because where it is
there is loyalty. To what? Well, to anything or anyone who
is in any measure really deserving; to your Church,
Queen, country, to a great tradition, to a hallowed
memory—loyalty to these leads to the higher.
(3) Think what it is for us Christians to have the vision of
the highest truth before us, and to fail in loyalty! What
follows? Success, money, greed satisfied, and the dark
heart, the narrow brain. Think also, to see the highest
truth and to be loyal! Certainly it means some pain, some
shame. Conclusion: What Paul did that we Christians must
do. The child Blandina smiled as she went to her agony;
the aged Polycarp wept in an ecstasy of tenderness when
he thought of the love of his Master, and the horror of
denying One who so long had loved him. The Greek girl—
in a beautiful romance—lay in the depth of the African
dungeon; she had longed for the azure skies of Attica, she
had pined for the free breezes of the fresh AEgean, but
they found her radiant with joy in her darkness and
solitude, and the only account she gave of that strange
completeness of revolutionised nature was this, “My Love
was crucified.”

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1. The comfort. Life is full of failure, of sorrow, of sin. Listen.
He changes not, “He loved you, and gave Himself for you.”
Well, then, if listening—
2. The result.
(1) Surely penitence—deepening penitence. And more.
You will grow, advance, increase in grace as your
surrender becomes more complete.
(2) Devotion. Not perhaps the burning enthusiasm of His
first followers, or the blind, vigorous courage of the
martyrs. But life will be truer, nobler, better, if we keep
Him before us; the business mart may restrain his
speculations when they pass the line of honesty, may
spend his money for God; the young city clerk may
subdue his passions, and teach in the Sunday school; the
fashionable lady may bend the proud rules of social
convention With a sweet dexterity, and do self-denying
acts in real Christian love; the labouring man may work;
the bedridden may endure; each with one thing in
common some surrender; that is, some deepening love of
heart, and stronger energy of will for love of Him who
gave Himself for them, may learn in their several
measures to be “slaves of Christ.” (Canon Knox-Little.)
The sublimest servitude
Men are made to serve. In true service alone they realise the
harmonious development of their powers, and the realisation of
their aspirations. Note here—
I. The highest masterhood.
1. His mission—Jesus, i.e., Saviour; Christ, i.e., anointed.
Christ is God in His redemptive capacity. There is no
salvation where there is not a deliverance from sin, from its
possession, dominion, consequences.
2. His divinity—“the Son of God.” The universe teems with
sons of God; but the Infinite has no son like Christ, Hence He

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is called “His only begotten Son.”
3. His human history.
(1) By birth He sprang from the seed of David (Joh 7:42).
He was born of humanity.
(2) He was raised from the dead. His birth proved Him a
man, His resurrection a God according to a spirit
essentially, eternally holy. Such is the Highest Master. His
authority is indisputable, His love amazing, His character
holy, His experience wonderful.
II. The highest employment. Paul was an apostle of this Master.
There are many branches of employment in the service of
Christ; but there is nothing higher than that of apostleship (1Co
12:28). It is an office of the highest trust, it is to represent his
Master. Of the most salutary and ennobling influence, it is to
redeem the world. Paul was “called” to this high office, on the
way to Damascus, and from his mother’s womb (Gal 1:15).
2. He was an apostle of the highest message. “The gospel of
God.” God is the Author, the Substance, and the End of this
good news to men. (D. Thomas, D. D.)
Paul’s servitude and apostleship
I. Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ.
1. On his first appearance in history who would ever have
thought of finding his name associated with such a
designation? The Jewish priests and rulers, the sworn
enemies of Christ, were then his masters; and Satan was
theirs. But the slave of the devil became the servant of
Christ. And he transferred from the one service to the other
all his native ardour, and all his indefatigable activity. That
service was more than destitute of dignity in the eyes of both
Jews and Gentiles. But now to be “a servant of Jesus Christ”
was esteemed by Paul his most distinguished honour, and
was enjoyed by him as the chief zest and happiness of his

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life.
2. Let the disciples of Christ remember that they are all His
servants; and what department soever of that service they
are called to fill, whether public or private, let them cherish
the same spirit with Paul. The more highly we think of the
Master the more honourable will we deem His service; and
the deeper our sense of obligation, the more ardent will be
our delight in the doing of His will, and in the advancement of
His glory.
II. But Paul served Christ in a special capacity.
1. The office of an apostle was the highest among the offices
of the Christian Church. In every enumeration of them this
stands first (Eph 4:8-11; 1Co 12:28). In the apostles we find
all gifts combined. They were, in the very highest sense,
“ambassadors for Christ,” and “stewards of the mysteries of
God.” Their testimony was the standard of truth; and their
authority, as the plenipotentiaries of their exalted Lord, was
without appeal (Joh 17:18).
2. And that authority continues still. The writings of the
apostles have all the authority of the apostles themselves.
What a powerful inducement to their careful study, and how
solemn the admonition, that if we “wrest” them, it must be to
“our own destruction”! This is coin that bears “the image and
superscription” of the King of Heaven; to destroy, to debase,
or to lighten it is an act of treason.
III. This official honour required a commission from the lord
Himself. Such commission Saul of Tarsus received when the
Lord appeared to him on his way to Damascus (Act 26:15-18).
There was he “called to be an apostle.” The word “called” has by
different commentators been explained as of the same meaning
with “chosen.” It may be questioned, however, whether the
calling is not, more properly, the result, or practical following
out, of the choice. “A called apostle” means one who had not
assumed the office of his own will, but in virtue of an express

