Bible Commentaries
Romans 1

Verses 1-17

IX

PAUL’S SALUTATION, THANKSGIVING AND PRAYER

Romans 1:1-17.

The theme of this letter is found in Paul’s own words: "For I am not ashamed of the gospel: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. For therein is revealed a righteousness of God from faith unto faith: as it is written, But the righteous shall live by faith." This theme condensed is, The Gospel Plan of Salvation. But someone asks, "Why not ’Righteousness of God’ the theme?" Because this righteousness is only the means to the great end – "salvation."

THE SALUTATION (Romans 1:1-7)

We gather from the salutation the following things:

(1) The writer: "Paul." (2) Those addressed: "To all that are in Rome, beloved of God, called to be saints," i.e., Christians. (3) The salutation itself: "Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ." The writer is particularly described, (1) In his status, as a "servant of Jesus Christ." (2) In his office, as "called to be an apostle." (3) In his ordination, as "Separated unto the gospel of God." (4) In the direct object of his work, as "Unto obedience of faith among all nations," including the Romans themselves: "Among whom are ye also." (5) In the ultimate reason for his work, as "For his name’s sake."

His "gospel of God" is described, (1) As "promised afore through his prophets." (2) As recorded "in the holy scriptures." (3) "As concerning his Son."

That Son is described thus: (1) According to the flesh, the Son of David. (2) According to Spirit of Holiness, declared to be the Son of God with power by the resurrection from the dead. (3) As our "Messiah and Lord." (4) As the author of grace and apostleship.

THE THANKSGIVING (Romans 1:8)

The ground of thanksgiving is thus expressed: "That your faith is proclaimed throughout the whole world."

This universal proclamation of the faith of the Roman Christians may be accounted for as follows: Rome was the world’s capital and center of governmental unity. To and from it, over the great military roads and ship lines, were constant tides of travel and traffic, so that a whisper there reached the boundaries of the empire. To Paul, at least, working along these roads or sailing over these sea courses there came continual news of the progress of the gospel there. There were his kindred, his converts, his acquaintances from many lands, with whom he had constant communication.

THE PRAYER AND ITS REASON (Romans 1:9-15)

This prayer is thus expressed: "If by any means now at length I may be prospered by the will of God to come unto you." It is described, (1) As sincere: "God is my witness." (2) As unceasing: "How unceasingly I make mention of you, etc."

The reasons for this prayer are, (1) To impart some spiritual gift looking to their establishment. (2) For mutual comfort in each other’s faith. (3) That he might have some fruit in them as in other Gentiles. (4) Because he was a debtor to both Greeks and Barbarians, wise and foolish. (5) Because he was ready to preach at Rome as well as elsewhere. (6) He had been hindered in his purposes to visit them hitherto (see also Romans 15:22). (7) He was not ashamed of the gospel in any crowd.

The following conclusions may be drawn from this prayer: (1) That he counted Rome in the sphere allotted to him. (2) That on account of its central and political position as the world’s metropolis, its strategical importance as a radiating mission base surpassed all, others. (3) That the archenemy of the gospel understood this importance as well as Paul, and so far had barred him out of the field. Hence the necessity of this prayer. Twice in this letter he refers to this hindering of his purpose to come to them (Romans 1:13; Romans 15:22) and in 1 Thessalonians 2:18 we find that Satan is the hinderer. (4) We learn from Acts 23:11 that it was the Lord’s will for him to visit Rome according to this prayer, which says, "By the will of God." Thus we see Satan and his emissaries opposing Paul’s approach to Rome, while Paul was longing and praying to get there. God’s will overruling Satan’s will in answer to the prayer. And he prayed "if by any means," leaving that also to God, and we learn that he went in bonds (Acts 27:1; Acts 28:20). (5) This prayer with its reasons opens the way to a statement of the great theme of the letter.

Let us now analyze the theme of the letter (Romans 1:16-17). This theme involves the answer to these questions: What is the gospel, to whom addressed and on what terms, what its power, what the salvation unto which it leads, how is it a power to this end, what the righteousness revealed, what the meaning of "from faith unto faith," and what the varied uses of the quotation from Habakkuk? The gospel is the whole story of Christ’s mediatorial work as prophet, sacrifice, priest, king, leader and judge, addressed to the whole human race, whatever the nationality, sex, or social condition, on the terms of simple faith in Jesus as he is offered in the gospel, the power of which is God himself, i.e., God the Holy Spirit. The salvation unto which it leads consists generally in (1) What it does for us. (2) What it does in us. (3) What it leads us unto.

