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Romans Lesson 1 (2008)

GRACE AND APOSTLESHIP

Romans 1:1-7

Key Verse: 1:5

“Through him and for his name’s sake, we received grace and apostleship to call people from among all the Gentiles to the obedience that comes from faith.”

“All roads lead to Rome.” It was a byword in the days of Paul. The road system of the Ancient Romans was one of the greatest engineering accomplishments of its time, with over 50,000 miles of paved road. The Roman road system was originally built to facilitate the movement of troops throughout the empire. However it was also used for other purposes, such for trade, travel and the waterways. God also used the Roman roads for world evangelism. One of the main reasons that the gospel could spread fast throughout the world during the first century was the Roman road. Paul had passion to visit Rome, because he believed that from Rome he could reach every corner of the world. By the time Saint Paul wrote Romans, he had never visited Rome. However, several house churches were already in Rome. It seems that not a single person had influence on Christians in Rome. Paul wrote the letter to them while he stayed in Corinth for three months at the end of his third missionary journey. Paul’s letter to the Romans is a kind of Christian manifesto. It is the fullest and grandest statement of the gospel in the New Testament.” Martin Luther called it “really the chief part and the purest gospel of the New Testament. William Tyndall, the father of English Bible translators, said, “the more it is studied, the easier it is; the more it is chewed, the more pleasant it is.” Although some of the Christians in Rome were his friends and converts, to most Paul was a stranger. So Paul begins his letter with a brief description of himself, his relationship to the Lord Jesus Christ and a major theme of his letter – the gospel.

First, Paul and the gospel of God (1-4)

How does Paul introduce himself to the Romans? Look at verse 1. “Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle and set apart for the gospel of God.” Paul introduces himself as a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ. Many Christians in the early century was familiar with the past of Paul, who was often called “Saul” of Tarsus. He used to be a former Pharisee and a persecutor of the Christian church. He was a dangerous man to the Christian church. Now, he claims to be a servant of whom he had persecuted, a devote missionary and a defender of the gospel. The truthfulness of his conversion was not easily accepted by most Christians in the church until many years had passed and he had proved himself through his changed life and fruitful ministry. Especially, his credential as an apostle was very controversial at that time because he was not one of the Twelve Apostles whom Jesus designated during his early ministry. The distinctive qualifications of the apostles were that they were eye-witnesses of the historical Jesus, at least of his resurrection, and that they were sent out by him to preach with his authority. Although Paul was not one of the Twelve, his credential as an apostle also comes from Jesus. At the time of his conversion, he was called and commissioned by the Risen Jesus who gave him a mission to preach the gospel to the Gentiles. (Acts 9:15-16) Paul had a clear sense of God’s calling as an apostle of Jesus Christ. His calling as an apostle was even more specific. He said in verse 1 that he was set apart for the gospel of God. What could he mean by that? Apostle Paul not only received and preached the gospel like other apostles did, but he also formulated the content of the gospel in such a systematic way that could be explained, maintained and defended. In fact, Paul was not only the greatest missionary but also the greatest defender of the Christian gospel. He also wrote more than half of the New Testament. Paul and the gospel of Jesus could not be separated. Then what is the gospel Paul believed, preached and defended?

Look at verses 1b-2. “The gospel of God – the gospel he promised beforehand through his prophets in the Holy Scriptures.” The gospel in Greek (Euangelion) means “good news.” The good news the apostles preached was not invented by them or Saint Paul. It was actually revealed by God through his prophets in the Hebrew Scriptures, the Old Testament. There are numerous promises of God concerning the Messiah in the Hebrew Scripture, such as Gen 3:15, 12:2,3, 22:18; 49:10; Dt 18:15; Ps 2:2, 16:20, 69:21, 118:22, 132:11; 2 Sam 7:12,13; Isa 7:14, 9:6, 11:1,10, 28:16, 42:1, 53:1-12, 61:1; Jer 23:5; Mic 5:2; Zec 3:8, 9:9, 11:12, 12:10, 13:7; Mil 3:1 and many more. Jesus himself was quite clear that the Scripture bore witness to him (Jn 5:39), that he was the son of man in Daniel 7, and the suffering servant of Isaiah 53, and that as it had been written, he had to suffer in order to enter into his glory. All the apostles testified the suffering, death and resurrection of the Messiah. There is an essential continuity between the Old Testament and the New Testament. Before the conversion, Paul was already familiar with the Scriptures as one of the leading Pharisees of the time. After the conversion through meeting the Risen Jesus, he had carefully examined the Scriptures concerning the Messiah. Now Paul was sure that he was preaching the gospel of God based on the Scriptures, not just based on his conversion experiences. So he testified in 1 Corinthians 15:3 and 4. “For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins and according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures.”

