Ready to Preach – Romans 1:8-15

Romans 1:8-15
First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all, that your faith is spoken of throughout the whole world. For God is my witness, whom I serve with my spirit in the gospel of His Son, that without ceasing I make mention of you always in my prayers, making request if, by some means, now at last I may find a way in the will of God to come to you. For I long to see you, that I may impart to you some spiritual gift, so that you may be established—that is, that I may be encouraged together with you by the mutual faith both of you and me.

Now I do not want you to be unaware, brethren, that I often planned to come to you (but was hindered until now), that I might have some fruit among you also, just as among the other Gentiles. I am a debtor both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to wise and to unwise. So, as much as is in me, I am ready to preach the gospel to you who are in Rome also.

Welcome back to our study on Romans! In a ‘normal’ breakdown of Romans, the introduction is generally considered to go through to verse 17 – and the ‘topical’ writing starts from there. But I still think there is plenty we can gain just from his introductory words!

Straight up, the first bit I glean from here is that Paul is giving thanks to God for the Roman churches. I guess in this context Rome was the ‘center’ of the civilized world to many, certainly the head of the empire – maybe we should be giving thanks for the churches in Washington DC or Brussels! Moving along though, there are many people that God puts in our lives – for better and for what seems to be worse. We should be thankful for all these people – some provide friendship, some encouragement, some challenge, and some offer plenty of opportunity for spiritual growth (patience, longsuffering, you get the picture).

Secondly, the faith of the Roman churches was spoken about throughout the world. Just as now we might speak of the faith of the Chinese church, or the church in Afghanistan, or maybe Turkmenistan. Certainly – I have lived in Australia and the USA, and we really don’t have many problems at all – except for our own timidity and pride (and we will come to that tomorrow when we hit vs 16). What does it mean in these days to have our faith spoken of ‘throughout the world’? I am truly not sure – but I know that it means that we would have to have a total reliance on Jesus, and be totally in His will, that we were making such a difference in this world that people would stand up and take notice…. Something to think upon……

Another short message we get from verses 11 and 12 is that of the importance of fellowship – see Hebrews 10 for more on that one. I will get there one day on this blog!

Moving to verses 13-15. It is obvious that Paul wanted to visit Rome much earlier – but that it was not the Will of God yet. Paul also mentions that he is ‘ready to preach the Gospel to you who are in Rome also’. To me I read a couple of things here – Paul is ready to preach the Gospel – not just to the Romans, but to anyone – but he specifically wanted to go to Rome to do that. Are we ready to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ?

Secondly – God prevented Paul from visiting Rome up until this point – despite his desire there ‘to do good’. It would be very easy to justify this trip to ourselves ‘I am going to Rome to do God’s work, to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ to all those in Rome who need to hear!’ You can see here how easy it would be to create that justification in our own minds, and then begin to act on it. But until this point – it has not been God’s will. Paul has been ‘hindered’ until now to visit Rome. I am sure he could have gone off and done his own thing – and preached in Rome – but that would have been outside God’s will and timing, and whilst God could have used it anyway, it would not have been as effective as Paul going when the time was right.

Next we move onto Verses 16 and 17, which will be plenty for another post!

God, I pray you continue to give us understanding and revelation into your word, speak to our hearts through your Holy Spirit, in Jesus Name, Amen.

Foundations – Romans 1:1-7

Romans 1:1-7
Paul, a bondservant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated to the gospel of God which He promised before through His prophets in the Holy Scriptures, concerning His Son Jesus Christ our Lord, who was born of the seed of David according to the flesh, and declared to be the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead. Through Him we have received grace and apostleship for obedience to the faith among all nations for His name, among whom you also are the called of Jesus Christ;

To all who are in Rome, beloved of God, called to be saints:

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Welcome to Romans! Starting from the top, I think we can instantly gain some real insight into the Word of God with Paul’s opening remarks.

