Romans 4.1-13

Chapter 4
Verse 1

Paul continues to address the potential Jewish objections to his claims regarding justification and the law of Moses. The question in this verse introduces a new objection, based upon the suppressed premise that Abraham was justified by his obedience rather than by his faith. Paul also introduces here a term that he will use to separate Abraham’s fatherhood into two distinct categories: flesh and promise. The Jews are children of Abraham according to the flesh, but all those who believe in Christ for their righteousness are children of Abraham according to the promise, and it is the children of the promise who will inherit the Kingdom of God.

Verse 2

The second verse introduces the objection suppressed in the opening verse. Had Abraham’s obedience, his works, been meritorious of justification he would have reason to boast before God. However, Abraham was conscious of his sinfulness and recognized himself to be righteous according to God’s gracious choice and not due to his own merit. For when did Abraham boast of his works before God? If his works were truly meriting God’s favor, why should they be left unadorned with his self-praise? Yet Abraham glorified God in thankfulness.

Verse 3

Paul does not linger upon the hypothetical, but takes us directly to the text of Scripture. Genesis 15:6 tells us that Abraham believed God, and according to his belief was righteousness imputed to Abraham. It would be easy to misunderstand the imputation of righteousness had Paul not laid three chapters of groundwork prior to using Abraham for his example. For it is not Abraham’s belief as belief that is the ground of his justification, but it is God’s grace extended to us in the person and work of Christ that is the ground of our justification—God is just and justifier. What then is belief? Belief is efficacious when it is attached to the appropriate object. It is the object of belief that attains or does not attain justification. Thus, Abraham’s belief in God proves that justification is of God’s grace alone, because He is the object of Abraham’s belief. Had Abraham trusted in, that is, believed in his own works, then his belief would not have resulted in justification, for the object of his belief would have been ineffectual—for no man is justified by keeping the law, for all men are under the condemnation of their willful sinning.

Verse 4

Paul expounds upon the implications of trusting in works vs. trusting in grace in the next few verses. Here he states that the wages of works are not of grace, but of due. If one works and that work is of himself, then one has claim to a reward. A claim is not accomplished by grace, but by merit. So, if we are justified by our works, then we are not justified by God’s grace, and from the arguments laid before we know that God’s grace is our grounds for justification, therefore it cannot be of works.

Verse 5

The opposite side of the equation is as follows. The one who does not work, that is, the one who does not rest upon, trust in, or believe upon his work for justification; but instead believes in God who justifies the ungodly (for indeed all are under the curse of sin)—to this one righteousness is bestowed by God’s grace without reference to, or consideration of the merit or works of that one. If justification is to be of God’s grace, it must be all of God’s grace that accomplishes it, otherwise the work of man (however infinitesimal) would merit consideration, and therefore he should boast of himself apart from God’s grace.

Verse 6

Paul goes once more to the Scriptures by way of another blessed forefather, King David. Just as Abraham believed in God’s gracious justification apart from consideration of his own works, so too does David believe in God’s gracious justification apart from consideration of his own works. Or, it can be said oppositely from an alternative vantage: that Abraham and David believed in God’s gracious justification because they considered their own works and found them entirely lacking before a holy and just God. Therefore there is a two-sided consideration: one side that considers not the merit of our works for our acceptance before God and one side that considers the inadequacy of the merit of our works for attaining God’s favor. The former looks to God by the means of Christ’s and beholds His love, whereas the latter reflects upon oneself in light of having beheld God’s glory.

Verse 7

The quotation of David’s psalm 32:1 acknowledges the blessedness of the one who has been forgiven by God. It is not the one who boasts in his righteousness who is blessed, but the one who boasts in God’s graciousness and mercy to forgive the account of sins committed and goods omitted. Who better than David to speak these words, for it was he who sinned most grievously and was yet forgiven before God. His adultery, murder, and vast bloodshed would have garnered him many deaths according to the Law, but because God desired to use David to exalt the glory of His Name, David was led to recognize the greatness of God’s grace and the blessedness of his own account, which God forgave according to His good pleasure and purposes.

Verse 8

Repeated in briefer language is the same principle of the initial part of the quotation. Blessed indeed is the one to whom God does not credit his sin. Who is Judge if not God? Who is able to blot out transgressions but Him? Indeed, was it not the rage of the religious leaders who spewed forth at Jesus when He offered forgiveness to sinners? They understood well that God alone has the authority to forgive any trespass, and as David confesses in another Psalm, all sin is an offense to God first and only when considering justice. For though we may sin against another, no other has authority over us but by God’s decree, and over all things stands God’s decree, so that every offense to another is chiefly a rebellion against the will and decree of God Himself. How then could we recognize our sin and yet claim to be justified by keeping the law, for but one small sin is enough to have spat in the very face of the Sovereign of the Universe. Therefore God’s grace alone justifies the sinner, who boasts alone in that matchless grace.