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call, at once authoritative and effectual, from the Lord; for while
the call included the sanction of authority, it included also that
Divine operation upon the mind by which he was at once
inclined and fitted for the office.
IV. The object to which he had been previously set apart, and
was subsequently called, was “the gospel of God.” “The gospel
of God,” is a message from Him to His sinful and guilty
creatures; and its very name implies that it is a message of
good. As such, it recommends itself to all to whom it comes by
the appeal which it makes to their desire of happiness, and as
“the gospel of God” it comes with all the united
recommendations of authority, kindness, and truth. Thus it
should be contemplated with solemnity and awe on the one
hand, and welcomed with delight on the other.
V. The subject of that gospel is—
1. Jesus, “Jehovah that saveth”—i.e., a Divine Saviour. He
was to “save His people from their sins.”
2. Christ—i.e., anointed—the Hebrew Messiah (Isa 61:1-2).
Jesus was thus anointed when, after His baptism, “the
heavens were opened, and the Spirit of God descended like a
dove, and lighted upon Him,” being given to Him “without
measure,” and consecrating Him to His official work.
3. Our Lord (Mat 28:18; Rom 16:9; Php 2:9-11). (R.
Wardlaw, D. D.)
A servant of Christ
When the saintly George Herbert took possession of the humble
parsonage to which strangers for his sake made pilgrimage, he
is said by his biographer to have entered a resolution from that
day forward always to speak of Jesus Christ with the added
words “my Master”; and the appropriation seemed, it is added,
to perfume his very life. He then may be said to have
consecrated Christ as Lord in his heart. (Dean Vaughan.)

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The happiness of service
Many years ago, happening to be in South Wales, I made the
acquaintance of a Welsh gentleman. He was then a landed
proprietor, living in his own mansion, and in very comfortable
circumstances. He had been before carrying on an extensive
business in a large town. By the death of a relative he had
unexpectedly come into possession of this property. After
considering whether he should retire from business, he made up
his mind that he should still continue to carry it on, though no
longer for himself, but for Christ. I could not help being struck
with the gleesomeness of a holy mind which lighted up his
countenance when he said, “I never knew before what real
happiness was. Formerly I wrought as a master to earn a
livelihood for myself; but now I am carrying on the same work
as diligently as if for myself, and even more so, but it is now for
Christ, and every halfpenny of profit is handed over to the
treasury of the Lord, and I feel that the smile of my Saviour
rests upon me.” I think that is an example worthy of being
imitated. (Dr. Duff.)
The Christian’s personal service
Every Christian hath his talent given him, his service enjoined
him. The gospel is a depositum, a public treasure, committed to
the keeping of every Christian; each man having, as it were, a
several key of the Church, a several trust for the honour of this
kingdom delivered unto him. As in the solemn coronation of the
prince every peer of the realm hath his station about the throne,
and with the touch of his hand upon the royal crown, declareth
the personal duty of that honour which he is called unto,
namely, to hold on the crown on the head of his sovereign; to
make it the main end of his greatness, to study, and by all
means endeavour the establishment of his prince’s throne; so
every Christian, as soon as he hath the honour to be called unto
the kingdom and presence of Christ hath immediately no
meaner a depositum committed to his care, than the very
throne and crown of his Saviour than the public honour, peace,
victory and stability of his Master’s kingdom. (Bp. Reynolds.)

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Christ’s servant Christ’s representative
A man who knocks at our door, and calls himself a servant of
some great one, implies that he has come on his master’s
business; and claims an attention to be measured by the
importance, not of himself, but of his master. (Prof. J. A. Beet.)
Called to be an apostle.
A call to the ministry—includes
I. Divine approval. A servant, accepted, devoted, faithful.
II. A Divine commissions. Inward conviction, holy impulse.
III. Divine designation. By suitable qualifications, providential
arrangements, to a special work. (J. Lyth.)
Qualifications for the apostleship
He had seen the Lord after His resurrection (1Co 9:1). He had
received his commission directly from Jesus Christ and God the
Father (Gal 1:1). He possessed the signs of an apostle (2Co
12:12). He had received the knowledge of the gospel, not
through any man, or by any external means, but by the
revelation of Jesus Christ (Gal 1:11-12), and although he was as
one born out of due time, yet, by the grace vouchsafed to him,
he laboured more abundantly than all the rest. (R. Haldane.)
Separated unto the gospel of God.—
Separated unto the gospel
Christ separated him from the service of sin; from Jewish
tradition, superstition, and empty ceremony; from working out a
righteousness of his own; from all merely temporal aims and
purposes; from cares and anxieties of provisions for the flesh;
from the more worldly affairs of the Church, the serving of
tables; to be a living depositary of gospel doctrine, a gracious
example of the gospel’s power, and an efficient organ for the
gospel’s utterance. Like a vessel separated from the foul clay of
the mine, the worthless dross of the metal, the graceless and
useless forms of the shapeless mass, the common uses of the
world, and even the ordinary uses of the house of Christ, “a
chosen vessel,” to be filled full to overflowing with the water of
life, and borne about everywhere among thirsty men. “No man

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can serve two masters.” “Be ye separate.” “It a man therefore
purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honour,”
etc. (W. Griffiths.)
Paul’s separation
I. What. Set apart to a special purpose, sanctified (Jer 1:5).
II. How.
1. In God’s purpose from the womb (Gal 1:15).
2. Actually and generally at his conversion (Act 9:15).
3. Specially as apostle of the Gentiles at Antioch (Act 13:2).
The first separation preceded the call; the others followed it.
Before his conversion Paul separated himself and became a
Pharisee; after it he was separated by God and became a
Christian and an apostle. The first separation by human
pride; the second by Divine grace.
III. What to.
1. The gospel.
(1) Good news (Luk 2:10) concerning Christ and His
salvation.
(2) Foretold by Isaiah under this term (Isa 52:7; Rom
10:15).
(3) Called gospel—
(a) Of the kingdom (Mat 4:2).
(b) Of the grace of God (Act 20:24).
(c) Of salvation (Eph 1:13).
(d) Of peace (Eph 6:15).
(e) Glorious of the blessed God (1Ti 1:11).
(f) Everlasting (Rev 14:6).
(4) It is good news in respect to past, present, and
future.
2. Of God. God is its Author and subject matter (Joh 3:16). It
is the product of His wisdom and love (Eph 3:10; Tit 3:4).
Hence—
(1) Its excellence, preciousness, and authority; for the
gospel of God must be—
(a) True;
(b) Important;

