Romans 1

Salutation

¹ From Paul, a slave of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God.

The Greek word for Paul is Παῦλος (paulos), a Latin name meaning small. Paul did not change his name because of his conversion to Christianity, as many commentators suggest. Jews in the dispersion always possessed two names, a Jewish name and a Latin name. Most Jews, even today, possess a Jewish name and a Gentile name, to escape anti-Semitic persecution. Paul was a little man, most likely blind, who brought down the Roman Empire.

The Greek word for "slave" is δοῦλος (doulos), meaning a bond slave. A Jewish slave could only serve as a slave for seven years. After seven years, he had a choice. He could be set free, or if he really loved his master, then he could become a bond slave and serve his master forever. If he decided to become a bond slave, then he would pierce his ear and wear an earring that showed the world that he was a beloved and loyal bond slave to his master. Paul was a Jewish slave who was set free by Christ from the Mosaic Law, Judaism, and from the power of sin, but then he decided to become a bond slave and serve the Lord Jesus Christ forever. At the end of the Book of Romans, Paul advised all believers to become a δοῦλος (doulos), or a bond slave, to Christ.

The Greek word for "Christ" is Χριστός (christos), which comes from the Hebrew word מְשִׁיחַ (maschiach), meaning the anointed King predicted in the Old Testament. Paul was a servant on a mission for the Messianic King.

The Greek word for "Jesus" is Ἰησοῦς (iasous), which comes from the Hebrew word יֵשׁוּעַ (Yeshua), meaning Jehovah is salvation. Jesus is Jehovah, the second person of the Trinity. He is the One who provided atonement for all.

The Greek word for "called" is κλητός (klatos), meaning the efficacious call of God. Paul did not understand or seek God. Paul did not call upon God. Instead, God chose Paul before the foundations of the world were even created to become an apostle to the Gentiles. God called Paul supernaturally on the Damascus Road.

The Greek word for "apostle" is ἀπόστολος (apostles), meaning one sent by God. Paul was sent as a messenger from God to the pagan Gentiles living in the Roman Empire.

The Greek word for "set part" is ἀφορίζω (ophorizow), a perfect passive participle, meaning a person who was separated from a previous position. Paul's previous position was that of a lost sinner who was trapped into the teachings of Judaism. This participle is perfect passive, meaning that Paul was set apart as a onetime completed action of the past, but this separation exists all through eternity. The root word for ἀφορίζω (ophorizow) is Pharisee, meaning one who is set apart for Judaism. Paul was set apart from Judaism and chose to be a bond servant of the Lord Jesus Christ.

The Greek word for "gospel" is εὐαγγέλιον (euangelion), meaning the good news of the Messiah which is found in the entire Bible. Therefore, the gospel is the revelation of the Messiah in all 66 books, not just an evangelistic statement that Jesus is Lord and Savior.

Notice also that the gospel is "of God". It was not man-made, as some liberals claim. Man cannot invent the gospel. Many who have not studied the Bible make this false claim. However, those who have their minds changed by the Holy Spirit know that the gospel is of divine origin.

² This gospel he promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy scriptures,

God made a promise to Abraham that all of the Jews and Gentiles would be blessed through his seed. This seed was Jesus, the Creator God, the Second Person of the Trinity, the Messiah of Israel, and the Savior of the world. Paul was fulfilling the promise of the Abrahamic Covenant by bringing the good news of the Messiah to the Gentiles who were scattered all over the world. His letters reached Gentiles in all nations, all languages, and throughout all history.

After the Abrahamic Covenant was established, God spoke through many other prophets. All of these prophets promised a Messiah who would be virgin born, the God-man, a performer of miracles, a Suffering Servant, a man who was killed, a man who was raised from the dead, and the Son of God who ascended to the right hand of God the Father. Paul quoted 61 times from the Old Testament in order to prove that Jesus was the one spoken of by the prophets.

³ concerning his Son who was a descendant of David with reference to the flesh,

The Greek word for "concerning" is περί (peri), meaning circling around on every side. It is the prefix of the English word "perimeter". The center of the gospel is the Lord Jesus Christ.

Jesus was born from the seed of David, meaning that He fulfilled the Davidic Covenant. This Covenant was a promise to King David that he would one day in the future have a royal descendant who would rule from Jerusalem forever. Every king wanted an eternal dynasty, but King David is the only king in history who will have this wish fulfilled. For this prophecy to be fulfilled, then Israel would have to return back to her land, Jerusalem would have to be rebuilt, Jesus would have to be raised from the dead. Jesus would have to return back to earth, defeat all the enemies of Israel, set up His throne in Jerusalem, and then rule from Jerusalem forever. This is why Israel must return to her land. This is why Jesus must return back to the earth. This is why Jesus must keep this promise that He made to David, or He is a liar.

