Romans 1

The Author of the book of Romans is Paul. It is important that we realize Paul was an apostle of Christ. An apostle was one who was selected by the Lord and given authority to establish the church. Paul starts his letter by reminding his readers of his calling to be an apostle. The previous book in the Bible, Acts, describes how Jesus appeared to Paul directly (Chapter 9) and how Paul was given powers to do signs, wonder and miracles from the Lord to prove that he had the Lord’s authority. Because of this, we treat Paul’s teachings as not from man but from the Lord. So the book of Romans is God’s word.

The book of Roman was written to all the Christians at Rome. It was not written to just super-Christians but to all believers: “to all in Rome who are loved by God and called to be saints” (verse 7). This applies not only to the Christians at Rome, but to us as well. Paul’s purpose in writing this letter is to encourage the believers at Rome in the faith. He is excited and thankful for their faith. He longs to see them and strengthen them in the faith but has been prevented from doing so. So he is writing them a letter.

The faith Paul is talking about is the faith of the gospel. Paul was “set apart for the gospel of God” (verse 1) whom he serves with his “whole heart in preaching the gospel of His Son” (verse 9). It is his obligation to preach the gospel to all (verses 14-15). This gospel was promised by the prophets of old and was now being declared. The gospel, which means “good news”, regards Jesus Christ, who was proved to be more than a man but the very Son of God through his resurrection from the dead.

For many chapters to come, Paul will be explaining this gospel. The book of Romans is one of the more difficult books because it touches on deep truths which are sometimes hard to understand at first. He begins explaining the gospel in verses 16 and 17. These are the key verses of chapter 1 and the foundation for the rest of the book of Roman. It says that the gospel is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes because the gospel proclaims a righteousness from God that people receive by faith.

Let’s look at each part of this statement. First it says that the gospel is “the power of God”. This means that God exerts power through this message of good news. Wherever this gospel is preached, heard, understood and believed, there you will find God’s life transforming power! Secondly, it is “for the salvation of everyone who believes”. This gospel of Christ is about salvation. The word salvation means rescue or deliverance from imminent danger. As we will soon see it is salvation from sin, its penalties and power. Third, it concerns a righteousness from God. This righteousness is from God not from us. And so it is a righteousness that is given to us, not one that we earn. Finally, this salvation and righteousness come to us by faith. It is by believing the gospel that we freely receive its benefits.

Starting in verse 18, Paul is going to describe why we need salvation. He will continue this discussion up to the middle of chapter 3. His discussion will help the Roman Christians (and us) to understand why the gospel is truly good news! In verse 18 he says, “The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness.” So this is the situation, God is very angry, at something. In fact he is so angry that he is wrathful. What is he angry about? He is angry about the wickedness of mankind. But it is not just any wickedness that God is mad about. It is the wickedness of people suppressing the truth. What truth? It is the truth about Him. Why is God angry about this? Because the truth about Him is made plainly known to all people by God Himself (verses 19-20). God’s divine nature and power are clearly seen in creation. We know that God is Creator, that he created us, that he has loved us and been good to us. We know that He is eternal and all powerful. And as such it should be natural for mankind to acknowledge and honor Him as God and be thankful to Him.

Instead it says “they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to Him.” Instead of worshipping him, they denied him and made up their own gods. They worshipped created thing rather than the Creator. They suppressed the truth and believe a lie instead.

In God’s anger, it says “he gave them over.” In other words, he let them go their own way to become more and more sinful. Verses 24 through 32 list many of the sins that resulted. And not only that, they were not ashamed of their wickedness but approved of it!

What Paul has just described is called by different names throughout Scripture such as the “dominion of darkness”. It is called being lost, dead in sin, under condemnation and many such names. God and man are separated and estranged because of sin. What we see in our world what Paul describes. It is in this context that Paul is proclaiming the good news. It is the message of hope proclaimed that is bringing people out of darkness into His marvelous light!