Romans 1

Romans 1:1

I. DOCTRINAL: THE GOSPEL OF GOD (Chaps. 1-8) A. Introduction to the Gospel (1:1-15) 1:1 Paul introduces himself as one who was purchased (implied in the designation a bondservant of Jesus Christ), called (on the road to Damascus he was called to be an apostle, a special emissary of the Savior), and separated (set apart to take the gospel to the Gentiles [see Act_9:15; Act_13:2]). We too have been purchased by the precious blood of Christ, called to be witnesses to His saving power, and set apart to tell the good news wherever we go. 1:2 Lest any of Paul’s Jewish readers think the gospel is completely new and unrelated to their spiritual heritage, he mentions that the OT prophets had promised it, both in clear-cut statements (Deu_18:15; Isa_7:14; Hab_2:4) and in types and symbols (e.g., Noah’s ark, the serpent of brass, and the sacrificial system). 1:3 The gospel is the good news concerning God’s Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, who is a descendant of David according to the flesh (that is, as far as His humanity is concerned). The expression according to the flesh implies that our Lord is more than a man. The words mean as to His humanity. If Christ were only a man, it would be unnecessary to single out this feature of His being, since there would be no other. But He is more than a man, as the next verse shows. 1:4 The Lord Jesus is marked out as the Son of God with power. The Holy Spirit, here called the Spirit of holiness, marked Jesus out at His baptism and throughout His miracle-working ministry. The Savior’s mighty miracles, performed in the power of the Holy Spirit, bore witness to the fact that He is the Son of God. When we read that He is declared to be the Son of God with power … by the resurrection from the dead, we naturally think of His own resurrection. But a literal reading here is by resurrection of dead persons, so the apostle may also be thinking of Christ’s raising of Jairus’ daughter, the widow of Nain’s son, and Lazarus. However, there is little question that it is the Lord’s own resurrection that is primarily in view. When we say that Jesus is the Son of God, we mean that He is a Son like no one else is. God has many sons. All believers are His sons (Gal_4:5-7). Even angels are spoken of as sons (Job_1:6; Job_2:1). But Jesus is God’s Son in a unique sense. When our Lord spoke of God as His Father, the Jews rightly understood Him to be claiming equality with God (Joh_5:18). 1:5 It was through Jesus Christ our Lord that Paul received grace (the undeserved favor that saved him) and apostleship. When Paul says we have received grace and apostleship, he is almost certainly using the editorial we, referring to himself alone. His linking of apostleship with the nations or Gentiles points to him and not to the other apostles. Paul was commissioned to call men of all nations to obedience of faiththat is, to obey the message of the gospel by repenting and believing on the Lord Jesus Christ (Act_20:21). The goal of this worldwide proclamation of the message was for His name, to please and to bring glory to Him. 1:6 Among those who had responded to the gospel were those Paul dignified with the title the called of Jesus Christ, emphasizing that it was God who took the initiative in their salvation. 1:7 The Letter is addressed to all believers in Rome, and not (as in other Epistles) to a single church. The final chapter of the letter indicates that there were several gatherings of believers in the city, and this salutation embraces them all. Beloved of God, called to be saints. These two lovely names are true of all who have been redeemed by the precious blood of Christ. These favored ones are objects of divine love in a special way, and are also called to be set apart to God from the world, for that is the meaning of saints. Paul’s characteristic greeting combines grace and peace. Grace (charis) is a Greek emphasis, and peace (shalom) is the traditional Jewish greeting. The combination is especially appropriate because Paul’s message tells how believing Jews and Gentiles are now one new man in Christ. The grace mentioned here is not the grace that saves (Paul’s readers were already saved) but the grace that equips and empowers for Christian life and service. Peace is not so much peace with God (the saints already had that because they were justified by faith) but rather the peace of God reigning in their hearts while they were in the midst of a turbulent society. Grace and peace came from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, strongly implying the equality of the Son with the Father. If Jesus were only a man, it would be absurd to list Him as equal with the Father in bestowing grace and peace. It would be like saying, Grace and peace from God the Father and from Abraham Lincoln.1:8 Whenever possible, the apostle began his letters by expressing appreciation for whatever was commendable in his readers. (A good example for all of us!) Here he thanks God through Jesus Christ, the Mediator, that the faith of the Roman Christians was proclaimed throughout the whole world. Their testimony as Christians was talked about throughout the Roman Empire, which then constituted the whole world from the perspective of those living in the Mediterranean area. 1:9 Because the Roman Christians let their light shine before men, Paul was constrained to pray for them without ceasing. He calls God as his witness to the constancy of his prayers, because no one else could know this. But God knowsthe God whom the apostle served with his spirit in the gospel of His Son. Paul’s service was with his spirit. It was not that of a religious drudge, going through endless rituals and reciting prayers and liturgies by rote. It was service bathed in fervent, believing prayers. It was willing, devoted, tireless service, fired by a spirit that loved the Lord Jesus supremely. It was a flaming passion to make known the good news about God’s Son. 1:10 Coupled with Paul’s thanksgiving to God for the Roman saints was his prayer that he might visit them in the not-too-distant future. As with everything else, he wanted his journey to be according to the will of God. 1:11 The apostle’s impelling desire was to help the saints spiritually so that they might be further established in the faith. There is no thought here of his conferring some second blessing on them, nor did he intend to impart some spiritual gift by the laying on of his hands (though he did this for Timothy in 2Ti_1:6). It was a matter of helping their spiritual growth through the ministry of the word. 1:12 He goes on to explain that there would be mutual blessing. He would be encouraged by their faith, and they by his. In all edifying society, there is spiritual enrichment. As iron sharpens iron, so a man sharpens the countenance of his friend (Pro_27:17). Note Paul’s humility and graciousnesshe was not above being helped by other saints. 1:13 He had often planned to visit Rome but had been hindered, perhaps by pressing needs in other areas, perhaps by the direct restraint of the Holy Spirit, perhaps by the opposition of Satan. He desired to have some fruit among the Gentiles in Rome as he had among the other Gentiles. Here he is speaking of fruit in the gospel, as the next two verses show. In verses 11 and 12 his aim was to see the Roman Christians built up in their faith. Here he desires to see souls won for Christ in the capital of the Roman Empire. 1:14 Anyone who has Christ has the answer to the world’s deepest need. He has the cure to the disease of sin, the way to escape the eternal horrors of hell, and the guarantee of everlasting happiness with God. This puts him under solemn obligation to share the good news with people of all culturesbarbariansand people of all degrees of learningwise and unwise. Paul felt the obligation keenly. He said I am a debtor. 1:15 To discharge that debt, he was ready to preach the gospel to those in Rome with all the power God gave him. It was surely not to the believers in Rome, as this verse might seem to suggest, for they had already responded to the glad tidings. But he was ready to preach to the unconverted Gentiles in the metropolis.

