Romans

Believers Church Bible Commentary

John E. Toews

• Publisher: Herald Press
• Year: 2004
• ISBN:
  9780836198027
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Biblical Commentary

Romans was written by Paul, apostle of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles. As an apostle Paul spent his life traveling the Mediterranean area preaching the gospel and establishing churches. In the course of his missionary career, Paul wrote numerous letters to the churches he had established as a way to pastor them in his absence. Romans is the longest and most complex of Paul's letters. John E. Toews explores why Paul writes to remind the Roman churches of God's purpose for both Jew and Gentile and to reconcile Jewish-Christian and Jewish-Gentile church relationships.

Romans 1:1-15

Introduction

PREVIEW

Normally Greek letters begin with a prescript, a thanksgiving, and a disclosure formula. Paul follows this pattern in Romans. The Pauline introductions, however, are expanded due to the addition of significant theological content. The introduction to Romans is longer than any other Pauline letter. Paul has never been to Rome, and cannot take it for granted that he and his gospel will be accepted. Therefore, he must introduce himself in a way that will persuade the readers to accept and trust him. It is important that he create a positive relationship that will give him a hearing, and that will dispose the audience to accept and act on his message.

Paul frames his introduction very carefully. He introduces himself, his gospel, and his mission.

OUTLINE

Prescript, 1:1-7

Thanksgiving, 1:8-12

Disclosure Formula, 1:13-15

EXPLANATORY NOTES

Prescript 1:1-7

The prescript follows the structure common to ancient letters: author, addressee, greeting.

1:1-6 Author

Paul introduces himself boldly by setting forth his credentials on the model of the Old Testament prophets. He is a servant of Messiah Jesus, called an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God. A servant is literally a slave, a status most familiar to readers in Rome, but in this case a person chosen by God for special service. The verb called expresses divine calling in opposition to human self-appointment. Apostle denotes an authorized agent or representative. Paul is a slave, like many readers in his audience, who has been called to represent God. Specifically, as he will say in v. 5, he has been called as an apostle to the Gentiles. Set apart or marked off is OT language for election to a specific ministry. The phrase would remind Paul’s readers of Jeremiah 1:5. The prophets discerned and proclaimed the intervention of God in human history. Paul is set apart to proclaim the good news of God’s end-time (eschatological) intervention.

Having defined his own identity, Paul proceeds to define the gospel that he proclaims. The gospel concerns the fulfillment of past promises and the Messianic Son of God. Paul anchors it in God’s prior history with Israel.

The gospel is about God’s Son, Messiah Jesus our Lord. Verses 34 are a very carefully composed confession of faith that is poetically structured:

3a	concerning his Son
3b	who came about
3c	out of the seed of David
3d	according to the flesh
4a	who was appointed Son of God
4b	in power
4c	according to the Spirit of holiness
4d	out of the resurrection of the dead
4e	Messiah Jesus our Lord.

The confession also may be diagramed structurally as two parallel verses centered in the phrase in power.

The center of the confession affirms Jesus as the Messiah in two titles, seed of David and Son of God. The confession says one thing about Jesus in two different ways. The first line confesses Jesus as the Davidic Messiah, as the fulfillment of Jewish messianic hopes. The second line declares Jesus as the Messiah in more exalted terms. The Son of God title here is not the full christological title used by the later church, but the messianic title of 2 Samuel 7 and Psalm 2:7. The language is OT enthronement language. Jesus has been enthroned as the Messiah in the resurrection. David as the Son of God, according to 2 Samuel 5:1ff., in intertestamental interpretation, is the anointed one who sums up Israel. The one represents the many, a theme that Paul will develop in ch. 5.

The confession begins with a reference to Messiah Jesus as the preexistent Son. The opening phrase concerning his Son (emphatic position) indicates that the one who was born of the seed of David was already the Son before and independent of descending from David. The confession concludes with a statement about Jesus’ lordship. Jesus as the preexistent Son and the Messiah is the Lord of the world; he is the prime minister of God who sits at God’s right hand and executes God’s will in the world. The lordship theme is closely related to the revelation of the righteousness of God in 1:16-17 and the future acknowledgment of the nations in 15:10-12. It is at the same time a theme designed to subvert Roman imperial ideology—Jesus is Lord, not Caesar.