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(c) Full of authority.
(2) The guilt and danger of neglecting it (Heb 12:25; 1Th
4:8; Luk 10:16).
(3) God speaks in the gospel, therefore it must be heard
with—
(a) Earnestness;
(b) Reverence;
(c) Thankfulness.
(d) Obedience. (T. Robinson, D. D.)
The gospel of God
God is—
I. Its Author, as He has purposed it in His eternal decrees.
II. Its Interpreter, as He Himself hath declared it to men.
III. Its Subject, because in the gospel His sovereign perfections
and purposes towards men are manifested. (R. Haldane.)
Romans 1:1-7
THE WRITER AND HIS READERS
PAUL, a bondservant of Jesus Christ. So the man opens his
Lord’s message with his own name. We may, if we please, leave
it and pass on, for to the letter writer of that day it was as much
a matter of course to prefix the personal name to the letter as it
is to us to append it. But then, as now, the name was not a
mere word of routine; certainly not in the communications of a
religious leader. It avowed responsibility; it put in evidence a
person. In a letter of public destination it set the man in the
light and glare of publicity, as truly as when he spoke in the
Christian assembly, or on the Areopagus, or from the steps of
the castle at Jerusalem. It tells us here, on the threshold, that
the messages we are about to read are given to us as "truth
through personality"; they come through the mental and
spiritual being of this wonderful and most real man. If we read
his character aright in his letters, we see in him a fineness and
dignity of thought which would not make the publication of
himself a light and easy thing. But his sensibilities, with all else
he has, have been given to Christ (who never either slights or
spoils such gifts, while He accepts them); and if it will the better

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win attention to the Lord that the servant should stand out
conspicuously, to point to Him, it shall be done.
For he is indeed "Jesus Christ’s bondservant"; not His ally
merely, or His subject, or His friend. Recently, writing to the
Galatian converts, he has been vindicating the glorious liberty of
the Christian, set free at once from "the curse of the law" and
from the mastery of self. But there too, at the Gal 6:17, he has
dwelt on his own sacred bondage; "the brand of his Master,
Jesus." The liberty of the Gospel is the silver side of the same
shield whose side of gold is an unconditional vassalage to the
liberating Lord. Our freedom is "in the Lord" alone; and to be "in
the Lord," is to belong to Him as wholly as a healthy hand
belongs, in its freedom, to the physical centre of life and will. To
be a bondservant is terrible in the abstract. To be "Jesus Christ’s
bondservant" is Paradise, in the concrete. Self-surrender, taken
alone, is a plunge into a cold void. When it is surrender to "the
Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me," (Gal 2:20)
it is the bright homecoming of the soul to the seat and sphere of
life and power.
This bondservant of His now before us, dictating, is called to be
an Apostle. Such is his particular department of servitude in the
"great house." It is a rare commission-to be a chosen witness of
the Resurrection, a divinely authorised "bearer" of the holy
Name, a first founder and guide of the universal Church, a
legatus a latere of the Lord Himself. Yet the apostleship, to St.
Paul, is but a species of the one genus, bond service. "To every
man is his work," given by the one sovereign will. In a Roman
household one slave would water the garden, another keep
accounts, another in the library would do skilled literary work;
yet all equally would be "not their own, but bought with a price."
So in the Gospel, then, and now. All functions of Christians are
alike expressions of the one will of Him who has purchased, and
who "calls."
Meanwhile, this bondservant-apostle, because "under
authority," carries authority. His Master has spoken to him, that

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he may speak. He writes to the Romans as man, as friend, but
also as the "vessel of choice," to bear the Act 9:15 of Jesus
Christ.
Such is the sole essential work and purpose of his life. He is
separated to the Gospel of God; isolated from all other ruling
aims to this. In some respects he is the least isolated of men;
he is in contact all round with human life. Yet he is "separated."
In Christ, and for Christ, he lives apart from even the worthiest
personal ambitions. Richer than ever, since he "was in Christ,"
(Rom 16:7) in all that makes man’s nature wealthy, in power to
know, to will, to love, he uses all his riches always for "this one
thing," to make men understand "the Gospel of God." Such
isolation, behind a thousand contacts, is the Lord’s call for His
true followers still.
"The Gospel": word almost too familiar now, till the thing is too
little understood. What is it? In its native meaning, its eternally
proper meaning, it is the divine "Good Tidings." It is the
announcement of Jesus Christ, Son of God, Saviour of men, in
whom God and man meet with joy. That announcement stands
in living relation to a bright chain of precepts, and also to the
sacred darkness of convictions and warnings; we shall see this
amply illustrated in this Epistle. But neither precepts nor
threatenings are properly the Gospel. The Gospel saves from
sin, and enables for holy conduct. But in itself it is the pure,
mere message of redeeming Love.
It is "the Gospel of God"; that is, as the neighbouring sentences
show it, the gospel of the blessed Father. Its origin is in the
Father’s love, the eternal hill whence runs the eternal stream of
the work of the Son and the power of the Spirit. "God loved the
world"; "The Father sent the Son."
The stream leads us up to the mount. "Hereby perceive we the
love of God." In the Gospel, and in it alone, we have that
certainty, "God is Love."