In "reference to the flesh" means that Jesus was not only divine, but He was human as well.

⁴ who was appointed the Son-of-God-in-power according to the Holy Spirit by the resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord.

The Greek word for "appointed" is ὁρίζω (horizon), an aorist passive participle, meaning one that was appointed as a onetime completed action of the past. Jesus was not only human, but He was deity as well. The resurrection did not make Him a Son of God, because He already had been appointed to this position as a onetime completed action of eternity past. The resurrection proved that Jesus was both human and deity at the same time. He was never part god and part human, like Hercules of Greek mythology. He was all God and all human. He was unique and the only God-man in history.

The name of Jesus means Jehovah is salvation. Christ is the Messianic King predicted in the Old Testament. Lord means deity. Jesus is a trinity of the Messianic King, the Creator God, and the last Adam.

⁵ Through him we have received grace and our apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith among all the Gentiles on behalf of his name.

The Greek word for "grace" is χάρις (charis), meaning the kindness of God. Paul received grace, or kindness, from the Lord Jesus Christ. Christ appointed him to be an apostle. Paul used plural pronouns, because all of the other apostles received grace as well. Paul was identified and equal to all of the other apostles, even though he was not one of the original twelve. Since Paul was not one of the original twelve apostles, the Judaizers will continually attack Paul on this point. Paul had to defend his apostleship in many of his letters

The Gentiles were lost and had no chance of knowing Christ. However, Paul was appointed as an apostle to the Gentiles so that he could bring them the good news of the Messiah. The good news was that the Gentiles could be saved by believing in the name, or the character, of Jesus. The character of Jesus was that He loved the Gentiles, so He made atonement for them on the cross as well.

⁶ You also are among them, called to belong to Jesus Christ.

The Greek word for "called" is κλητός (klatos), meaning a divine call to salvation. All of the believers in the Roman church received a divine call from the Lord Jesus Christ. Once they accepted this call, then they no longer belonged to Satan, but instead, they belonged to the Lord Jesus Christ.

⁷ To all those loved by God in Rome, called to be saints: Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ!

Paul's letter was written to the believers in Rome. It is believed that the Roman Church was not founded by any of the other apostles, but it was founded by Hebrew Christians and Gentile believers who were persecuted and run out of other regions of the Roman Empire. Paul may have met many of them on his three missionary journeys, which are recorded in the Book of Acts. Paul had never even visited the Roman church.

Saints are all of those who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation. Saints are not special people who are voted into sainthood by Catholic bishops.

The Greek word for "grace" is χάρις (charis), meaning the kindness of God. χάρις (charis) was the typical Greek greeting.

The Greek word for "peace" is εἰρήνη (eirainay), which comes from the Hebrew word שָׁלום (shalom), meaning peace with God. In this epistle, Paul will teach the Romans how to have peace with God. This was the typical Hebrew greeting.

Notice that the peace comes "from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord". The Greek word for "and" is καὶ (kai), which is the Greek equal sign, meaning that God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ are equal. They are both deity. Many cults and isms falsely teach that Jesus was less than God, such as maybe a created angel, a prophet, a guru, a spirit guide, a great spirit, or just a human rabbi. This one little Greek word disproves that Jesus was less than God. This little Greek word proves that Jesus is God and is equal to God the Father.

Paul’s Desire to Visit Rome

⁸ First of all, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is proclaimed throughout the whole world.

Paul was not in Rome at this time, but he heard about the faith of the Romans. Their faith was known throughout the entire inhabited Roman world. It is believed that the Roman church was not established by any of the apostles. It was established by Christians who were persecuted throughout the Roman Empire.

⁹ For God, whom I serve in my spirit by preaching the gospel of his Son, is my witness that I continually remember you

Paul continually remembered the Romans in his prayers.

¹⁰ and I always ask in my prayers, if perhaps now at last I may succeed in visiting you according to the will of God.

Paul had never visited the Roman church, but he possessed a great desire to do so. He prayed that he might be given this opportunity. The spiritual lesson is the oneness of believers. Believers can pray for those whom they have never met. Christians can pray for missionaries whom they have never met.

¹¹ For I long to see you, so that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to strengthen you,

Paul wanted to travel to Rome and perform an apostolic miracle so that it would confirm that his message was from God. One of the apostolic gifts was that of establishing local churches. Paul wanted to establish this church with his apostolic authority. Paul wanted to share with them some doctrines that they did not know.

¹² that is, that we may be mutually comforted by one another’s faith, both yours and mine.

