Down to Earth But Heavenly Minded

Apostolic Introduction. Verses 1-7.

Personal Greetings, and Expressions of Desire to See and to Preach to Saints in Rome. Verses 8-15.

Great Theme of the Epistle: The Gospel the Power of God,—Because of the By-Faith-Righteousness Revealed Therein. Verses 16-17.

The World’s Danger: God’s Wrath Revealed Against Human Sin. Verses 18-20.

The awful Course of Man’s Sin, and Man’s Present State, Related and Described. Verses 21-32.

1 Paul, a bondservant of Jesus Christ, a called apostle, separated unto God’s good news, 2 which He before promised through His prophets in (the) holy Scriptures, 3 concerning His Son: who was born of David’s seed according to the flesh, 4 who was declared the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness, by resurrection of the dead,—Jesus Christ our Lord, 5 through whom we received grace and apostleship, for obedience of faith among all the nations for His name’s sake; 6 among whom are ye also,—called as Jesus Christ’s: 7 to all those who are in Rome beloved of God, called as saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Verse 1:
PAUL—We see Paul’s name standing alone here—no Silas, Timothy or other brother with him. For Paul is himself Christ’s apostle unto the Gentiles, the declarer, as here in Romans, of the gospel for this dispensation. Also, in revealing the heavenly character, calling, and destiny of the Church as the Body and Bride of Christ, and as God’s House, as in Ephesians, Paul stands alone. When essential doctrines and directions are being laid down, no one is associated with the apostle in the authority given to him,

We dare not glory in a man, not even in Paul, whose life and ministry are by far the most remarkable of those of any human being.1 Yet our Lord Jesus said: “He that receiveth whomsoever I send receiveth Me; and he that receiveth Me receiveth him that sent Me” (John 13:20). And Paul was especially sent to us Gentiles. At the first council of the Church, recorded in Acts 15, “They who were of repute” (in the church in Jerusalem), said Paul, “saw that I had been intrusted with the gospel of the uncircumcision, even as Peter with the gospel of the circumcision” (Galatians 2:7).

Throughout church history, to depart from Paul has been heresy. To receive Paul’s gospel and hold it fast, is salvation,—“By which (gospel) ye are saved, if ye hold fast the very word I preached unto you” (I Corinthians 15:1, 2 margin),

A bondservant of Jesus Christ—Paul was bondservant before he was apostle. Saul of Tarsus’ first words, as he lay in the dust in the Damascus road, blinded by the glory of Christ’s presence, were, “Who art thou, Lord?” And when there came the voice, “I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom thou persecutest,” his next words were, “What shall I do, Lord?”—instant, utter surrender! It is deeply instructive to mark that although our Lord said, “No longer do I call you bondservants, but friends”; yet, successively, Paul, James, Peter, Jude and John (Revelation 1:1), name themselves bondservants (Greek; douloi),—and that with great delight! It is the “service of perfect freedom”—deepest of all devotions, that of realized redemption and perfected love.2

Paul next names himself a called apostle, or “apostle by calling.” Three times in these first seven verses the word “called” occurs, and three times more in the Epistle this great word is written: Chapter 8:28, 30 (twice). Compare Paul’s three other uses of the word: I Corinthians 1:2, 9, 24; and Jude’s: Jude 1; and the one other occurrence: Revelation 17:14. “Called” means designated and set apart by an action of God to some special sphere and manner of being and of consequent activity. In the sixth verse of our chapter, the saints are described in the words “called as Jesus Christ’s.” They were given to Him by the Father (John 17), and connected with Him before their earth-history: “chosen in Him before the foundation of the world”; and in the seventh verse we read that they are “called as saints,” or “saints by calling,” which does not at all mean that they were invited to become saints—a Romish doctrine! But that they were saints by divine sovereign calling; holy ones, having been washed in Christ’s blood; and having been created in Christ Jesus. It was their mode of being; even as the holy angels did not become angels by a process of holiness, but were created into the angelic sphere and manner of being. Such is the meaning of the word “called” with Paul.3

Separated unto God’s good news—This expression is explained further in Galatians 1:15: “God separated me from my mother’s womb and called me through His grace, to reveal His Son in me, that I might preach Him among the nations.” In like manner were born Moses, who Stephen says was “fair unto God,” —that is, manifestly marked out to be used by God (Acts 7:20, R. V., margin); and John the Baptist, of whom Gabriel said, that he would be “filled with the Holy Spirit even from his mother’s womb . . . to make ready for the Lord a people prepared for Him.” Likewise were Jacob, Samson, Samuel, and Jeremiah separated even before birth to an appointed calling.

