Paul, bondman of Jesus Christ, [a] called apostle, separated to God's glad tidings,
Paul gives three descriptions of himself before he states a single doctrine. He calls himself a slave, an apostle by calling, and a man set apart — which raises three questions: whose slave, appointed by whom, and set apart to what?
Paul had never visited Rome, so he could not point to work he had done among them. One writer notes what he rests on instead:
In no other letter does the apostle put his apostleship on such firm and formal ground. At Rome he could point to no work of his own. He had never seen the Romans. He was still their apostle, because he was the apostle to the Gentiles.
The word translated "servant" means slave, and Paul puts it ahead of his office. One writer also draws a line between being called to be an apostle and being called an apostle.
Paul was not called to be an Apostle, but he was called an Apostle... Paul loved to call himself a slave of Jesus Christ. He knew the Lord had redeemed him. He was no longer his own. He belonged to the One who had bought him and made him one with Himself. His highest ambition was to serve the Lord Jesus Christ. His Apostleship he puts in the second place. The highest and best is to be in reality a willing, devoted servant of the Lord.
Belonging to Christ this way rules out belonging to anything else. The writer turns that into a question for the reader:
"Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus." He was not a servant of any society or party, but of Christ Jesus. Few of us can follow Paul in those few words, and yet how important it is that we do, if our service is to be acceptable to Christ! Have you thought of this as to the whole course of your life and service?
Paul's office did not come from himself. One writer lists what it was not:
Apostleship was not passed down from father to son, like a Jewish priest's place. It was not voted on by the assembly, as the seven men chosen to look after the daily food in Jerusalem were. Still less could a man take it for himself. He was an apostle by calling as the saints were called.
The verse names what Paul was set apart to, not what he was set apart from. One writer draws out both, and stresses how wide the break was.
Here, then, we see Paul a bond-servant of Jesus Christ, an apostle by calling, separated to the gospel of God. This word "separated" covers a great deal. Paul was separated from the world, from the law, and from Judaism, and separated to the glorious good news of God.
This is not a special category reserved for apostles. The same word stands over every believer named in the letter:
We may fall short of it, but we too should know what we are separated to. The name saint that we carry says we are separated, and the same grace that separated the apostle separates us.
Paul calls it the gospel of God. That title points to where the message starts, and it changes what the word "gospel" means.
He calls the gospel to which he was set apart, the gospel or glad tidings "of God": the Holy Spirit shows us where it comes from. It is not what man ought to be for God. It is not simply the way man can come to Him on His throne. It is the thoughts of God, and His acts, we may add, towards man... we never truly understand the gospel until it is to us the gospel of God — God at work, showing us His nature and His will in grace towards man.
The title itself rules out a popular picture of the cross:
Here we have God's gospel. The phrase shows that grace springs from God Himself. It rules out the common idea of an angry God whom Jesus Christ must win over. If it was necessary for our happiness that the Son of man should be lifted up on the cross, it is His own Son whom God has given.
- Source. It is God's gospel because it starts in Him. It is not man's way up to God, but God's own thoughts and acts in grace toward man.
- Bought. Because God moved first, Paul is a slave: redeemed, no longer his own, belonging to the One who bought him.
- Call. No one inherited, voted on, or claimed his office. God called him an apostle, just as God calls believers saints.
- Separation. The same grace that set Paul apart from the world, the law and Judaism sets apart everyone the letter calls a saint.
- Service. Paul is a slave of Jesus Christ, not of any society or party — the test of whether a life's service is acceptable to Christ.
(which he had before promised by his prophets in holy writings,)
God's good news did not begin with Paul, and this second verse says so. Paul says the message he was set apart to preach came first through God's own prophets, in writings God calls holy.
The gospel arrived far along in human history, but it had been in God's heart the whole time.
The fullness of God's spontaneous and active love toward man may be a truth that always feels new to us, because human thoughts prevail so constantly even in the saints. Yet it was no new thing to God. This gospel went out late in the world's history. But He had promised it beforehand through His prophets in holy writings. Those prophets always appear in the past, when everything on man's part was hopeless.
The verse looks back at promise. Paul stands on the other side of it. Notice too who owns the writings and the prophets.
The prophets had already promised this gospel beforehand in holy scripture. But now the announcement was no longer a promise. We do have precious promises for the path we must walk through this world, but the gospel is no promise. Instead, it is the fulfilment of the promises of God, so far as they relate to the Lord's incarnation, His finished work and His resurrection (1 Peter 1:11-12), and to His being glorified — though the Epistle to the Romans does not deal with that last point. Notice here that the "holy scriptures" are the promises of God, and that the prophets who gave them are God's prophets.
If God promised the gospel, we can go and read the promises. They run right across the Old Testament, and some are types — pictures that point ahead.
This Gospel was promised by God's prophets in the Old Testament Scriptures. The announcement came in many ways — in types, in the sacrifices, in direct predictions. Jewish believers looked forward to its accomplishment. You find the promises and predictions of the Gospel throughout the Old Testament, from Genesis 3 to the prophet Malachi. The Old Testament is the foundation of the Gospel. The rejection of the Old Testament as the inspired Word of God is therefore a very serious matter.
The message stood in writing before anyone preached it, so a preacher has something to point at. Paul did just that.
The glad tidings announced by Paul are also confirmed by Holy Scriptures. God's prophets promised them in past days. God's servants proclaim them now, in this day of grace. When they are preached, they carry the authority of the Holy Writings and confirm the promise made there. So in preaching the gospel, the apostle constantly appeals to the Scriptures.
The prophets did not announce everything Paul teaches. One writer draws a line between the gospel, which they foretold, and the mystery, which God kept secret.
But the Gospel, to which Paul says he was separated, had been "promised beforehand through His prophets in the holy Scriptures." So the Gospel was not a secret hidden in the heart of the Creator. The prophets witnessed to it in the Holy Scriptures, right from the beginning of the fall of man until the end of Malachi. These Scriptures make a clear distinction between the Gospel and the mystery. The prophets witnessed to the Gospel during the whole time of man's testing. The mystery stayed the secret of God while that testing lasted.
The prophets spoke of things still to come. But what held all that prophecy together?
But this had been the subject of earlier promise. The prophets had spoken of these things. All prophecy had been the utterance of the Spirit of Christ; and all the promises found their object in His most blessed Person. So the "glad message of God" is simply the announcement that He has come — and in Him all the promises of God are yes and amen.
- Promised — God announced the gospel beforehand through His prophets. It is not a late idea.
- Person — every promise pointed to one object, God's Son, in whom the promises are yes and amen.
- Fulfilled — the prophets held out a promise. Paul announces it as done in Christ's incarnation, finished work and resurrection.
- Founded — types, sacrifices and direct predictions run from Genesis 3 to Malachi. The Old Testament is the foundation of the gospel, so Paul kept appealing to the Scriptures when he preached.
- Beyond promise — the prophets foretold the gospel. The mystery stayed God's secret, and the Scriptures themselves draw that line.
concerning his Son (come of David's seed according to flesh,
Paul opens his letter by naming what his gospel is about. The answer is not a doctrine or a benefit but a Person: God's own Son, born into David's family line. One short phrase holds two things together — who He already was, and what He became.
(The ESV says Jesus was "descended from David." Older translations say "made of the seed of David." Several writers below build on that older wording.)
Paul first says who the good news is about. Only later does he speak of sin, forgiveness, and righteousness. One writer warns that readers often reverse that order:
The first subject of the gospel is the person of the Lord Himself, before you have anything done for us — "concerning His Son Jesus Christ our Lord" (Rom. 1:3); not — concerning "us." Too often the claim of Christ's person gets lost behind the thought of an individual being forgiven.
