Delving into the Scriptures

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.