"Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God, 2 which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy Scriptures, 3 concerning his Son, who was descended from David according to the flesh 4 and was declared to be the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord, 5 through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith for the sake of his name among all the nations, 6 including you who are called to belong to Jesus Christ." -Romans 1:1-6 ESV
To begin with, we have Paul, a man who really was the worst of the worst, a killer of Christians, one who was willing to kill every Christian who he could get his hands on. And yet, this man was remarkably changed. This alone shows me that anyone can turn from any sin and walk with Christ. If a murderer of Christians can repent and become one of those that he was killing then I believe anyone can turn from any sin. This is a great encouragement to me, that I don't have to continue in my sin, although Paul was walking away from a much more outward sin, it means that God through the Holy Spirit really can give complete freedom from any sin.
Servant, is a word that we don't really understand in our culture. Here in our culture it is someone who lives with rich people in a mansion and cooks their food and cleans their house, and is really just a housekeeper. In the times of Paul writing to the Romans though, this was a person who was in bondage to another, who may have earned money to eventually buy his or her freedom, but was really almost a slave. So what Paul is saying here is that he is a slave of Christ, that he is willingly in bondage to Him and will do whatever He says to do no matter what. This is a really difficult thing to follow in my own life, I am a husband and father of one, soon two, and my family so often comes first in my mind, not Christ and so I don't always just do what He says without thinking. It is something that has weighed on my heart so much lately and something that I really want to change.
Christ Jesus. Really, this is the most important part of this passage. Here is where Paul tells us who it is all about, there really would not be this letter or this book without Christ. As a believer, Christ is the most important, he is our Lord, our Savior, the one and only God. He came from heaven and was born as a human being, lived a perfect life and then died on a cross as a perfect sacrifice for our sins. The blood of a perfect man was spilled so that we could be saved, and the blood of God was spilled so that we could be saved. He died and was buried and then three days later rose from death, thereby conquering Satan, sin, death, hell and the wrath of God so that we would not have to endure those things. And then after forty days he ascended into heaven and now sits at the right hand of God. The most important person to ever live on the earth and Paul is willing to go and do whatever He wants.
The next thing I want to focus on is that Paul was Called by Jesus. In our lives we will probably not have the kind of calling that Paul had. Christ appeared to Paul in a flash of light, blinding him and telling him to go and be healed by a Christian, whom he hated, and then to follow Him. Paul was called in a very literal way to ministry for Christ. In my life, the calling has been a lot different. I have been called to be a pastor, the reason I know this is because of a lot of things. First, when I read the scriptures about pastors and what they are to do and how they are to be, it rings true to my passions. Second, I feel in my heart that God is calling me into a pastoral ministry. Third, Godly men in my life have said that they see a pastor in me, and that I should go in that direction. Often in our lives, God shows us where he has called us by the people around us, the passions he has given us and the words in his Holy Scripture. If we are truly committed to following Jesus in that role of Servant, he will reveal to us what his calling is on our life.
Apostle is a very interesting word, we use it a lot as Christians in our churches and we see it a lot in the Bible. What it is, really is an amazing thing. When a Jewish Rabbi was at a point where he was teaching the Jewish scriptures, he would have young men in their teens and early twenties come to him and ask him if they could follow him and become one of their disciples or apostles. If the Rabbi said yes, then these young men would follow this Rabbi wherever he went, they wanted to hear every single word that came out of his mouth and so would often be covered in the dust that came off of their Rabbi's sandals. What was different about Jesus, is that instead of men coming to him and requesting to be His apostles, Jesus went out and chose for Himself those whom He wanted to teach. These men He chose though, were not the smartest or the most gifted and Jesus wanted to show that it is the ordinary people who have ordinary jobs that He will call to be His apostles. We now have the privilege of walking behind Jesus, getting covered in the dust from His sandals so to speak and hear and learn every single thing that Jesus says.
The next word here that I want to unpack is the word Gospel. It is a word that is misunderstood by Christians and Non-Christians alike. We often think that it is Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. These are the gospels for sure, but THE Gospel is the story of how Jesus saves us. This is so important to understand, when Paul is saying that he is 'Set apart for the Gospel', he is set apart to be saved by that Gospel that he is speaking of. This is something that I just want to emphasize to anyone who is reading this.
