Tyndale Open Study Notes

Verse 1

1:1-17 These verses contain the normal features of New Testament letter introductions: an identification of the writer (1:1-6) and readers (1:7), a thanksgiving (1:8-15), and the theme of the letter (1:16-17).

1:1 slave of Christ Jesus: The word slave is used of important Old Testament leaders of God’s people, such as Moses (2 Kgs 18:12), Joshua (Josh 24:29), Elijah (2 Kgs 10:10), and David (2 Sam 7:8). The title underscores Paul’s complete subservience to Christ as Lord. • sent out (literally set apart): Paul may be alluding to being set apart by God for his mission before he was born, as the prophet Jeremiah was (Jer 1:5). He may also be referring to God’s call at the time of his Damascus Road conversion (Acts 9:15-16; cp. Acts 13:2), to preach the Good News to Jews and especially to Gentiles. • The Good News, or “gospel,” is a recurrent topic in the opening of the letter (Rom 1:1, 9, 15, 16). Paul takes the word from the Old Testament, where the Hebrew equivalent refers to the victory that God wins for his people (Isa 40:9; 41:27; 60:6; 61:1; Nah 1:15; see Joel 2:32).

Verse 3

1:3-4 In the Greek, these verses are in carefully structured parallel form; Paul might be quoting an early Christian creed or hymn about Jesus Christ as God’s Son in order to establish common ground with the Roman Christians, whom he had never visited.

1:3 In his earthly life (literally As regards the flesh): Paul often uses “flesh” (Greek sarx) to refer to bodily existence in this world (e.g., 4:1; 8:3). • Paul refers to King David’s family line because God promised that a descendant of David would be the Messiah and would be given an eternal kingdom (2 Sam 7:13-16; see Isa 9:7; Jer 33:15). Jesus was born into David’s line (Matt 1:6; Luke 1:27, 32), so he was qualified to fulfill God’s promise.

Verse 4

1:4 he was shown to be: Although Jesus eternally existed as the Son of God (1:3), his resurrection demonstrated him to be God’s Son, revealing him in all his power and glory.

Verse 5

1:5 given us . . . apostles: Here Paul might have been thinking both of himself and of the other apostles, or he might be using an editorial plural to refer only to himself. • Privilege and authority could specify two separate things, but one might explain the other, as in the privilege of having apostolic authority. Paul always makes it clear that his distinctive authority is a gift from God (see also 15:15-16). • so that they will believe and obey him: This summary of Paul’s purpose in preaching to Gentiles brackets the book of Romans, as he repeats the same idea in slightly different language at the end of the letter (16:26). Paul wanted Gentiles to believe in Jesus Christ; he underscored that believing in Jesus Christ as the Lord entails a commitment to obey him. Faith and obedience are not identical, but one does not occur without the other.

Verse 7

1:7 To be holy means to be set apart for God. This expression is used throughout the Old Testament to describe Israel, God’s chosen people (cp. Exod 19:6), whom God called from among all other nations to be his own. By calling the Gentile Christians his own holy people, Paul makes it clear that Gentiles are now fully included among God’s people.

Verse 9

1:9 When Paul uses the phrase with all my heart (or in my spirit), he might be describing the influence of God’s Holy Spirit on his own inner person. The word spirit also refers to the deepest part of a person, which the phrase all my heart expresses well.

Verse 11

1:11 some spiritual gift: Paul is probably referring to the spiritual benefit that he hopes his ministry will bring to the Roman Christians.

Verse 13

1:13 brothers and sisters: This Greek word (adelphoi) describes people who are in a familial relationship. Paul and other New Testament writers use this word to indicate that Christians are so intimately tied to one another in Christ that they are family. The word refers to both male and female Christians. • I was prevented until now: Paul wrote this letter when he was in Corinth toward the end of his third missionary journey (see Acts 20:2-4; cp. Rom 16:21-23). The need to plant and nourish churches in the eastern Mediterranean had occupied Paul up to this point. Before he could visit the Roman Christians, he first needed to return to Jerusalem to deliver a gift of money collected from the Gentile churches for the impoverished Jewish Christians (15:23-29).

