Romans 1

I'm going to write a series of articles on the book of Romans, which, as you know, is one of the more difficult and controversial books of the New Testament. This is not going to be a verse-by-verse analysis by any means, but I will write a lengthy article on each chapter of this sixteen-chapter book. I hope that you find this helpful...

Let's begin today by examining Romans 1.

In the first seven verses of this chapter, the apostle Paul introduces the letter, and his introduction here is very similar to some of the other introductions he wrote for his other epistles. He basically identifies himself in verse one as the author and reminds his audience that he is indeed an apostle of Jesus Christ. Then, in verses 2-4, the apostle reminds the brethren in Rome of the character and purpose of Jesus Christ. Jesus is Lord (vv. 3) and because He is both the Son of God and the Son of David, and because He was raised from the dead, He is the rightful Messiah of Israel (vv. 3-4). Through him we obtain grace, which of course, is a reference to salvation by grace which is found ONLY in Christ (vv. 5). Finally, in verse seven, Paul greets "all who are in Rome, beloved of God, called to be saints." Certainly, those of us who are Christians are saints just the same; each one of us is beloved of God; we're special to Him.

Next, in verses 8-15, Paul describes the extent of his relationship with the Roman Christians, and he shares with them his desire to come and work with them in Rome. In verse eight, he says, "First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all, that your faith is spoken of throughout the whole world." This point is worthy of our consideration as there are several lessons for us in this one verse. First of all, we ought to be thankful for one another as brothers and sisters in Christ. If our spiritual relationships are cold and formal, then something is wrong. We need to yearn for one another and prefer the company of brethren more than the company of sinners. Paul had heard of their faith, and it not only motivated him, but he was very eager to come and help them.

Beginning in verse 16, Paul moves past his introductory remarks and into the main part of the epistle. He says here, "For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek." As we're going to see, the Christians at that time were divided when it came to the Jewish-Greek issue. There were Jews who boasted because of their physical heritage, and then there were Greeks, or Gentiles, who boasted because God had granted them repentance unto life. Paul reminds them here at the outset that the same gospel saves all of us.

This gospel, or faith (system of beliefs) leads to personal faith. As Paul says later in 10:17, "So then faith (personal faith) comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God (the faith)."

In the rest of the chapter (vv. 18-32), Paul addresses the sins of the Gentiles in great detail. The basic point is this: that even though the Gentiles did not receive the Mosaic law (as the Jews did), God did manifest Himself to them in creation (the natural world); yet they rejected God by perverting His character and His nature and in the end, they became completely and thoroughly engulfed in their own passions and sinful desires. As we're going to see in chapters 2-3, Paul is emphasizing the sinfulness of the Gentiles as well as the Jews, that all equally needed salvation.

In Romans 1:20, Paul says, "For since the creation of the world, His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse." Any person can look at the physical world and not only learn that there is a Creator, but they can recognize certain attributes of God, namely His eternal power and Godhead, or divine nature. But the Gentiles in times past (I believe that Paul is decribing the time before Christ's blood was shed), "suppress[ed] the truth" by ignoring these attributes of God. Instead of worshiping God, they perverted the truth and developed a system of paganism and polytheism. The text says that they "changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man--and birds and four-footed animals and creeping things." While this physical world is the product of God's design, it is wrong to worship the elements of creation. Instead, we need to worship the creator.

Paul goes on to say that when the Gentiles changed the nature of God, that God "also gave them up to uncleanness" (vv. 24). There is an interesting concept here. When we worship God as He truly is, and we seek to worship Him His way, we are going to be more pure and holy, but when we change who God is and we seek to worship Him our way, the result is the we embark on a journey that takes us deeper and deeper into sin and corruption.

Here in this text, Paul specifically mentioned homosexuality (vv. 26-27). Both homosexuality and lesbianism are "against nature" for reasons that ought to be obvious to us. While we ought to treat all people, including homosexuals, with love and kindness, we ought to recognize that the behavior is immoral and sinful.

As Paul closes the chapter, he lists a number of other sins for which the Gentiles were known. Because they did not retain God in their knowledge, He "gave them over to a debased mind, to do those things which are not fitting" (vv. 28). Not only did they know that these things (vv. 29-31) were sinful, but they celebrated their sinfulness and encouraged others to do the same (vv. 32). This just goes to show that even though sinful people often try to justify their lifestyles outwardly...inwardly, they know that they are wrong. In the end, they will face God's wrath.