Nothing in this good news stands apart from Him:
"The gospel of God" is "concerning His Son Jesus Christ." If God is its source, Christ is what fills it through and through. Every single feature of it is joined to the Person of Christ by a living, vital link. The good news is the news that concerns Him. You will find it nowhere else, but you find it fully in Him.
The order of the words matters. Paul does not say that a man of David's line became the Son of God. He says the Son came of David's line.
It was the Son of God who became David's seed by becoming man. Though He was rejected as Son of David, He was declared "the Son of God with power … by the resurrection from the dead." … The idea that a Person in the Godhead, who cannot be described, became the Son of God by becoming man is a false theory, given a fresh lease of life in our day. That the Son of God became the Son of David by becoming man is the truth presented in the Gospel of God.
David's other descendants began to exist when they were born. Scripture uses different words for Christ. One writer sets the two side by side:
Scripture says He was made of the seed of David according to the flesh. What does that mean, when it speaks of our Lord being made of the seed of David? Solomon was of the seed of David. But he did not exist until he was born. He was the seed of David. He was not made of the seed of David. But here Scripture tells us of a Divine Person, who was made of the seed of David, who came of David's seed according to the flesh. Is not the Deity of our Lord implied, His Manhood stated?
David's line is not a background detail. By coming from it, the Son fulfilled God's promise.
The first 17 verses of Romans 1 serve as a preface. In them the person of the Lord Jesus, the Son of God, comes first as the primary subject of the gospel. He is seed of David according to the flesh, and so the fulfilment of the promise. He is proved Son of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness. His life was according to that power, and His resurrection was the proof of it.
How could David call his own descendant "Lord"? Writers point to this verse for the answer:
He was the Son of David, and David called Him Lord by the Holy Spirit, so there was no mistake. The explanation is that it was the Son of God who became the Son of David according to the flesh, as Romans 1:3 states so plainly. Once we fully acknowledge the Deity of Christ, everything is clear.
The same truth is the ground of the blessings Romans goes on to unfold:
The great Gospel letter, written to the believers at Rome, begins by showing that this is the foundation of all the rich blessings unfolded later for faith. Here, then, lies open before us the revealed secret of the believer's blessings now, and of Israel's blessings by and by. This also explains many passages that seem obscure. Some speak of Him as Man, others of Him as God, and sometimes one verse involves both.
- Person — The gospel's first subject is not what happens to us. It is who Christ is. Forgiveness follows; it does not lead.
- Son — He is called God's Son before the phrase about David's line; He did not become the Son by being born.
- Made — Solomon was David's seed; Christ was made of it. The word assumes Someone who already existed.
- Flesh — His entry into David's family line is God's promise kept in fact, not just in word.
- Key — Hold the two together and David's puzzle is solved. His Son is also his Lord. Verses that once looked contradictory now fit, and the letter's blessings rest here.
marked out Son of God in power, according to [the] Spirit of holiness, by resurrection of [the] dead) Jesus Christ our Lord;
Paul opens his letter by summing up the gospel in a description of Christ. He is a real man born into David's family, and the Son of God marked out in power. Two questions follow: what did the resurrection prove, and what does "Spirit of holiness" mean?
The verse names four glories of Christ, and the order matters.
First, Paul presents Christ as the Son. This speaks of His divine and eternal Personality, unchanged by anything He became. Second, he presents Christ in His incarnation, "come of David's seed according to flesh". This speaks not of His inherent Personal glory, but of what He became as a perfect Man. He was the Son before He came of the seed of David. He did not become the Son by becoming incarnate. Third, He became flesh, and the glory of His Person is guarded here: as a Man He is marked out from all others as the Son of God, in divine power. Fourth, Christ is acknowledged to be Jesus Christ, our Lord. Those who believe God's testimony about Him gladly come under His rule by owning Him as their Lord and Master.
Israel's teachers got as far as "the son of David" and stopped there.
When the blessed Lord asked them, "What do you think about the Christ? Whose son is he?" the scribes answer, "The son of David." They had no greater conception of their Messiah than this. And truly He was the son of David… But He had a greater glory than that of son of David; He was also Son of God. A mere son of David could have been no better than his father.
Raw power is not the point here.
Power raised Him, but it was not simply power — power will raise the wicked, yet will not declare them sons of God in any sense. This raising is according to the Spirit of holiness. It is according to the nature and character of God, glorified in all Christ's ways, and sealed and marked out in resurrection.
Commentators differ over what the phrase names. One writer sets out the common view, then rejects it:
Many take "a Spirit of holiness" (there is no article before "Spirit") to be the Lord's divine nature. That, they argue, is the proper contrast here: "according to the flesh," "according to the spirit." But Scripture uses no similar language anywhere else for the divine nature of our Lord.
Another writer ties the phrase to how Christ lived:
The Spirit of holiness that marked Him as He passed through this defiled world was the power by which He rose from the dead, having broken the power of death.
The phrase reaches wider than Easter morning.
Romans 1:4 does not limit the meaning to His own resurrection determining Him to be the Son of God with power. That is not what the verse says. It says that resurrection of the dead — the raising of dead persons — was the great proof that defined Him to be the Son of God with power. His own resurrection was the most astonishing instance of it, no doubt. But His raising of dead persons during His ministry was a witness too, and the resurrection of His saints later on will be the display of it.
Power and its proof belong together here, and one writer illustrates it simply:
If I lift up this table, I do it by power. At the same time, the act of lifting the table is what proves this power.
The world had already passed sentence on Him. God reversed it publicly.
The resurrection justified Jesus. It declared Him "Son of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness" when the world had crucified Him as an impostor.
The risen Christ is not only proof of who He is. He also shapes how believers now stand before God.
The cross, the death, and the blood-shedding of Jesus are now past. He was raised from among the dead, and the same Spirit of holiness now sets Him before us in risen life, with not a trace of the sin for which He suffered… This is what the letter opens out to us as the measure and pattern of our new standing and state before God.
- Person first. He was Son before He was David's descendant. Becoming man added what He became. It took nothing from what He was.
- Proof, not promotion. "Declared" means marked out or determined. The resurrection defined a Sonship already His. It did not create it.
- Power with a character. Bare power will raise the wicked too. Christ was raised according to the Spirit of holiness, which matches the nature of God.
- Proof at full reach. Not only His own rising, but every dead person He raised, and the raising of His people still to come.
- Pattern for us. The world called Him an impostor, and God vindicated Him. Believers own Him as Lord, and His risen life is the measure of their new standing.
by whom we have received grace and apostleship in behalf of his name, for obedience of faith among all the nations,
Everything Paul is and does came to him through the risen Christ. This verse holds four things together: grace, apostleship, obedience of faith, and a reach to every nation. All of it serves one purpose — the honour of Christ's name.
Paul names two gifts, not one. He received the office, and with it the grace needed to carry it out.
This, then, was the glorious Person that Paul came to present. Christ was gone from the world; but Paul is sent as an apostle to represent Christ. He comes "on behalf of His name". To be a fitting representative, he had received from Christ "grace and apostleship". Not only apostleship, but the needed grace to exercise the apostleship. He did not receive his commission from man, or by any human training, or ordination.
That grace was not a reward for anything in Paul. It reached him at the worst possible moment of his life.
Whatever Paul was as an apostle, it was all grace received. Did not the Lord shine across his path, in pure, free favour, at the very moment he was mad — yes, raging mad — against Christ?
The phrase sounds like a life of good conduct. One commentator argues it points first to a single act — accepting God's word about His Son.
Take the case of the soul's submission to the righteousness of God. Romans calls this "obedience of faith." It does not mean the practical obedience that faith produces in daily life. It means the first act of believing God's word. This is the heart's obedience. It is the person's obeying the truth, the soul's acceptance of God's testimony to His Son.
Another writer explains why faith and obedience are joined in this phrase.
