Introduction
The importance of Paul’s letter to the Romans cannot be overstated. John Calvin wrote that “Romans is the key to unlocking the treasures of Scripture.” Romans unpacks the fundamentals of the Gospel message.
It is an epistle written by the Apostle Paul to the Christians in Rome. A lot of our New Testament is epistles. And Paul wrote of lot of them. Epistles are letters to churches or groups of churches sent with a particular purpose. They aren’t usually casual greeting cards—epistles are sent for a reason.
At this point Paul hasn’t been to Rome before, but only because his plans to get there kept getting postponed. And that is why he wrote this letter.
We’ll see later on in chapter 1 that, for some reason, Paul has a tender spot for the Christians in Rome. He wanted to go see them. But as God had it, he was prevented. And so he writes this letter. He wants to see Christ glorified in Rome; he wants to see the Church unified and growing there. And so he sends them this lengthy and clear presentation of the basic Gospel message. Sin, justification, sanctification, glorification, and the practical implications of it all.
In these first two verses we meet Paul. I want you to pay attention to two things as he introduces himself:
Paul serves Christ Jesus.
Paul brings God’s Gospel.
I. Paul serves Christ Jesus (1)
“Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus”
Paul’s word choice is not arbitrary. The word “servant” has a definition as long as the Old Testament:
As the first patriarch to receive God’s covenant promise, Abraham was called God’s servant.
And Moses—the Lord spoke highly of him and used the same word: (Num 12:7-8) Not so with my servant Moses. He is faithful in all my house. With him I speak mouth to mouth, clearly, and not in riddles, and he beholds the form of the Lord.
The latter prophets too— Isaiah was called the Lord’s servant particularly, and Amos referred to all the prophet this way: For the Lord God does nothing without revealing his secret to his servants the prophets. (Amos 3:7)
This phrase Paul uses is pregnant with meaning. “Servant of Christ” implies obedience and subjection. The great American theologian Charles Hodge wrote, “We find the apostle denying that he was the servant of men, rejecting all human authority as it regards matters of faith and duty, and yet professing the most absolute subjection of conscience and reason to the authority of Jesus Christ.”
Paul, servant of Christ Jesus. That is to say, Paul belongs to Christ and serves Christ.
But how does he serve? What exactly has Jesus enlisted Paul into service for? “called to be an apostle”
The word apostle means “sent one” or “messenger”. But in the New Testament it has come upon another meaning that refers specifically to those men called directly by Jesus to serve as His heralds and ambassadors in the early Church.
In Acts 1, the original apostles gathered to consider who might take the place of Judas. Acts 1:21-22 So one of the men who have accompanied us during all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, 22 beginning from the baptism of John until the day when he was taken up from us—one of these men must become with us a witness to his resurrection.”
They settled on Matthias to replace Judas. But later on in Acts 9 the Lord Jesus also called Paul to this same service. Paul, reflecting on it in 1 Corinthians 15:8, called himself an apostle “untimely born”.
This office as an apostle is what gives Paul the right to address the believers at Rome. He speaks with the authority of the risen Christ and was appointed to do so.
But what in particular is an apostle to do? “Set apart (separated) for the Gospel of God.”
Just as the Lord separated from the nations the people of Israel for Himself and led them into the land of promise, so also Paul, as an apostle, was separated for the Gospel of God.
Now, this whole letter of Romans is about the gospel. This end of verse 1 is not drawing attention to the content of the Gospel message, as much as it is drawing attention to the origin and character of the gospel message.
The Gospel for which Paul was called as an apostle is the Gospel of God. Said another way, the Gospel originates in God—not out of any one or any thing else.
John Murray writes: “The stress falls upon the divine origin and character of the gospel. It is a message of glad tidings from God, and it never loses its divinity, for it ever continues to be God's message of salvation to lost men.”
So why does Paul start this way? Why does he tell his original readers that he is “a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle, set apart for the Gospel of God”?
It meant that they should receive his instruction. Paul writes not in his own name. He has not taken it upon himself to author this letter. He writes with the pen-strokes of the Holy Spirit. And it is incumbent upon his readers to receive gladly and diligently what has come to them.
And so also for you and me.