The sovereignty of God is thus seen at the very beginning of this great Epistle. And how well Paul carried out his separation to this high calling, the gospel, the good news about Christ! Yet there are those today, even today, who in ignorance and pride affect to despise the words of this great apostle,—as Peter4 warns, “to their own destruction” (II Peter 3:16).

Now as to this “good news of God,” we see in our passage two great facts:

First, that it is God’s good news. Mark this well! It was God who loved the world; it was God who sent His Son. Note our Lord’s continual insistence on this in the gospel of John (19 times!). Christ said constantly “I am not come of Myself, but My Father sent Me.” It is absolutely necessary that we keep fast in mind, as we read in Romans the awful facts about ourselves, that it is God who is leading us up to His own good news for bad sinners!

Second, (verse 2), that the good news was promised through His prophets in holy Scriptures—These are the Old Testament Scriptures,5 with promises, types, and direct prophecies of good news to come, both to Israel and to the nations, concerning His Son. We shall find in Romans 3:21 that there is revealed “a righteousness of God” which had been “witnessed by the law and the prophets”: witnessed by the law, in that it provided sacrifices and a way of forgiveness for those who failed in its observance; and witnessed by the prophets directly in such passages as these: “By the knowledge of Himself shall my righteous Servant [Christ] make many righteous” (Isaiah 53:11); and, “This is His name whereby He shall be called: Jehovah our righteousness” (Jeremiah 23:6; 33:16); and again, “The righteous shall live by faith” (Habakkuk 2:4).

Verses 3 and 4: Concerning His Son—Specifically (a) that He died for our sins according to the Scriptures, (b) that He was buried, (c) that He hath been raised the third day according to the Scriptures, (d) that He appeared to various witnesses. The good news Paul preached is therefore scientifically specific, and must be held in our minds in its accuracy, as it lay in that of the apostle. (See I Corinthians 15:3-8)

These great facts concerning Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection are the beginning of the gospel; as Paul says: “I delivered unto you (these) first of all.”6

The gospel is all about Christ. Apart from Him, there is no news from heaven but that of coming woe! Read that passage in I Corinthians 15:3-5: “I make known unto you the gospel which I preached unto you: that Christ died, Christ was buried; Christ hath been raised; Christ was seen.” It is all about the Son of God! This is the record of Paul’s first preaching, after “the heavenly vision”: “Straightway in the synagogues he proclaimed Jesus, that he is the Son of God” (Acts 9:20).

Who was born of David’s seed according to the flesh, who was declared the Son of God with power according to the spirit of holiness, by resurrection of the dead—We have here two things: first, Christ as a Man “according to the flesh”; and as such fulfilling the promises as to “the seed of David”; second, Christ as Son of God, declared so to be with power by His resurrection,—and that “according to the Spirit of holiness,” even that holiness in which He had existed and had walked on earth all His life.7 Christ, the Holy One of God had, “through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without blemish unto God,” at the cross (Hebrews 9:14). God the Father then acted in power and glory, and raised Him (Romans 6:4, Ephesians 1:19, 20) Christ was thus irresistibly, eternally “declared to be the Son of God”! Always when prophesying His death, Christ included His rising again the third day as the proof of all. In his last Epistle (II Timothy 2:8) Paul connects these same two facts about our Lord: “Remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, of the seed of David, according to my gospel.”8

Jesus Christ our Lord—Ten times in Romans Paul uses this title, or, “Our Lord Jesus Christ,” that full name beloved by the apostles and all instructed saints from Pentecost onward: for “God hath made Him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom ye crucified” (Acts 2:36). Jesus, His personal name (Matthew 1:21) as Savior; Christ, God’s Anointed One to do all things for us; Lord, His high place over us all for whom His work was done; and as, truly, Lord of all things in heaven and earth (Acts 10:36).