We find in this letter that Paul uses salvation in the sense of justification. Man is saved when he is justified; but in another part of the letter we hear him talking about a salvation that is to be revealed at the last day, and we hear Peter talking about that too. Then we, in this letter, also hear him speaking of salvation in its symbols – in its figures. When we get to Romans 6 we have salvation in baptism and in the Lord’s Supper – not actual salvation, but salvation pictorially presented. Then in this letter we hear him tell about the redemption of the soul, the buying back of the soul; then we hear him tell about the redemption of the earth on which man lives. So salvation is a big thing. Let us now define it. Salvation is the final, complete, and everlasting deliverance of the sinner’s entire soul and body from the guilt of sin, from the defilement of sin, from the dominion of sin, from the bondage of Satan, and the deliverance of mans’ habitat – this old world – from the curse upon it.

Note now what it is unto. It is unto something as well as from something. We have seen what it delivers from. Now it is a deliverance unto what? Unto an everlasting inheritance prepared in heaven. It can’t mean less than that. We can’t say it is all of salvation for the soul to be justified when the body is not saved; we can’t say the body is saved until it is raised from the dead and glorified. And we can’t say that we are saved unto our inheritance until we get to it. I will state in another form what salvation is. Salvation, in its legal aspects, is expressed by three words: First, justification. (Justification is the declaration of a competent court that one tried before it is acquitted.) The second legal term is redemption. (Redemption is the buying back of what had been sold.) The third term is adoption. That is a legal term also. We are not naturally children of God, and we get into the family of God by adoption. He adopts us into his family. Adoption is that legal process by which one, not naturally a member of the family, becomes legally so. Now I say that salvation, so far as legal aspects go, is expressed by these three words – justification, redemption, and adoption. Paul discusses every one of them in this letter. When I am justified before God, that delivers me from the wrath to come. I said that it was a deliverance from the guilt of sin. Justification does that – it delivers us from the guilt of sin.

Let us look at salvation as done in us. What are the terms? Those terms are regeneration and sanctification. What is regeneration? Regeneration is giving a holy disposition to the mind. The carnal mind is enmity against God, not subject to his law, neither could be made subject to his law. Man in his natural state hates God, hates truth, hates light. It is not sufficient that a man be redeemed from the curse of the law, or the wrath of the law, and be acquitted. It is necessary that he have a mind in harmony with God. That occurs in us; God begins a good work in us, and continues it to the day of Jesus Christ. And that good work in us is expressed by regeneration and sanctification. Regeneration gives us a holy disposition, but the remnants of the flesh are still with us. Then sanctification commences and more and more conforms us to the image of Jesus Christ, as we go on from strength to strength, from glory to glory, from faith to faith. That is what it does in us.

The legal part is accomplished fully right here on earth. The very minute we believe, that day we are justified; that day we are redeemed; that day we are adopted. The salvation in us, referring to the soul, is consummated just as soon as the soul gets through its discipline and is freed from the body. On the other side we see the spirits of the just made perfect. That is the end of the salvation as far as the soul is concerned. But salvation takes hold of the other parts of the man – his body that lies mouldering in the ground. God provided in the garden of Eden for the immortality of the body. When sin expelled the man and he had no longer access to that tree, his body, of course, began to die. .Salvation must save that body. That comes in the resurrection which he discusses in this letter. In the resurrection these things all take place: First, the body is made alive, quickened. Second, it is raised. Third, it is glorified. And glorification means what? What these words say, "It is sown in weakness; it is raised in strength; it is sown in dishonor; it is raised in honor; it is sown in corruption; it is raised in incorruption; it is sown a mortal body; it is raised an immortal body." It is sown a physical body; it is raised a spiritual body. It is sown in the image of the first Adam; it is raised in the image of the Second Adam. That is the entire man, isn’t it? I said it was the complete and everlasting deliverance of the entire man, soul, and body. Then fourth, we must bring those two saved parts together. So Christ brings the spirits with him. He raises the dead, and the spirits go back into the old house, now renovated and glorified.

We have not yet come to the end. That is what is done for us, and what is done in us, but it isn’t the deliverance unto that inheritance that is reserved in heaven, that the heart of man never conceived of – the precious things that God has in reservation for those that love him. That is Paul’s idea of salvation as it is presented in this letter, and never less than that.