If Paul comes as the representative of Christ, "on behalf of His Name", it is to bring people to submit to Christ, to bring them under His rule — to obey Him. Only those who believe will submit, so it is called the "obedience of faith".
The difference is not just which rules apply. It is where the obedience comes from.
This is not the obedience of law, which is only outward. It is the obedience that springs from a heart purified by faith. The gospel calls for, and produces, full confidence in the name of Christ — a confidence that bows in subjection to Him.
The wording is careful. Paul's commission travels to every nation without subduing any of them.
This obedience of faith was "among all nations," not of all nations. The grace and truth must go to men as such. God, revealed in this way, could not be for Jews only. But the time had not come to bring all nations under His power. It was time to call a people out of them — "to take out of them a people for his name."
The final clause gives the reason for the whole work. One writer sees in it the highest honour Christ's name can receive. He follows an older translation, which ends the verse with "for his name."
"To the obedience of faith among all nations" (Rom. 1:5), and then it is added, "for His name" — showing how His glory is bound up in this. As I have said, the brightest, dearest, most welcome honour His name could receive, it receives from the faith of a sinner.
If obedience stands at the front of the letter, does that make it a condition of salvation?
Scripture keeps obedience and practice in the right place. Good works do not make the Christian; they show him and suit him. They cannot exist before a person is born again... To speak to such people of obedience as a means of salvation proves complete ignorance of ourselves and of God. It shows that, like Israel at Sinai, we confuse responsibility with power.
The same expression returns at the end of the letter. The pair marks out the two halves of Paul's service.
This expression is found in only two places: Rom. 1:5 and 16:26. Here the gospel is presented for obedience of faith. The other passage presents the Church — the mystery — as revealed also for obedience of faith. Paul's twofold ministry is presented in this way.
- Grace first. Paul received grace and apostleship together. The office never came without the supply to carry it. Both came from Christ, not from human training or ordination.
- Grace to a rebel. The favour that made him an apostle met him while he was raging against Christ. Nothing in Paul earned it.
- Obedience, not law. The gospel asks the heart to bow to God's word about His Son. That obedience is inward, not the outward obedience of law.
- All nations, not whole nations. The message goes among all nations, not to Jews only, to call out a people for God's name.
- All for the Name. Grace, commission, and obedience all serve Christ's honour. A sinner's faith is the brightest honour His name can receive.
among whom are *ye* also [the] called of Jesus Christ
Paul has just described the grace and apostleship he received to bring "all the nations" to the obedience of faith. Verse 6 turns that commission on his readers. The Christians at Rome are not watching this work from outside. They are inside it. And the phrase Paul uses for them raises a bigger question: what makes anyone a Christian? (Older translations render the phrase "called of Jesus Christ," and the commentators below follow that wording.)
Paul has stated his own credentials. Now he states theirs, and one word links them.
Such was his passport: what was theirs? "Among whom are you also, called of Jesus Christ." They were among the nations. His commission was toward all the nations. Was he a called apostle? So were they saints, not by birth nor by ordinance, but by the call of Jesus Christ who had called him as apostle.
Who does the calling here? One writer answers: Jesus Himself.
God calls on man to obey Himself by receiving Jesus as the Lord. The name of Jesus is the revelation of God. But verse 6 presents Jesus as Himself acting in calling and giving life at His will. They were "the called of Jesus Christ." The Apostle knew well what this meant. Christ Himself had chosen him and called him, a vessel of divine mercy.
Much depends on how the word "called" is read. One writer explains it with a soldier.
Just as a soldier is called to be an efficient soldier. But he must be, and is, a soldier by calling or enlistment first… Let us take the apostleship of Paul to explain this. "Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated to the gospel of God." Do you notice the words "to be" are in italics? They are not in the original. The literal translation is this: "an apostle by calling," just like the soldier, "a soldier by enlistment, or calling." The Lord did not enlist Paul to reach apostleship at some future time. He made him an apostle there and then.
Israel's holiness came with the nation and its rituals. The believers in Rome had neither, and needed neither.
The believers at Rome were among these Gentiles. They were saints — not by birth, not by ceremonial institutions, but by divine call. The Jews were born a holy nation in comparison with the Gentiles. The Roman Christians were saints by the calling of Jesus Christ, and beloved of God.
How does a person become a saint? One writer rules out the two usual answers.
No church authority can confer the status of saint after death; still less can anyone acquire it by self-effort in life. Copying the manners of the Prince of Wales will never make you Prince of Wales. Striving after holiness will never make you a saint. People become saints by divine call. They hear the voice of God speaking to them in the gospel. It tells them of their sins and of the Saviour's atoning blood, and they bow to the message in faith… In a moment they are transformed from sinners into saints. It is God's doing; and it is a marvel of infinite grace. The robber of Calvary and the religious zealot of Tarsus, Mary Magdalene and the excellent Sarah, came from very different backgrounds. Yet all alike were saints. Each one had experienced the same gracious work of God in their souls.
Being Christ's called ones is not only a title. It attaches a person to Him and gives them work to do here.
Paul writes to these saints at Rome. They had believed the gospel he declared to them. He assures them that they were now "the called of Jesus Christ." As such they were attached to Him in heaven above, with His name resting on them. Not only were they blessed through Him, but they were to be His representatives in this world.
What is a saint, then, and what follows from being one?
A saint is a sanctified or separated person… No doubt we ought to be holy in our ways, our walk, and our whole manner of life. But we must know our place and calling first, before we can live up to it. A person must be my child to behave as my child. Another has well said Christian duties flow from Christian relationships.
- Called by Christ. Verse 6 shows Jesus Himself calling and giving life at His will. The readers are His called ones.
- Called, not qualified. The words "to be" are not in the original. Paul was an apostle by calling; believers are saints by calling, made so at once.
- Called, not born. Israel's holiness came by birth and ceremony. This one comes by divine call, so it reached Gentiles in Rome.
- Called without exception. The robber at the cross and the persecutor from Tarsus stand on the same footing. The same work of God made both saints.
- Called for Christ. The call attaches them to Him with His name resting on them, and duty follows: know your place first, then live up to it.
to all that are in Rome, beloved of God, called saints Grace to you and peace from God our Father and [our] Lord Jesus Christ.
Paul's opening sentence in Romans runs six verses before it names its readers. He describes them in three ways — in Rome, loved by God, called saints — and then greets them with grace and peace from two names.
Many translations, including the ESV, read "called to be saints." Translators add the words "to be." Commentators say the addition changes the sense.
"Called to be an apostle" is just as wrong as "called to be saints" in Romans 1:7. He was an apostle at that moment, and they were saints in the same way. There is no need to add any words in either case. In both, adding "to be" weakens the sense and makes it false, instead of defining it properly. For the saints in their call, as for the apostle in his, it was a fact. It was not a birthright, and it was not something they achieved. They became what they were — apostles or saints — by God's call.
Holy living is not the entrance fee. It follows from what God has already made us.
And then we are saints. We are not called to be saints, or to become saints, by living a separated life. God has made us saints in Christ, sanctified — that is, set apart for Himself. Nothing we do could ever make us the beloved of God. No effort of ours to live consistently and away from evil could make us saints of God. God has done it for us in Christ. And because we are saints, we can live holy lives.
The love named here is not God's general goodwill toward the world, but a bond that belongs to those who have believed.
This is not the side of God's love we find in John 3:16, where it is at work in a world of sinners and shown to everyone. This is the personal link kept for true believers alone. It is not just that the sun shines on all people. The light and warmth of that sunshine have broken into their old frozen state, and have stirred a love in return — a love that delights to find itself taken hold of and blessed according to God's love.
Paul does not greet them as a church, the way he did elsewhere. He writes to all the believers living in the city.
