Let us continue this next section by leaning on the Lord for guidance and understanding in this study. <\/p>\n
We left off making some preliminary commentary on the righteousness
\nof God defended in the book of Romans, or in other words, how God is
\njustified or declared right. Before we enter the courtroom of the book
\nof Romans, let us look at some peripheral details of the letter itself.<\/p>\n
Tertius penned the letter dictated by Paul (note his greeting in Paul planned to visit Romans for some time. He had a great desire to It is also noteworthy that the gospel had reached Rome ahead of the How sad it is, with such astounding beginnings that as the years Paul took this moment to send this letter to Rome with a certain Imagine the Romans of that day. The government protected the Jewish Then there are the Jews, with their temple in Jerusalem , void of Yet; Phoebe, probably well off financially, remained with the Jew With such discussion of humility, let us now move onwards to consider the very first verses of the letter to the Romans. <\/p>\n Greetings<\/strong><\/p>\n If there was ever a moment in time when a theologian could take a Why not start this letter with his Hebrew name Saul? A King who was After all, he was writing to the very capital of the Roman Empire , Yet note this man’s humility and sense of honor at the feet of Jesus The word here for servant is doulos <\/em>, and the meaning of In the Roman Empire , the Caesar owned certain people born into slavery. These doulos <\/em> It is an amazing thing that Paul doesn’t leave off the title of his This esteemed slave then goes on to state his purpose, not his How does he represent? Paul points out that he is “separated unto Here Paul immediately puts certain arguments aside. Who is this Paul points out that this good news was promised before by the This good news didn’t come from just any nation for what kind of A false teacher could rise from anywhere claiming to be the Messiah “Are you a Jew?” Any Gentiles would be struck off the list. “Are you We can see how later on Paul goes onto proclaim that he is not Yet, this Jesus Christ was not only the Son of David (as promised) What an amazing message of “good news”! The Living God came down in Next time we’ll pick up on verse 3.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Let us continue this next section by leaning on the Lord for guidance and understanding in this study. We left off making some preliminary commentary on the righteousness of God defended in the book of Romans, or in other words, how God is justified or declared right. Before we enter the courtroom of the book […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[34,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-90","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-romans","category-study"],"yoast_head":"\n
Some Tidbits<\/strong><\/p>\n
\n16:22 ). This is no strange thing in that Paul often had another person
\nactually put his words down on paper unless he personally decides to
\nwrite a note in (take a look at the letter to the Galatians and note
\nPaul’s passion). Apparently he had eye disease that greatly impaired
\nhis vision. Based on some conjecture by people much smarter than
\nmyself, it has been thought that the condition was not only damaging
\nbut also visually unappealing. <\/p>\n
\nimpart a spiritual gift and to be encouraged in the progression of the
\ngospel by being there with them. This great desire to visit Rome was
\ndelayed out of necessity to carry a monetary gift from the Macedonians
\nto Jerusalem ( 15:22 -29). There perhaps were other circumstances that
\nkept Paul from going to Rome but it is very likely that God wasn’t
\nplanning to have Paul go to Rome in Paul’s Way but in God’s way. If we
\nfollow the events of the book of Acts chapters 20 onwards, we may
\nnotice how a trip to Jerusalem turned into being shackled and sent to
\nspeak before kings, culminating in a trip to Rome?as free in God’s
\ntruth but in chains of imprisonment. <\/p>\n
\napostles and Paul (the apostle to the Gentiles) specifically. The fire
\nof the good news of God was ignited in Jerusalem , burned through
\nSamaria and spread like wild fire throughout the region and beyond.