The parallel to according to the flesh in the first clause is not “according to the Spirit” but according to the Spirit of holiness. The phrase is rare (see Test. Levi 18:11) so that its precise meaning is difficult to determine. Jesus is enthroned as Son of God in power by the Spirit of holiness. The word holiness is used in only two other Pauline texts—1 Thessalonians 3:13 and 2 Corinthians 7:1. Both texts stress ethical obligation. Spirit of holiness suggests that the power involved in the resurrection entails moral obligation, or righteousness to use a thematic word from Romans. This theme will be developed in chapters 5-8 and 12-15.

Jesus is enthroned as Son of God out of the resurrection of the dead (JET). The phrase also is unique. Paul speaks of the resurrection of Jesus as his resurrection or out of the resurrection from the dead. Most translators assume the phrase refers to the resurrection of Jesus (NRSV, NEB, NIV). A minority read it as by the resurrection of dead persons (RV, Moffatt). The latter is preferable. The reference is to the general resurrection from the dead. The resurrection of Jesus is viewed in its cosmic function as the beginning of the general resurrection. Early Christian apocalyptic thought linked the resurrection of Christ and the dawn of the age of the general resurrection. Messiah Jesus is the first person to rise from the dead; his resurrection makes possible the general resurrection. The language suggests the overlap of the ages [see the earlier discussion of “The Larger Thought World of Romans” in the Introduction to this commentary].

The one phrase that is without parallel in the confession, and stands at the center of the confession, is in power. Jesus was enthroned as Son of God in power by the end-time Spirit by means of the resurrection. An act of end-time power is described. The evidence was the inauguration of the end-time resurrection of the dead. The center of the confession is a statement about Spirit power that enthrones Jesus as Son of God and Lord. The emphasis on power attunes Paul’s audience to what such power might mean and promise. Paul answers that expectation at the outset by declaring that the gospel is power, end-time power (1:16), and in his benediction by asserting that hope abounds and the gospel is spread because of the power of the Spirit (15:13, 19). Romans is about power; the letter is bracketed by power language, particularly the confession of 1:4, the theme of 1:16, and the benediction of 15:13, 19.

What is the function of the confession in Romans? An introduction is designed to introduce the author in an appealing way that will lend credence to his concerns. It frequently also introduces topics to be addressed in the letter. Of all Paul’s letters only Romans includes a confession in the introduction; it thus signals something important for Paul and his audience. Paul introduces himself with a confessional statement designed to build common ground for the diverse groups in the Roman churches. Its purpose is to be inclusive rather than exclusive. It is not a litmus test of orthodoxy, but of the inclusiveness of the gospel. That is why the confession is grounded in Israel’s Scriptures and is centered christologically. It confesses Jesus as Messiah in two different ways. It emphasizes the end-time role of the Spirit in the enthronement of Jesus as Son of God, and describes the activity of the Spirit as the powerful inauguration of the end-time resurrection of the dead. The confession introduces themes that Paul will expand in addressing the pastoral issues in Rome.

Paul’s mission concerns the gospel of God that consists in a message about Jesus as the Messiah. He is the Son of God, the Davidic Messiah, whose messiahship and sonship are validated by the resurrection. This theological confession also is a political statement. The good news is about Jesus, not Caesar. Paul opens the letter by addressing the seat of Roman power. He introduces Jesus as the true king and savior of the whole world. Jesus alone is the Lord of the world (see especially Elliott, 1994; Georgi, 1991; Horsley, 1997 and 2000).

Paul concludes Romans with a similar assertion (15:7-13). He makes the case through a carefully constructed sequence of Scripture passages that Messiah Jesus, from the root of Jesse, will rule the Gentiles (15:12). The hope of the world is Jesus, not Caesar. Paul frames Romans as a direct challenge to the imperial Roman proclamation that Caesar is the son of God and the ruler of the world.

Paul’s third point in the prescript is to define his mission. Jesus’ lordship is the basis of Paul’s apostleship (v. 5), and the basis of his right to address the Roman churches (v. 6). Paul has been gifted with apostleship. Grace (charis), a favorite word for Paul, is rarely used in Judaism. The Jews used “mercy” (eleos) to interpret God’s saving activity. Paul replaces mercy with grace. He is the first early-Christian theologian to use it in a technical way to interpret the meaning of salvation. Grace interprets God’s salvation as a gift that has nothing to do with human activity. Likewise, the office of apostle is a gift undeserved by Paul.