Which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy Scriptures. This line is really important to me that I talk through. This is where Paul is really backing up his claims with a really great argument. If you look through what we now call the Old Testament of the Bible, you will see in many places, prophecies concerning a Messiah that is to come to the earth to save the people of the earth from their sins and to give them everlasting life. These prophecies were written hundreds if not thousands of years before the birth of Christ and they narrow down who could possibly be the messiah to a very precise person. The prophecies range from where this Messiah is to be born, before what date He is to be born and what kind of mother this Messiah was supposed to have. These all point to Jesus Christ and His birth in Bethlehem, before the Temple was destroyed in Seventy AD and to the person of Mary who was a virgin when she gave birth, through the miracle of the Holy Spirit. These claims that Paul gives are not just empty claims of a man that wants to lead others astray, but the claims of someone who has facts to back up what he is saying.
Who is Jesus? We often think of Him as modern pictures and movies portray him, as a guy in a dress with long hair who speaks like Confucius, somehow glows and hangs around with sheep and children. Now Jesus did do some of these things, He loved children and he did say some pretty cool things, but Jesus is so much more than that. He was Declared to be the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness. Power, and yes, he was humble and washed His apostles feet, and yes he chose not to use that power when he was hung up on a cross to die as our savior, but he has power according to the Holy Spirit. The third member of what we as Christians call the trinity, the Holy Spirit was upon the first member of the trinity, Jesus Christ in power and in Holiness. This is something that I think is serving to really hurt the church in that who wants to come and worship some guy that just gave us some good advice. We worship a God who is powerful, who is mighty, and who is Holy and worthy of our worship.
We have received grace, isn't that a wonderful thing to know. This is really where Christianity stands out among the religions of the world. We don't have to work to be saved, we don't have to do a big checklist of things in order to go to heaven, all we have to do is believe that Jesus is God and believe that God raised Him from the dead and we are saved. This is an amazing thing to me. I know that I am going to Heaven, because I trust that Jesus will save me. It allows me to live my life with purpose, following Him and telling others about Him. It is an amazing and wonderful way to live life, with the knowledge that you are saved and chosen by God to spend eternity with Him. And it is a free gift, remember that. Free.
Obedience of Faith, is something that I don't really fully understand. I know that we are to be obedient to Christ, not because we have to but because we want to out of love for what He did for us. This obedience comes from faith, because if we don't have faith in something that we haven't seen, we won't obey. So I think that what Paul is saying to us is out of your faith, obey Christ and what He says to do.
Among all the nations including you! Paul was not writing this letter to a bunch of Jews who were God's chosen people. He was writing to a people who were a lot like us. They had a lot of sexual perversion in their society, and also a lot of atheism. Each person really thought of themselves as the highest thing in life and others were not thought of as better or higher than themselves. Much like it is in our society today. But this gospel, this good news of Christ is for you and for me and for anyone who accepts what Jesus Christ has done for us and can do through us.
I think that wraps up my post for today, thanks for coming by and reading, feel free to comment on anything you read here, remember I want to be sharpened and I want to sharpen you. I would ask that you be respectful of me and of others who are commenting, and I look forward to the next post which will continue on in Romans 1.
Thanks again.
Forrest
Christ Jesus. Really, this is the most important part of this passage. Here is where Paul tells us who it is all about, there really would not be this letter or this book without Christ. As a believer, Christ is the most important, he is our Lord, our Savior, the one and only God. He came from heaven and was born as a human being, lived a perfect life and then died on a cross as a perfect sacrifice for our sins. The blood of a perfect man was spilled so that we could be saved, and the blood of God was spilled so that we could be saved. He died and was buried and then three days later rose from death, thereby conquering Satan, sin, death, hell and the wrath of God so that we would not have to endure those things. And then after forty days he ascended into heaven and now sits at the right hand of God. The most important person to ever live on the earth and Paul is willing to go and do whatever He wants.
The next thing I want to focus on is that Paul was Called by Jesus. In our lives we will probably not have the kind of calling that Paul had. Christ appeared to Paul in a flash of light, blinding him and telling him to go and be healed by a Christian, whom he hated, and then to follow Him. Paul was called in a very literal way to ministry for Christ. In my life, the calling has been a lot different. I have been called to be a pastor, the reason I know this is because of a lot of things. First, when I read the scriptures about pastors and what they are to do and how they are to be, it rings true to my passions. Second, I feel in my heart that God is calling me into a pastoral ministry. Third, Godly men in my life have said that they see a pastor in me, and that I should go in that direction. Often in our lives, God shows us where he has called us by the people around us, the passions he has given us and the words in his Holy Scripture. If we are truly committed to following Jesus in that role of Servant, he will reveal to us what his calling is on our life.
