1. Romans 1:1-32

From his first words in his letter to the Church in Rome, Paul wants to be clear. As a Jew, he opens his letter by saying that he is an emissary of a Jew, Jesus the Messiah, who is from the royal Jewish tribe of King David. Paul’s message had been foretold by the Jewish prophets in the Jewish Scriptures (Rom 1:1-4).

I underline this Jewish character, because it is easy to skip over the impact of this introduction on the Church in Rome. Among them were many Jews, and not only they, but the gentile members of Church as well, were aware that the blessings they enjoyed had come to them via the channel of Judaism. By this introduction, Paul also underlines for the Jewish members in Church that he was fully aware of these facts. For these Jews, this was an encouraging opening to a letter addressed to a divided Church, as it gave them the impression that he was on their side. For the gentile members of Church, it entailed the advice to respect the Jews in their congregation.

Paul was sent by God to bring the gentiles to faith in Jesus. For the word gentiles, Paul uses the Greek word ethnoi. Our word ethnic is derived from it. In our language this often has the connotation of being primitive, or tribal. In Greek, it was a neutral term, simply meaning, nations. For the Jews, the term was also negative, as they considered the ethnoi als lesser nations than themselves. They looked down on them.

I will use the word nations when Greek uses ethnoi, and I will not use the term heathen or gentiles because of their negative connotations. Paul simply means: all nations beside Israel. He says that those to whom he writes, belonged to this category of nations (Rom. 1:6).

Among the believers in Rome there were also many Jews; we will see how Paul addresses them regularly in his letter. Have a look at the list of people Paul is greeting in Rom. 16. I think these Jews were a minority, and that is why Paul opens his letter by addressing the whole congregation first as people from the nations. There is much discussion among theologians about which group was larger, but it is most important to conclude that both groups were represented in Church. It is possible that there were different congregations in Rome, based on ethnicity, but this cannot be ascertained.

The non-Jewish readers of the letter are called to belong to Jesus Christ, […], loved by God, and called to be saints (Rom. 1:6-7). For Jews who had for centuries been used to seeing themselves as a unique people, it must have been hard to swallow their pride. Believers from the nations were now addressed in a manner that had always been reserved for the Jews only. Whatever was left of their former unique position with God?

Was Israel, in the Old Testament, not the unique beloved of God, while Esau was hated? Was Israel not a holy people in the midst of the nations? Was Israel not called, while the nations were not?

This is the theme of the letter of Paul to the Church in Rome. Is Israel not God’s chosen nation? Has Israel not received magnificent promises from God? Did He not promise that all Israel would be saved by the coming of the Messiah? The prophet Jeremiah made promises about the days of the Messiah (see Jeremiah 23:5-6):

Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD,
When I will raise up for David a righteous Branch;
and He will reign as king and act wisely
and do justice and righteousness in the land.
In His days Judah will be saved,
and Israel will dwell securely;
and this is His name by which He will be called,
The LORD our righteousness.

To me these verses seem to be a very suitable summary of the background to the letter of Paul, as the words used in these verses are repeated time and again in the letter. It begins with the righteous Branch; Paul also opens his letter by saying that Jesus was descended from David. The righteousness Jeremiah speak about is also often referred to in Paul’s letter. Reign as king is a term Paul uses again and again. The theme of this weblog, thus all Israel shall be saved, was an expectation Israel could certainly base on these words of Jeremiah.

The branch of David had come, as promised by the prophets. Was it not time now for all Israel to be saved? Is God faithful to his promises? Paul speaks about people from the nations everywhere turning to faith in Christ, but what about Israel?

Paul writes in Greek. That was the language of civilization of those days. He transliterates and translates the Hebrew name of the Messiah Yashua into Chrestos Iesous in Greek.