He does not write to them as a church, as he normally did when writing to a church he had founded. He addresses his letter to all in Rome who are loved by God, called saints. As the apostle sent to the nations, he could write to them all with the authority of Christ.
One writer traces a possible starting point:
The Bible gives us no details about how the church in Rome was formed. But we do know that on the day of Pentecost there were Jews from Rome in Jerusalem for the Jewish Feast of Pentecost. Acts 2:10 speaks of visitors from Rome, both Jews and converts to the Jewish faith. If some of them came to believe in the Lord Jesus, the first Christians could have been living in Rome around the year 30 AD.
The two words are not decoration. One supplies, the other steadies.
The greeting is the same as in his other letters: "Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ." Grace is the active favour of God, supplied in abundance. Peace is the calm that comes from submitting to Him and sharing close fellowship with Him.
Note which peace he means, and who in that city had it:
We need grace every day. We also need peace of heart all the time, or the circumstances we pass through will overwhelm us. It is peace of heart the apostle mentions here, not peace of conscience. What a privilege to be a Christian! A slave in Rome, if he was a believer, had a portion from God the Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ that the Emperor, with all his wealth and all his power, knew nothing of.
Paul names the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ together as the one source of both.
This is the apostle's opening wish or prayer, here as in Romans 1:7 — from God in His relation as Father to us, and from Jesus Christ as Lord (compare 1 Corinthians 8:6). Joining the two names like this would be impossible in an inspired writing, and an insult anywhere, if they were not one in the unity of the divine nature. True and sovereign favour was the spring; grace was the result, proving and magnifying its source. Let us enjoy the gift and adore the Giver.
- Called — Paul was an apostle by calling; his readers were saints by calling. Not a rank they climbed to, but a fact God's call created.
- Loved — "Beloved of God" is a personal bond kept for believers, not the wide love shown to a world of sinners.
- Made — Nothing we do makes us saints. God set us apart in Christ, and holy living flows out of that, never into it.
- Supplied — Grace is His active favour for daily need. Peace is calm of heart in hard circumstances, not just a cleared conscience.
- Sourced — Both come from the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ together. A slave in Rome held what the Emperor could not buy.
First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all, that your faith is proclaimed in the whole world.
Paul had never visited Rome. Yet he opens his letter to the believers there not with correction, but with thanks to God for people he knew only by report. He gives that thanks through Jesus Christ. And the thing he thanks God for is their faith, known far beyond their own city.
The wording is personal. Paul does not say "God" but "my God," and he brings his thanks through Jesus Christ. One writer links that closeness to God with Paul's warmth toward believers he had never met:
Warmth of affection was natural, so to speak, to one living like this with God — "my God" — while in this world. His joy was not in wrongdoing — wretched flesh delights in what is like itself. His joy was in what was of God, "through Jesus Christ," even though he only knew it by report. He could appeal to God for the best of all evidence of his thankfulness to Him for it, and of his love to them.
The letter that follows is about how a sinner can stand before God. So it matters that the first thing Paul thanks God for is faith. One writer turns that on the reader:
This letter reveals the ground of a sinner's standing before God. So notice the first thing the apostle thanks God for, through Jesus Christ, on behalf of them all: "your faith is proclaimed in all the world." Faith has the first place. Dear reader, is your faith well known, or is it doubtful whether you really believe God? This is the first point to settle. Everything else will follow in order after that.
Rome sat at the centre of an empire, and word travelled out from it. That explains how believers there became known everywhere:
His warm and steady affection kept carrying them on his heart before God. It delighted in the good report of their faith announced in the whole world. Such a report could spread easily from that seat of central authority. Rome made its will and mind felt to the far edges of its vast empire and beyond.
Paul was the apostle sent to the nations, yet the church in Rome grew without him. One writer points to what he did not feel:
His thanksgiving is all the more beautiful when we remember that Paul had never seen the Roman believers. His heart holds no spirit of envy. It overflows with rejoicing at the work God had plainly done in that distant land.
Paul had wanted to come, but something had stopped him. One writer sees God's hand in that delay:
Paul had a deep longing to see the saints at Rome, but until now something had hindered him. We see here proof of the wisdom and foreknowledge of God. Suppose Paul or Peter had founded the assembly at Rome. What an argument that would have been for so-called apostolic succession! There is no evidence as to whom the Holy Spirit used in forming that important assembly. There is no evidence that any apostle had been there at this time. Yet the faith of this assembly — or rather of all the called saints — was spoken of in this way and well known.
What Paul praised God for, he also prayed about — and then he longed to visit:
The report of their faith had reached the apostle, lifting up his heart in praise to God. What is more, he does not only praise God for their faith. He also prays to God without ceasing because of their need. As one has said, "the sincerest faith was never beyond the need of help." And those we can both praise and pray for are the ones we want to see.
A worldwide reputation for faith did not mean there was nothing left to give them. One writer reads Paul's readiness to preach there as a sign of what they still lacked:
Many there had clearly received the gospel as the word of God, since their faith was spoken of throughout the whole world. But something seems to have been lacking in their grounding in "the righteousness of God" — the main subject of the letter. So Paul said he was ready to preach at Rome as well as to others.
- First — thanks. Paul's first move toward these believers is not argument or correction. It is thanks to God, offered through Jesus Christ.
- Thanks for faith. The one thing named is their faith, and in a letter about how a sinner stands before God, that is the point to settle first.
- Faith that travelled. From the empire's centre the report ran everywhere. A group no apostle had founded became known across the world.
- Thanks without envy. God worked in Rome without Paul, and Paul's heart overflows rather than competes.
- Thanks that keeps working. Praise for their faith turns into constant prayer, and then into longing to visit. Even the sincerest faith still needs help, and theirs needed grounding in the righteousness of God.
For God is my witness, whom I serve in my spirit in the glad tidings of his Son, how unceasingly I make mention of you,
Paul writes to a church he has never visited, and makes a claim no reader in Rome could check: that he prays for them without ceasing. He calls God to witness, and in the same breath names the service God sees — service carried on with his spirit, in the gospel of His Son.
Jesus and James both warned against swearing, yet Paul calls God to witness here and in other letters. The two are not the same act.
James 5:12 firmly forbids swearing by heaven or by earth. He does not mean oaths taken before a judge, which are not the swearing people do. He means being sworn in God's name. Neither our Lord nor His servant prohibited such appeals to God as in Romans 1:9, 1 Corinthians 15:31, 2 Corinthians 1:23, Galatians 1:20, or the like.
The phrase "with my spirit" points to the inward side of Paul's service. The verse also moves from "the gospel of God" in verse 1 to "the gospel of His Son."
Notice the change of expression here in passing. It is the gospel of God's Son now, not simply of God, however beautiful that was in its place (v. 1). But now the apostle is not thinking of the source that gave the gospel its character. He is thinking of the way and the means by which His grace worked to deliver the lost. It was therefore the gospel of His Son as well as His own. Here too the apostle describes his own serving of God "with my spirit." That is not mere outward work, and not a bare sense of duty pressing on him. It is active and intelligent devotion from within, in the gospel of God's Son.
Service can be busy and still be empty. One writer traces real power back to communion with God.
The apostle served God with, or in, his spirit, in the gospel of His Son. It was ministry in communion with the source from which it took its rise. Indeed there is no real power of God otherwise, though there may be much activity. But service is a poor thing when duty is its only motive.
Another writer puts the same test to the reader, and links it to Paul's success.
What real heart work it was with Paul! … What deep love for those he had never seen! All of it was done to God, in the gospel of His Son. Is it so with us, or is it mere cold imitation? Was this not the secret of Paul's success? If it is lacking with us, must there not be failure?
