Romans 1

Ro 1:1 Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle and set apart for the gospel of God-

Although following a fairly conventional format, this introduction is the most elaborate in all of Paul’s extant letters. He spends 6 verses introducing himself before he mentions his recipients.

A servant of Christ Jesus – ‘servant’ is probably too weak. The Gk. doulos was almost always used of a true slave. Paul is very clear of about his subservience to his master. And yet, in the OT ‘the servant of the Lord’ was applied to such outstanding figures as Moses, Jos 14:7 and David, 18:1.

Called to be an apostle – ‘What was special about those who were chosen for the office of apostle? First, they were chosen personally by Jesus Christ. {Joh 6:70} This applies to Paul, too. {Ga 1:1} Second, they had to be eyewitnesses of Jesus’ ministry, especially of his resurrection. {Ac 1:21-22} Paul stresses that he qualifies in this respect: “Am I not an apostle? Have I not seen Jesus our Lord?” (1Co 9:1; see 15:8). Third, they were endowed with the Holy Spirit. {Joh 14:26 15:26 16:12-15 20:22} Paul was conscious of his own special guidance by the Spirit. {1Co 2:7-13 7:40} Fourth, the apostles were given teaching and ruling authority over the whole church. {Joh 20:23 Ac 2:42 6:6 Eph 2:20 3:5 2Pe 3:2} The Apostle Paul shared this authority. {1Th 2:6 1Ti 2:7} Finally, apostles were given special miraculous powers as signs of their authority. {Mt 10:1 Ac 2:43 5:12 8:18} The same was true of Paul. {Ro 15:19 2Co 12:12} While Paul shared the basic apostolic qualifications with the twelve, in some ways his apostleship was unique. As far as we know, he was not an eyewitness of Jesus’ entire ministry, from his baptism by John to his ascension, {Ac 1:21-22} though he saw the risen Christ: “Last of all he appeared to me also.” {1Co 15:8} Because of the unusual circumstances of his call, he refers to himself as “abnormally born” into the office of apostle. {1Co 15:8} Also, Paul’s ministry was unique in that he was specifically appointed to be the apostle to the Gentiles. {see Ro 1:5 comment below} In no case, however, were Paul’s office and apostleship inferior to that of the twelve. {2Co 11:5 12:11} As an apostle of Christ Jesus, he spoke with the full authority of Jesus himself. We need to keep this in mind as we read the book of Romans. It is part of “the apostles’ teaching;” {Ac 2:42} it is Scripture; {2Pe 3:16} it is “the word of God”.’ {1Th 2:13} (College Press)

Set apart - Paul is probably thinking of his Damascus Road experience, when God called him to preach Christ to both Jews and Gentiles, Ac 9:15-16.

The gospel - ‘If, then, we are to identify a single theme for the letter, it must be ‘the gospel’. The word is prominent in the introduction {Ro 1:1-2,9,15} and conclusion {Ro 15:16,19} of the letter, and has pride of place in what is usually identified as the statement of the letter’s theme: ‘I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes’ (1:16).’ (Moo, NBC)

Indeed, What Paul says about the gospel in the first and last paragraphs of this letter form an impressive inclusio. Both tell of the gospel as (a) the fulfilment of prophecy; (b) focused on Jesus Christ; (c) now proclaimed; (d) to be obeyed.

‘When Paul refers to the gospel, he is not referring to a system of salvation, though of course the gospel implies and contains this, nor even to the good news that there now is a way of salvation open to all, but rather to the proclamation that the crucified Jesus of Nazareth has been raised from the dead and thereby demonstrated to be both Israels Messiah and the worlds true Lord. The gospel is not you can be saved, and here’s how; the gospel, for Paul, is Jesus Christ is Lord.’ (N.T. Wright, See Explorer www.ntwrightpage.com/Wright_New_Perspectives.htm)

‘Since the word gospel was in public use to designate the message that Caesar was the Lord of the whole world, Pauls message could not escape being confrontative: Jesus, not Caesar, is Lord, and at his name, not that of the Emperor, every knee shall bow. This aspect lies at the heart of what I have called the fresh perspective on Paul, the discovery of a subversive political dimension not as an add-on to Pauls theology but as part of the inner meaning of gospel, righteousness, and so on.’ (N.T. Wright, See Exploer www.ntwrightpage.com/Wright_New_Perspectives.htm)

Ro 1:2 the gospel he promised beforehand through his prophets in the Holy Scriptures

Paul has already, in v1, mentioned the gospel and his own apostolic ministry. He will now expand on each of these in turn, vv2-4; 5f.

His prophets - Paul is thinking more of the entire witness of the OT than about the individual writing prophets.

Ro 1:3 regarding his Son, who as to his human nature was a descendant of David,

Many interpreters think that Paul is quoting an early Christian hymn or creed in v3f. If so, he is building a bridge between what is already known and accepted by his readers, and what he wants to say to them.