Verse 9

Paul transitions in this verse to consider once more the truth that God’s justice is not arbitrary, nor is it founded upon the actions of men. The question he would ask to those who sought to justify themselves in Abraham by exemplifying his works have not considered all the pertinent facts.

Verse 10

How was Abraham reckoned righteous, when in his circumcision or when in his uncircumcision? Indeed faith was reckoned to him as righteousness, because it had an object that was efficacious. So then, to what object could Abraham look to and rest in, trusting for his righteousness before God? It could not be his circumcision, the act or work, and the sign by which he was brought into covenant with God outwardly. For his faith was reckoned as righteousness prior to his circumcision. What a blow of devastation to those Judaizers who sought to bring the Gentiles into conformity with the ceremonial laws of Moses!

Verse 11

Circumcision was received as the sign and seal, which testified to the faith that Abraham had already exhibited in God while he was yet uncircumcised. The sign and seal was a testimony of Abraham’s righteousness before God, although it was not the object upon which that righteousness was fixed. Rather, Abraham’s faith in God was a testimony of God’s free grace bestowed upon those who will believe upon Him in Christ, so that by his example Abraham would become the father of all who believe without being circumcised. That is, Abraham is a father of the faithful by virtue of his faith in God, which is the example of God’s promise revealed to those who are not born of Abraham according to the flesh.

Verse 12

And to those who are spiritually circumcised, as Moses states in the Law that circumcision is to be of the heart, to these Abraham is the father—both to those who have been circumcised in the flesh as well as those whose flesh has not been circumcised, yet both alike circumcised in their hearts by faith and according to the grace of God in Christ. For what steps did Abraham take in which we are to follow? Abraham believed in God’s gracious promise, and it was imputed to his account: righteousness.

Verse 13

If it were unclear what specifically Abraham believed in God concerning, Paul makes it clear in this verse. The promise of God to Abraham and to his descendents was that he would be the heir of the world (the father of nations). The promise was given prior to the Law, that is, prior to the command to be circumcised, and therefore was not given through the Law, but through faith in God Himself, and His faithfulness to fulfill His promises.

Romans 3.21-31

Verse 21

Paul, having leveled so manifest and comprehensive condemnation upon all men, Jew and Gentile, to the purpose of removing from their minds any thought of their own righteousness as sufficient for God’s demands, now turns his attention to the sole means by which humanity are justified before God. The initial transition is the all-important contrastive “but” to all that has preceded. “But now,” Paul says, the righteousness of God has been manifested. In contrast to all the manifest unrighteousness of men, yet God has manifested His righteousness—and that apart from the Law! For God’s righteousness is not under the condition of Law, nor does His righteousness require the Law for it to be valid, but God is righteous in Himself, and so the manifestation of His righteousness does not depend upon the Law. But though the righteousness of God does not depend upon the Law, yet do all the Scriptures (including the Law) testify to God’s righteousness.

Verse 22

If not by Law, how then is the righteousness of God accomplished toward men? It is the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus the Christ. Trust in the Sovereign Savior is the evidence of God’s righteousness. Who then may receive the righteousness of God? All those who believe in Christ for their righteousness shall receive the righteousness of God on their account, and with no further distinction than this faith in Christ. Justification is not a matter of being born of one tribe or another, nor having been given the Law, nor does it come from wisdom or power or wealth. Only by faith in Jesus Christ is the righteousness of God revealed.

Verse 23

There can be no distinction other than faith, for all that Paul has said previously, but to sum up all that he has just said in one phrase, and so to close the argument against all, Paul states that all have sinned and fall short of God’s glory. The “all” here not only includes all classes of people, but all people indeed, for if faith is the evidence of justification, the personal merit of anyone according to the requirements of the Law has proven unfit.

Verse 24

That no one possesses righteousness upon their own merit is further revealed in Paul’s reference to justification as God’s gift of grace the has been given for our redemption through Christ Jesus. God has freely justified those who will believe in Christ for their redemption from guilt before the Law. God, eternal, all wise, all powerful, and all sufficient has freely chosen in Christ those whom He is pleased to justify.