Romans 1:16

B. The Gospel Defined (1:16, 17) 1:16 Paul was not ashamed to take God’s good news to sophisticated Rome, even though the message had proved to be a stumbling block to the Jews and foolishness to the Greeks, for he knew that it is the power of God to salvationthat is, it tells how God by His power saves everyone who believes on His Son. This power is extended equally to Jews and Greeks. The order for the Jew first and also for the Greek was fulfilled historically during the Acts period. While we have an enduring obligation to God’s ancient people, the Jews, we are not required to evangelize them before going to the Gentiles. Today God deals with Jews and Gentiles on the same basis, and the message and timing are the same to all. 1:17 Since the word righteousness occurs here for the first time in the Letter, we will pause to consider its meaning. The word is used in several different ways in the NT, but we shall consider only three uses. First, it is used to describe that characteristic of God by which He always does what is right, just, proper, and consistent with all His other attributes. When we say that God is righteous, we mean that there is no wrong, dishonesty, or unfairness in Him. Secondly, the righteousness of God can refer to His method of justifying ungodly sinners. He can do this and still be righteous because Jesus as the sinless Substitute has satisfied all the claims of divine justice. Finally, the righteousness of God refers to the perfect standing which God provides for those who believe on His Son (2Co_5:21). Those who are not in themselves righteous are treated as if they were righteous because God sees them in all the perfection of Christ. Righteousness is imputed to their account. Which is the meaning in verse 17? While it could be any of the three, the righteousness of God seems to refer especially to His way of justifying sinners by faith. The righteousness of God is revealed in the gospel. First the gospel tells us that God’s righteousness demands that sins be punished, and the penalty is eternal death. But then we hear that God’s love provided what His righteousness demanded. He sent His Son to die as a Substitute for sinners, paying the penalty in full. Now because His righteous claims have been fully satisfied, God can righteously save all those who avail themselves of the work of Christ. God’s righteousness is revealed from faith to faith. The expression from faith to faith may mean: (1) from God’s faithfulness to our faith; (2) from one degree of faith to another; or (3) by faith from start to finish. The last is the probable meaning. God’s righteousness is not imputed on the basis of works or made available to those who seek to earn or deserve it. It is revealed on the principle of faith alone. This is in perfect agreement with the divine decree in Hab_2:4, The just shall live by faith, which may also be understood to mean The justified-by-faith ones shall live.In the first seventeen verses of Romans, Paul has introduced his subject and stated briefly some of the principal points.

