Romans 1 - "I Did It My Way!"

Romans 1

Click Here for A Commentary Overview of the Book of Romans

1 Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle and set apart for the gospel of God— 2 the gospel he promised beforehand through his prophets in the Holy Scriptures 3 regarding his Son, who as to his earthly life[a] was a descendant of David, 4 and who through the Spirit of holiness was appointed the Son of God in power[b] by his resurrection from the dead: Jesus Christ our Lord. 5 Through him we received grace and apostleship to call all the Gentiles to the obedience that comes from[c] faith for his name’s sake. 6 And you also are among those Gentiles who are called to belong to Jesus Christ. 7 To all in Rome who are loved by God and called to be his holy people: Grace and peace to you from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ.

Paul says three things about himself. He was a servant. The Greek word for "servant" is "doulos". It also can be translated "slave". It means someone who has given up their rights to serve a master. Paul was a servant of Jesus. He did whatever Jesus asked of him. 

He was also an apostle. The word "apostle" is translated from the Greek word "apostolos". It means "messenger" or, "the one who is sent". In this case God set Paul apart to be a messenger of the gospel. The word "gospel" ("evangelion" in Greek) means "Good News".  The good news about God's Son, Jesus, which God promised beforehand through the prophets. He was born a man and raised from the dead by the resurrection power of God.  

We often forget that the message about Jesus is Good News. Good News from the beginning our Father realized we needed a Savior. God knew that we would sin and rebel against Him. We would need be redeemed from our sinful nature. In God's sovereignty, Jesus' death on the cross would set us free from sin, death, and the power of the devil. This is the Good News every human being needs to here. It is of penultimate importance which has an impact on where we will spend eternity. 

Paul reminded the Romans that Jesus was a descendent of King David. This fulfilled the promise God made that there would never fail to be a king on the throne from the line of David. This was Good News, first given to the Jewish people, which he was now called to share with the Gentiles. 

Paul writes this letter to the Christians, both Jews and Gentiles. Then he says something we say before our sermons in the Lutheran tradition, "Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ!"

Paul’s Longing to Visit Rome

8 First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is being reported all over the world. 9 God, whom I serve in my spirit in preaching the gospel of his Son, is my witness how constantly I remember you 10 in my prayers at all times; and I pray that now at last by God’s will the way may be opened for me to come to you. 11 I long to see you so that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to make you strong— 12 that is, that you and I may be mutually encouraged by each other’s faith. 13 I do not want you to be unaware, brothers and sisters, that I planned many times to come to you (but have been prevented from doing so until now) in order that I might have a harvest among you, just as I have had among the other Gentiles.

Paul tells the Romans of his desire to come to them, though he is in prison now. He had received great reports about them, and how they were growing in their witness for Christ. Paul says he wanted to impart to them some spiritual gift. What did he mean by that? 

Most likely Paul was not referring to a specific, individual spiritual gift, but more generally using his collective gifts to build them up in their faith. Paul had the spiritual gifts of apostleship, evangelist, pastor, teacher and faith. The purpose for all of those spiritual gifts, and our spiritual gifts as well, is to build up the body of Christ. The body of Christ, which we call the church, always needed to be built up or fortified in faith and love. 

We all need to be strengthened in our walk with Christ. We can get all of our spiritual needs through the local church. While we can watch church online and study in the comfort of our home, we can't grow in our faith in isolation. This is why though Paul is writing them a letter, he longs to see them and build up their faith. 

14 I am obligated both to Greeks and non-Greeks, both to the wise and the foolish. 15 That is why I am so eager to preach the gospel also to you who are in Rome. 16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile. 17 For in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed—a righteousness that is by faith from first to last,[e] just as it is written: “The righteous will live by faith.”

Paul shows his desire to reach all people for Christ, both Jews and Gentiles. Verses 16 and 17 are great verses to remember. Paul is not ashamed to share the gospel anytime, anywhere. Why? 

Because he knows that the gospel is not about him, but about Jesus. And this gospel has inherent power to save people. The salvation is given to anyone who will be believe in Jesus, who is the author of our salvation. 

Importantly the gospel offers us a "righteousness" we could never earn or obtain. The word "righteousness" means having a "right relationship with God". Because of sin, our relationship with God is broken. Sin separates us from God. Since God is the only one who is righteous, when we sin we become unrighteous. 

Most religions offer righteousness that comes from our own works. People try to "justify" themselves as they do good things for God.  We call this "works righteousness".  The problem is we could never do enough righteous things to earn our salvation before a righteous God. But the Good News of the gospel is we are given the righteousness of God we could never earn through Jesus, the only one who was ever truly righteous. 

The new righteousness through Jesus which can only be obtained by faith. The famous motto of the Protestant Reformation led by Martin Luther is, "We are justified by faith alone, grace alone, based on the Word alone". And, we know this Word is all about Jesus.  