There are a great many people that say, "I am saved from death." "How do you know you are saved?" I ask. "Well, I believe in Jesus Christ and am justified." "That is very good as far as it goes, but when Jesus laid hands on you didn’t it mean more than redemption, justification, and adoption? Didn’t he do anything inside of you?" So the salvation goes on in sanctification.

The King James version reads in verse Romans 1:4: "Declared to be the Son of God with power according to the spirit of holiness." Does that mean Christ’s personal spirit of holiness or does it refer to the Holy Spirit? In other words, is it referring to the instrumentality of the Holy Spirit in quickening Christ’s body, or does it mean that Christ rose from his inherent personal spirit of holiness? If we answer this correctly, we also answer one of the most difficult other passages in the Bible, to wit: 1 Peter 3, last clause of Romans 1:18 and through Romans 1:19: "Being put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit; in which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison." We have the same question in that passage. It is easy to see how the Revised Standard answers the question in both cases. But I say, "Does the Revised Standard rightly interpret either?" Precisely the same question recurs in 1 Timothy 3:6, where the Standard Revision follows its usual interpretation. Is it right in any of them? I think not.

QUESTIONS

1. What is the theme of this letter in Paul’s own words?

2. What is the condensed theme?

3. Why is not "The righteousness of God" the theme?

4. What do we gather from the salutation?

5. How is the writer particularly described?

6. How is his "gospel of God" described?

7. How is the Son described?

8. What is the ground of thanksgiving?

9. How may we account for the universal proclamation "of the faith of the Roman Christians?

10. What Paul’s prayer here?

11. How is it described?

12. Why this prayer?

13. What the conclusions from this prayer?

14. Analyze the theme of this letter (Romans 1:16-17).

15. What then is the gospel?

16. To whom addressed?

17. On what terms?

18. What is the power of this gospel?

19. Of what does the salvation unto which it leads consist?

20. Define this salvation, and explain fully each of the aspects of salvation, defining also the terms used.

21. What is the interpretation of Romans 1:4, and what the parallel between it and 1 Peter 3:18-19 and 1 Timothy 3:16?

Verses 18-32

X

THE UNIVERSAL NECESSITY OF SALVATION

Romans 1:18-32.

Having considered in the latter part of the preceding chapter the meaning of salvation, we now follow the apostle’s argument in showing…

THE UNIVERSAL NECESSITY OF SALVATION
The argument applies to the whole human race, to man as man, both Jew and Gentile. In this discussion we have the case of the Gentiles. They are guilty of ungodliness. They are unlike God in their nature. Originally man was made in Gods’ image and likeness:

And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the heavens, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. And God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. And God blessed them: and God said unto them. Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the heavens, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth. And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb yielding seed, . . . to you it shall be for food: and to every beast of the earth, and to every bird of the heavens, and to everything that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is life, I have given every green herb for food: and it was so. And God saw everything that he made, and, behold it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning, the sixth day. – Genesis 1:26-31.

This original state of man shows his likeness, his dominion, and his commission. This image and likeness being lost through sin, they are out of harmony with the Creator.

They are guilty of unrighteousness. Their deeds are evil, proceeding from an evil nature. Their sin of deeds consists of both omission and commission. They have not only failed by way of omission to exercise their dominion and execute their commission, but they have actively done contrary to both. The wrath of God has been revealed from heaven against both their sin of nature and deed. This wrath is the assessed penalty of violated law. Here we need to understand the law. What is law? In its last analysis law is the intent, or purpose, of the Creator in bringing a being into existence. That intent is set forth in the passage cited (Genesis 1:26-31). This law inheres in the very constitution of our being, and hence as a principle antedates any particular formal statute. Indeed, all statutes are but expressions of antecedent, inherent, constitutional law, as the multitude of statutes are but expressions of the law principles in the constitution of nations and states.

Or, varying the definition, we may say that all law arises from and inheres in relations. Where there is no relation there is no obligation, as the relation of parent and child measures the reciprocal obligations binding parent and child. So the relation between husband and wife, citizen and the state, the creature and the Creator, the redeemed and the redeemer. With each new relation there arises a new obligation measured by the relation. Law, then, inheres in the intent of the Creator, and is antecedent to all statutes and independent of them, except only their fountain, or source. When he brings a being into existence, the law of that being inheres in the Creator, and in the relations of that being. This is law in its last analysis as set forth by the apostle, but in this very context (Romans 2:12) and many times elsewhere, he speaks of law, as that given on Mount Sinai to the Jew, which will be noticed more particularly later.