He now addresses the third main question, Why do men need the gospel? The answer, in brief, is because they are lost without it. But this raises four subsidiary questions: (1) Are the heathen who have never heard the gospel lost? (1:18-32); (2) Are the self-righteous moralists, whether Jews or Gentiles, lost? (2:1-16); (3) Are God’s ancient earthly people, the Jews, lost? (2:17-3:8); (4) Are all men lost? (3:9-20).

Romans 1:18

C. The Universal Need for the Gospel (1:18-3:20) 1:18 Here we have the answer to the question Why do men need the gospel? The answer is that they are lost without it, and that the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against the wickedness of men who suppress the truth in an unrighteous manner and by their unrighteous lives. But how is God’s wrath revealed? One answer is given in the context. God gives men over to uncleanness (1:24), to vile affections (1:26), and to a reprobate mind (1:28). But it is also true that God occasionally breaks through into human history to show His extreme displeasure at man’s sinfor example, the flood (Gen. 7); the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah (Gen. 19); and the punishment of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram (Num_16:32). 1:19 Are the heathen who have never heard the gospel lost? Paul shows that they are, not because of knowledge they don’t have, but because of the light which they do have, yet refuse! Those things which may be known of God in creation have been revealed to them. God has not left them without a revelation of Himself. 1:20 Ever since the creation of the world, two invisible characteristics of God have been on display for all to see: His eternal power and His divinity or Godhead. The word Paul uses here means divinity or godhood. It suggests the character of God rather than His essential being, His glorious attributes rather than His inherent deity. His deity is assumed. The argument here is clear: Creation demands a Creator. Design demands a Designer. By looking up at the sun, moon, and stars, anyone can know there is a God. The answer to the question What about the heathen? is this: they are without excuse. God has revealed Himself to them in creation, but they have not responded to this revelation. So people are not condemned for rejecting a Savior they have never heard of, but for being unfaithful to what they could know about God. 1:21 Although they knew God by His works, they did not glorify Him for who He is or thank Him for all He has done. Rather, they gave themselves over to futile philosophies and speculations about other gods, and as a result lost the capacity to see and think clearly. Light rejected is light denied. Those who don’t want to see lose the capacity to see. 1:22 As men grew more conceited over their self-styled knowledge, they plunged deeper into ignorance and nonsense. These two things always characterize those who reject the knowledge of Godthey become insufferably conceited and abysmally ignorant at the same time. 1:23 Instead of evolving from lower forms, early man was of a high moral order. By refusing to acknowledge the true, infinite, incorruptible God, he devolved to the stupidity and depravity that go with idol worship. This whole passage gives the lie to evolution. Man is instinctively religious. He must have some object to worship. When he refused to worship the living God, he made his own gods of wood and stone representing man, birds, animals, and creeping things, or reptiles. Notice the downward progressionman, birds, animals, creeping things. And remember that man becomes like what he worships. As his concept of deity degenerates, his morals degenerate also. If his god is a reptile, then he feels free to live as he pleases. Remember too that a worshiper generally considers himself inferior to the object of worship. Created in the image and after the likeness of God, man here takes a place lower than that of serpents! When man worships idols, he worships demons. Paul states clearly that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice to idols they sacrifice to demons and not to God (1Co_10:20). 1:24 Three times it is said that God gave man up. He gave them up to uncleanness (1:24), to vile passions (1:26), and to a reprobate mind (1:28). In other words, God’s wrath was directed against man’s entire personality. In response to the evil lusts of their hearts, God abandoned them to heterosexual uncleannessadultery, fornication, lewdness, prostitution, harlotry, etc. Life became for them a round of sex orgies in which to dishonor their bodies among themselves. 1:25 This abandonment by God was because they first abandoned the truth about Him for the lie of idolatry. An idol is a lie, a false representation of God. An idolater worships the image of a creature, and thus insults and dishonors the Creator, who is eternally worthy of honor and glory, not of insult. 1:26 For this same reason God gave people up to erotic activity with members of their own sex. Women became lesbians, practicing unnatural sex and knowing no shame. 1:27 Men became sodomites, in total perversion of their natural functions. Turning away from the marriage relationship ordained by God, they burned with lust for other men and practiced homosexuality. But their sin took its toll in their bodies and souls. Disease, guilt, and personality deformities struck at them like the sting of a scorpion. This disproves the notion that anyone can commit this sin and get away with it. Homosexuality is being passed off today by some as a sickness and by others as a legitimate alternative lifestyle. Christians must be careful not to accept the world’s moral judgments but to be guided by God’s word. In the OT, this sin was punishable by death (Lev_18:29; Lev_20:13), and here in the NT those who practice it are said to be worthy of death (Rom_1:32). The Bible speaks of homosexuality as a very serious sin, as evidenced by God’s obliteration of Sodom and Gomorrah, where militant gays ran riot (Gen_19:4-25). The gospel offers pardon and forgiveness to homosexuals, as it does to all sinners who repent and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. Christians who have fallen into this heinous sin can find forgiveness and restoration through confessing and forsaking the sin. There is complete deliverance from homosexuality to all who are willing to obey God’s word. Ongoing counseling assistance is very important in most cases. It is true that some people seem to have a natural tendency toward homosexuality. This should not be surprising, since fallen human nature is capable of just about any form of iniquity and perversion. The gross sin does not consist in the inclination toward it but in yielding to and practicing it. The Holy Spirit gives the power to resist the temptation and to have lasting victory (1Co_10:13). Some of the Christians in Corinth were living proofs that homosexuals need not be irrevocably bound to that lifestyle (1Co_6:9-11). 1:28 Because of men’s refusal to retain God in their knowledge, either as Creator, Sustainer, or Deliverer, God gave them over to a debased mind to commit a catalog of other forms of wickedness. This verse gives deep insight into why evolution has such enormous appeal for natural men. The reason lies not in their intellects but in their wills. They do not want to retain God in their knowledge. It is not that the evidence for evolution is so overwhelming that they are compelled to accept it; rather, it is because they want some explanation for origins that will eliminate God completely. They know that if there is a God, then they are morally responsible to Him. 1:29 Here, then, is the dark list of additional sins which characterize man in his alienation from God. Notice that he is full of them, not just an occasional dabbler in them. He is trained in sins which are not fitting for a human being: unrighteousness (injustice); sexual immorality (fornication, adultery, and other forms of illicit sex); wickedness (active evil); covetousness (greed, the incessant desire for more); maliciousness (the desire for harm on others; venomous hatred); full of envy (jealousy of others); full of murder (premeditated and unlawful killing of another, either in anger or in the commission of some other crime); full of strife (wrangling, quarreling, contentiousness); full of deceit (trickery, treachery, intrigue); full of evil-mind edness (ill-will, spite, hostility, bitterness); whisperers (secret slanderers, gossips); 1:30 backbiters (open slanderers, those who bad-mouth others); haters of God (or hateful to God); violent (despiteful, insulting); proud (haughty, arrogant); boasters (braggarts, self-paraders); inventors of evil things (devisers of mischief and new forms of wickedness); disobedient to parents (rebellious to parental authority); 1:31 undiscerning (lacking moral and spiritual discernment, without conscience); untrustworthy (breaking promises, treaties, agreements, and contracts whenever it serves their purposes); unloving (acting in total disregard of natural ties and the obligations that go with them); unforgiving (irreconcilable or implacable); unmerciful (cruel, vindictive, without pity). 1:32 Those who abuse sex (1:24), who pervert sex (1:26, 27), and who practice the other sins listed (1:29-31) have an innate knowledge not only that these things are wrong but also that they themselves are deserving of death. They know this is God’s verdict, however much they seek to rationalize or legalize these sins. But this does not deter them from indulging in these forms of ungodliness. In fact they unite with others to promote them, and feel a sense of camaraderie with their partners-in-sin.