There was a mutual benefit for Paul's visit to Rome. Paul will be encouraged by the spiritual growth and maturity of the Roman believers. Paul will learn from them as well.

¹³ I do not want you to be unaware, brothers and sisters, that I often intended to come to you (and was prevented until now), so that I may have some fruit even among you, just as I already have among the rest of the Gentiles.

The Greek word for "unaware" is ἀγνοέω (agnoeow), meaning ignorant. This is the root of the English word agnostic, meaning one who is ignorant or has no knowledge of God. Paul did not want the Romans to be ignorant of bible doctrine. There were some specific Biblical doctrines that Paul needed to share with the Romans.

The Greek word for "prevented" is κωλύω (koluow), an aorist passive indicative verb, meaning that Paul was hindered by an outside force from visiting Rome. Sometimes, Satan hindered Paul, but this was not the case at the time of this letter. Later on in Acts 15, Paul revealed that he was hindered by the amount of labors that he had at this time of the writing.

Peter was the apostle of the Jews, but Paul was the apostle to the Gentiles. Paul wished to visit and teach a very powerful Gentile church so that he could produce more fruit.

¹⁴ I am a debtor both to the Greeks and to the barbarians, both to the wise and to the foolish.

Paul owed a debt to the Gentiles. The Greeks were the cultured Gentiles who spoke Koine Greek. They were considered civilized, because they had been hellenized by Alexander the Great. They possessed the classics of Greek literature, including the writings of Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle.

The Barbarians were the uncultured Gentiles who did not speak Koine Greek. They had not been hellenized by Alexander the Great. They were not familiar with the Greek culture. The Old Testament was also translated into the Greek language. It was called the Septuagint. The Barbarians did not have access to the Greek Old Testament.

Paul was a debtor, because he was given a tremendous amount of divine information. He was given so much information, that God assigned a demon to continually strike him in order to keep him humble. This was Paul's thorn in the flesh. Paul was given so much divine information, that now he had to pay it back.

¹⁵ Thus I am eager also to preach the gospel to you who are in Rome.

Paul had a great desire to preach the gospel to the Romans. He was not to preach by his actions. He was to proclaim the Word of God. It is arrogant to think that the actions of Christians will save anyone. This kind of behavior places the focus on individual Christians, and not on Christ. If anyone places their faith in a Christian's walk, then they will eventually be disappointed. It is hearing the gospel that saves. "Faith comes by hearing, and hearing from the Word of God." Paul will explain this salvation process in chapter ten.

The Power of the Gospel

¹⁶ For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is God’s power for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.

The Greek word for "power" is δύναμις (dynamos), meaning divine power. The gospel possesses divine power. The Bible is a supernatural book that only the elect can understand. It is not an open book to the unbeliever.

The gospel is that Jesus died and was resurrected for the sins of the people. This is the simple gospel that has the power to save one from their sin, moving their future location from hell into heaven.

Paul was not ashamed to teach the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Judaism frowned on the Messiah Jesus and persecuted those who taught the gospel. This mockery by Judaism did not slow down Paul from preaching the gospel.

The Greek word for "is" is ἐστιν (estin), a present active indicative verb, meaning to continually exist. The power of salvation is to continually exist to the Jew first, and then to the Greek. This present tense verb means that the power of the gospel is to continually go to the Jews first, and then to the Gentiles. This means that all missions should start with the Jews, and then go to the Gentiles. This was the very opposite evangelism practice of the Crusades. The Catholics did not evangelize the Jews first. They attacked them and burnt down their synagogues. Paul always took the gospel to the Jewish synagogues first. Afterwards, he would take the gospel to the Gentiles. The Gentiles were involved in the pagan mystery religions of ancient Babylon.

¹⁷ For the righteousness of God is revealed in the gospel from faith to faith, just as it is written, “The righteous by faith will live.”

Paul quoted from Habakkuk 2:4, meaning that the doctrine of faith was an Old Testament principle that many of the rabbi did not grasp. Martin Luther used this verse to launch the Reformation.

Being righteous means that God justifies the believer. Justification means to be declared righteous by a judge in an official Roman court of law. This does not mean that the defendant is righteous. It just means that the judge has looked at the evidence and declared the defendant as righteous.

Rome was the capital of the mighty Roman Empire. Rome was known for its justice, law, and order. What Paul is going to do is to become a Roman lawyer and use Roman law to prove that all men are guilty of breaking God's law. He is going to show that there are three different groups of men on this earth, and they are all guilty of a capital crime. The punishment is the death sentence. The type of death is eternal death, which is separation from God for eternity.