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Now he dilates a little, in passing, on this dear theme, the
Gospel of God. He whom it reveals as eternal Love was true to
Himself in the preparation as in the event; He promised His
Gospel beforehand through His prophets in (the) holy
Scriptures. The sunrise of Christ was no abrupt, insulated
phenomenon, unintelligible because out of relation. "Since the
world began," (Luk 1:70) from the dawn of human history,
predictive word and manifold preparing work had gone before.
To think now only of the prediction, more or less articulate, and
not of the preparation through general divine dealings with
man-such had the prophecy been that, as the pagan histories
tell us, "the whole East" heaved with expectations of a Judaean
world rule about the time when, as a fact, Jesus came. He
came, alike to disappoint every merely popular hope and to
satisfy at once the concrete details and the spiritual significance
of the long forecast. And He sent His messengers out to the
world carrying as their text and their voucher that old and multi-
fold literature which is yet one Book; those "holy writings" (our
own Old Testament, from end to end,) which were to them
nothing less than the voice of the Holy Spirit. They always put
the Lord, in their preaching, in contact with that prediction.
In this, as in other things, His glorious Figure is unique. There is
no other personage in human history, himself a moral miracle,
heralded by a verifiable foreshadowing in a complex literature of
previous centuries.
"The hope of Israel" was, and is, a thing sui generis. Other
preparations for the Coming were, as it were, sidelong and
altogether by means of nature. In the Holy Scriptures the
supernatural led directly and in its own way to the supreme
supernatural Event; the Sacred Way to the Sanctuary.
What was the burthen of the vast prophecy, with its converging
elements? It was concerning His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.
Whatever the prophets themselves knew, or did not know, of
the inmost import of their records and utterances, the import
was this. The Lord and the Apostles do not commit us to believe

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that the old seers ever had a full conscious foresight, or even
that in all they "wrote of Him" they knew that it was of Him they
wrote: though they had insights above nature, and knew it, as
when David "in the Spirit called Him Lord," and Abraham "saw
His day." But they do amply commit us to believe, if we are
indeed their disciples, that the whole revelation through Israel
did, in a way quite of its own kind, "concern the Son of God."
See this in such leading places as Luk 24:25-27, Joh 5:39; Joh
5:46, Act 3:21-25; Act 10:43; Act 28:23.
A Mahometan in Southern India, not long ago, was first drawn
to faith in Jesus Christ by reading the genealogy with which St.
Matthew begins his narrative. Such a procession, he thought,
must lead up a mighty name; and he approached with
reverence the story of the Nativity. That genealogy is, in a
certain sense, the prophecies in compendium. Its avenue is the
miniature of theirs. Let us sometimes go back, as it were, and
approach the Lord again through the ranks of His holy
foretellers, to get a new impression, of His majesty.
"Concerning His Son." Around that radiant word, full of light and
heat, the cold mists of many speculations have rolled
themselves, as man has tried to analyse a divine and boundless
fact. For St. Paul, and for us, the fact is everything, for peace
and life. This Jesus Christ is true Man; that is certain. He is also,
if we trust His life and word, true Son of God. He is on the one
hand personally distinct from Him whom He calls Father, and
whom He loves, and who loves Him with infinite love. On the
other hand He is so related to Him that He fully possesses His
Nature, while He has that Nature wholly from Him. This is the
teaching of Gospels and Epistles; this is the Catholic Faith. Jesus
Christ is God, is Divine, truly and fully. He is implicitly called by
the incommunicable Name. (compare Joh 12:41, Isa 6:7) He is
openly called God in His own presence on earth. (Joh 20:28) But
what is, if possible, even more significant, because deeper
below the surface-He is regarded as the eternally satisfying
Object of man’s trust and love. (e.g., Php 3:21, Eph 3:19) Yet
Jesus Christ is always preached as related Son-wise to Another,

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so truly that the mutual love of the Two is freely adduced as
type and motive for our love.
We can hardly make too much, in thought and. teaching, of this
Divine Sonship, this filial Godhead. It is the very "Secret of
God," (Col 2:2) both as a light to guide our reason to the foot of
the Throne, and as a power upon the heart. "He that hath the
Son hath the Father"; "He that hath seen Me hath seen the
Father"; "He hath translated us into the kingdom of the Son of
His Love."
Who was born of the seed of David, according to the flesh. So
the New Testament begins; (Mat 1:1) so it almost closes. (Rev
22:6) St. Paul, in later years, recalls the Lord’s human pedigree
again: (2Ti 2:8) "Remember that Jesus Christ, of the seed of
David, is risen from the dead." The old Apostle in that last
passage, has entered the shadow of death; he feels with one
hand for the rock of history, with the other for the pulse of
eternal love. Here was the rock; the Lord of life was the Child of
history, Son and Heir of a historical king, and then, as such, the
Child of prophecy too. And this, against all surface appearances
beforehand. The Davidic "ground" (Isa 53:2) had seemed to be
dry as dust for generations, when the Root of endless life sprang
up in it.
"He was born" of David’s seed. Literally, the Greek may be
rendered, "He became, He came to be." Under either rendering
we have the wonderful fact that He who in His higher eternity is,
above time and including it, did in His other Nature, by the door
of becoming, enter time, and thus indeed "fill all things." This
He did, and thus He is, "according to the flesh." "Flesh" is,
indeed, but a part of Manhood. But a part can represent the
whole; and "flesh" is the part most antithetical to the Divine
Nature, with which here Manhood is collocated and in a sense
contrasted. So it is again Rom 9:5.
And now, of this blessed Son of David, we hear further:-who
was designated to be Son of God; literally, "defined as Son of