The Greek word Paul uses for "serve" once meant work done for hire. Scripture puts it to a higher use.
latreuo is a word translated "worship" three times, though it is usually translated "to serve." It is linked with latron, "hire," so its original force is "serving for hire," not forced work like a slave's. But Biblical Greek lifts this word, and its noun latreia, "service," to a higher use. There it never means any service except service to God, or to false gods. So it fully answers to the present sense of "worship," and all true service shares this character.
The one message carries several names in Scripture. Each name says something about it.
This message is called the Gospel of God (Rom. 1:1), because it comes from Him. It is called the Gospel of the grace of God (Acts 20:24), because it tells of His grace. It is called the Gospel of His Son (Rom. 1:9), of Christ (Rom. 15:19), and of our Lord Jesus (2 Thess. 1:8), because it speaks of what He has suffered and done for us. It is also called the Gospel of our salvation (Eph. 1:13), for by it we are saved (1 Cor. 15:2).
Paul's constant mention of the Romans held one prayer in particular: that he might reach them. Look at how God answered it.
Notice how carefully and earnestly he backs up his words: "For God is my witness, whom I serve with my spirit in the gospel of his Son." Can there be any doubt that his prayers were real? Not at all. He had wanted this visit so deeply that he would say, "if by any means." God granted it. He came as a prisoner, carried there for trial — and he still rejoiced in the Lord.
- Witness. Calling God to witness is not the swearing Jesus forbade. It is an appeal to the One who can see a hidden life of prayer.
- Spirit. What God witnesses is inward — not outward works or bare duty, but active, intelligent devotedness.
- Worship. Paul's word for "serve" fits God alone, so all true service shares the character of worship.
- Son. The message he serves in takes the Son's name, because it tells what He suffered and did for us.
- Answer. That inward service kept him praying for strangers, and God brought him to Rome as a prisoner to answer the prayer.
always beseeching at my prayers, if any way now at least I may be prospered by the will of God to come to you.
Paul had never seen the believers in Rome, yet he keeps asking God for a way to reach them. He ties the request to one condition, and the verse shows how he handles a longing he cannot satisfy himself.
This request is no formality in a letter's opening. One writer looks at the words just before it, where Paul calls God as witness to how he serves.
What real heart work it was with Paul! He says, "For God is my witness, whom I serve with my spirit in the gospel of His Son, that without ceasing I mention you always in my prayers." What deep love to those he had never seen! This was not outward service, but "with my spirit." All done to God in the gospel of His Son. Is it so with us, or mere cold imitation? Was not this the secret of Paul's success? If it is lacking with us, must there not be failure?
Paul does not just say he holds them in mind. His asking has a definite object, and the same pattern returns at the end of the letter.
In the first chapter of Romans, Paul does more than speak of mentioning them always in his prayers. He made a definite request: that by the will of God he might become a blessing and a comfort to them, and that their faith might comfort him too (vv. 10-12). In the fifteenth chapter he begs them, for the Lord Jesus Christ's sake, to pray as well. He asks that he might come to them by the will of God, and be refreshed with them.
That phrase is the hinge of the verse. Paul prayed for the journey often, and the answer came in a shape he had not pictured.
I take it that it was according to God's mind that Paul should go to Rome. He had often prayed for it (Romans 1:10), if it were God's will. I have no doubt that God granted the request, though not quite in the way the apostle had expected. When he prayed that he might reach the saints at Rome and give them some spiritual gift, he probably had no idea that he would go there in chains. But so it was. At the same time God answered his prayers, and more than answered them.
One writer sets the same habit before us as a rule for our own praying.
Presenting our requests, subject to His will, is always right. Of this we have an example even in Gethsemane; so Paul for his thorn in the flesh. And the answer will be more glorious and blessed than the request, even when it does not come in the form we asked for. Let us trust His love, and this will not come short.
"Now at last" carries years of waiting. Paul kept praying while the way stayed blocked, and he says what he was after.
They had a good report, and Paul longed and prayed that he might see them, but had so far been hindered. He wanted to settle them firmly in the faith by sharing spiritual things with them. He explains what he means in verse 12. The gifts were not great abilities, miraculous powers, and the like. They were to build one another up in the faith. It is better to be godly than gifted.
Paul did reach Rome, and he came as a prisoner. What he did on arrival shows how he read the outcome.
When he wrote his letter, we may be sure he little thought he was to see them as Rome's prisoner. He made request that he might have a prosperous journey to them (Rom. 1:10), and had told them to pray that he might reach them with joy (Rom. 15:32). But here is something beautiful. The Spirit of God had given his journey and his arrival among them this character. Even so, Paul treats it as nothing less than a full answer to his desires. "He thanks God," owning the answer to his request.
The record in Acts shows what became of each part of the prayer.
He had prayed for three things: to come to the saints at Rome, to be comforted in them, and to have some fruit among them. These had been his desires (Rom. 1:10-13), and God answered every one of them (Acts 28:15-24). He sees them, he takes courage, and, through preaching, gathers fruit there as well as among other Gentiles.
- Heart — The prayer flows from service given "with my spirit," not from cold imitation; Paul carried people he had never seen.
- Ask — The request was definite: a safe journey, mutual comfort, fruit among them. Named requests, not vague goodwill.
- Submit — "By God's will" is the safeguard. Bring the request, and leave the decision with God. That is always right.
- Wait — Obstacles blocked him again and again, and he kept asking; the delay never turned into silence.
- Receive — The answer came in chains and was still a full answer. He thanked God and took courage; God met every part of the prayer.
For I greatly desire to see you, that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to establish you;
Paul had not yet been to Rome. Yet he tells this church he longs to be with them, and he gives his reason. He wants to hand them something that will steady them. Two questions sit inside the verse. What is this "spiritual gift"? And what does it mean to be strengthened — "established", as older translations put it?
Paul's wish to visit grows out of the praying he has just described. His thanks and his requests point the same way.
News of their faith had reached the Apostle and lifted up his heart in praise to God. He does not only praise God for their faith. He also prays to God without ceasing for their need. As someone has said, "the sincerest faith was never beyond the need of help". And the people we can both praise and pray for are the people we want to see.
Commentators differ on what this gift is. Some tie it to Paul's apostolic office. Others point to the next verse, where Paul explains himself.
He wanted them fully established in the faith, and he would do it by giving them things of a spiritual nature. He explains what he means in verse 12. The gifts were a matter of building each other up in the faith, not the handing over of great abilities, miraculous powers, and the like. It is better to be godly than gifted.
Others read it as something only his apostleship let him give. Even then, what he wanted was faith enjoyed together.
He wants to see them, so that he may give them some spiritual gift, which his apostleship put him in a position to pass on. What he had in his heart was this: that he might enjoy the faith he shared with them — faith strengthened by these gifts — for their comfort together.
The word "spiritual" matters. No one can pass this gift on by ordinary human skill, and that shapes how a servant of Christ works.
The faithful servant of Christ seeks to give spiritual benefit to those who hear him — "some spiritual gift to strengthen you" (Romans 1:11). He wants them to share in "spiritual things" (15:27) by their own experience. Such things cannot be handed over in a merely natural way. They come "not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit, communicating spiritual things by spiritual means" (1 Cor. 2:13).
Forgiveness and a settled faith are two different things. One writer keeps them apart.
The apostle's aim was that those who came under his ministry should be established. The fact that I have peace with God does not mean I am well grounded in the faith. So whether it is Peter or Paul, both work to establish and encourage souls.
This aim also shapes the whole letter.
From the opening verses we learn that the great purpose of the letter is to establish believers in their personal relationship with God. As the Apostle says, "to strengthen you". To do this he shows that the gospel is God's power to save, because in it God reveals His righteousness. Nothing establishes a believer like the discovery that God not only saves the sinner who believes in Jesus, but saves him righteously — that is, in a way that agrees with His own holy nature.
Some have called Paul's warm words flattery — the move of a man building a following. One writer answers that charge.
