A Study by Scott Sperling Romans 1:1  Introduction to Romans   1  Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle and set apart for the gospel of God... The importance of the book of Romans must not be understated, and cannot be overstated. Paul, in this book, among other things, teaches us that we are justified by faith – and that we cannot be justified through our own works.  In teaching this, he makes us to understand the supreme importance and value of, to each and every one of us, the sacrifice that Jesus Christ made.  Paul also skillfully explains to us how the doctrine of justification by faith was prefigured and supported by the events in the Old Testament.  We learn from Paul in the book of Romans the purpose of rite of circumcision, the purpose of the Jews as the chosen people of God, the purpose of the Law, etc., all with respect to God’s entire plan of salvation by faith in Jesus Christ.  Paul teaches us that salvation by faith was not an afterthought invented by New Testament writers; rather, salvation in the Old and New Testament has always been by faith.  We can all thank God for the book of Romans, for without it, would we have confidence that our faith in the work of Christ is sufficient for salvation? The writing in the book of Romans is masterful.  Paul presents us with well-reasoned, systematic views of the basic tenets of Christianity.  The book of Romans “is the only part of Scripture which contains a detailed and systematic exhibition of the doctrines of Christianity. The great truths, which are embodied and inculcated in every other part of the Bible, are here brought together in a condensed and comprehensive form. More especially, the glorious doctrine of justification by faith is clearly unfolded and exhibited in the strongest light” [Haldane, p. 1].  It is “a writing, which, for sublimity and truth of sentiment, for brevity and strength of expression, for regularity in its structure, but above all, for the unspeakable importance of the discoveries which it contains, stands unrivalled by any mere human composition, and as far exceeds the most celebrated productions of the learned Greeks and Romans, as the shining of the sun exceedeth the twinkling of the stars.” [Macknight, cited in Plumer, p. 30]. As to the purpose of the book, “the object of the writer was to give to the Roman congregation, and ultimately to Christendom, a complete statement of religious truth” [Shedd, p. viii].  “It contains, indeed, an abridgment of all that is taught in the Christian religion. It treats of the revelation of God in the works of nature, and in the heart of man, and exhibits the necessity and the strictness of the last judgment. It teaches the doctrine of the fall, and corruption of the whole human race, of which it discovers the source and its greatness. It points out the true and right use of the law, and why God gave it to the Israelites; and also shows the variety of the temporal advantages over other men which that law conferred on them, and which they so criminally abused. It treats of the mission of our Lord Jesus Christ, of justification, of sanctification, of free will and of grace, of salvation and of condemnation, of election and of reprobation, of the perseverance and assurance of the salvation of believers in the midst of their severest temptations, of the necessity of afflictions, and of the admirable consolations which God gives His people under them,—of the calling of the Gentiles, of the rejection of the Jews, and of their final restoration to the communion of God” [Haldane, p 7-8].  From what we can tell, the church in Rome consisted of both Jews and Gentiles.  And so, Paul (to our benefit) wrote the epistle with both in mind.  So, in it, we see how the revelation of God’s plan through Christ affects both groups.  Best estimates put Paul writing this epistle around 55 or 60 AD, some twenty-five years after Christ’s death and resurrection.  One can only imagine how difficult it was for the various churches of that time as they grappled with the revelation of God through Christ, as told them by the apostles, without the benefit of written text that explained Christian doctrine (churches certainly argue Christian doctrine nowadays, and we have had the New Testament writings for thousands of years).  So, Paul’s epistle to the Romans must certainly have been invaluable to those who received it. We too should value this book, and study it carefully, so as to learn what the sacrifice of Christ means to us, and to learn the importance, and indeed, the value of faith in Christ.  Certainly, the Epistle to the Romans has been greatly valued, and has been greatly influential throughout human history.  “Coleridge calls the Epistle to the Romans ‘the profoundest book in existence.’  Chrysostom had it read to him twice a week. Luther, in his famous preface, says: ‘This Epistle is the chief book of the New Testament, the purest gospel. It deserves not only to be known word for word by every Christian, but to be the subject of his meditation day by day, the daily bread of his soul. . . . The more time one spends on it, the more precious it becomes and the better it appears.’” [Godet, 1].  “No one has ever fully understood Romans. No one can remain undisturbed by it, either. It is the most thought- provoking of all the Christian documents. It has a habit of forcing men to reconsider their whole understanding of religion even when they have spent many years in theological inquiry. Thus Romans profoundly changed Augustine’s thinking in the last years of his life. It was the detonator to Luther’s explosion. It has been used again and again to demolish and reconstruct systems of theology, most recently by Schweitzer, Bultmann and Barth” [Paul Johnson, A History of Christianity, 59]. As to the structure of the book, Mr. Haldane gives a fine summary:  “This Epistle, like the greater part of those written by Paul, is divided into two general parts,—the first of which contains the doctrine, and extends to the beginning of the twelfth chapter; and the second, which relates to practice, goes on to the conclusion. The first is to instruct the spirit, and the other to direct the heart; the one teaches what we are to believe, the other what we are to practice” [Haldane, p. 9]. To begin, Paul introduces himself:  “Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle and set apart for the gospel of God” (vs. 1).  “Conformably to the practice of antiquity, Paul commences his Epistle by prefixing his name, title, and designation” [Haldane, 15].  He is first and foremost, “a servant of Christ Jesus”, as we all should consider ourselves.  As Paul teaches us elsewhere:  “You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies” (I Cor. 6:19-20).  “As the Christians used it, the term conveys the idea of complete and utter devotion, not the abjectness which was the normal condition of the slave.  Paul is affirming that he belongs to Christ without reservation” [Morris].  “The phrase connotes total devotion, suggesting that the servant is completely at the disposal of his or her Lord” [Moo, 41].  It is amazing that Paul, who at one time was the most-feared persecutor of those who followed Christ, should come to consider himself, not only a follower of Christ, but a “servant of Christ Jesus.”  “The word may be taken in its strict and primary sense, as signifying a servant who is the absolute property of the master and bound to him for life” [Taylor, in Plumer].  The transformation of Paul demonstrates the transforming power of God over the hearts of men.  Never give up hope for even the most outspoken hater of Jesus:  if God can change Paul’s heart, He can change anyone’s. Being a “servant” indicates membership in the lowest rank of society, unless one is servant to a person of renown (like a duke, or an earl, or a prince, or a king).  The more renowned, the higher the honor of the servant.  So, being a servant of the Lord Jesus Christ turns servanthood into the most honorable of professions. “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 more public or more private, let them cherish the same spirit with Paul, counting it their honour, and feeling it their pleasure, to serve such a Master” [Wardlaw, 39].  “The more we feel bound by the authority of Christ, the more we are free from the bondage of men” [Schaff, in Lange’s, 58].  “It would be well for Christian leaders to begin each day acknowledging before God that they are his servants” [Mounce, 40].  Significantly, Paul gives “servant of Christ Jesus” as his title, and then gives “apostle” as his calling:  “…called to be an apostle and set apart for the gospel of God” (vs. 1).  The word “apostle” literally means “messenger”.  In the Bible, Jesus designated twelve to be His apostles:  “When morning came, He called His disciples to Him and chose twelve of them, whom He also designated apostles” (Luke 6:13).  “The apostles, then, were the immediate messengers of Christ, appointed to bear testimony to what they had seen and heard” [Hodge, 15].  “The title ‘servant’ was very general, embracing all the ministries established by Christ; the title ‘apostle’ denotes the special ministry conferred on Paul.  It is the most elevated of all.  While Christ’s other servants build up the church, either by extending it (evangelists) or perfecting it (pastors and teachers), the apostles… had the task of founding it” [Godet, 121].  “As a strict official designation, the word ‘apostle’ is confined to those men selected and commissioned by Christ himself to deliver in his name the message of salvation” [Hodge, 15].  After Judas betrayed Christ, and committed suicide, the other eleven apostles gathered and chose Matthias to replace Judas as one of the Twelve (see Acts 1:15-26). It seems though that, later, Jesus Himself chose Paul as the twelfth apostle, on the road to Damascus; for certainly, we know very little about Matthias’s work as an apostle, but the work of Paul as an “apostle”, as a messenger of the revelation of God through Christ, and founder of the church of Christ, continues through his writings to the present day.  “It was his office which gave him the right to address the believers at Rome, and elsewhere, with that tone of authority which pervades all his epistles. Speaking as the messenger of Christ, he spoke as he spoke, as one having authority, and not as an ordinary teacher” [Hodge, 14]. The other apostles were followers of Christ before His resurrection.  Paul of course became a follower of Christ in an unusual way, as mentioned, through his remarkable conversion on the road to Damascus (see Acts 9; also Acts 26:14-18), and through that conversion, Paul was “called” in a very direct way “to be an apostle”. Jesus said to Paul:  “I have appeared to you to appoint you as a servant and as a witness of what you have seen of me and what I will show you”  (Acts 26:16). Paul’s “calling” as an “apostle” gave him the authority to write boldly and authoritatively concerning the doctrines of the Christian faith, as he did in this Epistle to the Romans. Paul’s “calling” was sudden, dramatic, totally transformative, and complete.  “Before his conversion, he was an ardent and bigoted supporter of the traditions of his fathers, violently opposed to the humbling doctrines of Christianity, and a cruel persecutor of the Church. From the period of his miraculous conversion—from the hour when Jesus met him on the road to Damascus—down to the moment when he sealed his testimony with his blood, his eventful life was devoted to the promulgation of the faith which once he destroyed. Throughout the whole of his long and arduous course, he experienced a continual alternation of trials and graces, of afflictions and benedictions; always borne down by the hand of man, always sustained by the hand of God” [Haldane, 15-16].  “We can never too much admire and adore the wisdom and mercy of God in taking the gifted, learned, bitter persecutor of Tarsus, changing his heart, sending him to preach to the nations, and inspiring him to write for the edification of the church in all future ages the epistles he has left us, and in particular this great doctrinal discussion, which more lucidly and logically than any other one book of Scripture shows to men the way of salvation.” [Plumer, 39].  “Surely, this is one of the most amazing things in history.  If one may dare to use such a term, this is the crowning act and the supreme masterpiece of our blessed Lord, that He chose thus as an apostle one who had been His chief enemy.  He chose here a man who had not been with Him in the days of His flesh, who was not one of that circle of the twelve, who had not heard His teaching, who had not seen the miracles, who was not with them at the crucifixion, who was not with them when He came into the upper room after His resurrection.  He was not there.  He was an outsider then, and for years after that, and a blasphemer, and a persecutor, trying to exterminate Christianity, and yet he is an apostle as much as the other apostles” [Lloyd- Jones, 42-43].  “The sudden call of the persecuting Paul to the apostleship of the Gentiles corresponds to the sudden call of the Gentiles to Christianity, just as the gradual instruction of the Jewish apostles accords with the long training of the Jewish nation for the gospel” [Schaff, in Lange’s, 59]. The wisdom of God in calling Paul is manifest.  Paul had unique qualifications to bridge and connect the teachings of the Old Testament to the teachings and work of Christ.  He also had unique qualifications to reach out and connect to people who lived in a world dominated by Roman politics and Greek philosophy.  To do these things, Paul “needed, above all, to come from the very heart of Judaism; only on this condition could he thoroughly know life under the law, and could he attest by his own experience the powerlessness of this means of salvation. But, on the other hand, he was required to be exempt from that national antipathy to the Gentile world with which Palestinian Judaism was imbued.  How would he have been able to open the gates of the kingdom of God to the Gentiles of the whole world, if he had not lived in one of the great centres of Hellenic life, and been familiarized from his infancy with all that was noble and great in Greek culture, that masterpiece of the genius of antiquity?  It was also, as we have seen, a great advantage for him to possess the privilege of a Roman citizen. He thus combined in his person the three principal social spheres of the age, Jewish legalism, Greek culture, and Roman citizenship” [Godet, 6]. In addition to being “called to be an apostle”, Paul was “set apart for the gospel of God”.  The common Christian term for being “set apart” is “sanctification”.  Biblically, “saints” are those who are “sanctified”, who are “set apart” as Christians.  Followers of Christ are, by the nature of Christianity, “set apart” from those of the world, from the ways of the world, from the values of the world, from the attitudes of the world. Those of the world should look at you, as a Christian, and see that there is something different about you:  they should sense your “sanctification”, your “set apart- edness.” There is a bit of a play on words here, by Paul, in saying that he was “set apart.”  “He was a Pharisee, and the meaning of the term ‘Pharisee’ in the Hebrew is ‘a separated one’, one set apart.  The Pharisees set themselves apart.  They walked on the other side of the street, and they were careful that their skirts should not touch anybody else lest they should be rendered unclean, and they would have nothing to do with publicans and sinners… The Apostle was saying something like this:  ‘I once separated myself as a Pharisee, but the real truth about me is that I have been separated by God Himself to this great work which I am privileged to do’” [Lloyd-Jones, 51].  “The term separated, here used, appears to allude to his having been a Pharisee before his conversion, which signifies one separated or set apart. Now, however, he was separated in a far different manner; for then it was by human pride, now it was by Divine grace. Formerly he was set apart to uphold the inventions and traditions of men, but now to preach the Gospel of God” [Haldane, 18]. It is “the gospel of God” for which Paul was “set apart.”  The word “gospel” literally means “good news.”  Paul writes in great detail about the “gospel of God” in the book of Romans.  In a nutshell, the “gospel” is the fact that sinners can be saved through faith in Christ.  Note well, the “gospel” is good news.  At times, when hearing the attitude and tone of some Christians, one would wonder if they are preaching good news.  “When ministers so present religious truth as to make it appear sad tidings to meek and penitent souls, they mightily distort and pervert it; for they are sent to preach the gospel, glad news, good tidings unto the meek, to bind up the broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound” [Plumer, 40].  After his calling, Paul preached, explained, expounded, and lived the “gospel of God.”  Through Paul’s writings, primarily the writings in this epistle, we too can know and understand the plan of God, who through the ages worked out his divine purpose and brought us to this time and place in history, so that we too may be “set apart for the gospel of God.”   Bibliography and Suggested Reading Bengel, John Albert.  Gnomon of the New Testament.  Edinburgh:  T. & T. Clark, 1873. Brown, John D.D. Analytic Exposition of the Epistle of Paul the Apostle to the Romans.  New York: Carter and Sons, 1857.  Calvin, John. A Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans. London: Seeley and Sons, 1834.  (Originally published in 1540).  Chalmers, Thomas. Lectures on the Epistle of Paul the Apostle to the Romans. New York: Carter and Brothers, 1863.  (Originally published in 1842). Dunn, James D. G.  Word Biblical Commentary:  Romans.  Dallas, TX:  Word Books, 1988. Exell, Joseph S. and Henry Donald Spence-Jones, eds. The Pulpit Commentary. Vols. 43. New York: Funk & Wagnalls Company, 1884. Godet, Frederic.  Commentary on St. Paul’s Epistle to the Romans.  Edinburgh:  T. & T. Clark, 1883. Haldane, Robert.  Exposition on the Epistle to the Romans. Edinburgh: Oliphant and Co, 1874.  (Originally published in 1835). Henry, Matthew.  An Exposition of All the Books of the Old and New Testament.  Vol. V.  London: W. Baynes, 1806. (Originally published in 1710). Hodge, Charles. Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans.  Philadelphia: Garner, 1883. (Originally published in 1864). Lange, John Peter, ed. and Philip Schaff, trans.  A Commentary on the Holy Scriptures: Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical.  New York:  Charles Scribner & Co., 1865. Lloyd-Jones, D. M.  Romans.  14 Volumes.  Edinburgh, The Banner of Truth Trust, 1985. Moo, Douglas J.  The Epistle to the Romans.  Grand Rapids, MI:  Wm. B. Eerdman’s, 1996. Morris, Leon.  The Epistle to the Romans.  Grand Rapids, MI:  Wm. B Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1988. Mounce, Robert H., The New American Commentary:  Romans.  Nashville, TN:  Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1995. Newell, William R.  Romans Verse-By-Verse.  Christian Classics Ethereal Library.  Originally published 1938. Olshausen, Hermann. Biblical Commentary on the New Testament.  Volume III.  New York:  Sheldon and Company, 1866. Plumer, William S. Commentary on Paul’s Epistle to the Roman. New York: Randolph & Co, 1870.  Robinson, Thomas.  A Suggestive Commentary on St. Paul’s Epistle to the Romans.  London:  R. D. Dickinson, 1878. Sanday, William, and Arthur Headlam.  A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans.  Edinburgh:  T. & T. Clark, 1895. Shedd, William G. T. A Critical and Doctrinal Commentary upon the Epistle of St. Paul to the Romans. New York: Scribner and Sons, 1879.  Stuart, Moses.  A Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans.  Andover:  Warren F. Draper, 1854. Trapp, John.  A Commentary on the Old and New Testaments. Vol. V (Matthew to Revelation).  Edmonton, Canada: Still Waters Revival Books (www.PuritanDownloads.com). (Originally published c. 1660). Wardlaw, Ralph. Lectures on the Epistle to the Romans.  Edinburgh: Fullarton & Co., 1869.   Many of these books (those in the public domain) can be downloaded free of charge from:  http://www.ClassicChristianLibrary.com