INTRODUCTION

The book of Romans was written in the winter of 57 AD from Corinth, likely from one of Paul’s converts home. Paul was looking forward to his visit to Jerusalem to deliver a monetary donation from the churches in Macedonia and Achaia. Beyond that he hoped to execute a plan he had been formulating in his mind for years – travelling to Spain via Rome. 

According to fourth century Latin Father, Ambrosiaster, the Romans “had embraced the faith of Christ, albeit according to the Jewish rite, without seeing any sign of mighty works or any of the apostles.” It was evidently members of the Christian rank and file who first carried the Gospel to Rome and planted it there. Acts 2:10 says that some who were present in Jerusalem at Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit descended upon the disciples and Peter first preached the Gospel and 3000 people were saved. No doubt, some from Rome were saved having heard the Gospel and took the message back to their Jewish community in Rome and planted a church.  

As chapter 16 makes clear Paul had met several people in his travels who at the time of his writing resided in Rome and were part of that church. Yet, as chapter 15 makes clear, he had not yet preached in Rome, nor had any other apostle or church leader. Paul was setting out to come to them and then to Spain to take the Gospel where no one else had, so as to “not build on anyone else’s foundation.” Foundation language is apostle language. Paul is suggesting that none of the Apostles, including Peter, contrary to Roman Catholic teaching, had made it to Rome or to Spain. 

Let’s read the passage and then we’ll pray and jump in. I’d say verse-by-verse, but there’s only one verse this morning. 

Pray 

Romans 1:1 

Balmazújváros Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God,

This is a typical Greek letter with a typical salutation. Written by a real man in a real place with a real purpose. This man was Paul. Who was http://dardogallettostudios.com/wp-json/oembed/1.0/embed?url=https://dardogallettostudios.com/blog/2011/12/12/tango-workshops-maria-blanco-sebastian-acosta-dec-17th-18th/ Paul? Paul is the Roman name of the man named Saul in Acts 7-9. It was common for Jews at the time, especially those who would interact and conduct business in the broader Roman world, to have both a Jewish name and a Roman name. 

It’s a misunderstanding to suggest that Saul’s name was changed to Paul at his conversion. In Acts 13:2, after his conversion, the Holy Spirit calls him Saul. It was not until he was sent out to Cyprus that we see him referred to as Paul. In fact, in Acts 13:9, Luke records, “But Saul, who was also called Paul…” Thereafter, he is referred to as Paul.  

Paul was a first century AD Christian Missionary who walked 10,000+ miles on his three missionary journeys taking the Gospel to the Greco-Roman world. It is estimated that by the end of the first century, some 500,000 people had believed the Gospel. Many, if not most, could draw their spiritual heritage back to Paul’s missionary work. Now, almost no one I know even tries to share the Gospel without using Paul’s writings.

AN IMPORTANT CONVERSION

There’s no doubt Paul was the most impactful missionary to ever live, but I mentioned his conversion in Acts 9. That’s because Paul wasn’t always a Christian. In fact he was quite opposed to Christianity, the Church, and the Gospel of Christ. He was born and raised a Jew, even becoming a Pharisee after having been educated by one of the greatest Rabbi’s. He was zealous to protect the Jewish faith. 

Listen to Paul describe himself before Christ, “circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless.” Philippians 3:5-6

In Acts 7 Luke records that people laid their cloak at Saul’s feet when they stoned Stephen, the church’s first martyr. Then in 8:1 Luke specifies, “And Saul approved of his execution. And there arose on that day a great persecution against the church in Jerusalem, and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles. Devout men buried Stephen and made great lamentation over him. But Saul was ravaging the church, and entering house after house, he dragged off men and women and committed them to prison.” Acts 8:1-3

By Acts 9, Saul was no longer content to destroy the church in Jerusalem, he wanted to expand his persecution to Damascus. It was on this road to Damascus that Saul had an encounter with Jesus in a bright shining light. Jesus asked, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?” Acts 9:4 Saul was struck blind for three days until Jesus sent Ananias to touch him, restore his sight, and be filled with the Holy Spirit. Saul’s sight was immediately restored, he was baptized in the name of Lord, and he began proclaiming the name he had formerly persecuted. Only God!  

Paul most likely wrote this letter to the church in Rome from Corinth on his third missionary journey in the winter of 57AD or spring of 58AD. He was in the process of collecting and delivering an offering of the Macedonians for the Jerusalem church. 