Verse 5: Through whom we received grace and apostleship for obedience of faith among all the nations for His name’s sake—Personal grace must come before true service. The grace Paul had received concerned both his personal salvation and his service as the great example of divine favor. Paul’s own words are the best comment on this: “I am the least of the apostles, that am not meet to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the Church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am: and His grace which was bestowed upon me was not found vain; but I labored more abundantly than they all: yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me” (I Corinthians 15:9, 10); and, “I obtained mercy, that in me as chief might Jesus Christ show forth all His longsuffering, for an ensample of them that should thereafter believe on Him unto eternal life” (I Timothy 1:16). Paul’s apostleship was marked out by the fact that he had “seen Jesus our Lord” (I Corinthians 9:1), and by the “signs of an apostle,” in “authority,” (II Corinthians 10:8; 13:10), in “all patience, by signs and wonders and mighty works” (II Corinthians 12:12). Though desperately resisted by the Jerusalem Judaizers, he continually insisted, to the glory of God, upon “obedience of faith among all the nations.” To obey God’s good news, is simply to believe it. There is now a “law of faith” (3:27); and Paul ends this Epistle with this same wonderful phrase: “obedience of faith” (16.26). Paul was not establishing what is now called “the Christian religion”! Having abandoned the only religion God ever gave, that of the Jews,9 he went forth with a simple message concerning Christ, to be believed by everybody, anybody, anywhere. And all was “for His name’s sake” —Christ’s. And why not! The Christ of glory had done the work, had “emptied Himself, taking the form of a servant, becoming obedient unto death, yea, the death of the cross.” He was the “propitiation for the whole world” (I John 2:2). We are likely to think of the gospel as something published for our sake only, whereas in fact God is having it published for the sake of His dear Son, Who died. It is sweet to enter into this, as did John: “I write unto you, little children, because your sins are forgiven you for His Name’s sake” (I Joh 2:12). Preachers, teachers, and missionaries everywhere, should regard themselves as laboring for Christ’s Name’s sake, first of all.

Verse 6: Among whom are ye also,—called as Jesus Christ’s—The saints are connected with Jesus Christ,—“called as of Him”; as we read in Chapter 8:39: Nothing “shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Verse 7: To all that are in Rome, beloved of God, called as saints10—Note that while God loved the whole world, it is the saints who are called the “beloved of God.” They are His household, His dear children. Sinners should believe that God loved them and gave His Son for them; but saints, that they are the “beloved of God.” The unsaved are never named God’s “beloved.” A man, even, may, and should, love his neighbors: but his wife and children are “his beloved.”

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ—Paul uses practically this same form of address over and over;—and he connects grace with peace in his apostolic greeting to all the saints to whom he writes,—as does Peter. Grace is always pronounced as from “God our Father” as the Source, and “our Lord Jesus Christ” as the Channel and Sphere of Divine blessing. Sometimes grace for the Church is considered in the benediction as wholly from Christ, as in I Corinthians 16:23: “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with you” (see comment on “Romans 16:20”). For our Lord Jesus Christ is “Head over all things to the Church”; and life and judgment are distinctly said to be in His hands: “That all may honor the Son, even as they honor the Father” (John 5:21-23). In writing to individuals,—Timothy, Titus, and “the elect lady,” (II John 1) Paul and John insert the more personal word, “mercy”; for we are told that we each need mercy (Hebrews 4:16). The saints, looked at as a company, have obtained, in general, mercy. Like Israel of old, the Church is now God’s sphere of blessing. But each individual—even Paul himself—has need of peculiar mercy (I Corinthians 7:25).

Words fail to express the blessedness of being thus under God’s grace, His eternal favor! Such, such only, have peace. All other “peace” than that extended by God and possessed by the saints, will “break up,” as Rutherford says, “at the last, in a sad war.”

And how wonderful to be of those whose Father is God! to whom the apostle can say in truth, “God our Father.” Only those who have received Christ have the right (exousia) to become children (tekna—born ones) of God (John 1:12).

Grace and peace are eternally proceeding from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ,—through and by whom all blessing comes. 

8 First of all, indeed, I give thanks to my God through Jesus Christ concerning you all, because your faith is spoken of throughout the whole world! 9 For God is my witness, whom I serve in my spirit in the good news of His Son, how unceasingly I make mention of you, 10 always beseeching in my prayers, if by any means at last I may be so prospered in the course of the will of God as to come unto you. 11 For I long to see you, that I may impart to you some spiritual gift, for your establishing: 12 that is, that I with you may be comforted mutually, through each other’s faith, both yours and mine. 13 For I do not want you to be ignorant of the fact, brethren, that oftentimes I purposed to come to you (and was hindered until the present time), in order that I might have some fruit in you also, just as among the other Gentiles. 14 To Greeks and to Barbarians both,—both to wise and foolish, I am debtor. 15 So to my very uttermost I am eager to preach the good news to you also in Rome.

