1 Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle and set apart for the gospel of God— 2 the gospel he promised beforehand through his prophets in the Holy Scriptures 3 regarding his Son, who as to his earthly life was a descendant of David, 4 and who through the Spirit of holiness was appointed the Son of God in power by his resurrection from the dead: Jesus Christ our Lord. 5 Through him we received grace and apostleship to call all the Gentiles to the obedience that comes from faith for his name’s sake. 6 And you also are among those Gentiles who are called to belong to Jesus Christ. 7 To all in Rome who are loved by God and called to be his holy people: Grace and peace to you from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ.
*Commentary* Paul begins this letter much the same as he does many others. He identifies himself as a servant of Jesus and an Apostle. An Apostle being one of the 12 chosen by Jesus to carry his gospel to the people. He then identifies Jesus as the son of God and descendant of David, foretold in the Old Testament many times.
Isaiah 7:14 “Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel.”
Paul then declares why he was given apostleship. So that he could call all the Gentiles to obedience in Jesus, through faith in his name. He identifies the Romans as included in those belonging to Christ, and he offers “Grace and Peace.” Paul uses this same greeting in most of his epistles, as a means of greeting both Gentiles and Jews. He combines the traditional Jewish greeting of “Peace or Shalom” with that of a traditional Greek greeting of “Grace or Gratia.”
- Who does Paul write this letter to?
- What does Paul explain, is his reason for his apostleship?