EXCURSUS ON THE UNREACHED HEATHEN What then, is God’s answer to the question Are the heathen who have never heard the gospel lost? The condemnation of the heathen is that they did not live up to the light which God gave them in creation. Instead they become idolaters, and as a result abandoned themselves to lives of depravity and vileness. But suppose an individual heathen does live up to the light God gives him. Suppose he burns his idols and seeks the true God. What then? There are two schools of thought among evangelical believers on this subject. Some believe that if a pagan lives up to the light of God in creation, God will send him the gospel light. Cornelius is cited as an example. He sought God. His prayers and alms came up as a memorial before God. Then God sent Peter to tell him how to be saved (Act_11:14). Others believe that if a man trusts the one true and living God as He is revealed in creation, but dies before he hears the gospel, God will save him on the basis of the work of Christ at Calvary. Though the man himself knew nothing about the work of Christ, God reckons the value of that work to his account when he trusts God on the basis of the light he has received. Those who hold this view point out that this is how God saved people before Calvary and how He still saves morons, imbeciles, and also children who die before they reach the age of accountability. Romans 2 The first view can be supported by the case of Cornelius. The second view lacks scriptural support for the era following the death and resurrection of Christ (our present era), and it also weakens the necessity for aggressive missionary activity. Paul has shown that the pagans are lost and need the gospel. Now he turns to a second class of people, whose exact identity is somewhat in dispute. We believe that the apostle is talking here to self-righteous moralists, whether Jews or Gentiles. The first verse shows that they are self-righteous moralists by the way they condemn the behavior of others (yet commit the same sins themselves). Verses 9, 10, 12, 14, and 15 show that Paul is speaking to both Jews and Gentiles. So the question before the court is: Are the self-righteous moralists, whether Jews or Gentiles, also lost? And the answer, as we shall see, is, Yes, they are lost too!