One of this world's wise men has dared to accuse the holy apostle of pious cunning and holy flattery. No doubt that judgment came out of the critic's own spirit, and out of his inability to appreciate the delicate feelings that grace makes easy and natural… What we see here is the tact of tender love toward people who were saints of God in such a place, not the manoeuvring of a clever party leader.
Paul's longing went unmet for years. What came out of the delay was larger than the visit would have been.
He wanted to give them some special gift for their fuller establishment in the faith. But the thought of divine love and wisdom, faintly reflected in the apostle's heart, reached wider and wiser toward His church — and not at Rome only — than His servant could take in at the time. Paul's thwarted desires gave the Spirit of God the occasion to write and publish, by his hand, this priceless letter. It was a gift to the Church, not one of passing effect, but one that would build up, feed, and teach the saints to the end.
- Prayer — Paul praised God for their faith and prayed for their need. The people we thank God for and pray for are the people we long to see.
- Gift — the giving is spiritual, so it cannot travel by natural means. Commentators differ on whether Paul meant a gift tied to his apostleship or plain mutual building up. All agree the aim was strength, not spectacle.
- Established — peace with God does not by itself make anyone well grounded. Nothing settles a believer like learning that God saves righteously, in keeping with His own holy nature.
- Manner — an apostle came asking to give and to receive. That is love, not strategy.
- Result — the visit did not come for years. Out of that unmet longing came a letter that has been establishing believers ever since.
that is, to have mutual comfort among you, each by the faith [which is] in the other, both yours and mine.
In verse 11 Paul tells the believers in Rome that he wants to come and give them a gift to strengthen them. Then he corrects himself: the comfort will run both ways, and that small change shows how a servant of Christ stands among God's people.
Paul keeps his apostleship, but he uses it in love:
He longed to see them, so that he might give them some spiritual gift to establish them. But in the same breath he takes his place in love among them. He says, "That is, that we may be mutually encouraged by each other's faith, both yours and mine." He was an apostle, and he should act in love. So, as an apostle, he should come down to the weakest, to raise them up to confidence in God.
The gift Paul wanted to bring was not a display of power:
He explains what he means in verse 12. The gifts were meant to build up faith on both sides. They were not the giving of great abilities, miraculous powers, and the like. It is better to be godly than gifted.
Notice who wanted comfort here, and where he was ready to find it:
This is a lovely thing — the very opposite of lording it over others. Only think of this blessed servant of Christ! He was the greatest teacher the church has ever had, and he longed to be comforted by the faith of the very feeblest saint in the assembly. He longed for fellowship — he was ready to help, but he did not want to monopolise. He would not put out the dying embers. He would gather them together and build them up, so that he and they might be "mutually encouraged."
Kelly points to the ground the apostle and the believers stand on together:
If God called him, He called them too — him an apostle, them not apostles but saints. Yet for them as for him, all flowed out of the same mighty love of God... There is nothing like the grace of God for producing the truest humility.
Paul's ministry would do something among the believers themselves:
His ministry would lead the saints to practise godly unity and fellowship with understanding. His own heart yearned for their faith and drew comfort from it, and they drew comfort from his. There is mutual comfort only when there is mutual cultivation of faith. This was not mere emotion. The apostle had often planned before to visit the saints at Rome, but he had been hindered.
Some have read Paul's warmth here as flattery. Kelly answers that charge:
One of this world's thinkers has dared to accuse the holy apostle of pious craft and holy flattery. But that judgment, no doubt, came out of the man's own spirit. He could not appreciate the delicate feelings which grace makes easy and habitual... What we see here is the tact of tender love toward people who were saints of God in such a place — not the manoeuvring of a skilful party-leader.
Paul did travel to Rome in the end. Kelly notes what the believers there did for him on the way:
But how sweet and wonderful are the dealings of grace! We know on unquestionable authority what happened. The Lord used the saints he was going to help so greatly to cheer the apostle himself on the road. That is the best comment on his own words written to them beforehand.
- Longing. Paul asks to come and bring a spiritual gift to establish the believers. Then he explains what he means: building up on both sides, not great abilities.
- Correction. In the same breath he takes his place in love among them. He comes down to the weakest, to raise them up to confidence in God.
- Level ground. God called him an apostle and them saints. Both flowed from the same mighty love — and nothing produces truer humility than grace.
- Cultivation. Comfort runs both ways only where both sides cultivate faith. The greatest teacher wanted comfort from the feeblest believer.
- Fulfilment. On the road to Rome, the Lord used the very believers Paul was going to help to cheer him — verse 12 lived out, just as he had written it.
But I do not wish you to be ignorant, brethren, that I often proposed to come to you, (and have been hindered until the present time,) that I might have some fruit among you too, even as among the other nations also.
Paul is writing to a church he had never visited. Here he opens up his own plans: he had tried again and again to reach Rome, and every try was blocked. Why was the capital of the empire his business at all? What harvest did he hope to gather? And who kept stopping him?
He does not want them in the dark about his plans. That openness came from more than his office:
He wrote to them, and he longed to see them. This was not only to carry out his commission as an apostle, or to use his apostolic authority. It grew out of a brother's love that longed for them. He counted on receiving comfort from them, as well as on giving them spiritual blessing.
Another writer sets the two sides side by side: real authority, and real tenderness.
By right he is apostle to all the Gentiles, even if he has never seen them. But in heart he is their servant. He wants to see them, with the truest and warmest brotherly love — a love flowing from the grace that had made him an apostle.
Why does Paul speak of Rome as a place where he owes work? The phrase "as among the rest of the Gentiles" claims the city for his commission.
As the apostle of the Gentiles, he would not neglect any part of the field put in his care. So he had often planned to come to them, to have fruit among them as well as elsewhere. We see that the church at Rome was mainly a Gentile church, and so it counted as part of his field of work.
The letter also shows what kind of church was already there:
The letter itself, from the first chapter to the last, is the fullest proof that a large number of believers were already there — both Jews and Gentiles.
One writer sees two kinds of fruit in view:
Paul wanted to share fellowship with them, and to bear some fruit among them. That fruit might be the conversion of souls. Or it might be the giving of some spiritual gift to those already brought to Christ.
Commentators differ on the cause of the delay. Some read the block as enemy action, and draw a lesson for anyone in the Lord's work:
The apostle would have liked to visit the Christians at Rome sooner, but Satan had hindered him. The Lord's work is always carried on in front of an enemy who tries to stop its progress. He may use persecution. He may stir up evil in the churches, which the worker then has to deal with. He may use false teaching, which eats up the worker's time, or all sorts of other tricks. The worker needs to notice this. That is how he learns dependence.
Others look at the same delay from the far end and see God's hand in it:
May we not see the grace and wisdom of God in allowing a hindrance that gave us a letter written for the blessing of God's people in every age? It is good for us to trace the hand of God in what He hinders as well as in what He allows. It is good to submit to His closed doors, as well as to walk through His open ones.
Paul did reach Rome — but as a prisoner, not as he had pictured it:
When he wrote his letter, we may be sure he little thought he would see them as Rome's prisoner. He asked for a good journey to them, and had told them to pray that he might reach them with joy. But here is something beautiful and blessed. The Spirit of God shaped his journey and his arrival in this way, yet Paul does not treat it as anything less than a full answer to what he asked. He thanks God, owning it as the answer to his prayer.
And he did gather the fruit he asked for, from both sides:
Paul had hoped to have fruit among the Gentiles at Rome, as he had among others (Rom. 1:13). Here we see fruit for God among the Jews. And he did have converts among the Gentiles in Rome, for he could write to Philemon, "I appeal to you for my child, Onesimus, whose father I became in my imprisonment."
- Purpose — he planned the trip again and again. Love for them drove it as much as his commission: apostle by right, servant in heart.