The purpose of the gift of apostleship is to bring about the obedience of faith. Paul uses the same phrase again in 16:26 to describe the purpose of his preaching. The phrase, unique to Romans, means “the obedience that consists in faith and the obedience that is the product of faith.” Faith and obedience are closely linked and interchangeable for Paul [Essays: Faith in Romans and Obedience]. Obedience is exercised only from faith, and faith becomes a reality only in obedience. The phrase obedience of faith has an argumentative purpose in Romans. It marries the two watchwords of two major groups in tension in Rome. Faith was the watchword of the Gentile Christians, which they weakened by behavior without love. Obedience, in turn, was the slogan of the Jewish Christians, which they unhooked from faith. Furthermore, against the backdrop of faith’s obedience in Jewish literature, it carries one other meaning. The covenant faithfulness of God’s people Israel is now a possibility without assuming the identity of that people. To make the purpose of his apostleship “faith which is obedience” unifies the two people and the two theologies that are in tension among the house churches of Rome. There is one people of God that expresses obedience through faith and faith through obedience.

The purpose of Paul’s mission among all the Gentiles (nations) is to make manifest the nature of God’s name, literally “in behalf of his name.” The phrase is borrowed from the OT (Ps. 106:8; Ezek. 20:14; Mal. 1:11). The name of God is connected with divine revelation. The gaining of new converts and their fidelity serves to commend the further revelation of God. The evangelism of the world does not just serve the good of those converted, but above all it discloses God’s nature. In 1:8 Paul gives thanks for the faith of the Roman believers, which is known worldwide, in 15:18 he speaks of winning the obedience of the Gentiles, and in 16:19 of the obedience of the Roman Christians, which also is known throughout the world. All these things serve to manifest the name of God.

Unable to appeal to a history of personal acquaintance, as in his other letters, Paul relies on what he and the Romans share, the same faith and values. The prescript abounds with important faith symbols that build community: gospel, Messiah Jesus, God, Holy Spirit, prophets, holy writings, David, and divinely appointed apostleship. Paul’s opening point is that we are one in the faith and belong to the same community of faith.

1:7a The Addressees

The readers are “all the ones being in Rome.” The description of them is brief. The all is emphatic, and is reiterated in v. 8. All the followers of Jesus in Rome are called. Narrow definitions of who is in and/or out are rejected from the beginning of the letter. Furthermore, all are loved of God and called saints. God is pictured in the OT as the one who calls and loves a people. The Roman believers, all of ...

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Abbreviations
• Contents
• Series Foreword
• Author’s Preface
• Introduction
• Romans 1:1-15: Introduction
• Romans 1:16-18: The Thesis Statement
• Romans 1:18-15:13: The Argument of the Letter
• Romans 1:18-3:20: The Revelation of the Wrath of God
• Romans 3:21-26: The Revelation of the Righteousness of God
• Romans 3:27-4:25: One God Makes Righteous All People on the Basis of Faith
• Romans 5:1-8:39: The Meaning of the Revelation of the Righteousnes of God
• The Victory of Christ Over Sin: Romans 5:12-21
• The Death of the Old Humanity: Romans 6:1-7:6
• Victory Over the Flesh/Sin Through Christ and the Spirit: Romans 7:7-8:11
• Children of God: Romans 8:12-39
• Romans 9:1-11:36: The Faithfulness of God to Jews and Gentiles
• God’s Word Has Not Failed: Romans 9:6-29
• Christ Is the Fulfillment of the Word of God: Romans 9:30-10:21
• God Has Not Rejected Israel: Romans 11:1-36
• Romans 12:1-15:13: The Living Sacrifice of the Righteous Community
• The Renewal of the Mind: Romans 12:3-16
• Repay Only the Good: Romans 12:17-13:10
• The Renewal of the Mind: Romans 13:11-14
• Welcome Differences: Romans 14:1-15:13
• Romans 15:14-16:27: Conclusion
• The Theology of Romans
• Essays
• Outline of Romans
• Map of New Testament World
• Bibliography
• Index of Ancient Sources
• The Author