Be careful not to pass by this point of application too quickly. It is vital to your life as a Christian that you square with the authority of Scripture in your heart and life.
Our confession faith teaches us that “The authority of the Holy Scripture depends not upon the testimony of any man, but wholly upon God the author thereof: and therefore it is to be received, because it is the Word of God.”
Like Hodge said, we must reject all human authority as it regards matters of faith and duty, and subject our consciences and reason to the authority of Jesus Christ, which is revealed here—in the very Word of God.
Geoffrey Wilson: “The dominant place that God occupied in Paul's thought and affections is evidenced by the heavenly “digression” which naturally follows the first mention of the divine name. As God's ambassador he is never happier than when he is speaking of the excellences of his sovereign.”
The first part of this digression is a description of the gospel to which he has just referred.
II. Paul brings God’s Gospel (2)
The Gospel Paul brings is the one that God “promised beforehand.”
This means, in the first place, that the gospel is not some novel idea that arrived on the scene with Jesus and his disciples. The Bible is not the story of God trying and trying again to save His people, and then He finally got it right in the Gospel of Jesus.
The salvation of mankind through the Gospel is not an after-thought on the part of God.
It was, however, for a long time, only a promise. “which He promised beforehand through His prophets in the holy Scriptures.” One commentator: “The gospel which Paul was sent to preach, was the same system of grace and truth, which from the beginning had been predicted and partially unfolded in the writings of the Old Testament.”
This means there is a continuity between OT/NT. The whole Bible points to the Gospel of God.
Think about how the OT continually presents the problem of sin. Adam and Eve rebelled against God. Cain murdered his brother. The world in the time of Noah was set on evil and God destroyed them. And on and on…
God didn’t throw up His hands. He sought a people for Himself. He promised to redeem them. He gave them signs, like the Passover lamb and the sacrificial system—these proclaimed to the people that they needed something outside of themselves to save them from their sin if they would ever come near God.
And the prophets would preach about that coming salvation… remember what we read in Isaiah 53 this morning in SS? “Isaiah 53:6 “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.”
That isn’t as explicit as Paul will get in this epistle, but it’s certainly a promise of the Gospel to come through Jesus Christ.
These beforehand promises, though not as clear as the NT, were effective to the salvation of OT saints.
Hebrews 11 is all about the OT believers who had faith in the promises of God and who were saved by that faith in the coming Messiah. Like Abraham, they trusted God, and He counted it to them as righteousness. Hebrews 11:39-40 “And all these, though commended through their faith, did not receive what was promised, 40 since God had provided something better for us, that apart from us they should not be made perfect.”
This is why Paul calls the message he bears the “Gospel of God”. Because it is not just the Gospel of John or Paul. It is the Gospel that God has been working all along. It has always been about the same thing…
Luke 24:25-32 And he said to them, “O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! 26 Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?” 27 And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself. 28 So they drew near to the village to which they were going. He acted as if he were going farther, 29 but they urged him strongly, saying, “Stay with us, for it is toward evening and the day is now far spent.” So he went in to stay with them. 30 When he was at table with them, he took the bread and blessed and broke it and gave it to them. 31 And their eyes were opened, and they recognized him. And he vanished from their sight. 32 They said to each other, “Did not our hearts burn within us while he talked to us on the road, while he opened to us the Scriptures?”
Conclusion
Do you see how we set out to get to know the author of this letter, and yet we have gotten to know God and His Son? That’s Paul for you. He bleeds the Gospel. And it is the Gospel which he will be expounding throughout this epistle.
Luther: “So all glory for [the gospel] must be ascribed to God and none to our merits and efforts; for before we ever existed, it was already ordained, according to the testimony in Proverbs 8:23; "I was set up from everlasting, from the beginning, or ever the earth was." It is indeed the Gospel, God's wisdom and God's power, which has brought forth the Church and accomplished everything which in this passage divine Wisdom says in honor and praise of itself.”
That is your assignment. Ascribe glory to God and none to your merit and effort.
At one point you were dead in sin. And God has made you alive together with Christ.
The glory of the Gospel must be ascribed to God and God alone. For it is His Gospel that we have believed. It is His Gospel that has saved us. Praise be to His glorious name.