Title: The Man and His Message
Text: Rom 1:1-7
Date: 7-29-07.am
Passage:
Ro 1:1-7
1 Paul, a bond-servant of Christ Jesus, called as an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God, 2 which He promised beforehand through His prophets in the holy Scriptures, 3 concerning His Son, who was born of a descendant of David according to the flesh, 4 who was declared the Son of God with power by the resurrection from the dead, according to the Spirit of holiness, Jesus Christ our Lord, 5 through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith among all the Gentiles, for His name's sake, 6 among whom you also are the called of Jesus Christ; 7 to all who are beloved of God in Rome, called as saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. NASB
Ro 1:1-7
1:1 From Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus and an apostle chosen and called by God to preach his Good News.
2 The Good News was promised long ago by God through his prophets, as written in the Holy Scriptures. 3 It is about his Son, our Lord Jesus Christ: as to his humanity, he was born a descendant of David; 4 as to his divine holiness, he was shown with great power to be the Son of God by being raised from death. 5 Through him God gave me the privilege of being an apostle for the sake of Christ, in order to lead people of all nations to believe and obey. 6 This also includes you who are in Rome, whom God has called to belong to Jesus Christ.
7 And so I write to all of you in Rome whom God loves and has called to be his own people: May God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ give you grace and peace. TEV
Introduction:
We don’t really know a lot about the church in Rome at this time. The Roman Catholic church credits Peter as being the founder and first Bishop or Pope of the church there. Peter along with Paul were apparently martyred in Rome but at the time Paul wrote this letter from Corinth about 58 AD at the end of his third missionary journey it is doubtful either of them had yet visited Rome much less founded the church there. We don’t have any historical evidence indicating who actually established the church in Rome. It was most likely established by those who were in Jerusalem at Pentecost after the crucifixion and resurrection (Acts 2:10) who became believers and then carried the gospel back with them and established a predominantly Gentile (see 1:13; 11:13: 15:15-18) community of believers in Rome.
This letter served as an introduction of Paul and his teaching to those believers to prepare the way for Paul’s planned visit to Rome. It is a strong doctrinal letter that clearly sets forth the gospel message Paul preaches and the theological and moral implications that message has for belief and practice. Of course Paul’s plans were changed after his arrival in Jerusalem (Acts )and it was around 3 years after he wrote this letter before he actually made it to Rome in a way he hadn’t expected.
The first 7 verses are a general greeting to the church, but they are full of importance. This greeting seems to be more theological and personal than those of his other letters and introduces us to the man and his message. Because he had never been to Rome and had no part in establishing the church that was already there it was important for them to know who he was, where his authority and message came from, and exactly what that message was. What Paul wrote about himself in this introduction was significant because of what it teaches about how the gospel impacts or should impact our lives.
I. The Man:
Today we are able to draw a more complete picture of him than his Roman readers were, though no doubt his reputation preceded him to Rome. We know he was a Hellenist or Greek speaking Jew. He was a Pharisee (Acts 23:6), born in Tarsus the capital city of Cilicia (Acts 21:39) and he was educated in Jerusalem under the instruction of Gamaliel (Acts 22:3).
Saul Jewish name means “asked for.”
We are introduced to him as Saul in the book of Acts seeing him first almost in the background of what is happening as Stephen is being martyred. In 7:58 is says when they had driven Stephen out of the city they began to stone him and they laid their robes at the feet of a young man named Saul. Acts 8 begins by stating that Saul was not just a bystander but was in agreement with putting Stephen to death and v. 3 says he began ravaging the church or trying to destroy it. He went to the High Priest in Acts 9 to get permission to seek out and destroy Christians who fled Jerusalem. He was clearly an enemy of Christ and His church. But something changed.
On the Damascus road while in pursuit of Christians in the dust and heat of the day Saul encountered the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, the Risen Jesus who was to become his new master. There was a dramatic change in his life and as he writes this community of believers he now describes himself as a bond-servant or slave of Christ Jesus. Saul had been a slave to the Law and to Judaism. He described himself prior to his conversion in Phil 3:4-6: ‘though I myself have reasons for such confidence. If anyone else thinks he has reasons to put confidence in the flesh, I have more: circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee; as for zeal, persecuting the church; as for legalistic righteousness, faultless.” [NIV) This Hebrew of Hebrews became a champion of Christ
Paul – Roman name which means “small” or “little”(Acts 13:9 also known as Paul; Acts 22: 25-28 born a Roman citizen) We don’t know how he was born a Roman citizen. Citizenship had been granted to his father or grandfather for some type of service to Rome.