God’s good news is about Jesus. Then who is Jesus? What did he do to be the Messiah? Read verses 3-4. “Regarding his Son, who as to his human nature was a descendant of David, and who through the Spirit of holiness was declared with power to be the Son of God by his resurrection from the dead: Jesus Christ our Lord.” According to the Holy Scripture, the Messiah should be a descendant of David. Jesus was not just one of the Jews. He was a descendant of David. (Isa 11:1; Mt 1:1; Lk 1:32; Acts 13:22-23) But there are many descendants of David who is only human. How can we say that Jesus was the Son of God, the divine? In fact, many Jews of the time asked Jesus to show the signs from above to prove that he was the Son of God. Jesus indeed performed many miracles and showed them signs, he healed many incurable diseases, fed the five thousand with five loaves and two fish, and even raised the dead. But the greatest sign he wanted people to remember was the sign of Jonah, which indicates the death and resurrection of Christ. In deed, Jesus rose from the dead on the third day after his death on the cross. Paul said that Jesus was declared with power to be the Son of God by his resurrection from the dead. However, many people in Jesus’ time would not believe that Jesus rose from the dead.

In fact, Paul was one of them. When he was a Pharisee, he could not believe that Jesus of Nazareth who was crucified and buried was raised to life again as many Christians claimed. He firmly believed that the Christians fabricated the story about Jesus’ resurrection. He thought that they were liars. So he determined to exterminate Christians. He was the ringleader in the killing of Stephen the Martyr. Paul was the last person who would believe in the resurrection of Jesus. But now he not only believed the resurrection of Jesus but also was willing to suffer and die for Christ. How did he believe in the resurrection of Christ? Did someone brainwash him? No. He met the Risen Christ himself. On his way to arrest Christians in Damascus, the Risen appeared to him in the bright light. Paul fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?” “Who are you, Lord” Saul asked, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,” he replied. “Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.” (Acts 9)

When he mentioned about the eyewitnesses of the Risen Christ, he said , “He (the Risen Christ) appeared to Peter, and then to the Twelve. After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen sleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, and last of all he appeared to me also, as to one abnormally born.” (1 Cor 15:5-8) Why did he call himself “one abnormally born”? We don’t know for sure. He might mean that his experience was unusual and not so worthy to brag about. Many early Christians didn’t see the Risen Christ, yet they still believed in the Risen Christ based on the Scriptures. Jesus also said that blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed. (Jn 20:29) Therefore, Paul wasn’t bragging about his experience of seeing the Risen Christ. Perhaps, it was a painful experience that revealed his violence, ignorance and arrogance of the past. However, ever since he accept Jesus Christ as his Savior, he had served him as his Master and Lord. He called himself “a servant of Jesus Christ. “ He was not ashamed of being a slave to Him. He was actually very proud of being a servant to Him. In fact, Paul lived his life as an ambassador of Christ. (2 Cor 5:20; Eph 6:20)

Second, Grace and apostleship (5-7)

Read verse 5. “Through him and for his name’s sake, we received grace and apostleship to call people from among all the Gentiles to the obedience that comes from faith.” Paul received the grace of forgiveness of sins. He said in 1 Timothy 1:15, “Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners – of whom I am the worst.” Generally people think of themselves very superficially and do not realize the depth of God’s grace of forgiveness of sins upon their lives. It’s easy for us to forget God’s grace of forgiveness of sins and feel self-righteous. Sometimes we consider ourselves more righteous than others. We often become critical of others. But Paul who was the greatest apostle of all said that he was the worst among all sinners. Why? Definitely, it’s not because he committed the most sins or the worst kind of sins. Perhaps, he said that he was the worst among all sinners because he discovered the greatness of God’s grace of forgiveness of sins upon his life everyday.