Firstly, about Paul, he considers himself a bondservant of Jesus Christ. What is a bondservant then? A bondservant is one not free to do as he chooses – in other words, a slave. He is totally under the ownership and control of Jesus – not ‘free’ to do his will, but to do the will of Him who he is slave to. This doesn’t imply that he is not ‘free’ to make his own choices (as we will see later in Romans), but that he has chosen to submit his life totally to Jesus. If we are to then read through a little, we read ‘among whom you are also the called of Jesus Christ’. So…… I know you can see where I am going here – we are also called to be a servant of Jesus – whole heartedly, like one who is a slave!

Secondly, Paul calls himself an apostle. There are many definitions of this word these days, but to try and look back on what it was defined as back when this was written, it was someone who was called to share the Gospel of Jesus. Paul was directly called by Jesus (see Acts 9 for the original account) – to preach the Gospel and share his name to the Gentiles. Moving forward in time then to us – are we not called to do the same? We might not run around with the title ‘apostle’, but we are certainly called to share the message and gospel (literally – Good News) of Jesus Christ to our world – in whichever manner God has called us.

Lastly, in the shortest possible space, Paul summarizes that Jesus was first promised to the world through the scriptures (Old Testament), came to the world born of the seed of David (as promised in the Old Testament), was crucified (implied by the next bit), and was resurrected from the dead – proving his place as the Son of God. And that it is through Jesus we have received Grace and mercy – through our obedience to him. Talk about a concise summary of the key points! Jesus is Lord, we need to be obedient through our Faith in Him.

I could almost stop now! Through the Holy Spirit, Paul has covered the basic foundations of our faith in the introduction of his letter – even before he has addressed it (vs 7)! If this is the introduction, then our expectation for the rest of the letter to the Romans should be high – and I know we won’t be disappointed.

Lord God, thank you for your Word which you have given us, I pray that you will continue to give us insight to it through your Holy Spirit, as we delve further into the book of Romans. In Jesus Name. Amen.

Romans – An Introduction

Romans 1:1

Before we jump into Romans, Lets take a quick look at a little of the known history and context surrounding this book – some of which will help us understand it better, and give a preview of what is to come.

First of all, we know this book was written by Paul, as a letter to the Roman churches (Romans 1:1,7). As it is addressed ‘to all who are in Rome’, we can inference that there was more than a single church in such a large city – estimates vary, but it is believed the City of Rome had close to a million people in it around the time this was written (around 58AD). The letter was then designed for ‘distribution’ – which is no doubt part of the reason we still have copies with us today in the New Testament.

The central theme, or purpose, of the book of Romans is to provide almost a complete overview of Christianity and it’s central doctrines. This ranges from the sinfulness of man to the redemption of God through Jesus Christ His Son. Therefore, it’s position in the New Testament straight after Acts (the last of the Historical accounts), is logical, as it does provide one of the most complete overviews in one place.

The reason it is so complete, rather than a letter addressing a specific issue or set of issues, is that we know Paul had yet to visit Rome (Romans 1:11,15), and so in his absence appears to want to provide a detailed overview of all doctrine – remember, at this point there was nothing but some written accounts of Jesus, and some letters sent to and from various people – the compiling of the Gospels and Epistles really didn’t begin in earnest for over 100 years, and it was not until around the time of this letter that scholars believe many of the gospels were written – another 10 years later for Luke!

Our goal then is to gain a greater understanding of Jesus and our salvation in Him through this Gospel – God’s divine grace and it’s place in our life.

Lord, give us insight through the Holy Spirit into Your Word, as we take time to look through the book of Romans. In Jesus name. Amen.

Prayer

Being the very first post on this new site, I wanted to start things off right. So here we go.

Lord God, I pray you will use this site to not only teach me what you want me to know, but to bring insight into your word to others, and bring encouragement and challenge to your people. Guide me in your path, that I might show your grace and mercy to others. In Jesus Name.  Amen.