His Son - ‘If statistics were our guide, it would appear that Son of God (15 occurrences) was much less important for Paul than Lord, which appears at least ten times more frequently in his writings. Nevertheless, as M. Hengel (The Son of God, 1976, ch. 3) has shown, Paul uses this title for Jesus when he is summing up the content of his gospel, {Ro 1:3-4,9 Ga 1:15f} and tends to reserve it for important statements. He uses it when the question of the relationship between God and Jesus is particularly in his mind, and, as we saw earlier, took up the traditional statements which spoke of God sending his pre-existent Son into the world and giving him up to die for us. He brings out especially the fact that it is through the work of the Son that we can be adopted as God’s sons.’ {Ro 8:29 Ga 4:4-6}

Human nature - ‘sarx’, flesh.

A descendant of David - ‘This phrase in itself indicates not only Jesus’ Jewishness and humanity, but also focuses on the pedigree warranting his title Messiah/Christ. This surely implies some stress on his royalty.’ (DPL)

Ro 1:4 and who through the Spirit of holiness was declared with power to be the Son of God by his resurrection from the dead: Jesus Christ our Lord.

Declared…to be the Son of God - ‘Observe how studiously the language changes here. He “was MADE says the apostle of the seed of David, according to the flesh;” {Ro 1:3} but he was not made, he was only “declared or proved to BE the Son of God.” So Joh 1:1,14 “In the beginning WAS the Word…and the Word was MADE flesh;” and Isa 9:6 “Unto us a Child is BORN, unto us a Son is GIVEN.” Thus the Sonship of Christ is in no proper sense a born relationship to the Father, as some, otherwise sound divines, conceive of it. By his birth in the flesh, that Sonship, which was essential and uncreated, merely effloresced into palpable manifestation. (See on Lu 1:35 Ac 13:32,33).’ (JFB)

Declared with power - ‘This may either be connected with “declared,” and then the meaning will be “powerfully declared” LUTHER, BEZA, BENGEL, FRITZSCHE, ALFORD, &c.; or (as in our version, and as we think rightly) with “the Son of God,” and then the sense is, “declared to be the Son of God” in possession of that “power” which belonged to him as the only-begotten of the Father, no longer shrouded as in the days of his flesh, but “by his resurrection from the dead” gloriously displayed and henceforth to be for ever exerted in this nature of ours Vulgate, CALVIN, HODGE, PHILIPPI, MEHRING, &c..’ (JFB)

Moo suggests that ‘declared’ should be ‘appointed’. The meaning would be something like, ‘who through the Spirit of holiness was appointed to be the powerful Son of God. It is not that Jesus had not always be the Son of God. But, ‘Jesus’ resurrection, concluding and validating the messianic work of redemption, gave him new power to despense salvation to all those who would believe in him.’ (Moo)

‘The most celebrated event in the New Testament is the resurrection of Christ. The resurrection enjoys this place of honour because it verified Christ’s victory over sin and death. {Ro 1:4} Certainly no event since the world began has been so fully proved by the concurrent testimonies of so many people. Therefore, if we entertain a view of history that excludes the resurrection of Christ, we do more than repudiate Biblical history. We repudiate the very possibility of history, for other past events have less evidence in their favour.’ (E.J. Carnell, The Case For Orthodox Theology, 90)

Ro 1:5 Through him and for his name’s sake, we received grace and apostleship to call people from among all the Gentiles to the obedience that comes from faith.

The obedience that comes from faith - See Note “Acts 6:7.” The phrase is, lit., ‘the obedience of faith’, and Paul may be referring, not so much as faith as the basis for obedience, but as the obedience which is faith, cf. Ro 10:16, NRSV ‘Faith, if genuine, always has obedience as its outcome; obedience, if it is to please God, must always be accompanied by faith.’ (Moo)

‘Paul probably uses this unusual formulation as a deliberate counter to the Jewish “works of the law.” What marks God’s people is no longer deeds done in obedience to the law, but an obedience that stems from, accompanies, and displays faith.’ (Moo)

‘Since the gospel is the heraldic proclamation of Jesus as Lord, it is not first and foremost a suggestion that one might like to enjoy a new religious experience. Nor is it even the take-it-or-leave-it offer of a way to salvation. It is a royal summons to submission, to obedience, to allegiance; and the form that this submission and obedient allegiance takes is of course faith. That is what Paul means by the obedience of faith.’ (N.T. Wright, See Explorer www.ntwrightpage.com/Wright_New_Perspectives.htm

Paul refers to ‘the obedience of faith’ again at the end of his letter, Ro 16:26 (lit.).

Ro 1:6 And you also are among those who are called to belong to Jesus Christ.

Having just stated that ‘we received grace and apostleship to call people from among all the Gentiles’, v5, Paul now refers to the Christians in Rome as belonging within this orbit, and therefore within the orbit of his ministry. Paul is asserting his right to address a group of Christians he has never met before.

Ro 1:7 To all in Rome who are loved by God and called to be saints: Grace and peace to you from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ.