He introduces his purpose for writing in chapter 1 and expounds upon it in Chapter 15. It was an appeal for them to support his continued missionary efforts to Spain. But more than just an appeal for support, an appeal for unity and cooperation among Jewish and Gentile Christians. I would call it an appeal to missional-living, or mission-focus.  

It’s hard to say if there were theological disputes among the Christians, but there were definitely disputes about liberties. These disputes were distracting them from what was most important in the world – the Gospel of God. Thus Paul lays out his most extensive, thorough, and arguably important theological exegesis in this letter and then appeals to the church to stop squabbling over petty issues and get to work on the weighty ones!   

A DOULOS

Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus. Paul calls himself a doulos, or slave. Elsewhere we are called heirs with Christ. The basis of our co-inheritance, Paul says, is that we are children of God and if children, then heirs. We are heirs together with Christ because we are His brothers and sisters, adopted into the family of God. He was a brother of Christ, but also a servant of Christ. This is yet another tension the New Testament does not seek to alleviate.     

From persecutor of Christ to servant to Christ, isn’t God good? Isn’t He able? 

Now, if you were trying to convince a group of modern cosmopolitan people that you were a legitimate authority in the Church and that your theology was the right theology to believe and entreat them to support your ministry, how might you “sell” yourself? What qualifications would you give? What would you appeal to in order to affirm your legitimacy? 

Perhaps you’d refer to your education, your experience, successes, your pedigree, your title. Or maybe you’d name drop right out of the gate, “Hey, listen, Prisca and Aquilla told me I should write you and see if you’d like to partner with me on my mission to Spain.” 

What did Paul do? He called himself a slave of Christ. Paul conceived himself as a servant. No matter who we are, nor what titles we hold, if we want to be useful to God, we must consider ourselves servants of His. 

Completely His possession, completely at His disposal. That’s what Paul was. Which is why Paul could confidently exhort the Corinthians, “Be imitators of me, just as I am of Christ.” 1 Corinthians 11:1 If you imitate me, and I’m a slave of Christ living only to do that which pleases my master…so will you.  

This is in Paul’s mind the essence of discipleship, of following Christ as Lord. It’s not just him who is slave to Christ. He refers to all believers as slaves of Christ in Ephesians 6, “not by the way of eye-service, as people-pleasers, but as bondservants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart…” Ephesians 6:6 

Again in 1 Corinthians 6, “Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.” 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 

The word doulos means just what it means. It means slave. Christ owned Paul and the only thing on Paul’s mind was obeying Him. That’s a radical mindset and Paul thought it should be ours as well. In Romans 12:1 Paul tells us to “present your bodies as living sacrifices.” A living sacrifice is something that exists only to do the will of whomever it is presented to.   

CALLED BY GOD

Paul continues, saying he was called to be an apostle. Where did Paul experience the calling? On the road to Damascus. Jesus told Ananias to go to Paul and restore his sight because, “He is a chosen instrument of mine carry my name to the Gentiles.” Acts 9:15 His experience of the call was there at Damascus. But the origin of the call was long before that. He described his calling to the Galatians in chapter 1, saying “But when he who had set me apart before I was born.” This calling was before he was born, which means he didn’t effect it in any way. It wasn’t his choice and it wasn’t his virtue. It came directly from God. It was purely a gift of God’s grace. “Paul, an apostle—not from men nor through man, but through Jesus Christ and God the Father…” Galatians 1:1

On his three missionary journeys, Paul was stranded, stoned and left for dead, shipwrecked, snake-bit, beaten, harassed, misrepresented and maligned by churchmen. Yet he did not waver in his faith nor in his resolve because he knew who he was and what God had called him to do. Knowing who we are in Christ and our purpose in His service is essential to enduring difficult things!    

Paul said he was set apart for the gospel of God. He was set apart, or selected by God to take the Gospel specifically to the Gentiles. In Romans 11:13 he calls himself the apostle to the Gentiles.  

In Acts 15 it was Paul who appealed to the leadership of the church in Jerusalem to recognize that the Holy Spirit was indeed expanding the Gospel ministry and message to Gentiles. It was because of Paul’s work among the Gentiles and his appeal to the Jerusalem council that Gentile believers were embraced fully in the body. You get a sense that the heart for unity between Jews and Gentiles that took him back to Jerusalem in Acts 15 is the same heart that Paul expresses to the Jewish and Gentile Christians in Rome. Work together to achieve what the Holy Spirit is doing in and through you, Church! 