Verse 25

This Christ Jesus, our redemption, has merited justification for us by being publicly displayed as a propitiation for sin. Just as the yearly lamb of sacrifice was publicly slaughtered and its blood sprinkled over the mercy seat, which held the book of the Law and upon which God set His glory, so this Jesus’s blood was shed before the throne of heaven where God was pleased to pour out His wrath upon Jesus for our sins and to thus accept us as holy and blameless upon the righteousness of Christ. The blood of Christ therefore atones for sin, and achieves God’s double satisfaction—He is pleased that His wrath has been poured out on sin, the sin that Jesus became for us; and He is pleased that His favor has been poured out on us through Christ’s righteousness on our behalf. In God’s awaiting the sacrifice of Christ, He did pass over a great many sins of His people in order that His righteousness might be displayed in bearing for us the penalty for those sins. Therefore God demonstrated not only His longsuffering, but His mercy and grace to cover our sin and lay our iniquity upon Himself in Christ.

Verse 26

The demonstration of God’s righteousness has been fully revealed in the present time, that is, in the time of Christ, for Christ’s time on earth is the centerpiece of redemptive history in the full self-disclosure of His divine nature, for in Christ’s holy life, atoning death, and victorious resurrection we see God to be both just (for He punishes our sin in Christ) and justifier (for He redeems us from sin in Christ) of every one who has faith in Jesus.

Verse 27

If Gentiles boasted in their wisdom and ignorance and Jews boasted in the Law, who then is able to boast in what comes nothing whatsoever from their work or merit? It is impossible to boast in oneself in the free grace of God who is just and justifier. Yet if justice comes according to law, by what law does it come? Not by works, for then we might boast, but it is by faith, the passive acknowledgement of God’s free gift—revealed to us by faith.

Verse 28

So again, Paul states it most clearly so as not to be misunderstood. One is justified by faith, that is, trusting in the work of Christ and the character of God, apart from our ability to keep the Law by our obedience. Our obedience accomplishes nothing for our justification, nothing for the remission of our sins, nothing for the satisfaction of God’s wrath, nothing for the acceptance of God’s love, nothing for our inclusion into God’s family. But Christ’s obedience accomplishes all of these things on our behalf, as we trust in Him for our righteousness.

Verse 29

So it is not the Law that has revealed who are the chosen of God, but God is the God of the Jews and the Gentiles. The Jews were blessed to be given the oracles of God, but this blessing was not their justification. God is the savior of all men, that is, of every tongue and tribe of the earth, and not only the Jews.

Verse 30

One people of God exist for God is one. For God has chosen to justify from among the circumcised as well as the uncircumcised, not by works, but by one faith in the one man whose righteousness is sure, God the Son, the Son of Man, Jesus Christ.

Verse 31

If then our justification is not accomplished by our obedience to the Law, does the faith by which we are saved make the Law null and void? Paul emphatically denies the affirmative to this question and asserts the contrary—the Law is not made null, but is rather established by faith. For it is only by faith that the Law is rightly obeyed—for who can love the Law who is not already justified before it? The one who looks to the Law for justification will only hate the Law, for it condemns what we do in sin. Yet for the one whose sins have been forgiven in Christ and whose righteousness before the Law is secured in Him, the Law becomes our means of praising the God who has freely justified us by His grace. No longer does the Law condemn us, but it encourages us because our faith is in Christ’s merit and in God who graciously justifies in Christ.

Romans 3.1-20

Chapter 3
Verse 1

If outward circumcision and being born a Jew do not accomplish justification or acceptability before God, then of what benefit are circumcision and being a Jew? Paul anticipates and states the objection than many Jews would have to what he has just said. And Paul does not hesitate to answer it clearly.

Verse 2

The Jew who is circumcised in his body has received great benefit from God. First, and surely foremost, the Jew has been entrusted with the oracles of God. The sacred Scriptures were given to Israel to keep until the time of Christ when the Word would be made available to all men through its preaching and teaching and copying down into various languages. That God chose Israel to bear His Word and His promises to be fulfilled in Christ to the Jews first and also to the Greeks is a special blessing indeed. All who cherish the Word shall recognize the great benefit of possessing it as God’s gift.

Verse 3

But Paul raises another objection, which he also answers immediately. If the Jews had the Word of God, and yet some did not believe in it, how then can God’s faithfulness be secured? Is it not that God is unable to secure the belief of the Jews? Or is it that God is not faithful to His promises made to the Jews? These questions are not to be shunned off as meaningless, but they have importance too for the Christian who also sees those in the Church fall away in unbelief. Is God unfaithful to the Church because some fall away?

Verse 4

Paul emphatically denies the affirmative conclusion to these questions. God is always true, though every other be found in deceit. He then quotes from Psalm 51:4, which testifies that God is righteous when He speaks and blameless when He judges. The failing of men to trust in the Word of God and to be conformed to the Truth is not attributable to God’s account. For though God is the cause of all things by virtue of His omnipotent will, He is not coercive of any man’s will, but does accomplish through human willing and by manifest and particular circumstances all that is in His design.

