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.