FROM AND ABOUT

Paul was set apart for the Gospel of God. There are two senses in which the Gospel is of God. It is the Gospel of God in the sense that it comes from Him. God is the author of the Good News. He wasn’t forced to make a way for sinners to know Him. The Gospel comes from Him. It is of God. 

It’s also of God because it is a message about Him. It’s from and about God. It is a message that tells us something that God wants us to know. We don’t have to guess or speculate. The God who created everything is the God who gave us His Gospel and is the God who calls us to Him. And specifically the Gospel is about how God revealed Himself through His Son, Jesus Christ, God in the flesh. The Gospel is the Good News. It is a message that God set Paul apart to proclaim far and wide, a message from and about God. 

WHAT IS THE GOSPEL OF GOD?

This begs the question that I would love to answer! What is the Gospel? Paul tells us that in several of his letters. In Romans 1:16, he says “…it is the power of God for the salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.”  There is no salvation apart from believing the Gospel. 

The Gospel is that God is reconciling us to Himself. “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” 2 Corinthians 5:17-21 

Notice who is reconciling whom. All other religion is fixated and dependent upon man reconciling God to himself. In every world religion, it is up to man to make amends with God and convince God to come back to him. That is why religion offers no good news for who could ever convince a holy, righteous, just God to draw near to them?

What specifically are we called to believe? There’s a lot to learn from the Bible, do you have to know all of it to be saved? I think Paul narrows the scope to three things that a person must be fully convinced of in order to be saved:

“For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures…” 1 Corinthians 15:3-4 

Christ, the Jesus revealed in scripture – born of a virgin, lived a perfectly sin-free life, really died on the cross just as was written about Him long before. He really died and was really buried and He was really raised again just as was written about Him. 

I think I could boil down the heart of the matter even more. What is the Gospel? It is that, “While we were still weak at the right time, Christ died for the ungodly.” Romans 5:6 While you were unable to save yourself, Christ died for you.

WHAT DO WE DO WITH IT?

That’s the Gospel, now what do we do with it?  

1. Believe it – “For ‘everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.’ How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed?…” Romans 10:13-14 Do YOU believe this? Do you believe that Jesus died on the cross not just for sins in general, but for your sins? That if you had to stand before God without Christ’s forgiveness, you would receive His justified wrath and be separated from Him forever? If you believe it, you have the delightful duty to…

1. Preach it – Romans 10:14 continues, “…And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching?” Romans 10:14 We preach it to ourselves first as a vivid reminder that we were sinners in need of a Savior and we are only held in the faith because of God’s divine mercy. We preach it to ourselves to humble us when we get judgmental of other sinners. We preach it ourselves to comfort us when we feel once again the pain of sinful failure. Then we preach it to others with our actions, our attitudes, and our marriages, but none of those replaces the need to preach it with our words. 

Folks this calls for developing some skills – people skills, knowledge of the Word, training. It also calls for awareness of God’s will. It calls for us to engage with the world around us with open eyes, ready to see and willing to accept opportunities that the Holy Spirit provides to speak life, to speak the Gospel to people. And the conviction to call them to believe it, too. Finally, we… 

1. Protect it –“I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel— not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed.” Galatians 1:6-8

The Gospel means Good News and there is no other good news, period. Anything but the Gospel is not good news. Any deviation from the Gospel condemns rather than liberates. It confuses rather than informs. It destroys rather than build up. Paul held the Galatian congregation responsible for protecting the Gospel, not just the elders. We’ve all been entrusted with this sacred task! 

So it bears repeating, what is the Gospel?   

Romans 1:16-17 It is the power of God for the salvation for all who believe. 

2 Corinthians 5:17-21 It is Christ reconciling us to God.

1 Corinthians 15:3-4 It is the message that Christ died for our sins and rose from the grave, just like the scriptures said He would long before. 

The Gospel of God is the message that no matter who you are or what you’ve done, Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection are sufficient to forgive your sins, make you righteous, and welcome you into the family of God. 

The Gospel is that Christ saves sinners. 

It is why the Apostle Paul entered Heaven to the applause of the martyrs he sent there.

Blessings to you, Wildwood!