The impact of Romans on Martin Luther.

a. In August of 1513, a monk lectured on the Book of Psalms to seminary students, but his inner life was nothing but turmoil. In his studies he came across Psalm 31:1: In Thy righteousness deliver me. The passage confused Luther; how could God’s righteousness do anything but condemn him to hell as a righteous punishment for his sins? Luther kept thinking about Romans 1:17, which says, the righteousness of God is revealed through faith for faith; as it is written, “He who through faith is righteous shall live.”

b. Luther the monk went on to say: “Night and day I pondered until… I grasped the truth that the righteousness of God is that righteousness whereby, through grace and sheer mercy, he justifies us by faith. Therefore I felt myself to be reborn and to have gone through open doors into paradise… This passage of Paul became to me a gateway into heaven.” Martin Luther was born again, and the Reformation began in his heart. 

God’s Wrath Against Sinful Humanity

18 The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness, 19 since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. 20 For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse. 21 For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22 Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like a mortal human being and birds and animals and reptiles. 24 Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. 25 They exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen.

Having stated the purpose of the book of Romans, and the nature of the Gospel which alone can save, Paul describes the nature of sin. First of all, none of us can say we don't know God or His standards. Though God is invisible, His basic nature is revealed through the power and beauty of Creation. They show us His glory so no one can say they don't know there is a God. This applies to all people. We are all accountable to God by being born on this planet. 

Then, Paul describes the nature and origin of our sin. Instead of worshipping and serving their Creator, they worshipped created things who had no inherent power. God created us to worship Him but he never coerces, manipulates, or forces us to worship him. 

In this case God gave them over to their innate, sinful desires. He gave them what they wanted. If they wanted to worship their bodies through sexual immorality, God gave them over to those lusts. It says they degraded their bodies through sexual immorality. They took a beautiful sacred gift to be enjoyed in the context of marriage and degraded it. 

26 Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural sexual relations for unnatural ones. 27 In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed shameful acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their error. 28 Furthermore, just as they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, so God gave them over to a depraved mind, so that they do what ought not to be done. 29 They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, 30 slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; 31 they have no understanding, no fidelity, no love, no mercy. 32 Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them. 

And this was the result. The exchanged the gift of sexuality to be enjoyed between a man and woman in marriage to homosexual relationships between men and men. People say that homosexuality is not discussed in the bible, but I don't know how you could read these verses without coming to the conclusion that God condemns homosexual behavior. Specifically, Paul states that men gave up "natural" sexual relations with women and began to lust after men. They committed shameful acts, which can only be assumed to be the type of sex required for a man to have sex with another man. 

Some have said the homosexuality described in Paul's letters is only a describing a situation prevalent in 1st century. It is merely a perversion, not the same as the "committed same sex relationships", which men and women participate in today and the majority of our society accepts. 

I think this is a big leap, which is especially unlikely given that Paul is linking this behavior with the sinful nature. There are three places in the New Testament where Paul explicitly prohibits "homosexual behavior". (Romans 1:21-27,1 Corinthians 6:9,1 Timothy 1:8-10) In the Old Testament, the book of Leviticus says, "For a man to lie with another man is an abomination". Leviticus 18:22

Since we have these four verses which clearly state homosexual behavior is a sin and there is no other verses which give a positive view of homosexual behavior, we cannot say the bible condones or approves of homosexuality. If the sole authority for the church is the bible, I cannot see where any church justify blessing same sex marriage services in their sanctuaries.  This is not my personal opinion, I am bound by the Word of God. It is the sole source ad norm for our proclamation, life, and teaching.    

This does not mean that this is not a challenging and complicated issue in our society. The sin of homosexual behavior is no different than any other sin we commit against God. We often treat it as the ultimate sin, or one that is particularly deserving of God's wrath. The tough verse is the one says, "they received in due time the penalty for their error".   

Is that related to this particular sin or all sin? In the context it seems like it is connect to homosexual behaviors. 

Paul speaks of a penalty for homosexual conduct; homosexuality has within itself a penalty. This speaks of the generally self-destructive nature of sin; it often carries within itself its own penalty. Sometimes it is the penalty of disease, which is the consequence of violating nature’s order. Sometimes it is the penalty of rebellion, resulting in spiritual emptiness and all its ramifications. In this sense the term “gay” is wishful thinking. It sends a message that there is something essentially happy and carefree about the homosexual lifestyle – which there is not. - Guzik

All sin has consequences not just homosexual behaviors. Heterosexual sin such as lust, adultery, and sexual addiction has plenty of dangerous and destructive consequences. Gossiping and lies have the consequence of destroying relationships. So though it is clear that God does not condone homosexual behavior, and though homosexuality may have some unique consequences to those who practice it, it is not the penultimate sin. Sin is sin. There is no better or worse because it all offends a holy and righteous God. 

Paul goes on to mention a long list of other sinful attitudes and behaviors, which are all a result of worshipping creatures rather than the Creator. Paul sums up our sinful nature by saying, 

"Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them." 

Though Paul will get to the Good News soon, he first needs to describe the sinful nature that we have all inherited. Paul clearly shows us how none of us are righteous inherently. Instead, we are prone to move away from God and rebel against him. 

Frank Sinatra summed up the attitude of the sinful nature when he crooned, "I did it my way!"