Verse 8: First of all, indeed, I give thanks to God through Jesus Christ concerning you all—“The apostle pursues the natural course of first placing himself, so to speak, in relation with his readers, and his first point of contact with them is gratitude11 for their participation in Christianity,” says DeWette. Paul is ever thanking God for any grace he found in any saint. He looks at all who are Christ’s, through Christ’s eyes, because your faith is spoken of throughout the whole world. Not fathered or founded by any apostle, the assemblies that God had Himself gathered from all quarters into the world’s capital12 had a faith in Christ which was “spoken of,” nay, announced as a wonder, throughout the whole Roman Empire. Announced, too, without steamship, without telegraph, without newspapers, without radio! God sees to it that a real work of His Spirit is published abroad, as it was with the Thessalonians: “From you hath sounded forth the word of the Lord, not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but in every place your faith to God-ward is gone forth.” So with every real revival: the whole world soon knows about it.

Verse 9: Paul made unceasing prayer for these believers. He calls God to witness concerning this, as he frequently does when his soul is most exercised. See
II Corinthians 1:23; Philippians 1:8; I Thessalonians 2:5, 10. The expression, Whom I serve in my spirit in the gospel of His Son, is striking and significant. Those who would make man to consist of but two parts, soul and body, cannot properly explain “spirit and soul and body” (I Thessalonians 5:23); much less “the dividing asunder of soul and spirit” (Hebrews 4:12). The constant witness of Scripture is that man exists as a spirit living in a body, possessed of a soul. Paul’s service to God was in his spirit, and therefore in the Holy Spirit, and never “soulical” (not psychikos, but pneumatikos— I Corinthians 2:14; Jude 19, James. 3:15. Paul did not depend on music, or architecture, or oratory, or rhetoric. He did not hold “inspirational” meetings to arouse the emotions to mystic resolves. He served God directly, in his spirit. It was the truth in the Holy Ghost he ministered, and the results were “that which is of the Spirit.” The spirits of his hearers were born again; and the Spirit witnessed to their spirits that they were born-ones of God. Thus it was that Paul spoke of God’s “witness” to him: it was to his spirit God witnessed. Furthermore, his serving was not by outward forms, as in Judaism, but in intelligent service (see 12.1), that is, knowing God and Christ directly by the Holy Ghost.

Verse 10: Paul was pleading with God to bring him, in His good time, to these Roman Christians. His prayers, subject to God’s will, always tended to this: unceasingly . . . always beseeching . . . to come unto you.

Verse 11: His knowledge that he could through the marvelous message entrusted to him, impart unto them some spiritual gift, for their establishing, was the root of his deep longing to come to them. “Spiritual gift” does not refer to the “gifts” of I Corinthians 12; but to such operation of the Holy Spirit when Paul with his message should come among them, as would enlarge and settle them in their faith. In the words “some spiritual gift,” “we see not only the apostle’s modesty, but an acknowledgment that the Romans were already in the faith, together with an intimation that something was still wanting in them”—(Lange).

Paul knew that there was in him by the grace of God peculiar apostolic power, by both his presence and the ministry of the Word, to “impart a gift” (Greek, charisma), or spiritual blessing. “I know that, when I come to you, I shall come in the fulness of the blessing of Christ,” he says later (15:29). So it has been in their measure with all the great men of God, the Augustines, the Chrysostoms, the Luthers, the Calvins, the Knoxes, the great Puritans, the Wesleys, the Whitefields; and, even in our own memory, the Finneys and Darbys and Moodys, as well as the Torreys and the Chapmans; who, by their very presence, through the spirit of faith that God had given them, and through the anointing of the Spirit conferred upon them, have in a wondrous way banished the spirit of unbelief in great audiences; and made it easy for the saints to run rapidly in the way of the Lord; to become, as Paul says, “mutually comforted,” the preacher and the saints together, each by the other’s faith; with the result that saints became established, in the truth and in their walk, as they had not been before.

We today, also, have the written Word and the blessed Spirit of God. We have, in the power of that Spirit, through these wonderful epistles written direct to us, the very words and power of the apostle. As he says to the Corinthians, “For I verily, being absent in body but present in spirit, have already, as though I were present judged,” etc. (5:3). For all who are willing to hearken to God, who gave Paul to be the minister of the Church, the body of Christ; and the minister of the gospel of grace and of glory,—to all, I say, who really hearken, Paul’s voice becomes audible and intelligent.13

Here, then, is the apostle who knew the great secret, the heavenly calling of the Church, writing to the saints at Rome, who, though they were of Christ’s Body, and were, therefore, heavenly,—in creation, calling, and character, did not fully know these facts,—longing to see them that he might impart unto them “some spiritual gift, for their establishing”; and, at the end of the Epistle, announcing that God is able to establish them,—but, “according to the revelation of the mystery, which had been kept in silence through aionian times, but was now manifested.” (See 16:25-27.)

