E409: Reading Romans Ch 1:1-7

Benjamin Lee: All right, we are back with reading Romans. Romans chapter one, verses one through seven. Let's read that together. We started off last time with an introduction, some introductory background. Couple of pieces I want to give you. Romans would have been written approximately around 56 to 57 AD. Paul would have been in the city of Corinth. There are some names that are mentioned, some people that are mentioned in chapter 16, like Gaius. in verse 23, ⁓ which makes a connection there with Corinth as well. So it's believed that he would be in Corinth while he was writing this. Paul is going to eventually make it to Rome, just not in the way that he initially had thought. But eventually he will make it there to Rome. Let's read Romans chapter 1 verses 1 through 7. Paul, a bond-servant of Christ Jesus, called as an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God. which He promised beforehand through His prophets in the Holy Scriptures concerning His Son who was born of a descendant of David according to the flesh, 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. among whom you also are the called of Jesus Christ. 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." So as we read Romans, a couple of things to keep in mind. Paul's going to give a more full explanation of the gospel. We notice that it's called the gospel of God in verse number one. The gospel was promised beforehand in verse two through his prophets in the holy scriptures. Think about ⁓ Isaiah chapter 53 and the death of Jesus. The Psalms say a lot about Jesus and what he would accomplish. Psalm chapter 16, Psalm chapter 22, Psalm 110 really gives us a lot of information of who Jesus is. The prophets foretold of this good news that was to come, Genesis 12 and verse number 3, that through Abraham all families of the earth would be blessed. And so this was promised, the gospel was promised beforehand through those prophets in the holy scriptures concerning his son who was born of a descendant of David. Jesus was Jewish, obviously, and he is from the descendant of David and Abraham. That's Matthew one, verse number one, according to the flesh. I was reading in a commentary and this information here, Paul's writing to both a Jew and Gentile audience and he's going to in these first three chapters show them the problem of sin. We get to Romans chapter 1 in verse 16 and 17. He's going to emphasize again the gospel. It's really the launching point. He's going to talk about that he's not ashamed of the gospel for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. The Jew first and also to the Greek is a theme he's going to be emphasizing all throughout this letter. He's going to just really launch into this more. And I like what one person said here that even this ⁓ information here in verse number three would be for the benefit potentially for his audience, the Jewish audience, right? He's going to share some things with them that is going to be somewhat shocking, that there's no partiality with God, that both Jew and Gentile can be accepted. And in Romans chapter 15, in verse number 15, it says, Paul says, but I have written very boldly to you on some points, so as to remind you again, because of the grace that was given me from God, to be a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles. That's Romans 15 and verse 16. Now, I think the Jews understood that God shows no partiality, but some of the things that Paul is going to share that what true circumcision is as he gets to the end of Romans chapter 2, In verse number 29, he says, but he who is a Jew who was one inwardly in circumcision is that which is of the heart by the Spirit, not by the letter, and his praise is not from men but from God. He's going to say some things that's really going to wake them up that is going to cause them to ask some questions. The Jewish audience, like in chapter 3 and verse 1, after hearing all of these things, the Jews who had circumcision, descendants of Abraham and David, and the law given to them. And now what Paul is going to be emphasizing is, listen, despite all of that, you too have had the problem of sin, just like the Gentiles have sinned as well. Jews have sinned as well. So he's preparing them maybe as you look at these first seven verses here, as he talks about Jesus, born of a descendant of David according to the flesh. Certainly that is the case as well. And in verse four, going back to Romans one and verse four, he was declared the son of God, pronounced the son of God with power by the resurrection from the dead. Power is used here in verse four. It's used in verse 16 as he talks about the power of God. Jesus is risen from the dead. We're going to see this resurrection language even more in chapter six, that we have died to sin. and raised to walk in newness of life. And Jesus and His resurrection, it's according to the Spirit of holiness. I believe that's talking about the Holy Spirit, Jesus Christ our Lord. Notice in verse five, he says, through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith. Paul's gonna talk a great deal about faith in the book of Romans. And notice that he calls it the obedience of faith among all the Gentiles. He's talking about this Jewish lineage of Christ. Now he's also talking about Gentiles and that the gospel is going to be for both Jew and Gentile for His name's sake. The obedience of faith is very important because He's going to define the faith that is required for us when it comes to being ⁓ God's people and being right in His sight. If you look over in Romans 6 and ⁓ verse number 16, Paul said, you not know that when you present yourselves to someone as slaves for obedience, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin resulting in death or of obedience resulting in righteousness? But thanks be to God that though you were slaves of sin, you became obedient from the heart to that form of teaching to which you were committed. These saints in Rome obeyed the gospel. and he says that you were obedient from the heart. Obedience, that's not something that is bad. It's actually something that is required. Paul is going to spend a great amount of time helping us to understand more about God's grace, and God's grace does not negate us being obedient from what God wants us to do. At the end of Romans, in Romans chapter 16, Paul is going to talk about obedience again. In verse number 19, he says, the report of your obedience has reached to all. Therefore, I rejoicing over you, but I want you to be wise in what is good and innocent in what is evil." So, Paul is going to give us a good understanding of what faith actually entails. It is more than just a mental assent. Yes, it entails belief, but also whatever God desires and wants us and tells us to do, us walking in trust and doing exactly that. And that's what we see that these saints in Rome had done. So the first seven verses of Romans chapter one really again are a launching point of what we're going to see throughout the rest of the letter. He's going to expound upon the gospel of God, which had been promised and foretold through the prophets of old. He's going to expound upon Jesus and what he has accomplished and who we are in him. He's going to expound upon this idea of obedience of faith in verse number five. and that both Gentiles and Jews can be saved. In fact, that's why Jesus came to die on the cross because we all have the same problem, Jew and Gentile alike. That is the problem of sin. And so as we dive more into Romans, we're going to see Paul lay out this problem that we all have. And he has to do that because when we talk about the good news of the gospel, we also have to talk about the bad news. and to help us to see that none of us have any right to boast. The Jews had no right to boast even though they were the offspring of David and Abraham and had circumcision and had the law. They had no right to boast. And the Gentiles who were grafted in had no right to boast as well. The only boasting that we can have is in what Christ has accomplished on that old rugged cross. So Paul is writing this to help the saints in Rome to keep, preserve the unity that was given to them. to view each other the proper way, and what better way to do that than to truly understand what Christ has done for all of us. So we'll pick it up next time in Romans chapter one, verse number eight.