Let Me Introduce Myself Romans 1:1-6
I said last week that I wanted to spend some time looking at Paul’s letters and I decided that instead of bouncing from letter to letter I am just going to spend some time going through one letter and I picked Romans for a couple of reasons. One, although it is not the first letter Paul wrote the Holy Spirit placed it first in the way his letters are arraigned in scripture so this tells me it is important. Second, if someone has no background in Christianity at all and wants to learn, the Gospels are important but I also point them to Romans because it is like the Readers Digest condensed version of the entire Bible.
Verse 1, “Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle and set apart for the Gospel of God.” He introduces himself as Paul a servant of Christ, but when we first meet this servant, this writer of half of the New Testament, he is called Saul and he is anything but a servant of Christ.
A little bit about Saul. He was a Greek Jew from Tarsus. His family was Diaspora Jews so Saul would have been raised under strict Judaism And as a young man he studied scripture and Jewish law under Gamaliel. Saul has been described as a Jew’s Jew by one of my professors; a man thoroughly knowledgeable in the laws, traditions and scripture of ancient Israel, and he was a rising star headed for leadership in the Sanhedrin. In Acts 7 the first martyr for Christ, Steven is stoned to death. And in Acts 8:1 it says, “And Saul approved his execution.” All this shows us Saul is prejudiced, opinionated, a persecutor and a killer.
Acts chapter nine describes Saul’s conversion. He was on his way to Damascus with letters from the High Priest allowing him to arrest Christians. And as we know, on that road a bright light knocked him to the ground and he came to have direct communication with Jesus; Acts 9:5, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting.”
Later in Acts 9 in verses 15-16 it says, “For Paul is my chosen instrument to take my message to the nations…I will show him how much he must suffer for me.” Paul did suffer, he lost all chance of rising to leadership and power in the Sanhedrin, and some believe he lost his wife. We know he was persecuted, marooned, jailed and we believe ultimately killed in Rome.
All of this is referenced in the short introduction of himself; Paul, a servant of Christ. He is no longer working for himself, no longer striving to climb the ladder of power in Israel. Whatever he does he does for the honor and glory of Christ. His life is given in total servitude to his Lord and Savior Christ Jesus.
Called to be an apostle; here he recognizes that all his plans, his studies, his work was all done for himself and all of it has been tossed aside. All that he planned to accomplish in his life is nothing because God in heaven called him to do work for heaven. Paul talks of this again in his introduction tin his letter to the Galatians, Galatians 1:1, “Paul an apostle – sent not from men nor by a man, but by Jesus Christ and God the Father, who raised him from the dead.”
And set apart for the Gospel of God; he knows he is set apart from those who don’t believe in God and his work is to advance the Gospel and the kingdom of God.
Our readings verses 2-3, “the Gospel he promised beforehand through his prophets in the Holy Scriptures regarding his Son…”
I remember in seminary one of the discussions was, “Why Paul, killer of Christians to teacher of the Word, doesn’t make sense? Actually it makes perfect sense in a number of ways. By using Paul God shows the world that no matter what you have done, no matter how you have lived, no matter our prejudices, and even despite our work against God; no one is beyond redemption and no one is beyond God using you for his purpose.
By using Paul God shows us teachers of the Word aren’t necessarily someone who studied a lifetime to see Christ in scripture. Paul’s position as a Jewish scholar meant he looked to scripture to prove Jesus is wrong. It is God who changed him and allowed him to see the truth of his scripture, that it all points to Christ.
By using Paul it shows us it’s not necessarily someone we’d expect to be teaching the Word. Son of Sam killer David Berkowitz is not someone I’d expect to bring others to Christ and yet he does. My early life would not have given you the idea I’d be here. This is a God thing, and I know I’m not that smart, it’s the Holy Spirit that directs my thoughts.
As to Paul, as a Jewish scholar he is in the perfect position to show the truth of Jesus through scripture; how Noah and his Ark show the end of time and salvation in Jesus, how the Passover shows God’s forgiveness through the sacrifice of Jesus, how Joseph shows us the life of Jesus and what the ancients should have been looking for to recognize Jesus as the Son of God, and the countless other scriptures that point to Christ.