Verse 14

1:14 to people in both the civilized world and the rest of the world (literally to Greeks and barbarians): The Greeks prided themselves on being sophisticated and cultured, while regarding people from other cultures as inferior. They mocked other peoples’ poorly spoken Greek, claiming that they could only say “bar bar,” a nonsense phrase from which our word barbarian comes. Paul uses this cultural divide to emphasize his intention to preach the Good News to all kinds of people.

Verse 16

1:16 Paul consistently emphasizes that the Good News is for everyone. He also insists that God first chose the Jews to be his people, made promises to them, and gave them a unique place in the continuing plan of God (3:1-8; 9:1-5). They have a special responsibility to respond to the Good News and will be judged first if they turn away (2:9-10).

Verse 17

1:17 how God makes us right in his sight (literally the righteousness of God): This key phrase appears eight times in Romans (see also 3:5, 21, 22, 25, 26; 10:3; the only other occurrence in Paul’s writings is 2 Cor 5:21). The expression has Old Testament roots, where God’s righteousness refers to his character (as holy or faithful) or to an act of declaring his people sinless and perfect in his eyes (see especially Isa 46:13; 51:5-8). Paul uses the second meaning in this verse. The Good News has the power to save because it is the fulfillment of God’s promise to vindicate his people. • The phrase makes us right comes from the law court. It does not mean “makes us good people”; it means “puts us in right standing before God.” • “It is through faith that a righteous person has life”: The prophet Habakkuk had struggled to understand how God could use pagan nations to judge his own people Israel. God reminded Habakkuk that his true people—the righteous—need to live by faith (Hab 2:4). In Rom 1–4, Paul repeatedly insists that only through faith can human beings be made right in God’s sight.

Verse 18

1:18–3:20 Paul delays exploring the theme of righteousness through faith (see 3:21) until after he first teaches about universal sinfulness. Gentiles (1:18-32) and Jews (2:1–3:8) are equally under sin’s power and cannot find favor with God by any action of their own (3:9-20).

1:18 God’s anger is not a spontaneous emotional outburst, but the holy God’s necessary response to sin. The Old Testament often depicts God’s anger (Exod 32:10-12; Num 11:1; Jer 21:3-7) and predicts a decisive outpouring of God’s wrath on human sin at the end of history. While Paul usually depicts God’s anger as occurring in the end times (Rom 2:5, 8; 5:9; Col 3:6; 1 Thes 1:10), the present tense of shows refers to God’s expressions of anger throughout human history.

Verse 21

1:21 To know God in Scripture usually means to have an intimate, saving relationship with him (see 2 Cor 5:16; Gal 4:9; Phil 3:8, 10). Here, however, they knew God means that people knew about God. All people have some understanding of God through creation, yet they do not do what is right based on that knowledge. Rather than learn more about God, they worship gods of their own making.

Verse 24

1:24 When human beings exchanged the living God for idols, God abandoned them, a point Paul makes twice more in this paragraph (1:26, 28). The word abandon includes a sense of “handing over,” suggesting that God actively consigns people to the consequences of their sin.

Verse 26

1:26 women turned against the natural way: In this context, natural way refers to the nature of the world as God made it. As in the Old Testament, Paul singles out homosexuality as a key illustration of how people have fallen away from worship of the true God (see Gen 19:1-28; Lev 18:22; 20:13; Deut 23:17-18). God created human beings as male and female, and engaging in homosexual activity is a violation of God’s creative intention.

Verse 27

1:27 suffered within themselves the penalty they deserved: When people abandon the Creator’s intentions, they are judged for their actions. This judgment can take many different forms, but the ultimate consequence is spiritual death (see 1:32).

Verse 28

1:28 thought it foolish: Sin affects our actions and even our thoughts. One of the serious consequences of turning away from God is an unsound mind; people can no longer use their minds as God intended.

Verse 29

1:29-31 This list of sins follows a popular Hellenistic literary form called a vice list. While not exhaustive, it reminds readers of various forms that evil might take.

Verse 32

1:32 To encourage others to sin is worse than sinning oneself (Jas 3:1; cp. Testament of Asher 6:2: “The two-faced are doubly punished because they both practice evil and approve of others who practice it; they imitate the spirits of error and join in the struggle against mankind”).