\nThis conflagration burned so hot that even Paul had heard of the
\ntremendous faith of the Roman believers (1:8)! <\/p>\n
\nwent by Christendom lost that fire of the truth and embraced the glory
\nof grandeur. <\/p>\n
\ndeaconess (or servant if you will) from Cenchrea by the name of Phoebe
\n(16:1, 2). What dedication of this woman serving the Lord with such
\nmight, that she would traverse over land and sea to bring to Rome a
\nletter from a Jew. <\/p>\n
\npopulace, but the people, the actual Romans had a growing disdain for
\nthem. “These Jews with their single God and their exclusivity!” It
\nwould be no stretch of the imagination to think of that polytheistic
\nworld, saturated in opposing philosophies and thoughts. Personally, I
\ndon’t think I would even have to close my eyes to imagine a place where
\nso many cultures and belief systems blend and engender “respect for all
\nreligions and beliefs” with idols and temples everywhere. A person had
\ntheir pick of the crop when it came to religion and such a person may
\neven walk down the street dropping a few pennies of respect in the dish
\nof the worship alters throughout the region. <\/p>\n
\nimages by this time in history. The Jews with their “One Living God”. A
\nGod who none could see and whose people separated themselves from the
\nnations. The Jews, who would not offer a similar respect to the idols
\naround them. “How dare they!” may be a Roman’s response. <\/p>\n
\nPaul as the Greek (?) Tertius penned this letter, patiently waiting to
\ntake it with her to the brethren in Italy . What service. What
\nhumility. <\/p>\n
\nmoment to list his credentials in writing a letter of this magnitude,
\nit would be the moment that Paul began his construction of the letter
\nto the Romans. In today’s day and age, men (very often) aren’t allowed
\nto speak at the Sunday morning pulpit if they don’t have a degree or
\ntwo under their belt, one of those being theology. Such a person
\nwithout these degrees shouldn’t dare consider a position in the
\nchurch?he would be laughed or chased out of the building…or both. <\/p>\n
\nhead and shoulders above all of the other Israelites and was anointed
\nby God Himself via the hands of Samuel. A name of honor and renown
\nwhich struck terror in the hearts of the Christians earlier in his
\ncareer. Why not list his credentials as a former Pharisee or hi-light
\nhis studying under the feet of such a grand teacher as Gamaliel? Why
\nnot begin with the intensity of his calling by the Lord Jesus Christ
\nHimself? <\/p>\n
\nthe very seat of authority, the heart of culture. These people were
\nlearned and civilized and if any people should be written to with some
\ndignity in the writer, it was these people. <\/p>\n
\nChrist. He completely strikes off his Hebrew name, settling on his
\nRoman name attributing himself with the gentiles he is writing to. He
\nstarts off the letter as Paul, a servant (1:1). <\/p>\n
\nthat is much deeper than a man-servant. This is the most abject, the
\nmost servile form of a slave. The slave which is born into slavery and
\nhas no ties to a former life. A slave whose will and purpose is
\nswallowed up in the will and purpose of his master. His readers would
\nsee this and know that the man writing them was attributing his
\ncomplete life devoted to another…and Paul doesn’t disappoint in getting
\nto the name of his master…Jesus. <\/p>\n
\nof the Emperor would have their will and purpose swallowed up in the
\nwill and purpose of the Emperor, and yet, these slaves had great honor
\namong many men. They were not just any slaves…they were slaves of the
\nLord of the Empire, the King of the Known World! <\/p>\n
\nmaster. Paul is not just a slave of some man, but he is the slave of
\nthe man Jesus Christ…the Messiah, the Promised One, the Lord of the
\nUniverse, the King of all Kings in the world and all ages, past,
\npresent and future. Let the Caesars and Emperors and Kings and
\nPresidents have their honor…it is nothing to the honor that belongs to
\nthe Lord of lords, the Ruler who sits enthroned in all glorious
\nmajesty, high above all principalities and powers and mights and
\ndominions. <\/p>\n
\ntitle. The phrase “called to be an apostle” reads as if the word
\napostle is the noun-title but in actuality it is closer to the
\nverb-active endemic in the role in subjection to the previous noun
\n(Jesus Christ). Paul is called to do the work of establishing for his
\nmaster. It is an ambassador’s work in that sense?he is called to
\nrepresent his master. <\/p>\n
\nthe gospel of God” and here the term gospel means the good news of God.
\nThis term “gospel” would be used after battle as the messenger ran back
\nto the townships and yelled out the good news of victory. This good
\nnews of God is the ambassador’s message which he carries for his
\nmaster, Jesus Christ. <\/p>\n
\nJesus? This Jew is offering a new form of Judaism? What “good news”
\ncould possibly be so new as to come out of the dark? <\/p>\n
\nprophets in the Holy Scriptures (1:2). It has connections with the very
\ntruth established in the then existent scriptures. This automatically
\nmakes its ties back to the roots found in the Jews, for salvation,
\nindeed came from (or through if you will) the Jews. <\/p>\n
\ntruth would it contain? It springs up out of no-where and proclaims
\nitself to be “good news” with no previous fanfare or even notion of its
\nexistence? No indeed, this good news came specifically from God Himself
\nthrough those ancient writings concerning His very Son Jesus Christ the
\nLord, which came not out of any nation, but came (as promised) from the
\nJews through the seed of David. According to the flesh He was the very
\ndescendant of the Jewish king, which makes this good news so much
\nharder to complete if one was a false teacher. <\/p>\n
\npromised by the Jews but he would first have to meet certain
\nrequirements. A panel may stand before a line of self-proclaimed
\nMessiahs’ and ask: <\/p>\n
\nfrom the Line of Judah” Any of the other eleven tribes would be told to
\nleave. “Are you a descendant of David?” And so it would go on. Jesus
\nthe Christ, our Lord, fulfilled many prophecies in the fact of being
\nborn in this precise form in the flesh. <\/p>\n
\nashamed of this gospel ( 1:16 ). His message comes from God Himself and
\nPaul’s slavery is in that person of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Promised
\nMessiah of whom the Holy Scriptures spoke of. <\/p>\n
\nbut he was also declared to be the very Son of God! The second person
\nin the triune God, came down to the Earth in the form of weak flesh,
\nbut was declared to be the Son of God in a key way! <\/p>\n
\nthe form of flesh, as promised in the scriptures…it is Him that we call
\nour Lord and master! <\/p>\n