The Condemnation of the Unrighteous

¹⁸ For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of people who suppress the truth by their unrighteousness,

The first type of men on trial are the Gentle pagans who have never heard of Christ. The question that many people ask is "Will the Gentile pagans be judged as guilty before God, even if they have never heard of Christ?" Paul will put on his lawyer’s hat and prove that these pagans are guilty and their punishment is eternal death.

Paul first proved that God was not only a God of love, but He was also a God of wrath. The wrath of God means that God is angry. His anger is revealed from heaven. His anger is against everyone who is ungodly. Ungodly means that man lives as if there is no God. Every natural man born on this earth lives as if there is no God, so this arrogance of man places God and man at war against each other. Man is hostile to God and God is hostile to man. They are natural enemies. Unrighteous people, including pagans who have never heard of Christ, know that there is a God, but they suppress this truth deep into their subconscious. They try to forget that there is a God. They attempt to wish Him away. Man loves his sin and does not want to change. Man does not like a God who hates their sin. Man does not like a God who is going to judge their sin. Man prefers Satan over God, because Satan does not mind their sin and even endorses their sin. This is the condition of all natural men who have ever been born. They love Satan more than they love God. They love hell more than they love heaven. They are not interested in a Millennial Kingdom with Christ ruling on earth. They prefer the current satanic world system where Satan is in control. They prefer steak dinners, or the blood of dead animals, over manna from heaven.

¹⁹ because what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them.

"There is no such thing as an atheist in a fox hole." Every man, including the pagans in Africa, South America, and Australia, know that there is a God, because God has made this knowledge available to every man who has ever been born. According to this verse, there is no such thing as an atheist. God has made Himself plain to the atheist, but the atheist is such a sinful creature, that he suppresses this knowledge of God. He hides it deep into his subconscious. Atheists lie when they tell others that there is no God. They know there is a God, but because of their sinful nature, they have buried Him deep in their subconscious.

There is also no such thing as an agnostic. God has revealed Himself to agnostics as well. Agnostics insult God when they say that there is not enough evidence for them to believe in God. God has provided them plenty of evidence, but because of their sin nature, they have buried this knowledge deep into their souls.

²⁰ For since the creation of the world his invisible attributes – his eternal power and divine nature – have been clearly seen, because they are understood through what has been made. So people are without excuse.

The universe runs like clockwork, as does the human body, the molecular system, the atom, and even the amoeba. Man can see God through creation. Man was created in the image of God. This knowledge is available to every man. The invisible qualities of God show that He is alive and He is very powerful.

Seeing God in nature is called general revelation. General revelation of God will not save anyone. Man is so totally depraved and evil that he will reject general revelation. Instead, one must hear the gospel and then believe it. If an African sees God in creation and wants to know Him, then God will call someone to visit him and take him the gospel. "Faith comes by hearing". A man who is called by God to visit this African will sell everything that he has to answer this call and deliver the message of the gospel. Paul will explain this salvation process in more detail in chapter ten.

If a man can be saved by general knowledge, then the worst thing that a missionary can do is take him the gospel. He may reject it and end up in the Lake of Fire forever. Since this is not God's method, it is important that the gospel be taken to the lost.

²¹ For although they knew God, they did not glorify him as God or give him thanks, but they became futile in their thoughts and their senseless hearts were darkened.

Those who reject God become foolish in their thinking. They will not thank God for the air that they breathe, the food that they eat, the water that they drink, the place where they live, or the clothes that they wear.

Man is so totally depraved and evil, that he must make up such ridiculous theories such as the Big Bang and evolution in order to explain God away. It is foolish to think that nothing exploded into everything. Some foolish men spend years of their lives gaining a Ph.D. in evolution. Then, they spend their lives teaching this faith to others. No one can explain how evolution started, no one has ever seen anything evolve, there are no transitional fossils, yet foolish men call this science. Evolution is nothing but faith. It is the number one religion in America and it is state funded.

²² Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools

Atheists think that they are smart, but they are actually fools.

²³ and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for an image resembling mortal human beings or birds or four-footed animals or reptiles.

Pagans made a great exchange. They exchanged the glory of God for the worship of nature. They began worshiping creation rather than the Creator. Even many of the Ph.D. evolutionists are looking into the supernatural in nature in order to find some kind of reasoning for their humanistic, secular, godless theories.

²⁴ Therefore God gave them over in the desires of their hearts to impurity, to dishonor their bodies among themselves.

Once an unbeliever rejects God, then he will eventually turn to promiscuity. Fornication and adultery dishonor the body. The body was designed to become a tent that carries the Holy Spirit, but pagans use it for sexual pleasures which dishonor their bodies. This is the first stage of a decadent society.