When we combine that statement with additional biographical information Luke provided in the books of Acts we can see how Saul was a slave to Jewish legalism. It was for that zeal and passion for the Law that placed him on the road to Damascus (Acts 9).
In relation to Jesus - BOND-SERVANT
A new relationship was born when Paul encountered the resurrected Jesus. It is that new relationship that he stressed by his use of the term bond-servant and introducing us to the concept of servant-hood.
Paul didn’t describe himself as a prominent theologian, or dynamic preacher, or teacher. He call himself the preeminent missionary of the era. Instead he used a word that described himself as a slave. A person who voluntarily placed himself at the complete disposal of his Lord. He echoed the words of Jesus found in Mk 1045: He came to be a servant rather than to be served.
This is important for us to see and understand as Christians. That word servant or slave was one that would arouse feelings of contempt or unworthiness among the Gentiles in Rome. Slaves in that culture and really any culture were looked down on. They were the lowest of the low, not something to aspire to. If someone were to ask what you want to be or do with your life you might say well I want to work in an office or I want to be a carpenter or engineer or whatever, but probably you wouldn’t say oh I want to be a slave. A person in that culture might aspire to have slaves but not be one. The same attitude is exists today. We don’t have slaves and we wouldn’t dare use the term slave anymore but we want things to serve us whether it’s a restaurant or a church or a god! What can it do for me? How fast can this restaurant or that get me my food and get it right and make it good? How many ways can this church or that church serve my needs, what can it do for me? What can this god or that god do for me? Can he or she or it do it often and make me happy and make me feel good and be wealthy and serve me and on and on.
Christianity turns things around. We are His, and if we are to be productive in the work of the kingdom we must become His servants. John Kennedy’s famous inaugural quotation “ ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country,” might be phrased for the Christian, “ask not what your Lord can do for you, but what you can do for your Lord.” We are called, like Paul to be servants. Christ Jesus died for our sins. He arose from the dead that we might have newness life. We must live in service to him. If you are a baseball or football player is impossible to enjoy the game sitting on the bench. We’ve had a number of football, basketball, baseball and volleyball players at UNL who have decided to transfer to other schools so they can play, even professional athletes who want to play or be traded. As a Christian it is impossible to experience the fullness and fulfillment of faith without being involved in what the writer of Hebrews called the race set before us. We need to become bond-servants of Jesus Christ.
2. His Authority
Paul next addresses his authority. Who does Paul think he is writing to us, giving us instructions? Two important aspects of his authority are important to look at. The first is his calling. Paul wrote he been called, not by men, not by a particular church or a particular group but by God Himself.
God’s divine calling extends to all of us. We are all called. First to salvation. In the Old Testament Isaiah wrote in 45:22:
"Turn to Me, and be saved, all the ends of the earth; For I am God, and there is no other. NASB
Mt 11:28-30
28 "Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. 29 "Take My yoke upon you, and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart; and you shall find rest for your souls. NASB
Jn 7:37-38
37 Now on the last day, the great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, "If any man is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink. NASB
Rv 22:17
And the Spirit and the bride say, "Come." And let the one who hears say, "Come." And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who wishes take the water of life without cost. NASB
God calls us all to salvation. He also calls us to be the person he created us to be. He doesn’t call you to be me or me to be you. He doesn’t call me to think exactly like you or walk like you or talk like you and He doesn’t call you to think or act or talk like me. He call you to be the person He created you to be. He calls you to fellowship with Him to know Him intimately to talk to Him and listen to Him walk with Him. He calls you to serve Him in every area of life. The Spirit gives us all gifts to use to serve, and our gifts differ but we are all called to serve.
Not only had Paul been called by God but he had been divinely appointed or set apart, to the office of apostle. The word Pharisee and the word here translated at set apart come from the same root word. So there is a general aspect to calling which applies to everyone and there is a more specific aspect which calls or sets apart or commissions for a certain task. Paul had a general call to salvation and service, but he received a more specific call. In Gal 1:15 Paul said he had been set apart from his mother’s womb Here he says he was set apart as an apostle. The general meaning of the word is ambassador (representative) or missionary (sent on a mission) and Paul was certainly both. He was Christ’s representative and he was sent on a mission to the Gentile world.