Apostle is a very interesting word, we use it a lot as Christians in our churches and we see it a lot in the Bible. What it is, really is an amazing thing. When a Jewish Rabbi was at a point where he was teaching the Jewish scriptures, he would have young men in their teens and early twenties come to him and ask him if they could follow him and become one of their disciples or apostles. If the Rabbi said yes, then these young men would follow this Rabbi wherever he went, they wanted to hear every single word that came out of his mouth and so would often be covered in the dust that came off of their Rabbi's sandals. What was different about Jesus, is that instead of men coming to him and requesting to be His apostles, Jesus went out and chose for Himself those whom He wanted to teach. These men He chose though, were not the smartest or the most gifted and Jesus wanted to show that it is the ordinary people who have ordinary jobs that He will call to be His apostles. We now have the privilege of walking behind Jesus, getting covered in the dust from His sandals so to speak and hear and learn every single thing that Jesus says.
The next word here that I want to unpack is the word Gospel. It is a word that is misunderstood by Christians and Non-Christians alike. We often think that it is Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. These are the gospels for sure, but THE Gospel is the story of how Jesus saves us. This is so important to understand, when Paul is saying that he is 'Set apart for the Gospel', he is set apart to be saved by that Gospel that he is speaking of. This is something that I just want to emphasize to anyone who is reading this.
Which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy Scriptures. This line is really important to me that I talk through. This is where Paul is really backing up his claims with a really great argument. If you look through what we now call the Old Testament of the Bible, you will see in many places, prophecies concerning a Messiah that is to come to the earth to save the people of the earth from their sins and to give them everlasting life. These prophecies were written hundreds if not thousands of years before the birth of Christ and they narrow down who could possibly be the messiah to a very precise person. The prophecies range from where this Messiah is to be born, before what date He is to be born and what kind of mother this Messiah was supposed to have. These all point to Jesus Christ and His birth in Bethlehem, before the Temple was destroyed in Seventy AD and to the person of Mary who was a virgin when she gave birth, through the miracle of the Holy Spirit. These claims that Paul gives are not just empty claims of a man that wants to lead others astray, but the claims of someone who has facts to back up what he is saying.
Who is Jesus? We often think of Him as modern pictures and movies portray him, as a guy in a dress with long hair who speaks like Confucius, somehow glows and hangs around with sheep and children. Now Jesus did do some of these things, He loved children and he did say some pretty cool things, but Jesus is so much more than that. He was Declared to be the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness. Power, and yes, he was humble and washed His apostles feet, and yes he chose not to use that power when he was hung up on a cross to die as our savior, but he has power according to the Holy Spirit. The third member of what we as Christians call the trinity, the Holy Spirit was upon the first member of the trinity, Jesus Christ in power and in Holiness. This is something that I think is serving to really hurt the church in that who wants to come and worship some guy that just gave us some good advice. We worship a God who is powerful, who is mighty, and who is Holy and worthy of our worship.
We have received grace, isn't that a wonderful thing to know. This is really where Christianity stands out among the religions of the world. We don't have to work to be saved, we don't have to do a big checklist of things in order to go to heaven, all we have to do is believe that Jesus is God and believe that God raised Him from the dead and we are saved. This is an amazing thing to me. I know that I am going to Heaven, because I trust that Jesus will save me. It allows me to live my life with purpose, following Him and telling others about Him. It is an amazing and wonderful way to live life, with the knowledge that you are saved and chosen by God to spend eternity with Him. And it is a free gift, remember that. Free.
Obedience of Faith, is something that I don't really fully understand. I know that we are to be obedient to Christ, not because we have to but because we want to out of love for what He did for us. This obedience comes from faith, because if we don't have faith in something that we haven't seen, we won't obey. So I think that what Paul is saying to us is out of your faith, obey Christ and what He says to do.
Among all the nations including you! Paul was not writing this letter to a bunch of Jews who were God's chosen people. He was writing to a people who were a lot like us. They had a lot of sexual perversion in their society, and also a lot of atheism. Each person really thought of themselves as the highest thing in life and others were not thought of as better or higher than themselves. Much like it is in our society today. But this gospel, this good news of Christ is for you and for me and for anyone who accepts what Jesus Christ has done for us and can do through us.
I think that wraps up my post for today, thanks for coming by and reading, feel free to comment on anything you read here, remember I want to be sharpened and I want to sharpen you. I would ask that you be respectful of me and of others who are commenting, and I look forward to the next post which will continue on in Romans 1.
Thanks again.
Forrest
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