²⁵ They exchanged the truth of God for a lie and worshiped and served the creation rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.

Those who reject the truth of God will eventually worship the creation. Many of them will turn to idols, which means that they are actually worshiping created demons, or even Satan himself, who is a created angel. They will worship satanic forces through nature. This is the second stage of a decadent nation.

²⁶ For this reason God gave them over to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged the natural sexual relations for unnatural ones,

According to Bible doctrine, when a woman rejects God as Creator, then she will become a lesbian. Notice that this is a judgment from God. There is no alternate lifestyle open to God. This is the third stage of a decadent nation.

²⁷ and likewise the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed in their passions for one another. Men committed shameless acts with men and received in themselves the due penalty for their error.

Men who reject God as creator will eventually become homosexuals. Notice that God calls these passions "shameless acts". The Greek word for "shameless acts" is ἀσχημοσύνη (aschamosunay), meaning indecent or lewd behavior. God is not impressed with same-sex marriage. He is not impressed with the new morality. This is error and there is a penalty for these kinds of choices. This is the fourth stage of a decadent nation.

Notice that in stages three and four, the society does not evolve, but it devolves into same-sex marriage. There are many Christ-rejecters walking around today who are either homosexual, bisexual, or lesbian. Many are not there yet, but as their sin nature grows and as they mature in age, they will eventually begin to develop these tendencies. Most of the satanic world system and those baby Christians who are ignorant of the Scriptures will deny this teaching. However, the teaching against same-sex marriage is a part of the inspired, inerrant, and infallible Word of God. This is doctrinal truth. There are many closet homosexuals walking around the world today. Unbelievers and baby Christians may not want to believe this doctrine, but their human viewpoint is nullified by this verse.

²⁸ And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them over to a depraved mind, to do what should not be done.

There are many liberals who teach that homosexuality was only condemned in the Old Testament, and since Christ died, the Old Testament laws are no longer valid. However, Paul received his instruction directly from the Lord Jesus Christ in the Arabian Desert. Paul used his apostolic authority to denounce homosexuality. Paul was writing by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. Homosexuality was a capital crime in the Old Testament and labeled as "a depraved mind" in the New Testament. Anyone who teaches otherwise is elevating their human opinion above the inspired, inerrant, and infallible Word of God.

²⁹ They are filled with every kind of unrighteousness, wickedness, covetousness, malice. They are rife with envy, murder, strife, deceit, hostility. They are gossips,

Not only are those who reject God as Creator headed down the road of same-sex marriage, but they are also filled with every kind of unrighteousness. They are called unrighteous, wicked, desiring things that are not their own, and desiring revenge on those who come against them. They are envious of those who have more than they possess. They are murderers. They would murder Christians if the law did not stop them. They like to argue. They are hostile, meaning dangerous and violent. They use gossip in order to destroy others.

³⁰ slanderers, haters of God, insolent, arrogant, boastful, contrivers of all sorts of evil, disobedient to parents,

Those who reject God not only become homosexuals, but they also slander others so that they can harm them. They are insolent, thinking that they are better than others. They are arrogant, as they place their own human opinion above the Word of God. They flaunt their sin and then boast about it. They plan and commit evil. They do not show respect to their parents. Their personal lifestyle is an insult to their parents because they are displaying that their parents did not bring them up in a righteous home.

³¹ senseless, covenant-breakers, heartless, ruthless.

Those who reject God as Creator not only turn into homosexuals, but they lose their senses. They are not able to distinguish between right and wrong. They do not keep their word. They are callous when it comes to evil. They are ruthless, willing to destroy others. They think that good is evil and evil is good.

³² Although they fully know God’s righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but also approve of those who practice them.

Those who reject God as Creator not only become involved in the perversion of same-sex practices, but they still practice these perversions, fully knowing that this is not God's will for their lives. They fully understand that in God's eyes, this is a capital offense sin deserving of death. Since governments are refusing to execute the death penalty on homosexuals, then God must do it. AIDS is taking a terrible death toll on homosexuals. The way to end AIDS is not to spend millions of tax dollars on finding a cure, but in teaching homosexuality as sin in every educational institution.

This teaching of Romans 1 is not popular with the same-sex crowd who belong to the satanic world system, but it is the truth which is revealed in the Holy Scriptures. It takes a lot of divine love for a believer to tell a homosexual that he is on the way to the Lake of Fire. However, the entire counsel of the Word is to be taught, even if it offends others. It is agape love to tell one the truth, even if it offends them, as it might save their souls from the Lake of Fire. It is evil to be silent and allow others to perish. Silence is not golden. This is what Satan wants. It is not agape love to be silent when others are perishing.