By using Paul, a persecutor of Christians to bring the Word to the Gentiles, it gives men the understanding that if this man can change so drastically, there must be truth in it, there must be God’s hand in it. This thought may very well be the seed Paul waters and feeds as he preaches thereby bringing the full fruit of faith where it may not have flourished if it were advanced by someone other than Paul.
Again, Paul is a scholar well versed in scripture and he reminds his readers of that and reaffirms the ancient scriptures as truth to the new Roman Gentile Christians; verse 2, “the Gospel he promised beforehand through the prophets in the Holy Scriptures.” He is saying to them “Take heart, God is real and has been interested and interacting in the lives of men from the moment men walked the earth.
Verse 3, “regarding his Son…a descendent of David.” Confirmation that Jesus is God’s son sent to us. Again using scripture to show the truth of it; 2 Samuel 7:12-13 finds God talking with King David, “When your days are over and you rest with your ancestors, I will raise up your offspring to succeed you…and I will establish his kingdom. He is the one who build a house for my name and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever.”
Our verse 4, “…by his resurrection from the dead: Jesus Christ our Lord.” Again, believers of Rome take heart. This is not some god from a mystical land, this is not a god who is only a marble statue, this is not someone just trying to gain influence for himself. This is Jesus Christ who comes from the one true God and we have confidence in this because he lived, he died, and then by God’s power from heaven, Jesus lives again. This is powerful to his Roman readers. At that time Rome had a lot of ritual surrounding someone’s death with different god’s being involved but nowhere did someone who died come back to earth.
Romans 1:5, “Through him we received grace…” Roman gods such as Jupiter and Heracles could be asked to intervene for your earthly matters such as love or wealth. Our Lord Jesus intervenes on our behalf in the matter of God’s grace. That is God’s forgiveness of our sins, redemption of our souls, and sanctification of our lives and our place in eternity. Not only do we gain all this but we gain the privilege of apostleship, the joy and responsibility of sharing the Word and bringing others into the fold.
Verse 5 again, “…to call all the Gentiles to the obedience that comes from faith.” Paul is writing, “Believers in Rome, we are not here to condemn you, we are here for your benefit and eternal life by sharing Christ with you and helping you to see and accept the Lord.”
And finally verse 6, “And you are among those Gentiles who are called to belong to Jesus Christ.” In essence Paul is saying “Believers in Rome, we are not here to gloat over our salvation, not here to condemn you; we are here because God in heaven called you to be his and he sent us here to tell you. We are here to tell you that through the Lord Jesus you can now be joyful; hopeful and secure in life and in death because God himself has called you to him.” Verse 6 reaches out to us across the centuries for we can now be joyful and secure knowing that Almighty God has called us to be his.
Today we read Paul’s short introduction to his letter to the Roman Christians. I’ve said that every word in the Bible has meaning. Today we have six sentences with a lot of meaning.
Our God is the God of creation and he has been interested in you from before the moment of creation.
Our faith is not wrapped around some charismatic man who lived 2000 years ago, it’s proved true by thousands of years of documented works of God culminating in the cross and resurrection.
God’s grace and apostleship is given to everyone who accepts Christ. And when we accept the call of God we no longer work for ourselves, we work for God. I may work in a hospital but whether I advance in the hierarchy or not, whether it makes me wealthy or not, my work to help in the health of others comes from my devotion to my God and that is enough.
And last, three short comments on Paul. Paul’s conversion by his encounter with Jesus shows us Jesus is personally committed to each of you individually. Paul’s conversion from persecutor of Christians to the author of half of the New Testament shows us everyone no matter the past is redeemable in Christ and God can use the worst of us to do the best work for the kingdom.
And last; Saul changing his name to Paul following his conversion shows us that through our faith we are reborn in Christ, forever to known by a new name; children of the holy and living God. 2 Corinthians 5:17, “Therefore if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come. The old has gone and the new is here!”
Amen