The particular New Testament usage was one who had been personally called and commissioned by Jesus. They were generally eye-witnesses to his earthly ministry, His death and His resurrection, and they were sent out by Him to proclaim the gospel.
As a resident of Jerusalem and a Pharisee Paul was most likely a personal witness to Jesus’ ministry. As a Pharisee and member of the Sanhedrin he was also likely to have been a witness to the crucifixion. He was witness to the resurrection by virtue of his encounter with the risen Christ on the Damascus Road where he became a “chosen vessel,” an apostle.
II. His Message
As an apostle Paul had been set apart for a particular purpose the proclamation of the Gospel of God.
1. The Origin of the Message
The word gospel means “good news.” It is both a message and a man. The gospel is the message of Christ, but it is also Christ Himself. The message is about the Man and I use that term like Paul used it in1 Ti 2:5 where he wrote: 5 For there is one God, and one mediator also between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, NASB.
Paul places emphasis on the fact it is the gospel of God. It’s not the idle speculation it’s not some new philosophy, it’s not something borrowed from pagan religion. It’s not something the apostles invented. It is the message of salvation by faith in Christ revealed and entrusted to them by God Himself. This is the most basic conviction that undergirds all that we do as a church and as Christians. The message we have is not man-made speculation or simply one more religion added to others in the world. The good news we share is God’s own message to a lost world.
2. The authentication of the Message
Paul then shares how the gospel message is authenticated by emphasizing the continuity between the gospel message and the Scriptures. The good news of Jesus had been foretold hundreds of years prior to His coming through the message of the prophets concerning the coming Messiah, the Suffering Servant of Isaiah the Son of Man in Daniel. There are at least 120 specific references to the coming Messiah in 21 of the 39 Old Testament books. The prophecies of these Scriptures find their fulfillment in the person of Jesus of Nazareth who is the Christ, the Greek equivalent of Messiah
3. The content of the Message is the man
This Gospel of God is the Gospel of His Son Jesus Christ (v.9) It’s not just about Jesus it is Jesus.
Martin Luther said, “Here the door is thrown open wide for the understanding of the Holy Scripture, that is, that everything must be understood in relation to Christ.” John Calvin wrote that “the whole gospel is contained in Christ.. . to move even a step from Christ means to withdraw oneself from the gospel.” (quoted from Romans by Stott p. 49)
Verses 3 and 4 give us a summary of the gospel of Jesus Christ. It tells of his birth, his death which is presupposed by His resurrection, and his reign or rule. The Complete Jewish Bible [Messianic Jewish translation] translates it this way: 2 God promised this Good News in advance through his prophets in the Tanakh. 3 It concerns his Son — he is descended from David physically; 4 he was powerfully demonstrated to be Son of God spiritually, set apart by his having been resurrected from the dead; he is Yeshua the Messiah, our Lord. CJB
Paul used a form of parallelism to identify Christ as both the seed of David and the Son of God, both human and divine. In these verses we see the paradox of the full humanity and full deity of Jesus Christ.
3. The purpose of the message
Verse 5 gives a brief summary of the purpose of Paul’s message:
4 who was declared the Son of God with power by the resurrection from the dead, according to the Spirit of holiness, Jesus Christ our Lord,
through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith among all the Gentiles, for His name's sake.
promoting trust-grounded obedience among all the Gentiles, CJB
Through Christ, God has given us the privilege and authority as apostles to tell Gentiles everywhere what God has done for them, so that they will believe and obey him, bringing glory to his name. NLT,
It is through Him that we have received grace (God's unmerited favor) and [our] apostleship to promote obedience to the faith and make disciples for His name's sake among all the nations, AMP
I like the way the NLT phrased that to believe and obey, obedience to the faith and make disciples. Not only trusting but obeying that’s the gospel message and we can see that doesn’t differ at all from the what James said. James said faith without works is dead Paul says we are to believe and obey.
Throughout the book of Romans Paul will continue to develop the doctrine of righteousness and justification by faith, and will make that abundantly clear but he will also develop that other aspect of faith – how being made righteous by faith leads to obedience to the faith. That’s the man and the message both begin and end with trust in Jesus Christ. Will you trust Him today?