Loved by God and called to be saints - ‘Both descriptions reflect OT language about Israel. Paul, as an important part of his agenda in this letter, is implying that the Roman Christians, Gentiles though most of them may be, have inherited the privileges and promises granted to the OT people of God.’ (Moo)

God our Father and…the Lord Jesus Christ - ‘”Nothing speaks more decisively for the divinity of Christ than these juxtapositions of Christ with the eternal God, which run through the whole language of Scripture, and the derivation of purely divine influences from him also. The name of no man can be placed by the side of the Almighty. He only, in whom the Word of the Father who is himself God became flesh, may be named beside him; for men are commanded to honor him even as they honor the Father” {Joh 5:23} Olshausen.’ (JFB)

Called - All the senses found in the Old Testament appear again in the New Testament. The meaning “invite/summon” is encountered principally in the parables of the great banquet {Lu 14:16-25} and the marriage feast. {Mt 22:2-10} Calling in the sense of naming has special importance in the infancy narratives. {Mt 1:21 Lu 1:60 2:21} Calling on the name of the Lord is found in a quotation from Joel in both Ac 2:21 and Ro 10:13. The choosing of the apostles can be expressed in terms of calling. {Mr 1:20} Finally, Christ’s people are those whom he has called and who are rightly called by his name. {Ro 8:28 Ga 1:6 1Th 2:12 1Pe 1:15}

We are called to be before we are called to do. ‘The point to make from Scripture about our calling or our vocation is that when God calls us he is not calling us primarily to do something but to be something. Our calling, according to Scripture, concerns much more our character and what kind of person we are than simply what our job is.’ (John Stott)

Grace and peace - ‘Although ‘grace’ and ‘peace’ are common monosyllables, they are pregnant with theological substance. In fact, they summarise Paul’s gospel of salvation. The nature of salvation is peace, or reconciliation – peace with God, peace with men, peace within. The source of salvation is grace, God’s free favour, irrespective of any human merit or works, his loving-kindness to the undeserving. And this grace and peace flow from the Father and the Son together.’ (Stott, Authentic Christianity, 183)

Ro 1:8 First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is being reported all over the world.

First - is never followed by ‘second’ and ‘third’. Perhaps Paul is thinking of priority rather than sequence.

Ro 1:9 God, whom I serve with my whole heart in preaching the gospel of his Son, is my witness how constantly I remember you

God, whom I serve with my whole heart - lit. ‘in my spirit’.

How constantly I remember you - ‘so for the Ephesians; {Eph 1:15,15} so for the Philippians; {Php 1:3,4} so for the Colossians; {Col 1:3,4} so for the Thessalonians. {1Th 1:2,3} What catholic love, what all-absorbing spirituality, what impassioned devotion to the glory of Christ among men!’ (JFB)

Ro 1:10 in my prayers at all times; and I pray that now at last by God’s will the way may be opened for me to come to you.

Ro 1:11 I long to see you so that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to make you strong-

Some spiritual gift - There are two possible meanings. (a) specifically, Paul wishes to confer some spiritual gift such as any of those mentioned in 1Co 12. Objectors to this view assert that such gifts are not imparted by ministers (not even by apostles) but by God, Ro 12:6 Eph 4:11 1Co 12:11. But such objections seem not to take account of the fact that miraculous gifts were conferred through the instrumentality of the laying on of apostolic hands. As far as we know, no apostle had yet visited Rome, and Paul may have felt that the church there had the same need as the Samaritan believers prior to the visit of Peter and John. {Ac 8:14-19} (b) More generally, Paul wishes to confer on the Roman church the benefit that would acrue from his preaching, teaching, and other ministries. He wanted to share the gospel in all its power and fullness (v15; cf. v9). In either case, there is ‘an intentional indefiniteness’ (Cranfield) about this statement, because at this stage Paul could not tell exactly what their need would be.

Ro 1:12 that is, that you and I may be mutually encouraged by each other’s faith.

‘Christian fellowship, as indeed all real fellowship, is a mutual benefit; and as it is not possible for the most eminent saints and servants of Christ to impart any refreshment and profit to the meanest of their brethren without experiencing a rich return into their bosoms, so just in proportion to their humility and love will they feel their need of it and rejoice in it.’ (JFB)

Mutual encouragement - ‘The fellowship that Paul desires is to be a two-way traffic. Paul, great apostle though he is, is humble and realistic enough to acknowledge that he needs fellowship for his own encouragement, and to say outright that when he goes to minister to his fellow-Chiristians he does so in the hope, not merely that he will do them good, but that they will do him good. Some Christians of long standing are too proud to take help in spiritual things from their younger brethren; some ministers will not let themselves be helped by members of their congregations; but not so Paul.’ (J.I Packer, God’s Words, 196)

Ro 1:13 I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that I planned many times to come to you (but have been prevented from doing so until now) in order that I might have a harvest among you, just as I have had among the other Gentiles.

‘The strength of Paul’s assertions about his desire to visit the church suggests that some of the Roman Christians may have felt slighted that the great ‘apostle to the Gentiles’ had not yet come to the capital of the Gentile world. Paul assures them that his absence has not been from lack of desire but from lack of opportunity: he has been prevented from visiting them (13), the hindrance probably being his obligations to the churches in the eastern Mediterranean (cf. 15:19-23).’ (NBC)

Ro 1:14 I am obligated both to Greeks and non-Greeks, both to the wise and the foolish.