Sin therefore is lawlessness, or any lack of conformity with law, whether in nature or in omission or commission of deed. An omission of duty and commission of sin are but symptoms or expressions of a sinful nature. As our Lord said: "But the things which proceed out of the mouth come forth out of the heart; and they defile the man. For out of the heart come forth evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, railings" (Matthew 15:18-19). As he again said: "By their fruits ye shall know them. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but the corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit" (Matthew 7:16-18). "Either make the tree good, and its fruit good; or make the tree corrupt, and its fruit corrupt; for the tree is known by its fruit" (Matthew 12:33). That preacher therefore had no adequate conception of sin who defined it as, "The wilful transgression of a known law." The greatest of all sin is a sin of nature. It is not dependent in obligation on our knowledge. Paul says, "Though I know nothing against myself, I am not thereby justified." Both natural and spiritual laws bind and have penalty notwithstanding our ignorance. The ignorance itself is sin, or may be a result of sin. And transgression is only one overt act of sin. It is equally sin to fall short of law or go beyond it, or to deflect from it. Righteousness is exact conformity with law. With this conception of law, and of sin, the apostle speaks of its penalty, the wrath of God – a wrath that is antecedent to its revelation. And yet this wrath is revealed. So now we consider

THE REVELATION OF WRATH

God has not left them ignorant of sin’s penalty. The knowledge of God, and their relation to him, is manifest both in them and to them. There are two books of this revelation – the book of nature in them and the book of nature outside of them. He has planted knowledge in them. "The spirit of man is the lamp of Jehovah, searching all his innermost parts" (Proverbs 20:27). As the natural eye is the lamp of the body, so the spirit is Jehovah’s lamp. "If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is the darkness!" (Matthew 6:22-23). Or the apostle, in the context, further describes the revelation in us: "For when Gentiles that have not the law do by nature the things of the law, these, not having the law, are the law unto themselves; in that they show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience bearing witness therewith, and their thoughts one with another accusing or else excusing them." Man, therefore, by the very constitution of his being, has a knowledge of God, law, sin, and penalty. Therefore by nature he is a worshiping being. When through sin the light in him is darkened he may and does worship false gods, yet everywhere he is a worshiper. This internal light is not a faint spark, but a great light. With every man in the world there is an internal sense of right and wrong. Men may differ among themselves as to what particular thing is right or wrong, but all have the sense of right and wrong. They are keenly alive to their rights and keenly sensitive to their wrongs. But there can be no right and wrong without some law to prescribe the right and proscribe the wrong. And there can be no law without a lawmaker. And there can be no law without penal sanctions, otherwise it would be no more than advice. And there can be no penalty without a judgment to declare it and a power to execute it. But every man knows that even and exact justice is not meted out in this world – that many times the innocent suffer and the guilty triumph. Therefore the conclusion comes like a conqueror, that there must be…

A JUDGMENT TO COME AND A WRATH TO COME

There never was a man who has not at some time, under a keen sense of wrong done him, appealed to this future judgment and invoked upon the wrongdoer the wrath to come. It is this knowledge or consciousness of future judgment and wrath that makes death frightful to the evildoer. And it is this consciousness of amenability to God’s future infallible Judgment and inexorable wrath that restrains crime more than the dread of all human law and judgment. So it is demonstrated that there is in us a revelation of wrath against sin.

But the apostle argues a revelation of wrath outside of us and in the broad book of Nature. He says, "For the invisible things of him since the creation of the world are clearly seen, being perceived through the things that are made, even his everlasting power and divinity; that they may be without excuse" (Romans 1:20). His deity and his everlasting power are "clearly seen" in the universe which is the work of his hands. To the same effect speaks the psalmist: The heavens declare the glory of God; And the firmament showeth his handiwork, Day unto day uttereth speech, And night unto night showeth knowledge. There is no speech nor language; Their voice is not heard. Their line is gone out through all the earth, And their words to the end of the world. In them hath he set a tabernacle for the sun, Which is as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber, And rejoiceth as a strong man to run his course. His going forth is from the end of the heavens, And his circuit unto the ends of it; And there is nothing hid from the heat thereof. – Psalms 19:1-6.

