Introduction and greeting
Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle and set apart for the gospel of God—2 the gospel he promised beforehand through his prophets in the Holy Scriptures 3 regarding his Son, who as to his human nature was a descendant of David, 4 and who as to his spirit of holiness was declared with power to be the Son of God by his resurrection from the dead: Jesus Christ our Lord.
In ancient times the standard form used for beginning a letter differed somewhat from what we’re accustomed to. We place the author’s signature at the end of the letter; the ancients put it up front. The letter to the Romans opens with the first word of the first verse identifying Paul as the author.
A second item always stated up front in ancient letters was an indication of whom the letter was intended for. That comes in verse 7 of Paul’s letter, where the recipients are identified as “all in Rome who are loved by God and called to be saints.”
The third standard item in every ancient letter was a greeting. Here in Romans the greeting, “Grace and peace to you from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ,” is very similar to the phrase that opens virtually all of Paul’s New Testament letters.
What is unusual about the letter to the Romans is the extensive treatment given the first item, namely, the author describing himself and his message. That description occupies verses 1 to 5. In it Paul calls himself “a servant of Christ Jesus.” Literally, he says he is a slave, a person who doesn’t follow his own will but who takes orders. Paul was in the service of Christ Jesus. His particular task had been shaped by his having been “called to be an apostle.” An apostle, by definition, is one who has been sent out. Paul was “called to be an apostle.” On his own he never would have chosen to be one. Recall that formerly he was Saul, the great persecutor of Christians. This Saul was so opposed to Christians that he not only persecuted Christians in Jerusalem, but he even went out looking for them in the outlying areas. In the course of Saul’s trip to Damascus to arrest Christians there, Jesus met Saul on the road, struck him blind, and brusquely confronted him with the stern rebuke, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?” (Acts 9:4).
Paul did not choose to become a Christian. Rather, God called him and “set [him] apart for the gospel” (1:1). When Ananias, the pious Christian whom the Lord sent to minister to Paul in his blindness, objected to going near this flagrant persecutor, God told him, “Go! This man is my chosen instrument to carry my name before the Gentiles and their kings and before the people of Israel” (Acts 9:15). Paul truly was chosen by God and set apart for the gospel.
Mention of the gospel sets Paul off in a different direction, moving from the description of himself to an extended description of the gospel of which he is a privileged servant and apostle.
He describes this message as “the gospel he [God] promised beforehand through his prophets in the Holy Scriptures regarding his Son, who as to his human nature was a descendant of David, and who through the Spirit of holiness was declared with power to be the Son of God by his resurrection from the dead: Jesus Christ our Lord” (1:2-4).
When Paul calls himself God’s “servant,” he is using a term that was a standard description for Old Testament prophets (Ezra 9:10,11; Jeremiah 7:25; Daniel 9:6; Amos 3:7). And it is with good reason that Paul identifies himself with God’s Old Testament servants, the prophets. The gospel he is preaching is really the same message they already had proclaimed. They had pointed to the Messiah, the promised Christ, who was to come into the world as Savior and Redeemer. Paul’s gospel message proclaims and extols that same Christ, who now has come. Paul can claim that his gospel is one that God proclaimed “beforehand through his prophets in the Holy Scriptures regarding his Son” (1:2,3). Paul tells the Romans at the outset of his letter that he really is saying nothing new. His message is in line with what God’s servants, the prophets, had foretold.
And what was that message? At its core it is the claim that true God and true man are united in one and the same person in Christ. Paul expresses that truth in a set of parallel expressions (verses 3,4). That parallel, however, is better reflected in the rendering the NIV (1984) translators have put into their footnote than in what they have chosen for the text. The footnote reads “who as to his spirit” of holiness rather than their first choice, “who through the Spirit of holiness.”
Note the difference. In the footnote spirit is lowercased and refers to Christ’s “spirit of holiness,” in distinction to the uppercase Spirit, which would refer to the Holy Spirit. Literally, Paul says that his gospel is a message about God’s Son:
who, in relation to his flesh, was born of the seed of David and
who, in relation to his spirit of holiness, was declared to be the Son of God.
He became true man, the seed of David, when he was born of Mary, but from eternity he always was true God. He didn’t become the Son of God; rather, he was declared, he was powerfully shown as such by his resurrection.
Of the many miracles the God-man did while here on earth, the crowning miracle was his resurrection after he had died as our substitute. His perfect life earned righteousness for us. His innocent death paid for our many sins and misdeeds. The Father’s raising him from the dead proves that he is indeed the Savior, totally acceptable to his heavenly Father.
Paul calls this God-man “Jesus Christ our Lord.” We have come to understand that combination as a simple title, which is all well and good, but in a greater sense, every word of that four-word expression is individually significant.
The name Jesus means “Savior” and was given to the Son of Mary born in Bethlehem.
Christ means “the Anointed One,” the Messiah, God’s Son, who deigned to take on human flesh so that he could die as the sinner’s substitute. In so doing he redeemed sinners—he bought them back—at the price of his lifeblood so that they are now his. He is their owner, their lord and master.
But the key word that personalizes the whole expression is the possessive adjective our. By faith we receive all the benefits he came to bring. By faith he is our Lord, as he was Paul’s Lord.
Under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, Paul had come to accept Jesus Christ as his Lord, and he now proclaims Christ as the heart of the gospel message that he is about to share with his Roman readers.