- Province — Rome lay inside the Gentile field God gave him, so he claimed work there, though he had never seen the church.
- Fruit — he wanted a harvest of two kinds: souls converted, and believers built up by a spiritual gift.
- Hindrance — commentators differ on the cause. Some see the enemy resisting the work, which teaches the worker dependence. Others see a closed door of God's, which gave us this letter.
- Fulfilment — the answer came, but in chains. Paul thanked God for it, and gathered fruit in Rome from Jews and Gentiles alike.
I am a debtor both to Greeks and barbarians, both to wise and unintelligent
Paul is writing to a church he has never visited, and here he explains why he keeps trying to reach it. He does not call himself generous or gifted. He says he owes something. The two pairs he names — Greeks and barbarians, wise and foolish — leave nobody outside that debt.
Paul makes three statements about himself in verses 14 to 16. One writer sets them side by side:
In the following verses the Apostle speaks about his debt, and his readiness, to preach... he felt like a man with a debt to pay off. It is a wonderful thing that he can say, "I am a debtor" to the Gentiles; "I am ready" to preach; and "I am not ashamed" of the gospel. "I am a debtor" is the language of someone who found in the gospel the thing that met his own need. He now feels he owes it to others in need, whether among cultivated Greeks or unintelligent barbarians. "I am ready" is the language of someone in the right moral condition to preach. "I am not ashamed" is the language of someone who sees the greatness of the gospel and is bold to proclaim it.
Who counted as a "barbarian"?
The word means "foreigner, alien". The Romans used it for any people who did not understand Latin or Greek. In Romans 1:14 they stand in contrast to the Greeks.
Paul names both ends of the social scale in one breath:
He was debtor to the Greeks — the civilized, the cultured, the artistic, the intellectual. They needed it, and without it they were completely undone. He was debtor to the barbarians too, who were sunk in depravity and sin. They needed it not more than the Greeks, but just as much. So Paul preached as long as God gave him breath.
Later in the letter Paul tells these same readers to keep no debt outstanding except one: love. One writer ties that to the debt Paul owns here.
"Owe no one anything, except to love each other." This is a debt that can never be fully paid up. Paul's knowledge of the gospel and his love for men made him a debtor to Greeks and barbarians, to the wise and the foolish. This is the case, in whatever measure, of all saints.
The very next verse says Paul is ready to preach the gospel at Rome — to people already called saints. One writer notices the wording:
Even the saints there would have been all the better for the gospel. It was not merely "to those at Rome," but "to you that are at Rome." So it is a mistake to think that saints gain nothing from a better understanding of the gospel, at least as Paul preached it. He now tells them why he could speak so strongly, not about the more advanced truths, but about the good news.
Paul's commission was his own. One writer applies the same principle to every Christian.
He felt what every sinner saved by grace should feel — that he was a debtor to all. Owning the gospel makes us debtors to all. He had constantly paid his debt by preaching the gospel to Jews and Gentiles, and now he is eager "to preach the gospel to you also who are in Rome."
Where does the power to pay such a debt come from?
We have a debt to pay, and only the power of the Spirit can enable us to pay it. Paul felt this deeply in Romans 1:14. Romans 15:19 tells how he paid it: "by the power of the Spirit of God... I have fulfilled the ministry of the gospel of Christ." ... We need souls so filled by God with the things we profess to believe that our lips must speak.
- Received. The debt starts with a gift. Paul found in the gospel what met his own need, so he owed it to everyone else in need.
- Owed. Greeks and barbarians, wise and foolish, cover everyone. The cultured needed the gospel just as much as the depraved.
- Ready. "I am a debtor," "I am ready," "I am not ashamed" belong together. The debt puts him in the right condition to preach. The greatness of the gospel makes him bold.
- Unpaid. This is the one debt Paul says can never be settled — the debt of love that stands behind "Owe no one anything, except to love each other."
- Passed on. Every believer who owns the gospel inherits the debt. We pay it the way Paul paid his: with souls so full of what we believe that we must speak.
so, as far as depends on me, am I ready to announce the glad tidings to you also who [are] in Rome.
Paul writes to believers in Rome, a city he had never reached. He is eager to preach the gospel to them — people who already believe it — and God would keep him from that visit for years.
Older translations read "as much as in me is." Paul limits the claim to his own side of the matter. His willingness was total. The timing was not his to arrange.
He longed to see them, that he might impart to them some spiritual gift, so that they might be established... He was under obligation to all nations to bring the grace of God to them; and so, as far as depended on him, he was ready to preach the gospel to them also that were at Rome.
That combination — full readiness with no power to open the door — is held up as a pattern for service.
He could say, "So, as much as in me is, I am ready to preach the gospel to you that are at Rome also." What entire readiness, yet the most real dependence on God alone. If he had been the servant of men, he might have needed a call from them to preach at Rome, or some human appointment. But there is no such thought here. Paul could say, "I am ready." Yes — with the world behind him: "I am ready as soon as my God shall open the way."
The weight falls on the word "you." Paul is not only ready to preach in the city. He is ready to preach the gospel to the Christians already in it.
He was ready, as far as he was concerned, to preach the gospel to those that were at Rome also. Even the saints there would have been all the better for the gospel. It was not merely "to those at Rome," but "to you that are at Rome." So it is a mistake to think that saints cannot gain from a better understanding of the gospel, at least as Paul preached it.
The believers there had a faith known everywhere. Yet something in their foundation was still missing.
The gospel had truly reached souls in that city by other means. Many there had clearly received it as the word of God, since people everywhere spoke of their faith. But something seems to have been missing in them: they were not grounded in "the righteousness of God," the main subject of the letter. So Paul said he was ready to preach to them at Rome as well as to others.
Paul makes three claims in a row here: he is a debtor, he is ready, he is not ashamed. One writer draws out what each one shows.
"I am a debtor" is the language of one who has found in the gospel what meets his own need. He feels he owes the good news to others who are in need, whether among cultivated Greeks or unintelligent Barbarians. "I am ready" is the language of one in right moral condition to preach. "I am not ashamed" is the language of one who, realising the greatness of the gospel, is bold to proclaim it.
Paul never made the journey he was so ready for. God Himself prevented it.
He declares himself a debtor to all the Gentiles, and ready, as far as it depended on him, to preach the gospel to those of Rome also. The apostle claims the whole field of the Gentiles as his own. Yet God kept him from going to Rome until he arrived there at the end of his career — and then only as a prisoner. This is worthy of all attention.
So the visit became a letter. Since he was hindered in body, "he would do it by letter" (F. B. Hole).
Paul was the most gifted of teachers. If he gave himself to plain gospel preaching, no one can call that work beneath them.
Sinners need the gospel for their salvation. Saints need it too, often, to be established... Paul was the most gifted of teachers, yet he threw himself fully into the testimony of the gospel. So how happy, how profitable, how encouraging it would be if every servant of Christ did the same — whatever his gift or his age, showing hearty fellowship with every sincere and godly effort to spread the gospel! ... Disparagement of true gospel work is not of God. It is of Satan.
- Debtor — Paul found in the gospel what met his own need, so he owed it to everyone else, Greek or Barbarian.
- Ready — his part was full willingness. God's part was to open the way, and Paul waited for it, needing no human appointment.
- To you — Paul aimed the gospel at the believers in Rome, not just at the city, because saints gain from understanding it better.
- Hindered — God kept him from Rome until he came as a prisoner. The visit he could not make became this letter.
- Established — sinners need the gospel for salvation, saints for grounding. So belittling gospel work never comes from God.
For I am not ashamed of the glad tidings; for it is God's power to salvation, to every one that believes, both to Jew first and to Greek
Paul wrote to believers in Rome, the capital of the empire. He begins not with sin or judgment but with a claim: this message has the power to save.