The burden of Paul’s heart, therefore, is to make known to them this heavenly secret: that they were not connected with the earthly, the Jewish calling; but were in the Risen, Heavenly Christ; that, having died to the first Adam with his responsibilities, they were in the Second Man, the Last Adam, by divine creation; and were, therefore, heavenly. True, this heavenly truth is not fully developed in Romans, yet it was according to it that they were to be “established.”

Verse 12: His coming, therefore, he says, is, that I with you may be comforted mutually, through each other’s faith, both yours and mine: but of course their blessing would be unspeakably the greater, because of the mighty gift and grace God had vouchsafed to this apostle for them. Paul’s way of speaking here is most humble, gentle, and persuasive.

Verse 13: Oftentimes I purposed to come to you (and was hindered until the present time)—He desired them to know this, for he longed for fruit in them, such as he was finding everywhere he went, among Gentiles. In this he is a perfect ambassador of Christ, longing to be used everywhere. That yearning to be used in telling the gospel lies deep in the heart of one who knows it, so if you want to hear some man of God, begin to pray God to send him to you!

As to Paul’s having been “hindered” before from getting to Rome, we probably have an explanation in the course of labor that God had appointed to him: “From Jerusalem, and round about [through Asia Minor] even unto Illyricum, I have fully preached the good tidings of Christ . . . Wherefore also I was hindered these many times from coming to you: but now, having no more any place in these regions, and having these many years a longing to come unto you,” etc. (15:19, 22, 23). Sometimes it was Satan that hindered, (I Thessalonians 2:18); but here, evidently, superabundant labors, as directed of God, in other parts. Only those carrying God’s message of grace to men know fully these great hindrances: the crying need of doors already open; the desperate opposition of the devil at the entrance to every door.

That I might have some fruit in you also—Paul’s constant yearning was for fruit unto God in the souls of others. This must. characterize all true ministers of Christ. In the degree that this yearning after fruit prevails, is the servant of God successful. “Give me Scotland or I die!” prayed John Welch, John Knox’s son-in-law.

Verse 14: To Greeks and to Barbarians both,—both to wise and foolish, I am debtor. Greeks14 were those that spoke the Greek language and had the Greek culture, which had covered Alexander’s world-wide empire; and in which culture the Romans themselves gloried. “Barbarians” were those not knowing Greek, and thus “uncultured.” So also the “Scythians” (Colossians 3:11) were the especially wild and savage,—as we say, “Tartars.”

“Wise and foolish” is more personal, not meaning merely educated and uneducated, but of all degrees of intelligence. Since Paul is debtor to all, he is enumerating all. And he must begin to pay his debt by setting forth the guilt of all; which he does (1:18 to 3:20).

In the words “I am debtor” we have the steward’s consciousness, —of being the trusted bearer of tidings of infinite importance directly from heaven; and Paul was “debtor” to all classes. He does not here mention Jews, because, although full of longing toward them, he had been sent distinctly to Gentiles: “The Gentiles unto whom I send thee, to open their eyes,” etc., (Acts 26:17). How different Paul’s spirit here from that of Moses in the wilderness among murmuring Israel!

“And Moses said unto Jehovah . . . Have I conceived all this people? have I brought them forth, that Thou shouldst say unto me, Carry them in thy bosom, as a nursing father carrieth the sucking child, unto the land which Thou swarest unto their fathers? . . . I am not able to bear all this people alone, because it is too heavy for me. And if Thou deal thus with me, kill me, I pray thee, out of hand, if I have. found favor in Thy sight; and let me not see my wretchedness” (Numbers 11:11-15).

We must remember that Moses, beloved faithful servant of God, walked under law. The ninetieth Psalm is the very expression of the forty years in the Wilderness:

“All our days are passed away in thy wrath:
We bring our years to an end as a sigh,
For we are consumed in thine anger,
And in thy wrath are we troubled.
Thou hast set our iniquities before Thee,
Our secret sins in the light of Thy countenance.”

But here is Paul, gladly a “debtor” to all, with a message of glorious grace: “God was in Christ reconciling the world “unto Himself, not reckoning unto them their trespasses “Christ gave Himself a ransom for all”; Christ “tasted death for every man.” And not only this, but the hope of the heavenly calling is set before earthly men. We are here seeing “less than the least of all saints,” the most wonderful servant God ever had, willing to “become all things to all men to gain some!” But remember, it is not a wonderful man speaking, but Christ in Paul (Galatians 1:16). Our Lord said of His own ministry: “The Father abiding in me doeth His works.” And so of the ministry of the Lord’s chief servant!