Rom 1:13 underlines that the Church in Rome counted as its members many people from the nations, as Paul says that he wants to reap some harvest among you as well as among the rest of the nations. Paul divides those nations in Greeks (Greek: Hellenoi) and Barbarians (barbaroi). This focused on a linguistic difference, not a national difference. Hellenoi were people who had adopted the Greek language and culture. The barbaroi were those who used a language other than Greek. In verse 16, it seems that Paul uses the word Greek for all people from all nations, in apposition to Jews; The Gospel is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek (Rom 1:16).

What does this mean, to the Jew first for and also to the Greek? I can imagine that the Jewish listeners concluded with some level of satisfaction that Paul had really understood the matter being discussed. But Paul made clear in the same statement that salvation was available to all who believe, with no partiality by God. It does not matter whether someone is a Jew or a Greek; salvation is available to all in a similar manner. Faith is the manner to attain salvation.

In this one verse Paul uses two words we research in this study, namely everyone (Gr: pas, the all from Rom. 11:26) and salvation (Gr: sooteeria, as referred to in Rom. 11:26). In Rom 1:15 he had also used the word thus (Gr: houtoos), as the first word of the verse: so [thus] I am eager to preach the gospel.

The prophets had promised salvation to Israel through the coming of the Messiah. This is what Paul now speaks about: salvation for the Jews but also for all other people, if only they believe in Him.

Paul then quotes from Habakkuk 2:4: The righteous shall live by faith. The context of Habakkuk is interesting, and I guess that the Jews Paul addressed, understood what he referred to, if they knew their Scriptures, . Habakkuk speaks about Jews who are being saved at a time when God punishes Israel as a nation for its unrighteousness through an invasion of the Chaldeans. When the time comes for God to punish Israel, only those who believe will be saved, is what Habakkuk predicts.

If Paul had this context in mind, this quote from Habakkuk may point to two matters. In the first place, only Jews who believed were saved, not the others. And secondly, Paul now applies this verse not only to Jews, but to Jews and people from the nations. This is a new emphasis that cannot be missed by the Jews in the congregation. Salvation from the wrath of God is available to all, Jew and non-Jew.

For Jews who did not follow Christ, these words of Paul were an unacceptable usage of Scripture. And I think many Jews in the Church had to also swallow hard. They probably thought: The promise of the prophets was that when the Branch of David comes, all Israel will be saved. And now Paul argues that only believers will be saved, in the same manner as people from the nations!

In this chapter, salvation has to do with the righteousness of God, with righteous people, and with life (See Rom. 1:16-17). It is the opposite of the wrath of God and all sorts of evil unrighteousness (See Rom. 1:18-32). Salvation is the result of faith. Paul does not try to further unpack the meaning of salvation in this first chapter.

Why does God offer the gospel of salvation to all people? Because all people need it urgently, as God’s righteous wrath is coming over all people (Rom 1:18). In Rom. 1:18-32 Paul describes the sinful lifestyle of all people, to explain why God’s wrath over all people is justified.

In this portion Paul seems to describe mostly the lifestyle of the nations, not that of Jews. He mentions debased forms of idolatry and impurity. For followers of Jesus who had grown up in pious Judaism, it was very easy to think: Indeed, the nations are wicked, no wonder the gospel is for Jews first…

On the other hand, Jews could maybe also recognize themselves in this description. It speaks about people knowing God (Rom. 1:21). The description of idolatry possibly follows Deuteronomy 4:15-19 to make Jews realize that this description was also about them. Beside that, the list of sins here is not very different from Habakkuk’s description of Israel’s behavior. Finally, Paul speaks of people who know God’s decree, that those who practice such things deserve to die (Rom. 1:32), and this also suggests that he addressed Jews with this list of sins. The nations did not know this decree of God.

The Greek word pas (all, everyone) occurs in Romans 1:5 (all the nations), Rom 1:7 (all those in Rome), Rom. 1:8 (all of you), Rom 1:16 (everyone who believes), Rom 1:18 (all ungodliness), Rom. 1:29 (all manner of...). From this list I conclude that the Greek word pas means all, both in the absolute sense, everyone, but also in the sense of all sorts of. In either case, it leaves no room for exclusions.