Romans

Grant R. Osborne, Philip W. Comfort, Grant R. Osborne, Philip W. Comfort

• Publisher: Tyndale House Publishers
• Year: 2021
• Print ISBN: 9780842328906
• eBook ISBN: 9781496456755

The Life Application Bible Commentary series is the only commentary to offer sermon and lesson applications alongside stirring commentary. Each volume in the series provides in-depth explanation, background, and application for every verse in the text. Perfect for sermon preparation and lesson planning, this one-of-a-kind reference provides excellent quotes and a bibliography for additional commentary.

Additional features include

• Charts, diagrams, and maps on the same page as their related verses
• Quotes from various versions, such as the NIV, NRSV, and NLT
• Key information graphically highlighted

Romans 1

PAUL’S GREETING / 1:1-7

As if proving that all roads did lead to Rome, the gospel born in Judea eventually made its way to the capital of the empire. It is not clear how soon the message about Christ actually arrived at Rome, but it produced results. By the end of the second decade following Christ’s resurrection, there was an established group of Christians there. Several house churches were probably meeting. Paul opens his letter to these Roman believers, most of whom he had never met, by explaining who he is and what his credentials are. Almost immediately, he directs their attention to the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul knew that the resurrected Christ was the most important common denominator for him and the believers in Rome. From that common ground he introduces his plan to visit them and then plunges into one of the most detailed explanations of the Christian faith found in the Bible.

1:1

Paul . . . servant . . . apostle . . . set apart.NRSV In spite of the remarkable influence Paul had in the spread of the gospel and the writing of the New Testament, we know relatively little about him. He was given the name Saul at birth, and he is called that until his conflict with Bar-Jesus at Paphos. At that time Luke wrote, “Then Saul, who also is called Paul” (Acts 13:9 NKJV). From then on, he was called Paul in Acts. As Saul, he was raised a strict Pharisee, from the tribe of Benjamin (Philippians 3:5), born in Tarsus and educated in Jerusalem under Gamaliel (Acts 22:3). Though born to Jewish parents, Saul was also a Roman citizen (Acts 22:27-28). In fact, we know him best by his last name, since Paul (Greek, Paulos) was probably his Roman surname. He would have been formally introduced as Saul Paul (Saulos Paulos). Out of this diverse background, God formed and called a valuable servant. And God used every aspect of Paul’s upbringing to further the spread of the gospel.

LIABILITIES TURNED INTO ASSETS

In God’s plans, no part of our background or upbringing is wasted. As with Paul, parts of our past that seem like a liability can be used by God. It is a humbling experience to look back over life and see how God has been able to turn even the difficult situations into good. Our own past makes us a wiser mentor or more merciful counselor to others we meet along the way.

Paul had friends in Rome, as Romans 16 shows, but he had not personally visited that church. So he begins his letter by formally presenting his credentials. While we no longer practice the custom of beginning a letter with a signature, we can see its benefits in Paul’s writing. Knowing who is writing the letter focuses our attention, right from the beginning. And in the case of the New Testament letters, it establishes that the author’s writing was under the command of Christ. The letters carry divine authority.

Long before Paul was able to call himself a servant of Jesus Christ,NRSV he gained a reputation as a great enemy of Christians. Paul was so zealous for the Jewish faith that he persecuted the followers of Jesus without mercy. He is first mentioned in Acts 8:1-3, where he approved of the stoning of Stephen. Later, on a journey to Damascus to capture believers there, Paul came face to face with Jesus Christ and became a believer himself—a servant and an apostle. Paul’s own account of these events is recorded in Acts 26:9-18.

The word translated servant means “slave,” one who is subject to the will and wholly at the disposal of his master. Paul, in using the term, expresses his absolute devotion and subjection to Christ Jesus. The New Testament teaches that the true leader is servant of all. Jesus exemplified this throughout his life (see Mark 10:35-45; Philippians 2:5-9). For a Roman citizen to identify himself as a servant was unthinkable. Paul could have introduced himself to these Romans as a Roman citizen, but instead he chose to speak of himself only as completely dependent on and obedient to his beloved Master. Because Paul was writing to a church made up of both Romans and Jews, he wisely emphasized, from his own life, the highest allegiance that ought to mark a believer.

After establishing his identity as Christ’s servant, Paul notes two important roles to characterize his life. Paul was called to be an apostle and set apart for the gospel of God.NRSV His calling occurred when he saw the Lord Jesus on the road to Damascus (Acts 9:1-19). His call came directly from “Jesus Christ and God the Father” (Galatians 1:1) and was to him an assignment—he was responsible to teach the gospel of God (the good news of salvation in Jesus Christ) “among the Gentiles” (Galatians 1:16).

WHAT IS A SERVANT?

What is your attitude toward Christ, your Master? Our willingness to serve and obey Jesus Christ enables us to be useful and usable servants to do work for him—work that really matters. Obedience begins as we renounce other masters, identify ourselves with Jesus, discover his will and live according to it, and consciously turn away from conflicting interests, even if these interests have been important to us in the past.