Now when Paul proclaims himself a “debtor,” what does he mean by this word? Was he a debtor in any different sense from what other and all Christians are? For we are all Christ’s “witnesses.” Let us see.

When Moses had received the tables written with the finger of God, and the pattern of the Tabernacle for Israel, he was bound, he was a debtor, both to God and to Israel, to deliver those tables and that pattern, as given to him by God. To Paul, the risen, glorified Christ Himself had given the gospel by especial “revelation” (Galatians 1:11, 12); and Paul, as we know, was especially to go to the Gentiles, (as Peter, James and John were to go to the circumcision). Just as definitely as Moses received the Law for Israel, so Paul received the gospel for us, and he was a debtor, both to God and to us, till he had that gospel committed to all. How unutterably sad to find many professing Christians shutting their doors in the face of Paul as he comes t his debt—comes to tell them the glories of the heavenly message given to him,—the unsearchable riches of Christ. In his last epistle Paul mourns that “all that are in Asia”—of which Ephesus was the capital! —“turned away from me.” So soon! (II Timothy 1:15).

Verse 15: So to my very uttermost I am eager to preach the good news to you also in Rome—How blessed is the readiness, yea, eagerness, of this holy apostle to pay his debt, to preach the good tidings to those also in Rome. Rome despised the Jews, and Paul was “little of stature,” with “weak” bodily presence; and with “speech,” or, as we say, “delivery,” “of no account” in the proud carnal opinion of men (II Corinthians 10:10). Moreover, he would be opposed by any Jews of wealth or influence in Rome. Furthermore, Rome was the center of the Gentile world: its emperors were soon to demand—and receive —worship; it was crowded with men of learning and culture from the whole world; it had mighty marchings;—great triumphal processions flowed through its streets. Rome shook the world.

Yet here is Paul, utterly weak in himself, and’ with his physical thorn; yet ready, eager, to go, to Rome!

And to preach,—what? A Christ that the Jewish nation had themselves officially rejected, a Christ who had been despised and crucified at their cries,— by a Roman governor! To preach a Way that the Jews in Rome would tell Paul was “everywhere spoken against” (Acts 28:22).

Talk of your brave men, your great men, O world! Where in all history can you find one like Paul Alexander, Caesar, Napoleon, marched with the protection of their armies to enforce their will upon men. Paul was eager to march with Christ alone to the center of this world’s greatness entrenched under Satan, with “the Word of the cross,” which he himself says is “to Jews, an offence; and to Gentiles, foolishness.”

Yes, and when he does go to Rome, it is as a shipwrecked (though Divinely delivered) prisoner. Oh, what a story! There, “for two whole years” in his own “hired dwelling” he receives “all that go in unto him” (for he cannot go to them); and the message goes on and on, throughout the Roman Empire, and even into Caesar’s household!

And what is the secret of this unconquerable heart? Hear Paul: “Ye seek a proof of Christ that speaketh in me.” “To me, to live is Christ”; “It was the good pleasure of God to reveal His Son in me”; “By the grace of God I am what I am”; “I labor, striving according to Christ’s working, who worketh in me mightily”; “I am ready to spend and be spent out (R.V., marg.) for your souls.” There was no other path for Christ, nor is there any other for us His servants, but, “as much as in me is,” “to my utmost.” Those who belong in Paul’s company are ever “assaying to go” (Acts 16:7), ever “ready”—to preach or to suffer (Acts 21:13).

16 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. 17 For God’s righteousness on the principle of faith to [such as have] faith is revealed in it [the gospel]: just as it is written, “The righteous on the principle of faith shall live.”

Here we have the text of the whole Epistle of Romans: First, the words “the gospel”—so dear to Paul, as will appear. Next, the universal saving power of this gospel is asserted. Then, the secret of the gospel’s power—the revelation of God’s righteousness on the principle of faith. Finally, the accord of all this with the Old Testament Scriptures: “The righteous shall live by faith.”

It will assist our study to notice at once the four “For”s in the apostle’s argument: “For I am not ashamed of the gospel,”15 “For it is the power of God unto salvation,” “For a righteousness of God is revealed in it”; and the “for” of the next verse, which makes this gospel necessary: “For the wrath of God is revealed against all ungodliness, and unrighteousness of men.”

Verse 16: For I am not ashamed of the gospel—First then, we have Paul’s willingness, all unashamed, to go to Rome, mistress of the world, with this astonishing message of a crucified Nazarene, despised by Jews, and put to death by Romans. “The inherent glory of the message of the gospel, as God’s life-giving message to a dying world, so filled Paul’s soul, that, like his blessed Master, he ‘despised the shame.’” So, praise God, may all of us!