And this apostle to the Athenians: The God that made the world and all things therein, he, being Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands; neither is he served by men’s hands, as though he needed anything, seeing he himself giveth to all life, and breath, and all things; and he made of one every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, having determined their appointed seasons, and the bounds of their habitation that they should seek God, if haply they might feel after him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us; for in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain even of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring. Being then the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and device of man. The times of ignorance therefore God overlooked; but now he commandeth men that they should all everywhere repent: inasmuch as he hath appointed a day in which he will judge the world in righteousness by the man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead. – Acts 17:24-31.

Yea, not only Nature, but providence in Nature, as was said to Noah: "While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease" (Genesis 8:22). And reaffirmed by this apostle: "And yet he left not himself without witness, in that he did good and gave you from heaven rains and fruitful seasons, filling your hearts with food and gladness" (Acts 14:17). Thus all nature in us or external to us, and God’s marvelous providence proclaim the knowledge of him. Tom Paine, the deist, admitted all this, and expressed his admiration for Addison’s paraphrase of Psalm 19: The spacious firmament on high, With all the blue ethereal sky, And spangled heav’ns (a shining frame), Their great Original proclaim: The unwearied sun, from day to day, Doth his Creator’s power display, And publishes to every land The work of an Almighty hand. Soon as the evening shades prevail, The moon takes up the wondrous tale, And nightly to the list’ning earth Repeats the story of her birth: While all the stars that round her burn, And all the planets, in their turn, Confirm the tidings as they roll, And spread the truth from pole to pole. What though in solemn silence all Move round the dark terrestrial ball; What though no real voice nor sound Amid their radiant orbs be found; In reason’s ear they all rejoice, And utter forth a glorious voice, Forever singing as they shine, The hand that made us is divine.

The stoic philosopher might magnify inexorable and pitiless fate, the epicurean philosopher, or his descendants, the modern evolutionists, might glorify chance in attributing this great universe and its people to "the fortuitous concourse of atoms," thereby proclaiming themselves brother to the fool that said in his heart, "no God." They need to read the lesson of Nebuchadnezzar, to whom God announced this sentence: "Let his heart be changed from man’s, and let a beast’s heart be given unto him; and let seven times pass over him. . . . The same hour was the thing fulfilled upon Nebuchadnezzar: and he was driven from men, and did eat grass as oxen, and his body was wet with the dew of heaven, till his hair was grown like eagles’ feathers, and his nails like birds’ claws." – Daniel 4:16; Daniel 4:33.

The evolutionist indeed classifies himself with beasts by acknowledging a brute ancestry.

This revelation was sufficient to leave them without excuse because when they thus knew him as God they were guilty of these sins:

1. They glorified him not as God

2. Neither were thankful

3. Became vain in their reasonings

4. Darkened their senseless hearts

5. Professing to be wise, they became fools

6. Become idolaters, changing the glory of the incorruptible God for the likeness of an image of corruptible man, birds, beasts, and creeping things. This brought on them judicial blindness.

God gave them up to the reign of their passions. Both women and men became shameless. As they refused to retain the knowledge, God being put out, with what were they filled? And even as they refused to have God in their knowledge, God gave them up to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not fitting; being filled with all unrighteousness, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, malignity; whisperers, backbiters, hateful to God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, without understanding, covenant-breakers, without natural affection, unmerciful. – Romans 1:28-31.

THE RESULT

"Who, knowing the ordinance of God, that they that practice such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but also consent with them that practice them. – Romans 1:32.

QUESTIONS

1. How does the argument for the universal necessity of salvation apply to the whole human race?

2. What are the four arguments applied to the Gentiles?

3. What is ungodliness?

4. What is unrighteousness?

5. What is the consequent wrath of God?

6. What is law?

7. What is its relation to formal statutes?

8. From what does all law arise?

9. What is the principal relations from which all law arises?

10. What other use of the term "law" in this letter?

11. What then is sin?

12. What is its penalty?

13. How is the wrath of God revealed?

14. What must follow the fact of right and wrong?

15. When and why a judgment of wrath?

16. What was Paul’s argument for a revelation of wrath from the book of nature, and what the logical conclusion with reference to the position of the Stoic and Epicurean, or the modern evolutionist?

17. Why were the Gentiles left without excuse, and of what sins were they guilty?

18. What are the consequences?

19. Since they refused to retain, the knowledge of God, with what were they filled?

20. What is the result?