Unashamed: A Survey of Romans 1:1-17
Paul, ever the intrepid missionary, wanted to go to Spain.
It was somewhere around 55-58 AD, and Paul was sitting in Corinth. In order to get to Spain (a journey of nearly three weeks over long roads and open ocean), Paul needed a base in Rome. The problem was that the Romans were still working through their differences. Jews and gentiles worshipped together, but they weren’t unified. No missionary wants disunity in the churches that support him, so Paul decided to solve the problem by writing the letter to the Romans. In Romans 1-11, Paul would explain the gospel that Jews and gentiles could unify around; in the remaining chapters, he would show how this truth unites them practically.
Introduction (1:1-7)
In the first seven verses, Paul gets excited about the gospel. His short introduction turns into a rambling explanation of how God has sent his Son. This is the same message that the Jewish people believe – it’s the message of the Old Testament prophets. (Insert applause by Jewish Christians here!)
The ‘Gospel of God’ (v. 1) has to do with God’s Son (v. 3). This is a term that Jewish people were very familiar with. ‘Son of God’ was a title for Hebrew kings, who represented God’s people. The real Hebrew king (Paul says) is Jesus, who represents God’s people!
It’s possible that verses 3-4 contain a fragment of an ancient Christian hymn, which Paul quotes (although this is uncertain). If so, we can imagine the ancient Roman believers, gathered together in small homes, lit by flickering lamps, singing the praises
Of the One born, from the seed of David, according to the flesh;
Of the One appointed, Son of God in power, according to the Spirit!
The meaning of verse four isn’t clear. It could be that the resurrection ‘made clear’ that Jesus really is God’s Son – that’s the older view. As scholar’s have examined the ancient text, however, they realize that the Greek word doesn’t usually mean ‘made clear.’ It more often means ‘appoint.’ Of course, Jesus has always been God’s Son, so the resurrection didn’t change that. However, (since ‘Son of God’ refers to the Hebrew king) Paul could be telling us that ‘at the resurrection, the Father formally appointed Jesus as the reigning monarch who holds all things under his control.’ This idea fits well with Acts 2:36.
Paul is writing to Rome, the capital of ‘all the nations,’ and a very cosmopolitan city. Rome was the place where you could find representatives of ‘all the nations,’ and Paul writes that God’s intention is to create believers among ‘all the nations.’ (Insert applause by gentile Christians here!)
Paul’s Prayer and Desire to Visit (1:8-15)
This is where you can really hear Paul’s heart coming through for these people. He really cares about them, and you can see the heart of ‘Paul the Pastor.’ We often think of Paul as an ivory-tower theologian, dreaming about the glory of God, waxing eloquent about justification and propitiation. But Paul was, at heart, pastoral – and here he demonstrates his care for the Roman believers.
Paul describes his life as service to God with his Spirit in the gospel of His Son (v. 9). This is true worship, not the mere rites and ceremonies worship. All of Paul’s worship is centered on, and grounded in, the gospel.
Most of all, Paul wants these believers to know how much he prays for them. He also wants to benefit them spiritually (a great goal for us, as well, whenever we interact with our brothers and sisters). And he’s especially eager to win converts, because he is a debtor to everyone (v. 13-15). His obligation? To preach the gospel.
The Power of the Gospel (1:16-17)
Paul has plenty of reason to ‘keep silent’ about the gospel, but he won’t. He is going to declare it to everyone – because it is the way in which God’s power is experienced. The gospel is the way in which God is doing his most mighty miracles.
It is in the gospel of Christ that we find ‘the power of God to salvation to those who believe.’ God’s greatest miracles are not materialistic or natural. They are focused on saving souls, rescuing them from the realm of sin and judgment, transferring them to the realm of righteousness and justification.
If this seems insignificant to you, just think about some of the people that you know, and their deep-seated vices. Think about unpleasant family members who just won’t change. Think about drug addicts and drunkards. They all seem beyond hope. It seems more likely for objects to defy gravity than for these people to change or be rescued from the type of life that they live. And that is why the gospel is so powerful. God’s power to save is absolutely miraculous.
This power isn’t restricted to anyone (gentile Christians applause!), but God does have a specific order in which he offers it: the Jews get first dibs (Jewish Christians applause!), followed by the gentiles, as Paul reminds us frequently in this letter.
The ‘righteousness of God’ (v. 17) refers to the righteousness that God gives. We can illustrate this with a modern example. ‘The generosity of the President’ could refer to his personal quality of being generous, or it could be a reference to the stimulus checks that the president’s office has been sending out to millions of Americans during the 2020 COVID pandemic. It might be a little awkward wording, but those stimulus checks are certainly ‘the generosity of the president.’ In the same way, ‘the righteousness of God’ could be referring to God’s personal quality of being righteous (and Paul sometimes uses it that way), but in this case, it refers to the gift of righteousness that God gives to human beings.
That’s why Paul is unashamed. Because this is incredible! Paul has the message that allows us to see clearly God giving his own righteousness to sinful men and women! Paul knows that this unique message has a transformative power within it.
But the way in which we experience this power is by faith. That is what Paul wants us to remember. The gospel is not about repeating words: it’s about experiencing God’s power by faith. When Paul says ‘from faith for faith’ (v. 17), he means ‘this is undoubtedly by faith.’ He is emphasizing faith (he uses a similar expression for emphasis in 2 Corinthians 2:16). God promises this righteousness to everyone, but he only actually gives it to those who come by faith.
This is the way that it has always been – God’s people live by faith. Paul quotes from Habakkuk to prove this (2:4). Habakkuk saw horrible things happening to the Hebrew people. Invasions were prophecied, and disasters were coming. It would be easy to lose your mind, to be filled with fear and anxiety and dread; but Habakkuk refuses to do that. The prophet knew that all God’s people live by faith, trusting whatever it is that God says. That is the characteristic of the just person – the person who receives God’s righteousness.
So, Paul wants to remind us to believe this gospel. It’s the means of God’s most powerful working – but it isn’t any use as long as you keep it in the bottle, sitting on the shelf. Christ’s Gospel has the potential to upend and completely transform your life from the inside out – but you have to believe it.
And that is why Paul is unashamed. He truly believes in the power of this gospel. Now we can better understand why that worship of God is such a powerful influence in his life. This is what motivates this man, Paul. He serves God so diligently because this gospel gives fuel to his service.
It also explains how Paul could endure so much. What motivated this man to go from city to city, constantly enduring beatings, scourgings, and rejection? Only the powerful, transformative message of the gospel: as powerful today as it was in the days of the Roman Christians.