For it is the power of God unto salvation—The second “For” gives the reason for Paul’s boldness: this good news concerning Christ’s death, burial, resurrection, and appearing, “is the power of God unto salvation unto every one that believeth.” There is no fact for a preacher or teacher to hold more constantly in his mind than this. It is not the “excellency of speech or wisdom,” or the “personal magnetism,” or “earnestness,” of the preacher; any more than it is the deep repentance or earnest prayers of the hearer, that avails. But it is the message of Christ crucified, dead, buried, and risen, which, being believed, is “the empower of God”! “The word16 of the cross is to them that are perishing, foolishness; but unto us who are being saved it (the word of the cross) IS the power of God” (I Corinthians 1:18).

Again we repeat that it is of the very first and final importance that the preacher or teacher of the gospel believe in the bottom of his soul that the simple story, Christ died for our sins, was buried, hath been raised from the dead the third day, and was seen,
IS THE POWER OF GOD to salvation to every one who rests in it,—who believes!

The word gospel (evaggelion), means good news, glad tidings,— of course, about love and grace in giving Christ; and Christ’s blessed finished work for the sinner, putting away sin on the Cross. (There is no other good news for a sinner!)

The other word, for “preached,” is kerusso, which properly means to proclaim as a herald, to publish. And if we would understand Paul’s attitude in preaching the good news, we must not forget what he says in I Corinthians 1:21: The reading in I Corinthians 1:21 should be, “God was pleased through the foolishness of the proclaiming to save them that believe.” The word (kçrusso) means, to announce as a herald, to proclaim. It does not carry the thought of the proclamation’s content, of a glad message, as does the other word (evangelidzo). Therefore God selects the word kçrusso to show in the great message I Corinthians 1:18-25 how he absolutely passes by the intellect of man, and sets aside all his possible reasoning, ability, philosophy and wisdom—in this amazing way: “by the proclaiming”! Here comes a small and weak Jew upon the assembly of the earth’s “wise” at Mars’ hill: “proclaiming Jesus and the resurrection.” It is “foolishness” to them. Yet “certain men”—including one Mars’ hill philosopher, and a prominent woman, and others with them, cleave unto him and believe the proclamation, and will spend eternity with God.

No; when you reflect on God’s plan of proclamation—of Christ, dead, buried, raised, living: it does get right past everything of man. A herald —he does not stop to argue—he has a message; yonder he is; here he comes; yonder he goes—and the message is left. Man is set aside!

It pleased God through the proclaiming to save them that believe! Praise God! Anyone can hear good news!

Therefore the herald does not hearken either to “Jews,” who would say, “We have wonderful forms of religion.; we have a great temple!” No, the herald proclaims “a Messiah crucified” by these very Jews!—and passes on!

Nor does he hearken to the “disputers of this age”—the “wise,” who call to him, “We have a new philosophy to discuss—let us hear your philosophical system.” No; he proclaims a crucified, dead, buried and risen Son of God, and passes on. And as many as are ordained to eternal life will believe. All others are offended, or stirred to ridicule.

Paul’s preaching was not, as is so much today, general disquisition on some subject, but definite statements about the crucified One, as he himself so insistently tells us in I Corinthians 15:3-5

“The power of God unto salvation” is a wonderful revelation! As Chrysostom says, “There is a power of God unto punishment, unto destruction: ‘Fear him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell’” (Matthew 10:28). “The use of the word ‘power’ here, as in I Corinthians 1:24, carries a superlative sense,—the highest and holiest vehicle of divine power” (Alford). This story of Christ’s dying for our sins, buried, raised, manifested, is the great wire along which runs God’s mighty current of saving power. Beware lest you be putting up some little wire of your own, unconnected with the Divine throne, and therefore non-saving to those to whom you speak. T. DeWitt Talmadge said at the funeral of Alfred Cookman, one of the most holy, devoted men of God America has known, “Strike a circle of three feet around the cross of Jesus, and you have all there was of Alfred Cookman.”

The gospel “is the power of God unto salvation.” God does not say, unto reformation, education, progress, nor development; nor “fanning an innate flame.” Salvation is a word for a lost man, and for none other. Men are involved either in salvation, or in its opposite, perdition (Philippians 1:28).