Greeks and non-Greeks - ‘Hellen’ and ‘barbaros’ (barbarians). Educated Greeks used this latter term to mock those who could not speak the Greek language well. By these terms, Paul is referring to the entire Gentile community, as in v13.

Ro 1:15 That is why I am so eager to preach the gospel also to you who are at Rome.

We might ask whether we are as eager to preach the gospel to those who have not heard is as Paul was. Of course, those to whom he was writing were already believers, and yet he still wants to preach the gospel to them. This implies that the gospel has a place not only in converting people, but in discipling them too. “The Gospel” includes ‘not simply an initial preaching mission but the full sequence of activities resulting in settled churches.’ (Paul Blowers) ‘Successful evangelism includes follow-up. Discipling those who have “come forward” to receive the gospel is not an optional add-on, but a necessary component of the initial preaching of the gospel itself.’ (Moo)

Ro 1:16 I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile.

Ro 1:16-20 contains a series of statements introduced by six occurrences of “for” in which each supports the statement which has just preceded it.

I am not ashamed - Possibly some at Rome were thinking that Paul was ashamed of the Gospel Why had he never visited Rome, they were asking. Was he afraid of persecution, or opposition? Did he lack real commitment to the Gospel? ‘This language implies that it required some courage to bring to “the mistress of the world” what “to the Jews was a stumbling-block and to the Greeks foolishness.” {1Co 1:23} But its inherent glory, as God’s life-giving message to a dying world, so filled his soul, that, like his blessed Master, he “despised the shame.”‘ (JFB)

The dire consequences of being ashamed: {Mr 8:38} “If anyone is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when he comes in his Father’s glory with the holy angels.”

This not being ashamed of the gospel led Paul to be singleminded in his ministry and preaching: {1Co 2:2} For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.

If we are not ashamed of our Lord, then we will also be not ashamed of the things and the people of the Lord: {2Ti 1:8} So do not be ashamed to testify about our Lord, or ashamed of me his prisoner. But join with me in suffering for the gospel, by the power of God. {2Ti 1:16} May the Lord show mercy to the household of Onesiphorus, because he often refreshed me and was not ashamed of my chains.

This being not ashamed leads us to triumph in adversity: {2Ti 1:12} That is why I am suffering as I am. Yet I am not ashamed, because I know whom I have believed, and am convinced that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him for that day. {1Pe 4:16} However, if you suffer as a Christian, do not be ashamed, but praise God that you bear that name.

The fact is, that now as then many are ashamed of the Gospel. It is generally despised. Many will read their horoscopes, but few their Bibles. Many believe in luck, but few in God. It was just so in Paul’s day. He knew from personal experience that the pagans branded the Gospel as atheism, and the Jews viewed it as subversive of the law of God. ‘Christ crucified,’ he found, was ‘a stumbling-block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles.’ 1Co 2:14, ‘The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned.’ The Gospel challenges our cherished independence, it undermines our self-reliance, it strips us of all ground of boasting. Not surprising, then, that it arouses the enmity of the carnal mind.

Still sadder is the fact that many of the so-called friends of the Gospel are actually ashamed of it. Gospel truth is denied, diluted, and distorted by many professing Christians. But let us not think ourselves exempt: we who hold the truth of the Gospel in our heads so often deny it in practice. We may be spiritual giants at church and among Christian friends, and spiritual dwarves at home and at work.

When Paul says, “I am not ashamed of the gospel,” he means, “I glory in it.” He could have gloried in many human advantages and abilities. ‘But far be it from to glory except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.’

It is the power of God for…salvation – The gospel is the power of God {Isa 53:1} who has believed our message and to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed? {Jer 23:29} “Is not my word like fire,” declares the LORD, “and like a hammer that breaks a rock in pieces? {Ro 15:19} by the power of signs and miracles, through the power of the Spirit. So from Jerusalem all the way around to Illyricum, I have fully proclaimed the gospel of Christ. {1Co 1:18} For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. {1Co 2:4} my message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power. {1Th 1:5} because our gospel came to you not simply with words, but also with power, with the Holy Spirit and with deep conviction. You know how we lived among you for your sake. {Heb 4:12} For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. {1Th 2:13} And we also thank God continually because, when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men, but as it actually is, the word of God, which is at work in you who believe.

‘The God of creation who rescued his people from their slavery in Egypt has once again exercised his power for the salvation of humanity from its bondage to sin and the cosmic powers (see Principalities and Powers). The essence of Paul’s gospel consists of this message of salvation. The gospel is thus “the power (?) of God for the salvation of everyone who believes” (Ro 1:16; cf. also 1Co 1:18). God acted through Christ to release people from the bondage of death, sin, flesh and the Law {Ro 5:12-8:39} and to blunt the influence of the realm of Satan against the church. {Col 2:15} Because of the life-transforming capability of the gospel resulting in the reconciliation of people to God, the apostle devoted his life to the propagation of this powerful message. Paul speaks of the Holy Spirit as the dynamic presence of God dwelling within believers. The Spirit works to transform people into conformity to God’s standards of holiness. The Spirit thus enables believers to rid themselves of evil thoughts and deeds. {Ro 8:13} Believers need divine strength to resist the supernaturally powerful influence of the principle of sin {1Co 15:56} and the ongoing enticement of the inner evil impulse, which Paul calls the “flesh”.’ {Ro 8:13} (DPL)

The gospel is good news {Lu 2:10} But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.