The phrase is often read as a claim about Paul's nerve. One writer argues it is a claim about the message itself.
These two verses are the key verses of the letter. They hold the great words of its teaching section: righteousness and faith. It cannot mean, as people often say, that Paul was not ashamed to confess Christ. It means he had complete confidence in the gospel of Christ. He knew it would never make him ashamed. He was not ashamed of it because of what it is in itself. The world sneered at the gospel he preached... He knew the gospel holds the highest wisdom. He knew God Himself is its author, that it came from God and leads to God.
Writing to that city sharpens the word "power." Rome knew all about power, and a comparison is hard to miss.
He was not at all ashamed to speak about the gospel itself, even to people living in Rome. This proud city was the centre of all worldly power, yet the gospel was God's power. Rome's power brought people into its empire by forced submission. God's power saved every believer through the gospel. It brought them into His kingdom and under His rule in grace.
Notice how often the little phrase "of God" is repeated in these opening verses. That repetition is deliberate, and it is aimed at a habit deep in every human heart.
See how the apostle presents everything as coming from God. It is the gospel of God, the power of God for salvation, the righteousness of God, and even the wrath of God. That wrath comes from heaven. It is not the same as punishment on earth. This is the key to everything. The apostle stresses it and puts it first, right at the start of the letter. Man always leans toward confidence in himself. He wants to boast of himself and to find some merit, some righteousness, in himself, as though he could do something. It was the apostle's joy to put his God forward.
If salvation is God's power, then everything moves one way: from God to man.
In verse 16 the apostle began to show the character of the gospel. It is God Himself, acting with power when man is completely lost. So where the gospel comes, God no longer asks anything from man. He does not demand works to put things right between man and God. God acts; His power is working for the benefit of man. Not to help him, but to save him, for this power is for salvation.
Salvation comes "to everyone who believes." So does faith add something to the work? One writer says it does the opposite.
Man came into it by faith. It was the believer who shared it. But sharing it by faith was the one way to share it without adding anything at all, and to leave it wholly the salvation of God. God be praised that it is so, whether for righteousness or for power, or for the whole result. That is what makes it perfect and divine.
The verses that follow tell us what the danger is, and so define what "salvation" means here.
Yet again and again Scripture shows that salvation does mean being spared and rescued from the wrath of God. The gospel is "the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes... for the wrath of God is revealed from heaven" (Rom. 1:16-18). A little later in the same epistle we read, "we shall be saved by Him from the wrath of God" (Rom. 5:9).
The verse names an order: the Jew first, then the Greek — that is, everyone else. But it does not create two classes of saved people.
God's power was there to save. It took man up in his need and sin, not in his titles or claims, even ones God had given him. It reached a lost Gentile just as it reached a lost Jew. It was for "everyone who believes" — the way of it was faith; the order of it recognised God's ways. It was "to the Jew first, and also to the Greek." But this did not alter its character; it was salvation for a sinful Jew, who had to come in by mercy, just like a Gentile.
Power that produces nothing is not power. That test falls on preacher and hearer alike.
Those who preach should look for clear results. Those who hear should ask whether the gospel has made a great change in them. Why has it not? Because they have not believed... the way of salvation is not just hearing about Christ. It is believing on Christ. It is not simply knowing the plan of salvation, as some say. It is coming to Christ to be saved.
- Confidence — Paul's "not ashamed" is not bravery under mockery but trust in a message whose author is God.
- Power — the word answers Rome's empire. One power forces people to submit; the other saves. Everything here comes from God, not man.
- Faith — believing is the one way in, because it adds nothing and leaves the salvation wholly God's.
- Reach — the same power meets Jew and Greek as equally lost; the order of preaching differs, the terms never do.
- Result — real power leaves evidence. The honest question is not whether you know the message, but whether you have come to Christ.
for righteousness of God is revealed therein, on the principle of faith, to faith according as it is written, But the just shall live by faith.
Paul has just said he is not ashamed of the gospel because it is God's power to save. Verse 17 tells us why. Everything turns on one phrase: a righteousness that is God's own, revealed on the principle of faith.
The gospel reveals many things about God. Here Paul speaks of one quality — the very one a guilty person fears most.
Thirdly, the reason it is God's power to save everyone who believes is that "in it the righteousness of God is revealed". If there is no righteous way for man to be saved, there can be no salvation for man... It is true that in the gospel we see the love, and grace, and mercy of God revealed. But the Apostle does not speak of these blessed qualities in this passage. He speaks of the righteousness of God... The sinner does not fear the love, or grace, or mercy of God; but he fears the righteousness of God must be against him... But suppose you can tell the sinner this: the very quality in God that he dreads most — God's righteousness — is the very quality that is for him, not against him. That will indeed be good news.
The whole force of the verse rests on the little word "God's." One writer sets it against what the law required:
Next, notice that it is God's righteousness, not man's — divine righteousness revealed in the gospel, not human righteousness required in the law. There is no question here either of infusion or of imputation. Infusion is completely wrong. Imputation is a precious truth, and Romans 4 presses it: there the apostle shows from the case of Abraham that the believer's faith is counted for (or as) righteousness.
Another puts the same distinction plainly: man has no righteousness to offer.
It is not righteousness of man, for he has none. How can he have any if he is guilty — under judgment? And if he had, it would be righteousness of man, not of God.
So the word describes something true of God Himself. It is not a standard He hands out.
It is not human righteousness, which would have come by the law. It is God's own righteousness. It is not man being consistent with the relationships God placed him in as a creature. It is God being consistent with His own nature and character, whether He had revealed that character before or not. It is God being consistent with Himself when He takes up the place of Justifier of ungodly sinners.
Commentators differ over how far the language of imputation fits here. Kelly calls imputation a precious truth taught in Romans 4. Another writer notes that Romans 4 speaks of righteousness counted to the believer, but never calls it God's righteousness (C. E. Stuart).
One writer traces this revelation to the cross and to what came after it:
On the cross Christ was made sin for us, and there bore all the believer's sins. In this position He perfectly glorified God... God has revealed His righteousness by giving Christ, who glorified Him, a place with Himself in divine glory.
The two halves of the phrase do two different jobs — one shuts a door, the other opens one.
The first of these phrases, "from faith," excludes the law; the second, "to faith," brings everyone who has faith within the scope of God's righteousness... God reveals His righteousness from faith. So if there is faith in any soul, He reveals it to that faith, wherever it may be. It was therefore in no way limited to one nation.
A second writer draws out what each mention of faith stands against:
The righteousness which the law demanded from men was to be by (or, on the principle of) works. Faith reaches the righteousness of God which the Gospel reveals. Again, the Gospel reveals God's righteousness to faith, while the law revealed all it brought to sight. The first occurrence of the word, faith, stands in contrast to works, the second to sight.
The same line from Habakkuk 2:4 appears in three letters, with the emphasis on a different word each time. (The ESV reads, "The righteous shall live by faith." The writers quoted here use the older wording, "the just.")
Romans dwells on the truth of justification, and so emphasizes "the just." Galatians deals with living the Christian life by faith and not by works of law, and so emphasizes "shall live." Hebrews emphasizes the means — "by faith."
The quotation is not only about being declared righteous. It also shapes the life that follows: "the believer must prove by a life of faith that he has this righteousness" (H. L. Rossier).
- Revealed, not required. The law demanded righteousness from man. The gospel reveals a righteousness that is God's own.
- Revealed as good news. The quality the guilty fear most is the very one the gospel shows to be on their side.
- Revealed in Christ. God shows His righteousness by giving Christ, who glorified Him at the cross, a place in divine glory.
- Revealed by faith, to faith. "By faith" rules out law and works; "to faith" reaches anyone who believes, of any nation.
- Revealed, then lived. Habakkuk's word settles who is just, and then calls that person to live by faith.