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God," betokened to be such by "infallible proof." Never for an
hour had he ceased to be, in fact, Son of God. To the man
healed of birth-blindness He had said, (Joh 9:35) "Dost thou
believe on the Son of God?" But there was an hour when He
became openly and so to speak officially what He always is
naturally; somewhat as a born king is "made" king by
coronation. Historical act then affirmed independent fact, and as
it were gathered it into a point for use. This affirmation took
place in power, according to the Spirit of Holiness, as a result of
resurrection from the dead. "Sown in weakness," Jesus was
indeed "raised in" majestic, tranquil "power." Without an effort
He stepped from out of the depth of death, from under the load
of sin. It was no flickering life, crucified but not quite killed,
creeping back in a convalescence mis-called resurrection; it was
the rising of the sun. That it was indeed daylight, and not day
dream, was shown not only in His mastery of matter, but in the
transfiguration of His followers. No moral change was ever at
once more complete and more perfectly healthful than what His
return wrought in that large and various group, when they
learnt to Say, "We have seen the Lord." The man who wrote this
Epistle had "seen Him last of all". (1Co 15:8) That was indeed a
sight "in power," and working a transfiguration.
So was the Son of the Father affirmed to be what He is; so was
He "made" to be, for us His Church, "the Son," in whom we are
sons. And all this was, "according to the Spirit of holiness";
answerably to the foreshadowing and foretelling of that Holy
Spirit who, in the prophets, "testified of the sufferings destined
for the Christ, and of the glories that should follow." (1Pe 1:11)
Now lastly, in the Greek of the sentence, as if pausing for a
solemn entrance, comes in the whole blessed Name; even Jesus
Christ our Lord. Word by word the Apostle dictates, and the
scribe obeys. Jesus, the human Name; Christ, the mystic Title;
our Lord, the term of royalty and loyalty which binds us to Him,
and Him to us. Let those four words be ours forever. If
everything else falls in ruins from the memory, let this remain,
"the strength of our heart, and our portion forever."

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Through whom, the Apostle’s voice goes on, we received grace
and apostleship. The Son was the Channel "through" which the
Father’s choice and call took effect. He "grasped" Paul, (Php
3:12) and joined him to Himself, and in Himself to the Father;
and now through that Union the motions of the Eternal will
move Paul. They move him, to give him "grace and
apostleship"; that is, in effect, grace for apostleship, and
apostleship as grace; the boon of the Lord’s presence in him for
the work, and the Lord’s work as a spiritual boon. He often thus
links the word "grace" with his great mission; for example, in
Gal 2:9, Eph 3:2; Eph 3:8, and perhaps Php 1:7. Alike the
enabling peace and power for service, and then the service
itself, are to the Christian a free, loving, beautifying gift.
Unto obedience of faith among all the Nations. This "obedience
of faith" is in fact faith in its aspect as submission. What is faith?
It is personal trust, personal self-entrustment to a person. It
"gives up the case" to the Lord, as the one only possible Giver
of pardon and of purity. It is "submission to the righteousness of
God". (Rom 10:3) Blessed the man who so obeys, stretching out
arms empty and submissive to receive, in the void between
them, Jesus Christ.
"Among all the Nations," "all the Gentiles." The words read
easily to us, and pass perhaps half unnoticed, as a phrase of
routine. Not so to the ex-Pharisee who dictated them here. A
few years before he would have held it highly "unlawful to keep
company with, or come unto, one of another nation". (Act 10:2;
Act 10:8) Now, in Christ, it is as if he had almost forgotten that
it had been so. His whole heart, in Christ, is blent in personal
love with hearts belonging to many nations; in spiritual affection
he is ready for contact with all hearts. And now he, of all the
Apostles, is the teacher who by life and word is to bring this
glorious catholicity home forever to all believing souls, our own
included. It is St. Paul preeminently who has taught man, as
man, in Christ, to love man; who has made Hebrew, European,
Hindoo, Chinese, Caffre, Esquimaux, actually one in the

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conscious brotherhood of eternal life.
For His Name’s sake; for the sake of the Lord Jesus Christ
revealed. The Name is the self-unfolded Person, known and
understood. Paul had indeed come to know that Name, and to
pass it on was now his very life. He existed only to win for it
more insight, more adoration, more love. "The Name" deserved
that great soul’s entire devotion. Does it not deserve our equally
entire devotion now? Our lives shall who belong to Him, His
personal property, their motto also, "For His Name’s sake."
Now he speaks direct of his Roman friends. Among whom,
among these multifarious "Nations," you too are Jesus Christ’s
called ones, men who belong to Him, because "called" by Him.
And what is "called?" Compare the places where the word is
used-or where its kindred words are used-in the Epistles, and
you will find a certain holy specialty of meaning. "Invited" is no
adequate paraphrase. The "called" man is the man who has
been invited and has come; who has obeyed the eternal
welcome; to whom the voice of the Lord has been effectual. See
the word in the opening paragraphs of 1 Corinthians. There the
Gospel is heard, externally by a host of indifferent or hostile
hearts, who think it "folly," or "a stumbling block." But among
them are those who hear, and understand, and believe indeed.
To them "Christ is God’s power, and God’s wisdom." And they
are "the called."
In the Gospels, the words "chosen" and "called" are in
antithesis; the called are many, the chosen few; the external
hearers are many, the hearers inwardly are few. In the Epistles
a developed use shows the change indicated here, and it is
consistently maintained.
To all who in Rome are God’s beloved ones. Wonderful
collocation, wonderful possibility! "Beloved ones of God," as
close to the eternal heart as it is possible to be, because "in the
Beloved"; that is one side. "In Rome," in the capital of universal
paganism, material power, iron empire, immeasurable