{1Co 9:12} we put up with anything rather than hinder the gospel of Christ.

The gospel is our weapon in a supernatural, spiritual battle {2Co 4:4} The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. {2Co 10:4-5} The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. {5} we demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.

Belief in the gospel issues in obedience to {2Co 9:13} Because of the service by which you have proved yourselves, men will praise God for the obedience that accompanies your confession of the gospel of Christ, and for your generosity in sharing with them and with everyone else.

Acceptance of the truth involves rejection of what is false {Ga 1:7} which is really no gospel at all. Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ.

The preaching of the gospel involves a faithful declaration of what we are saved from. {Lu 3:16-18} John answered them all, “I baptize you with water. But one more powerful than I will come, the thongs of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. {17} his winnowing fork is in his hand to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his barn, but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.” {18} And with many other words John exhorted the people and preached the good news to them. {Ro 1:18} The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness,

{Col 1:6} All over the world this gospel is bearing fruit and growing, just as it has been doing among you since the day you heard it and understood God’s grace in all its truth.

‘The Gospel is power in the hand of God, as opposed to our natural impotence and utter inability to obtain salvation by anything we can do, Ro 5:6; and also in opposition to the law, which cannot save, being “weak through the flesh,” Ro 8:3.’ (Robert Haldane)

“”The power of God” is power that belongs to God and therefore the power characterised by those qualities that are specifically divine. In order to express the thought we should have to say the omnipotence of God, and consequently, the meaning is no less than this that the gospel is the omnipotence of God operative unto salvation.’ (John Murray)

‘We must not discount the emphasis that the gospel is unto salvation to very one that believes. This is directly germane to the character of the gospel and to the meaning of faith. There is no discrimination arising from race or culture and there is no obstacle arising from the degradations of sin.

‘The gospel as the power of God unto salvation is meaningless apart from sin, condemnation, misery, and death. This is why Paul proceeds forthwith to demonstrate that the whole world is guilty before God and lies under his wrath and curse (1:18-3:20). We might think that the apostle would have drawn the curtain of concealment over the squalor of iniquity and degradation depicted in 1:18-22. For indeed it is a shame to speak of these religious and ethical monstrosities…Only a God-righteousness can measure up to the desperateness of our need and make the gospel the power of God unto salvation.’ John Murray

Everyone who believes - ‘Emphasis must be laid on both the members of this clause. The gospel is thus efficacious to every one, without distinction between Jew and gentile, Greek or barbarian, wise or unwise; and it is efficacious to every one that believes, not to every one who is circumcised, or baptized, or who obeys the law, but to every one who believes, that is, who receives and confides in Jesus Christ as he is offered in the gospel. We have here the two great doctrines set forth in this epistle. First, salvation is by faith; and secondly, it is universally applicable, to the Greek as well as to the Jew.’ (Hodge)

Ro 1:17 For in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: “The righteous will live by faith.”

A righteousness from God - ‘In Romans, Paul introduces the gospel as disclosing ‘the righteousness of God’ (1:17). This phrase proves to have a double reference: 1. to the righteous man’s status, which God through Christ freely confers upon believing sinners (‘the gift of righteousness’, Ro 5:17; cf. Ro 3:21-22:9:30 10:3-10 2Co 5:21 Php 3:9); 2. to the way in which the gospel reveals God as doing what is right – not only judging transgressors as they deserve {Ro 2:5 3:5-6} but also keeping his promise to send salvation to Israel, {Ro 3:4-5} and justifying sinners in such a way that his own judicial claims upon them are met. {Ro 3:25-26} ‘The righteousness of God’ is thus a predominantly forensic concept, denoting God’s gracious work of bestowing upon guilty sinners a justified justification, acquitting them in the court of heaven without prejudice to his justice as their Judge.’ (J.I Packer, in NBD)

‘Wherever there is faith, there the omnipotence of God is operative unto salvation. This is a law with no exceptions.’ (John Murray)

By faith from first to last - lit. ‘from faith unto faith.’ ‘There is much difference of opinion as to the precise intent of this formula. It has been interpreted as referring to the advance from one degree of faith to another (Calvin) or as equivalent to “by faith alone” (Hodge) or as implying that the righteousness of God is by faith from beginning to end (Dodd).’ (Murray) This last view is clearly the one adopted by the NIV translators.

The experience of Martin Luther. On November 3, 1515, Dr. Martin Luther, an Augustinian monk and professor of sacred theology at the University of Wittenberg, Saxony, began a series of lectures on Romans. His keen eye for the text was evidenced by his teaching methods, which were significantly different from the scholasticism of the late Middle Ages. He prepared for his students special copies of the biblical text: it had broad spacing (for interlinear notes) and very wide margins. The students learned above all else that exposition must be tied to the text.