To the Jew first and also to the Greek—The Jew had the Law. They had the temple, with its divinely prescribed worship. Heretofore, if a Gentile were to be saved, let him become a proselyte and come to Jerusalem to worship as did the Ethiopian eunuchapter Christ came “to His own things” (John 1:11), to Jerusalem, to His Father’s house (literally, “the things of My Father”). The apostles were to be witnesses—beginning from Jerusalem (Luke 24:47). The Holy Spirit fell upon the hundred and twenty at Jerusalem. Upon the persecution that arose in Jerusalem from Stephen, the disciples “were all scattered abroad throughout the regions of Judaea and Samaria, except the apostles,” but Jerusalem was the gospel’s first center, then Antioch in Syria, whence Paul and Barnabas, afterwards Paul and Silas, went forth. Afterwards, the center of God’s operations was Ephesus, the capital of proconsular Asia, where after being rejected by the Jews in many cities, Paul separates the disciples, and all distinction between Jew and Greek in the assemblies of the saints is gone. Then he goes to Jerusalem to be finally and officially rejected—killed, if it were possible. God waits two years at Caesarea for Jewish repentance: there is none, but the direct opposite. Then the apostle, having been driven into the hands of the Romans by the Jews goes to Rome, the world’s center, only to have the Jews reject his teaching (Acts 28). Thereupon it is announced: “Be it known therefore unto you, that this salvation of God is sent unto the Gentiles: they will also hear.”

Therefore, in expressing to the Jew first, Paul is not at all prescribing an order of presentation of the gospel throughout this dispensation. He is simply recognizing the fact that to the Jew, who had the Law and Divine privileges, the gospel offer had first been presented, and then to the Gentile. As Paul says in Ephesians “And He came and preached peace to you that were far off [the Gentile], and peace to them that were nigh [the Jews]” (Ephesians 2:17). We might just as sensibly claim that Ephesians 2:17 gives Gentiles priority because they are mentioned first—“you that were afar” over the Jews who were mentioned last,—“them that were nigh.”

To claim that the gospel must be preached first to the Jew throughout this dispensation, is utterly to deny God’s Word that there is now no distinction between Jew and Greek either as to the fact of sin (Romans 3:22) or the availability of salvation (Romans 10:12). Paul’s words in Galatians 4:12 are wholly meaningless if the Jews still have a special place.

The meaning of the word “first” (prôton) is seen in verse 8 of our chapter: “First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all.” That is, thanksgiving to God was the first thing Paul wrote to the Romans in this Epistle. Then he proceeds to other things. It is an order of sequence; just as the gospel came “first” to the Jew and then to Greek, and now, since the “no difference” fact, is proclaimed to all indiscriminately, Jews and Greeks.

Verse 17: For God’s righteousness on the principle of faith to [such as have] faith is revealed in it [the gospel]: just as it is written, “The righteous on the principle of faith shall live.”

This third “For” gives another reason why Paul was not ashamed of the good news17: in this message concerning God’s Son,—that He died for our sins, was buried, was raised,—there was brought to light,—made manifest—a righteousness of God which had indeed been prophesied, but was really (especially to the Jew under law) absolute news:18 God acting in righteousness, as we shall find, wholly on the basis of Christ’s atoning work,—to be believed in, rested upon, apart from all human works whatever. It was on the principle of faith19 by means of a message, and those exercising faith in the message would be reckoned righteous,—apart from all “merit” or “works” whatever. This is the meaning of “from faith unto faith”—literally, out of faith [rather than works] unto [those who have] faith.

The “For” of verse 17, For God’s righteousness therein is revealed—in the gospel,—is also a logical setting forth of the reason why the good news concerning Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection is the power of God unto salvation. And this verse is the essence of the text of the whole Epistle: “Therein God’s righteousness is revealed.”

God could have come forth in righteousness and smitten with doom the whole Adamic race. He would have been acting in accordance with His holiness: it would have been “the righteousness of God” unto judgment, and would have been just.

But God, who is love, though infinitely holy and sin-hating, has chosen to act toward us in righteousness, in a manner wherein all His holy and righteous claims against the sinner have been satisfied upon a Substitute, His own Son. Therefore, in this good news, (1) Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, (2) He was buried, (3) He hath been raised the third day according to the Scriptures, (4) He was manifested (I Corinthians 15:3 ff),—in this good news there is revealed, now openly for the first time, God’s righteousness on the principle of faith. We simply hear and believe: and, as we shall find, God reckons us righteous; our guilt having been put away by the blood of Christ forever, and we ourselves declared to be the righteousness of God in Him!

Habakkuk prophesied of it (Paul quotes him in verse 17); but ah, how little he dreamed of the fulness and wonder of it! It is the gospel that brings these to light!