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worldliness, flagrant and indescribable sin; that is the other
side. "I know where thou dwellest," said the glorified Saviour to
much tried disciples at a later day; "even where Satan has his
throne." (Rev 2:13) That throne was conspicuously present in
the Rome of Nero. Yet faith, hope, and love could breathe there,
when the Lord "called." They could much more than breathe.
This whole Epistle shows that a deep and developed faith, a
glorious hope, and the mighty love of a holy life were matters of
fact in men and women who every day of the year saw the
world as it went by in forum and basilica, in Suburra and
Velabrum, in slave chambers and in the halls of pleasure where
they had to serve or to meet company. The atmosphere of
heaven was carried down into that dark pool by the believing
souls who were bidden to live there. They lived the heavenly life
in Rome; as the creature of the air in our stagnant waters
weaves and fills its silver diving bell, and works and thrives in
peace far down.
Read some vivid picture of Roman life, and think of this. See it
as it is shown by Tacitus, Suetonius, Juvenal, Martial; or as
modern hands, Becker’s or Farrar’s, have restored it from their
materials. What a deadly air for the regenerate soul-deadly not
only in its vice, but in its magnificence, and in its thought! But
nothing is deadly to the Lord Jesus Christ. The soul’s
regeneration means not only new ideas and likings, but an
eternal Presence, the indwelling of the Life itself. That Life could
live at Rome; and therefore "God’s beloved ones in Rome" could
live there also, while it was His will they should be there. The
argument comes a fortiori to ourselves.
(His) called holy ones; they were "called," in the sense we have
seen, and now, by that effectual Voice, drawing them into
Christ, they were constituted "holy ones," "saints." What does
that word mean? Whatever its etymology may be, its usage
gives us the thought of dedication to God, connection with Him,
separation to His service, His will. The saints are those who
belong to Him, His personal property, for His ends. Thus it is
used habitually in the Scriptures for all Christians, supposed to

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be true to their name. Not an inner circle, but all, bear the title.
It is not only a glorified aristocracy, but the believing
commonalty; not the stars of the eternal sky, but the flowers
sown by the Lord in the common field; even in such a tract of
that field as "Caesar’s household" was. (Php 4:22)
Habitually therefore the Apostle gives the term "saints" to whole
communities; as if baptism always gave, or sealed, saint-ship.
In a sense it did, and does. But then, this was, and is, on the
assumption of the concurrence of possession with title. The title
left the individual still bound to "examine himself, whether he
was in the faith". (2Co 13:5)
These happy residents at Rome are now greeted and blessed in
their Father’s and Saviour’s Name; Grace to you and peace,
from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. "Grace"; what is
it? Two ideas lie there together; favour and gratuity. The grace
of God is His favouring will and work for us, and in us;
gratuitous, utterly and to the end unearned. Put otherwise (and
with the remembrance that: His great gifts are but modes of
Himself, are in fact Himself in will and action), grace is God for
us, grace is God in us, sovereign, willing, kind. "Peace"; what is
it? The holy repose within, and so around, which comes of the
man’s acceptance with God and abode in God; an "all is well" in
the heart, and in the believer’s contact with circumstances, as
he rests in his Father and his Redeemer. "Peace, perfect peace";
under the sense of demerit, and amidst the crush of duties, and
on the crossing currents of human joy and sorrow, and in the
mystery of death; because of the God of Peace, who has made
peace for us through the Cross of His Son, and is peace in us,
"by the Spirit which He hath given us."
Romans 1:1-7
A. Epistolary greetings (1:1-7).
The customary formula for letters in ancient times included (a)
naming and identifying the author, (b) naming and identifying
the recipient, and (c) a word of salutation. Paul followed this
formula in this letter to the Romans despite the lengthy

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digression precipitated by the word “gospel.” The same formula
is used in all the New Testament letters except Hebrews and 1
John. (See the chart, “Paul’s Introductions to His Epistles.”)1
Romans 1:1-7
He Presented His Credentials
In ancient days, the writer of a letter always opened with his
name. But there would be many men named Paul in that day, so
the writer had to further identify himself and convince the
readers that he had a right to send the letter. What were Paul’s
credentials? 2
Romans 1:1-7
A CALL, A GOSPEL AND A TASK
This is a letter from Paul, a slave of Jesus Christ, called to be an
apostle, set apart to serve the good news of God. This good
news God promised long ago, through his prophets, in the
sacred writings. It is good news about his Son, who in his
manhood was born of David’s lineage, who, as a result of his
Resurrection from the dead, has been proved by the Holy Spirit
to be the mighty Son of God. It is of Jesus Christ, our Lord, of
whom I am speaking, through whom we have received grace,
and an apostleship to awaken a faithful obedience for his sake
amongst all the Gentiles. You are included amongst these
Gentiles, you who have been called to belong to Jesus Christ.
This is a letter to all the beloved in Rome who belong to God,
those who have been called to be dedicated to him. Grace be to
you and peace from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus
Christ.
WHEN Paul wrote his letter to the Romans he was writing to a
church which he did not know personally and in which he had
never been. He was writing to a church which was situated in
1
John F. Walvoord, Roy B. Zuck and Dallas Theological Seminary, The Bible Knowledge Commentary : An Exposition of
the Scriptures (Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1983-c1985), 2:438.
2
Warren W. Wiersbe, The Bible Exposition Commentary, "An Exposition of the New Testament Comprising the Entire
'BE' Series"--Jkt. (Wheaton, Ill.: Victor Books, 1996, c1989), Ro 1:1.

