Paul, a slave of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle and set apart for the gospel of God, 2 which he promised previously through his prophets in the holy scriptures, 3 the gospel about his Son, descended from David according to the flesh, 4 but established as Son of God in power according to the spirit of holiness through resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord. 5 Through him we have received the grace of apostleship, to bring about the obedience of faith, for the sake of his name, among all the Gentiles, 6 among whom are you also, who are called to belong to Jesus Christ; 7 to all the beloved of God in Rome, called to be holy. Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Paul is writing to believers he has not yet met in person, so he tells them who he is and what message God has charged him to announce.
He first calls himself “a slave of Christ Jesus” (v. 1). Paul is not trying to demean himself. He is describing a life of undivided belonging. To belong to Christ is to be claimed by one Lord, not pulled in competing directions. This is the same basic point Jesus makes when he teaches that no one can serve two masters (Lk. 16:13). Paul is saying his allegiance is firm, and his whole life is directed toward the Lord he serves.
He then says he is “called to be an apostle” and “set apart for the gospel of God” (v. 1). The emphasis is not that Paul chose this role for himself, but that he was called into it and assigned to it. “Set apart” carries the sense of being marked out for a mission that comes from God. Paul wants the Romans to see that the letter they are reading does not come from personal ambition. It comes from a vocation tied to a message. Paul’s language fits what Jesus taught: the greatest is the one who serves, not the one who seeks status (Mk. 10:42-45).
That message is “the gospel of God” (v. 1). Paul immediately anchors it in the Old Testament: it is what God “promised previously through his prophets in the holy scriptures” (v. 2). In other words, the gospel is not a break from Israel’s story. It is God fulfilling what he has already been saying and doing through the Scriptures of Israel. Paul will spend the rest of the letter showing this continuity again and again.
Paul then states the heart of the gospel “about his Son” (v. 3). He holds together two truths. Jesus is truly human and truly the promised king: he is “descended from David according to the flesh” (v. 3). Paul is placing Jesus within the line of Israel’s hope for a Davidic Messiah, the anointed ruler from David’s house. At the same time, Paul says Jesus is “established as Son of God in power according to the spirit of holiness through resurrection from the dead” (v. 4). This does not mean Jesus became the Son of God only when he rose. It means that, in the resurrection, the truth of who he is is now revealed and displayed with new force. He is the eternal Son who became man when he was conceived in Mary’s womb by the Holy Spirit (Mt. 1:18-20; Lk. 1:35). The resurrection is the decisive public act of God that shows Jesus’ sonship “in power.” It is also why Paul ends this confession with a title of worship: “Jesus Christ our Lord” (v. 4).
Because this gospel centers on the risen Lord, Paul can speak of what Christ does through him. “Through him we have received the grace of apostleship” (v. 5). Here Paul is speaking of himself and his coworkers, not of every believer. Paul is saying that this mission is a gift, not a personal achievement. And the goal of that mission is “to bring about the obedience of faith” among “all the Gentiles” (v. 5). Faith, for Paul, is not only agreement in the mind. It is trusting God and entrusting oneself to him. That kind of faith produces obedience. It is faith that listens, receives, and then follows. This is why Paul sees his work as reaching beyond Israel to the nations. It fits the risen Jesus’ command that repentance and forgiveness be proclaimed to all nations (Lk. 24:47).
Paul then turns directly to his readers. They, too, are “called to belong to Jesus Christ” (v. 6). The gospel is not merely information about God. It is a claim upon people. It gathers them into a new belonging. So Paul addresses the Christians in Rome as “beloved of God” and “called to be holy” (v. 7). “Called to be holy” echoes Israel’s identity as a people set apart for the Lord. Paul applies this language to the Church in Rome to show that God is forming a people dedicated to him, now made up of both Jews and Gentiles who respond to the gospel. Holiness here is not a compliment for moral perfection. It is a vocation. God sets people apart for himself, and then calls them to live in a way that fits what he has already given. Holiness is not a self-made identity. It is a life that grows from belonging to God.
Paul closes with, “Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ” (Rom. 1:7). That blessing gathers up what he has already said: the gospel is God’s work, promised beforehand in the holy Scriptures, and now made known in “his Son” (Rom. 1:2-4). Matthew’s account of Joseph and the child does not function as a proof-text for Paul, nor does Paul depend on Matthew. Rather, the two inspired writers speak with a single voice because the source of their teaching is the same Holy Spirit.
Paul proclaims the Son as truly descended from David “according to the flesh” and revealed in power through the resurrection (Rom. 1:3-4). Matthew recounts the Son’s entry into David’s house and into our human history, conceived by the Holy Spirit and named “Jesus” because he will save his people from their sins (Mt. 1:18-21). Together they show the uniformity of God’s plan: the same Son who truly comes among us to save is the Son who truly dies and is raised, and from that one saving work flow the very gifts Paul announces to the Church—grace from God and peace that comes from being reconciled to him in Jesus Christ our Lord (Rom. 1:4, 7).
Written in the mid-50s, Romans already echoes an established early confession about Jesus (Rom. 1:3-4), which suggests that what Paul and the evangelists proclaim was already being handed on in the Church’s living apostolic tradition before it was fixed in the written Gospels.
Lord Jesus Christ, set my heart apart for your gospel. Grant me a faith that trusts you and obeys you, and let your grace and your peace shape my life. Amen.
___________________
Sources and References
- The Holy Bible, New American Bible, Revised Edition (2011).
- Scott Hahn and Curtis Mitch, The Ignatius Catholic Study Bible: Romans (Ignatius Press).
- Faculty of the University of Navarre, The Navarre Bible: Romans (Four Courts/Scepter).
- José Enrique Aguilar Chiu et al., eds., The Paulist Biblical Commentary (2018).
- Raymond E. Brown et al., The New Jerome Biblical Commentary (1990).
Comments