COMMENTARY.
This Letter was written by Paul to the church in Rome, and its whole stress is on ‘the Good News of God'. It commences with a description of that ‘Good News (Gospel) of God', which is what the letter will be all about, and it stresses that there are two important things to bear in mind when we consider it:
· Firstly that it was promised by God through His prophets in the holy Scriptures (Writings). Thus it was not just something new based on men's speculations, but was totally based on the words of the prophets as preserved in ancient Scriptures, words which had come forth from God through the centuries (Romans 1:2).
· Secondly that it is ‘concerning His Son', Who was promised continually throughout the Scriptures, but is now the new factor in the equation (Romans 1:3).
Romans 1:1 - ‘Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated to the gospel of God,'
Paul opens the letter in the usual form of those days, and describes himself under three designations in order to commend himself to his readers:
· ‘A servant of Jesus Christ.' This was both a title of humility and a title of honour. It was a title of humility in that it represented him as a slave, the lowest of the low, under the Lordship of Jesus Christ. By this he was making it clear that he was totally at Christ's service and under His command, wanting only to please Him. This is the position that all of us should take (Ephesians 6:6). But it is a title of honour in that it paralleled the title ‘servant of YHWH' borne by Moses (Joshua 1:1 and often), Joshua (Joshua 24:29), David (2 Samuel 7:5) and others whose lives were dedicated to God's service. Consider, for example, the overall phrase ‘His servants the prophets' (Jeremiah 7:25; Amos 3:7). He saw himself as being in the line of the prophets due to his high calling. As is evident from his letters, therefore, he was conscious both of his own unworthiness, and of the high position to which he had been called.
· ‘Called to be an Apostle.' Paul saw himself, and was seen by the whole church, as one of Jesus Christ's unique Apostles, as a result of his being ‘called' by God to the honour by divine appointment (Galatians 2:8). He knew that God had laid His hand on him in a unique way as certainly as the other Apostles had been especially called and appointed by Jesus Christ (Mark 3:14-15). The requirements for being an Apostle were that those chosen had been present during Jesus' ministry from the beginning, witnessing His life and receiving their teaching from Him, and that they had been eyewitnesses of the resurrection of Christ (Acts 1:21-22). In Paul's case he did receive his teaching directly from Jesus Christ (Galatians 1:12), and he did personally witness the risen Christ on the road to Damascus (Galatians 1:16; 1 Corinthians 15:8). And it is probable that he was aware of Jesus and His ministry, as an antagonist, as a result of Jesus' visits to Jerusalem. His calling was unique from the others and especially personal, but it was based on the same premises.
· ‘Separated to the Gospel of God.' The word for ‘separated' means in this context ‘separated to God for a holy purpose' (Leviticus 20:24; Leviticus 20:26). Paul saw himself as having been so separated to God from his mother's womb (Galatians 1:15), and here it is stressed that he was so separated, (like the High Priest of old was separated to his sacred task by being anointed in the presence of God) in order that he might proclaim and uphold ‘the Good News of God'. That was the whole purpose of his calling, to make known the ‘Good News of God'. This was both Good News FROM God, and Good News ABOUT God. And, as we soon learn, that Good News was concerning God's own Son, Who was born as a human being, but was declared to be the true ‘only Son of God' by His resurrection from the dead.