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the greatest city in the greatest empire in the world. Because of
that he chose his words and thoughts with the greatest care.
He begins by giving his own credentials.
(i) He calls himself the slave (doulos) of Jesus Christ. In this
word slave there are two backgrounds of thought.
(a) Paul’s favourite title for Jesus is LORD (kurios). In Greek the
word kurios describes someone who has undisputed possession
of a person or a thing. It means master or owner in the most
absolute sense. The opposite of LORD (kurios) is slave (doulos).
Paul thought of himself as the slave of Jesus Christ, his Master
and his Lord. Jesus had loved him and given himself for him,
and therefore Paul was sure that he no longer belonged to
himself, but entirely to Jesus. On the one side slave describes
the utter obligation of love.
(b) But slave (doulos) has another side to it. In the Old
Testament it is the regular word to describe the great men of
God. Moses was the doulos of the Lord (Joshua 1:2). Joshua
was the doulos of God (Joshua 24:29). The proudest title of the
prophets, the title which distinguished them from other men,
was that they were the slaves of God (Amos 3:7; Jeremiah
7:25). When Paul calls himself the slave of Jesus Christ he is
setting himself in the succession of the prophets. Their
greatness and their glory lay in the fact that they were slaves of
God, and so did his.
So then, the slave of Jesus Christ describes at one and the same
time the obligation of a great love and the honour of a great
office.
(ii) Paul describes himself as called to be an apostle. In the Old
Testament the great men were men who heard and answered
the call of God. Abraham heard the call of God (Genesis 12:1–
3). Moses answered God’s call (Exodus 3:10). Jeremiah and
Isaiah were prophets because, almost against their will, they
were compelled to listen to and to answer the call of God

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(Jeremiah 1:4, 5; Isaiah 6:8, 9). Paul never thought of himself
as a man who had aspired to an honour; he thought of himself
as a man who had been given a task. Jesus said to his men,
“You did not choose me, but I chose you” (John 15:16). Paul did
not think of life in terms of what he wanted to do, but in terms
of what God meant him to do.
(iii) Paul describes himself as set apart to serve the good news
of God. He was conscious of a double setting apart in his life.
Twice in his life this very same word (aphorozein) is used of
him.
(a) He was set apart by God. He thought of God as separating
him for the task he was to do even before he was born
(Galatians 1:15). For every man God has a plan; no man’s life is
purposeless. God sent him into the world to do some definite
thing.
(b) He was set apart by men, when the Holy Spirit told the
leaders of the Church at Antioch to separate him and Barnabas
for the special mission to the Gentiles (Acts 13:2). Paul was
conscious of having a task to do for God and for the Church of
God.
(iv) In this setting apart Paul was aware of having received two
things. In verse 5 he tells us what these two things were.
(a) He had received grace. Grace always describes some gift
which is absolutely free and absolutely unearned. In his pre-
Christian days Paul had sought to earn glory in the eyes of men
and merit in the sight of God by meticulous observance of the
works of the law, and he had found no peace that way. Now he
knew that what mattered was not what he could do, but what
God had done. It has been put this way, “The law lays down
what a man must do; the gospel lays down what God has done.”
Paul now saw that salvation depended not on what man’s effort
could do, but on what God’s love had done. All was of grace,
free and undeserved.

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(b) He had received a task. He was set apart to be the apostle
to the Gentiles. Paul knew himself to be chosen not for special
honour, but for special responsibility. He knew that God had set
him apart, not for glory, but for toil. It may well be that there is
a play on words here. Once Paul had been a Pharisee
(Philippians 3:5). Pharisee may very well mean The Separated
One. It may be that the Pharisees were so called because they
had deliberately separated themselves from all ordinary people
and would not even let the skirt of their robe brush against an
ordinary man. They would have shuddered at the very thought
of the offer of God being made to the Gentiles, who to them
were “fuel for the fires of hell.” Once Paul had been like that. He
had felt himself separated in such a way as to have nothing but
contempt for all ordinary men. Now he knew himself to be
separated in such a way that he must spend all his life to bring
the news of God’s love to every man of every race. Christianity
always separates us, but it separates us not for privilege and
self-glory and pride, but for service and humility and love for all
men.
Besides giving his own credentials Paul, in this passage, sets out
in its most essential outline the gospel which he preached. It
was a gospel which centered in Jesus Christ (verses 3 and 4). In
particular it was a gospel of two things.
(a) It was a gospel of the Incarnation. He told of a Jesus who
was really and truly a man. One of the great early thinkers of
the Church summed it up when he said of Jesus, “He became
what we are, to make us what he is.” Paul preached of someone
who was not a legendary figure in an imaginary story, not a
demi-god, half god and half man. He preached of one who was
really and truly one with the men he came to save.
(b) It was a gospel of the Resurrection. If Jesus had lived a
lovely life and died an heroic death, and if that had been the
end of him, he might have been numbered with the great and
the heroic, but he would simply have been one among many.

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His uniqueness is guaranteed forever by the fact of the
Resurrection. The others are dead and gone, and have left a
memory. Jesus lives on and gives us a presence, still mighty
with power. 3
Romans 1:1-7
Salutation.
Paul begins by using the conventional opening pattern of
Hellenistic letters: “A (writer) to B (addressee): greeting” (cf.
James 1:1; Acts 15:23). But this structural skeleton admits, and
even invites, augmentation in a variety of ways. First, the
greeting at the end (v. 7b) is modified under the influence of
the Jewish “peace” greeting (also used in letters, cf. Dan. 4:1; 2
Macc. 1:1) and of Christian liturgical practice. Paul expects his
letters to be read in public assembly. Second, descriptive
modifiers are attached to the designations of both sender and
recipients, allowing Paul to present his credentials and at the
same time to coordinate to his own calling “as an apostle” (v. 1)
that of his readers “as saints” (v. 7). This last term is explained
by the addition of “beloved by God” (v. 7) and “belonging to
Jesus Christ” (v. 6) and is the closest equivalent in Paul’s
vocabulary to the later term “Christian.” That is a reminder that
all Paul’s extant Letters are written “within the family” to
sustain, encourage, or correct people who are assumed to be
baptized. God’s calling initiative binds writer and recipients
together, though it also distinguishes Paul by assigning him his
own role as an “apostle,” an envoy commissioned for a
particular purpose. That is Paul’s principal credential: he “has”
authority because he himself stands under it. The purpose of his
calling is to serve “God’s gospel,” a message anticipated in the
writings of the Jewish prophets that formed part of the
Scriptures of the early Christian community from the beginning.
As the subsequent argument will elaborate, this message has its
roots in the continuity of God’s past relationship to his people
3
The Letter to the Romans, ed. William Barclay, lecturer in the University of Glasgow, The Daily study Bible series,
Rev. ed. (Philadelphia: The Westminster Press, 2000, c1975), 11.
v. verse