It was while he was teaching on Romans that Luther came to understand justification by faith. From him was lifted a life-long burden of sin and the pain of separation from a terrifying and holy God. These are his own words: “I greatly longed to understand Paul’s Epistle to the Romans and nothing stood in the way but that one expression, ‘the justice of God,’ because I took it to mean that justice whereby God is just and deals justly in punishing the unjust. My situation was that, although an impeccable monk, I stood before God as a sinner troubled in conscience, and I had no confidence that my merit would assuage him. Therefore I did not love a just and angry God, but rather hated and murmured against him. Yet I clung to the dear Paul and had a great yearning to know what he meant. Night and day I pondered until I saw the connection between the justice of God and the statement that ‘the just shall live by his faith.’ I then grasped that the justice of God is that righteousness by which through grace and sheer mercy God justifies us through faith. Thereupon I felt myself to be reborn and to have gone through open doors into paradise. The whole Scripture took on a new meaning, and whereas before the ‘justice of God’ had filled me with hate, now it became to me inexpressibly sweet in greater love. This passage of Paul became to me a gate to heaven.”

The historical impact of Luther’s conversion cannot be overestimated. His understanding of justification became the basis for his first quarrels with the Roman Catholic church over indulgences. These quarrels escalated to nothing less than the full recovery of the Gospel in Europe – what we now call the Protestant Reformation.

Ro 1:18 The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness,

We can follow Paul’s logic like this:-

‘I am am not ashamed of the gospel.’

‘Why not?’

‘Because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes.’

‘How come?’

‘Because in the gospel God reveals his way of making sinners right with him.’

‘But why is this necessary?’

‘Because the wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness.’

‘What is this truth that people have suppressed?’

‘They have suppressed the truth about God’s power and divine nature.’

‘How does this suppression of the truth manifest itself?’

‘They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and animals.’

‘How has God punished this?’

‘He gave them over to shameful lusts, to a depraved mind, and to all kinds of wickedness.’

The wrath of God is being revealed… - Paul’s object is to prove the teaching of the previous verse, namely, that salvation is by faith alone. In order to do this, he shows that we have no righteousness of our own, but, on the contrary, we are exposed to divine wrath and punishment. We must be justified by faith, because the wrath of God is being revealed…

‘When we hear of God’s wrath, we usually think of “thunderbolts from heaven, and earthly cataclysms and flaming majesty,” instead of which his anger goes “quietly and invisibly” to work in handing sinners over to themselves, v24, 26, 28. As John Ziesler writes, it “operates not by God’s intervention but precisely by his not intervening, by letting men and women go their own way.”‘ (Stott) ‘The history of the world is the judgement of the world.’ (Friedrich Schiller)

The wrath of God is far removed from the fitful anger to which we ourselves are prone, and which is always contains a greater or lesser element of malignity. Yet as human anger leads to the infliction of evil on its object, so does divine wrath. God has a calm and undeviating purpose to secure the connetion between sin and misery, and this law has the same degree of consistency and inevitability as any other divine law in the physical or moral realm.

Despite Dodd’s contention that Paul speaks of ‘the wrath’ ‘in a curiously impersonal way’, Ro 2:5 9:22 Eph 2:3, the NT concept of divine wrath is clearly personal, Ro 1:18-22 2:5-6 3:5-6 9:22. Cf. this last ref with 1Ti 2:4, showing that both wrath and love are personal. And note the following OT refs: Am 3:6 Eze 7:8-9 Isa 63:6 Ho 5:14.

If wrath were impersonal, there could be no hope of divine mercy and forgiveness. Wrath would then be inexorable, and there would be no hope of escape from its consequences. But anger is an attribute of a living, personal God, who enters into personal relationships with us. It is this that makes propitiation, reconciliation and forgiveness possible, cf. Isa 12:1.

It is being revealed. Like the arm of the Lord, and the thoughts of the heart, it is revealed by its effects. By the actual punishment of sin, by the general tendency of sin to produce misery, by the voice of conscience, the connection between sin and divine judgement is being made known. This revelation proceeds ‘from heaven’ – the seat of divine justice and moral government. The revelation is clear and certain: men know that their sin is worthy of death.

Godlessness and wickedness sums up sin in its Godward and manward directions.

Truth covers not only right belief, but also right behaviour. It therefore stands for true religion.

Since sin is so wicked, and its consequences so dire, we should not seek to excuse ourselves, or palliate its enormity, but endeavour to escape its penalty.

The seriousness of sin is made the whole foundation of the Apostle’s doctrine of justification; without a deep sense of unrighteousness the atonement is meaningless.

Extent of sin in Rom 1

1. The will, v18, ‘…who suppress the truth by their wickedness.’
2. The mind, v21, ‘…their thinking became futile…’
3. The heart, v21, ‘…their foolish hearts were darkened.’
4. The emotions, v24, ‘God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts…’
5. The conscience, v32, ‘Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them.’