Paul was aware that he became an apostle of Jesus Christ not because he was more qualified than others. He knew that he received apostleship through the grace of forgiveness of sins. He said that he did not even deserve to be called an apostle because he persecuted the church of God. The apostleship is a missionary calling. It was given not only just to several privileged people but to all those who receive the grace of forgiveness of sins. That’s why he used “We” instead “I” in verse 5. “Through him and for his name’s sake, we received grace and apostleship to call people from among all the Gentiles to the obedience that comes from faith.” The Christians in Rome must have struggled much to survive. It was hard enough to struggle and survive in Rome. So they gathered in their homes and worshiped the Lord, comforting each other in love and grace. Their faith in Christ was encouraging to many people and known to many parts of the world. Saint Paul was very excited about their faith. However, he wanted them to have more than just a good fellowship. He wanted them to have a missionary calling and live as missionaries in Rome and even be sent out to the other parts of the world. He wanted the church in Rome to be a world-mission headquarters. Verse 6 reads, “And you also are among those who are called to belong to Jesus Christ.” Here, we learn that God’s grace is that we are God’s chosen people, a kingly priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, so that we can show others the goodness of God who called us out of darkness into his wonderful light.(1 Pet 2;9) Our situation, talents, upbringing, cultural, educational, and social-economic backgrounds may be different. But God called each of us in his grace so that he may reveal his glory through us. Each of us is called to be a missionary to wherever we may be. To do what?

Verse 5 reads, “to call people from among all the gentiles to the obedience that comes from faith.” Here, we learn two things. First of all, we should not exclude anybody. “To call people from among all the Gentiles to the obedience that comes from faith.” It’s easy to be exclusive of others who are different and have different views. But it’s not God’s will for us to be exclusive. God is not exclusive but inclusive of all people. Therefore, as God’s children, we should be inclusive of all people and bring ourselves into the unity and harmony without compromise and uniformity. Sounds idealistic and impossible. In Paul’s time, many churches were already experiencing many problems, especially divisions among believers. One of the main reasons is that they were not mature spiritually. They didn’t really understand that God is an inclusive God. How is it possible that the kingdom of God come on earth as it is in heaven? It’s possible through the grace that is in Jesus Christ our Lord. It’s not going to happen in one day. But no matter how long it may take, we are to live up to God’s will and His calling.

Second, we need to learn the obedience that comes from faith. Obedience and faith cannot be separated. When we say that we have faith in Jesus Christ, it means a lot. In fact, the content of Paul’s letter to the Romans may the explanation of what it means to live by faith. Of course, we are saved only by faith through the grace of God. Yet, it does not mean that we do whatever we want to do. We belong to Christ. We are Jesus’ servants. We are called to obey Jesus Christ. When we obey Jesus Christ, we are united with him and his transformation in us becomes a reality.

Before conversion, Paul was a very exclusive person. But through the grace of Jesus, he could embrace all the people of the world, who were different from him. In order to call others to the obedience, we must first overcome our exclusiveness in obedience to Jesus Christ. We are saved not because we have done anything good but only because of God’s grace and mercy. The blessing of God’s grace in Jesus is remarkably great beyond our measure. We don’t fully understand why God chose us in the first place. But we know that he does not want us to enjoy God’s blessing by ourselves. He wants us to share it with our neighbors, friends, family members, campus students and those who are different from us. May the Lord help us to live up to God’s high calling grace as his servants and missionaries.

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