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but has its goal in eliciting trust and obedience among non-
Jewish peoples as well.
In the third place, Paul augments his salutation most strikingly
in Romans by noting the content of God’s gospel; it “concerns
his Son . . . Jesus Christ our Lord.” Two parallel relative clauses
further identifying this Son in vv. 3b-4 show linguistic and
formal signs of being a pre-Pauline creedal fragment and are of
great interest for the light they shed on the early development
of Christology (Christian understanding of Jesus’ nature):
[his Son]
who was descended from the seed of David according to the
flesh, who was appointed Son of God with power according to
the spirit of holiness by [or from] the resurrection of the dead.
This couplet is best explained as having originated from the
combination of two strains of early Christian affirmation about
Jesus. First, while it appears nowhere else in Paul, the origin of
the Messiah from the royal line of David was one of the
constants in Jewish messianic expectation based on 2 Sam.
7:11b-16 and is found in the NT in the infancy narratives of
Matthew and Luke (Matt. 1:1; Luke 1:27; 2:4; cf. Mark 10:47
and parallels; Mark 12:35 and parallels; Matt. 9:27; 12:23;
15:22; 21:9, 15; John 7:42; Rev. 5:5; 22:16). Second, another
tradition developed from the confession that with the
resurrection Jesus was exalted to become the Son of God or the
Messiah. This tradition made use of Ps. 2:7 and Ps. 110:1 and
appears in its simplest form in Acts. 2:36; 5:30-31; and 13:33.
Such an understanding of “Son of God” as a titular office or role
to which Jesus was “appointed” at a given moment in time is
also without parallel in Paul. The two traditions, one oriented
more around the earthly life of Jesus as a descendant of David,
the other centered in the preaching of God’s resurrection of the
crucified Jesus, seem to have developed at first as alternative
vv. verses
NT New Testatment

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ways of affirming Jesus to be the bearer and fulfiller of Jewish
messianic hopes. In the couplet above quoted by Paul, the two
traditions (which appear together again in looser order in 2 Tim.
2:8) have been clamped together by means of the word pair
“flesh” and “spirit” (→ Flesh and Spirit). These terms appear in
other early creedal or hymnic passages to distinguish the
earthly sphere of reality (without morally pejorative
connotations) and the transcendent realm of divine power (1
Tim. 3:16; 1 Pet. 3:18; 4:6; cf. John 3:6; 6:63). Combined in
this way, the two sets of messianic ideas are no longer parallel
but have become sequential, creating narrative movement in
the creedal pattern: the earthly life of the descendant of David
is a first stage followed by the postresurrection reign of the Son
of God installed in divine power. An important later development
is then clearly observable in Ignatius’ letters (Ign. Eph. 7:2;
18:2; 20:2; Ign. Smyrn. 1:1-2): the two sets of messianic
categories are again brought into parallelism but now, under the
influence of the virgin birth tradition and to meet a new polemic
situation, the link with the resurrection is broken and both are
connected with the birth of Jesus to affirm a double origin of his
person, one human and one divine. With that a major step is
taken toward the patristic doctrine of the two natures of Christ.
This is to go far beyond the meaning of the present passage in
Rom. 1:3b-4, but it indicates the historical significance of the
creedal fragment Paul quotes (→ Messiah; Son of God; Virgin
Birth).
In this context the quotation is an important part of Paul’s initial
move to establish the common ground of a shared faith with his
unknown readers. Both the title “Son of God” and the mention
of the resurrection, understood as God’s vindication and
authorization of Jesus “in power,” show that what is decisive for
Paul about Jesus of Nazareth is God’s identification with him.
The close operating association that results is central to Paul’s
Christology, appears in the liturgical blessing with which the
salutation ends (v. 7b), and is seen in the way Paul embarks on

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his next paragraph, in which he prays to God “through Jesus
Christ.” 4
Romans 1:1-7
In this paragraph we have,
I. The person who writes the epistle described (v. 1): Paul, a
servant of Jesus Christ; this is his title of honour, which he
glories in, not as the Jewish teachers, Rabbi, Rabbi; but a
servant, a more immediate attendant, a steward in the house.
Called to be an apostle. Some think he alludes to his old name
Saul, which signifies one called for, or enquired after: Christ
sought him to make an apostle of him, Acts 9:15. He here builds
his authority upon his call; he did not run without sending, as
the false apostles did; kleµtos apostolos—called an apostle, as if
this were the name he would be called by, though he
acknowledged himself not meet to be called so, 1 Co. 15:9.
Separated to the gospel of God. The Pharisees had their name
from separation, because they separated themselves to the
study of the law, and might be called aphoµrismenoi eis ton
nomon; such a one Paul had formerly been; but now he had
changed his studies, was aphoµrismenos eis to Euangelion, a
gospel Pharisee, separated by the counsel of God (Gal. 1:15),
separated from his mother’s womb, by an immediate direction
of the Spirit, and a regular ordination according to that direction
(Acts 13:2, 3), by a dedication of himself to this work. He was
an entire devotee to the gospel of God, the gospel which has
God for its author, the origin and extraction of it divine and
heavenly.
II. Having mentioned the gospel of God, he digresses, to give us
an encomium of it.
1. The antiquity of it. It was promised before (v. 2); it was no
novel upstart doctrine, but of ancient standing in the promises
and prophecies of the old Testament, which did all unanimously
4
James Luther Mays, Publishers Harper & Row and Society of Biblical Literature, Harper's Bible Commentary (San
Francisco: Harper & Row, 1996, c1988), Ro 1:8.

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