Paul was one of the few Christians who could speak of being literally called (kletos) by God. Jesus audibly spoke to Paul on the road to Damascus. The term is frequently used today to indicate when a believer senses God’s direction in his or her life. In Romans, within several verses, Paul used the same term to identify his readers, “And you are also among those who are called (kletoi) to belong to Jesus Christ” (1:6). Further, they are “called [kletois] to be saints” (1:7). Responding to the gospel involves hearing God’s most important call in our lives. Believers can speak confidently of being called in two distinct ways: we are called to belong to Jesus Christ, and called to be saints. We should use the term called with great caution, especially when we use it to refer to a role we have chosen or when we have been gradually led by God’s Spirit. God’s calls tend to be permanent; however, people often use the term to indicate responsibilities or jobs that they have no intention of doing permanently. The call to belong to Christ and the call to be saints ought to be our daily pursuit!

The title apostle designated authority to set up and supervise churches and discipline them if necessary. Even more than a title of authority, apostle means one sent on a mission, like an envoy or an ambassador. Paul presents himself with the credentials and responsibilities given to him by the King of kings as an ambassador to evangelize the Gentile world. Not only was he called, he was set apart; he regarded the communication of the gospel as a special sign on his life, a role given to him that he had not earned but was privileged to carry out. Elsewhere he wrote, “I have become its servant by the commission God gave me to present to you the word of God in its fullness” (Colossians 1:25 NIV).

THE PROPHETS WROTE OF GOD’S PLAN

Paul did not specify the passages from the prophets he had in mind when he wrote of “the gospel [God] promised . . . through his prophets in the Holy Scriptures,” probably because of his readers’ familiarity with those Scriptures (herein quoted from NIV). For these early Christians, the Old Testament continued to be the authority, and they knew of many references to God’s plan and the Messiah. Here are several references that Paul might have pointed to:

Genesis 12:3	The Messiah would come from Abraham’s line, and through the Messiah “all peoples on earth will be blessed.”
Psalm 16:10	The promise of the resurrection given to David: the Messiah (the Holy One) would be resurrected.
Psalm 40:6-10	The Messiah would “desire to do your will, O my God,” and would accomplish that will so completely as to die on the cross.
Psalm 118:22	The Messiah would be rejected by his own people, but would become the “capstone,” the most important part of the church.
Isaiah 11:1ff.	The Messiah would be the “Branch” that would “bear fruit” in the form of believers. “The Spirit of the LORD will rest on him.”
Isaiah 49:5-6	The Messiah would gather Israel and be a light for the Gentiles.
Zechariah 9:9-11	The Messiah would come to his people “riding on a donkey,” which he did in his Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem.
Zechariah 12:10	The Messiah would be “pierced” on the cross, and many would mourn his death.
Malachi 4:1-5	The Messiah’s arrival will be heralded by one like “the prophet Elijah,” who was to be John the Baptist.

Here the door is thrown open wide for the understanding of the Holy Scriptures, that is, that everything must be understood in relation to Christ, especially in the case of prophecy.

Martin Luther

1:2

The gospel he promised beforehand through his prophets in the Holy Scriptures.NIV Romans 16:22 informs us that Tertius was Paul’s scribe for this letter. Remember that these words were written down as they were being spoken. For instance, the first six verses in this letter are one long sentence. Knowing Paul’s style helps us follow some difficult sentences that were more easily grasped by Greek audiences. Here Paul abruptly changes the focus from himself to the gospel, then to the person it presents, then to the audience for whom the gospel is intended. As Paul warms to his subject, the letter quickly develops the tone of a sermon. Tertius’s quill must have been flying across the papyrus.

The Good News was promised by God and was not a new religion made up by Paul or anyone else. It was rooted in God’s promises in the Old Testament to his people through his prophets. The gospel that Paul preached was in perfect continuity with God’s earlier words in the Scriptures to his people, Israel. Both the Jews and the Gentiles in the church of Rome needed to be reminded that the gospel is an ancient message of God’s plan for his creation. This was on Paul’s mind and is a recurring theme throughout the letter.

Even though the church in Rome consisted mostly of Gentiles and former converts to the Jewish faith, Paul reminded them all that in their acceptance of the gospel they were not casting off Moses and the law in order to embrace Christ. Rather, they were discovering and responding to the outworking of God’s eternal plan. The prophets in the Old Testament announced the coming fulfillment of God’s grace in Christ. The actual fulfillment of those prophetic statements confirmed God’s involvement all along. This direct statement by Paul anticipates an important teaching that he would develop later in this letter.

1:3

Concerning his Son.NRSV After introducing the messenger (himself), the message (gospel), and the source (God), Paul turns to the subject of the message. In verses 3-5,...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Contents
• New Testament Timeline
• Foreword
• Introduction
• Vital Statistics
• Outline
• Romans 1
• Romans 2
• Romans 3
• Romans 4
• Romans 5
• Romans 6
• Romans 7
• Romans 8
• Romans 9
• Romans 10
• Romans 11
• Romans 12
• Romans 13
• Romans 14
• Romans 15
• Romans 16
• Bibliography
• Index