Having just announced the gospel in vv16f, Paul begins his exposition of it with a thorough treatment of the sinfulness and universality of sin. This is the starting-point of the evangelical faith. ‘Evangelical religion begins with a sense of sin. We will never produce evangelicals if we eliminate this emphasis. Evangelicalism is not, first and foremost, belief in an inerrant Bible. It begins with a certain kind of self-understanding: the knowledge of our own guilt, our own depravity, our own alienation from God. That is the best, in fact, the only hermeneutic. The only key to the scriptures is a sense of sin. The only proper standpoint from which to view Christ is as a lost sinner. The only proper perspective on the cross is that of the convicted sinner. Christ came to seek and to save that which was lost; and what a splendid job the Lord made of it! Christ is the total answer. Christ puts us right with God, all our sins forgiven, our reputations vindicated, our names enrolled in the family-register of God. We have exactly the same relationship to God as Jesus Christ. He is begotten, we are adopted, and in its way that is a mighty difference. But there is no difference in our rights: an adopted son has the same rights as a natural son. We have fellowship with Christ in his whole standing before God. God in Christ has put us absolutely right. He has dealt with all the guilt of our sin.’ (McLeod, A Faith to Live By)

‘The missionary imperative could not be made more plain than it is in Ro 1:18-32. We deceive ourselves if we hold out false hope for the unevangelized based on their non-hearing of the gospel. Listen to Moo (I:93):

Every person is “without excuse” because every person-whether a first-century pagan or a twentieth-century materialist-has been given a knowledge of God and has spurned that knowledge in favor of idolatry, in all its varied manifestations. All therefore stand under the awful reality of the wrath of God, and all are in desperate need of the justifying power of the gospel of Christ. We will never come to grips with the importance of the gospel, or be motivated as we should be to proclaim it, until this sad truth has been made part and parcel of our world view.’ (College Press)

Ro 1:19 since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them.

‘Scripture assumes, and experience confirms, that human beings are naturally inclined to some form of religion, yet they fail to worship their Creator, whose general revelation of himself makes him universally known. Both theoretical atheism and moral monotheism are natural to no one: atheism is always a reaction against a pre-existing belief in God or gods, and moral monotheism has only ever appeared in the wake of special revelation. Scripture explains this state of affairs by telling us that sinful egoism and aversion to our Creator’s claims drive humankind into idolatry, which means transferring worship and homage to some power or object other than God the Creator. {Isa 44:9-20 Ro 1:21-23 Col 3:5} In this way, apostate humans “suppress the truth” and have “exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles.” {Ro 1:18,23} They smother and quench, as far as they can, the awareness that general revelation gives them of the transcendent Creator-Judge, and attach their ineradicable sense of deity to unworthy objects. This in turn leads to drastic moral decline, with consequent misery, as a first manifestation of God’s wrath against human apostasy.’ {Ro 1:18,24-32} (Concise Theology)

‘God’s world is not a shield hiding the Creator’s power and majesty. From the natural order it is evident that a mighty and majestic Creator is there. Paul says this in Ro 1:19-21, and in Ac 17:28 he calls a Greek poet as witness that humans are divinely created. Paul also affirms that the goodness of this Creator becomes evident from kindly providences (Ac 14:17; cf. Ro 2:4), and that some at least of the demands of his holy law are known to every human conscience, {Ro 2:14-15} along with the uncomfortable certainty of eventual retributive judgment. {Ro 1:32} These evident certainties constitute the content of general revelation.’ (Concise Theology)

‘There is within the human mind, and indeed by natural instinct, an awareness of divinity. This we take to be beyond controversy. To prevent anyone from taking refuge in the pretense of ignorance, God himself has implanted in all men a certain understanding of his divine majesty…Since, therefore, men one and all perceive that there is a God and that he is their Maker, they are condemned by their own testimony because the have failed to honour him and to consecrate their lives to his will…There is…no nation so barbarous, no people so savage, that they have not a deep-seated conviction that there is a God.’ (Calvin, Institutes, 1:III1.)

General and Special Revelation. ‘God’s self-revelation through “what has been made” has four main characteristics. 1. It is “general” because made to everybody everywhere, as opposed to “special” because made to particular people in particular places, through Christ and the biblical authors. 2. It is “natural” because made through the natural order, as opposed to “supernatural,” involving the incarnation of the Son and the inspiration of the Scriptures. 3. It is “continuous” because since the creation of the world it has gone on “day after day…night after night,” {Ps 19:2} as opposed to “final” and finished in Christ and in Scripture. 4. It is “creational,” revealing God’s glory through creation, as opposed to “salvific,” revealing God’s grace in Christ.’ (Stott)

Ro 1:20 For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities-his eternal power and divine nature-have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.

Since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities…have been clearly seen - Either, (a) ‘From the time God created the world his invisible qualities have been clearly seen’; or (b) God’s invisible qualities are apparent in what he has created’.

‘Conscience alone has witnessed sufficiently to the moral law, so that every man is “without excuse”.’ (Walter Chantry)

Without excuse - ‘In Greek law an accusation was lodged against a person, who then attempted to vindicate himself with a reply, an answer, a defense. If a person had no defense against the accusation, he was called anapologetos, “without excuse,” a term Paul uses in Ro 1:20 2:1.’ (ISBE, art. ‘Apologetics’)

Ro 1:21 For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened.

They knew God - to be understood in a limited extent. Their knowledge was not sufficient to bring them selvation, but was sufficient to leave them without excuse.

Nor gave thanks to him - ‘If we are to receive such great blessings as these, then how thankful and grateful should we be! There is no greater mark of sin and self-centeredness than the refusal to give thanks. Paul marks it as the source of intellectual darkness and futility. {Ro 1:21-23} Ingratitude is the crown of the unregenerate man and what a perverse thing to place on one’s head! And as Jean Daille observed, “Thankless men are like swine feeding on acorns, which, though they fall upon their heads, never make them look up to the tree from which they come.”‘ (Douglas Wilson)

Rom 1:22  Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools

‘”Striving to be wise, they make fools of themselves” (Rom. 1:22). Paul had said before that “they became futile in their thinking” (Rom. 1:21). In order, however, that no one might excuse their guilt, he adds that they are justly blinded. For not content with sobriety but claiming for themselves more than is right, they wantonly bring darkness upon themselves – in fact they become fools in their empty and perverse haughtiness.’ John Calvin

Rom 1:23  and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles.

‘His repetition of the word “exchanged” is significant for two reasons.  In the first place, it confirms that religion has not evolved upwards, but has devolved downwards, beginning with belief in the one true God and degenerating into idolatry.  Secondly, it underlines the fact that man is constitutionally religious, and that the human huamn spirit abhors a vacuum.  Sin has not destroyed man’s religious capacities or desires, it has simply diverted them to the worship of man-made idols and ideas.’ (Blanchard, Does God Believe in Atheists?, p489)

Rom 1:24  Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another.

Rom 1:25  They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator-who is forever praised. Amen.

They exchanged the truth of God - or, ‘They exchanged the true God’ – for a lie – that is, for an idol.  Idols are ofted referred to as falsehoods and lies, Jer 13:25 Isa 28:15 Jer 10:14 Ps 40:4.

Served created things - The sun, moon, animals, and so on.

Worshiping false ideas about God is an ever-present danger.  ‘People want a God who is powerful and loving enough to meet their needs and get them out of trouble, but not one who is holy and just, demands obedience and punishes sin.  As the God revealed in Scripture does not meet their specification, they invent others to take his place.  As they push God out of the back door, they welcome self-made idols in at the front door, and nothing more cruelly demonstrates humankind’s fallen state than the way in which people “exchange the truth of God for a life” and seek to worship deities who are nothing more than figments of their own imagination.’ (Blanchard, Does God Believe in Atheists? 492)

Rom 1:26  Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones.

Verses 26-27 are important in the debate about homosexual practices.  It has been asserted that Paul is not condemning all such practices, but only those that are ‘unnatural’ to the practitioner.  In other words, he is speaking of homosexual acts carried out by heterosexual people.  But this distinction is foreign both to Paul’s thought and to his thoughtworld.  For Paul, ‘nature’ refers to God’s created world, not to ‘what is natural to me’.  And at the beginning God created male and female, and instituted marriage as a heterosexual union, Mt 19:4ff; Gen 2:24.

Rom 1:27  In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed indecent acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their perversion.

Rom 1:28  Furthermore, since they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, he gave them over to a depraved mind, to do what ought not to be done.

‘In Rom. 1:28, the Gk. puns dokimazein ‘think it worthwhile’ with adokimos ‘depraved’, and may be rendered ‘since they did not see fit to retain God in their mind he handed them over to an unfit mind’, where ‘unfit’ (AV ‘reprobate’, AVmg. ‘a mind void of judgment’) means ‘unfit to pass judgment’, in the active or passive sense, because of wickedness, etc. (vv. 29-30).’ (NBD)

‘Moral corruption and the misery it brings are part of God’s judgment on apostasy. “Since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a base mind and to improper conduct,” says Paul, and continues with a sample catalog of horrors that reads like a summary of the news in this morning’s paper (Romans 1:28-31). Our much-vaunted “permissiveness” is actually a matter of divine curse, as was the idiotically cheerful lawlessness of Jeremiah’s day. What thoughtful person can look ahead without a shudder?’ (J.I. Packer, Growing in Christ)

Rom 1:29  They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips,

Ro 1:30 slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents;

Boastful - ‘Boasting in oneself is an expression of pride. Those who sin express arrogance by implying that they can successfully violate the laws of Almighty God. Paul describes the arrogant and boastful as “God-haters.” {Ro 1:30} Humility is defined as the absence of arrogance and boasting and is characterized by submission to God’s will. The absence of self-exaltation and the attitude of humility place one in a position of being blessed by God.’ {Isa 66:2} (EDBT)

Ro 1:31 they are senseless, faithless, heartless, ruthless.

Or, as JBP puts it, ‘without brains, honour, love or pity.’

Ro 1:32 Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them.