Verse 5

What is to be drawn from the fact that our unrighteousness shows forth the righteousness of God? Is God’s wrath unrighteous when poured out upon men, for how can wrath be poured out for something that reveals the righteousness of God? Paul continues to lay forth perceptively the objections of those whose ignorance or impiety cannot grasp the nature and being of God. The illogical conclusion that would affirm that God’s wrath is unwarranted if man’s sin reveals His righteousness presumes that an evil that leads to a good cannot be punished as an evil. Yet Paul shows the flaw in such a construction in the next verse.

Verse 6

Again Paul emphatically denies the illogical conclusion hidden in the interrogations of God’s righteousness. He does so with a series of his own questions, beginning with the question of how God could be judge at all if He did not pour out His wrath upon sin. Here we find the missing premise that completes the previous construction. On way that the evil of men reveals the righteousness of God is precisely in God’s righteous judgment of evil. In order to reveal Himself to be Good and Just, God must punish sin. If sin had not entered the world by God’s decree, then God would have no cause to exhibit His holy and righteous character, nor His just and sovereign attributes. Yet because of sin God’s righteousness is made manifest in His just condemnation. Yet not in this alone.

Verse 7

Here Paul raises a more particular version of the general complaint in verse 5. Perhaps it is not so unfortunate that God’s wrath is poured out upon other sinners, but what cause has He to judge my sin if by my lying His truth abounds and to His glory? If God is glorified by my sin by way of contrast, then am I not to be commended for providing the example by which God’s honor is recognized? But the same answer Paul gives in verse 6 applies here. God’s judgment upon sin is righteously revealed not only in judging sin as a general matter, but by judging the sin of every particular offender. Thus, no man escapes the judgment of God upon His sin, for God is not satisfied to overlook any sin without justly condemning it.

Verse 8

Paul continues to heap scorn upon the folly of impious objectors. For some in his own day were testifying that it must be a good thing to do evil if by it God brings about the good. Paul reaffirms the same that he first affirms—the condemnation of such sinners if just for God is just in punishing all sin by His righteous wrath.

Verse 9

But if Paul is addressing the folly of sophistical arguments, he is not unaware of the pious Jew. For no one is better than another simply by according more reverence or recording less sin. Paul returns to what he has laid in the first two chapters, that all men, Jews and Gentiles are under the penalty and curse of sin. For it has been assumed throughout that though keeping the Law perfectly provides righteousness before God, it is revealed that no man has ever kept the Law with his whole heart.

Verse 10

Paul presses home the point of sin with a quotation from Psalm 14:1-3 and Psalm 53:1-3 that spans this verse and the next two. Then he quotes also from further Psalms and from Isaiah in verses 13-18. In this verse it plainly says that no one is righteous, not one at all. It is astounding that the Jews who had this testimony from God’s Word would consider themselves righteous according to the Law. Yet are we so different in our own way today? How frequently have I heard the boasts of Christians who seek the praise and honor for their efforts on behalf of God? And what more could such boasting spring from but a heart that seeks to please God and justify himself by means of duties done? Yet none today accomplish the Law perfectly anymore than the men of Paul’s day did. Christ alone is the righteous one who has completely fulfilled the Law.

Verse 11

As if it were not enough to know that we are without any righteousness, God’s Word condemns us in our ignorance of the Truth as well. No one has understood the mind of God unless God Himself has revealed His mind to that one. And we know from elsewhere in Scripture that God does not unite Himself with sin, so that those who know God, that is, those to whom God reveals Himself, must have been justified in Christ in order that God might testify by His Spirit to their mind, His Truth. For it also says that no one seeks after God, which means that it is God who searching out men to claim as His own, and in searching out men, He must also justify them, unite them with His Son, imputing His righteousness to them, and bringing them into sanctification and glory.

Verse 12

Not only have we failed in seeking God, but we have turned aside and sought to distance ourselves from Him and His righteousness. It is not as though we were lost and stood still waiting, and hoping to be found. Rather, we fled from God not only in our fear of His wrath, but also in our own hope of supplanting God from His rightful place as Sovereign over all, including our lives and our wills. In this fleeing from God we have not only become useless, but we have forsaken all good. For use and good are defined by God, and though we would serve the millions by sacrificing our effort and our lives, it could accomplish no use or good according to the righteousness requirements of God. Many despair in such an acknowledgement, for they see in it a tyranny and selfishness that they believe cannot characterize a loving God. Yet if God created the world for His glory, how can it be good when our works are done apart from considering His glory? What good are works done in the state of rebellion and autonomy? Surely it is we who are tyrannous and selfish for withholding from God what is rightfully His and keeping for ourselves the glory and honor and satisfaction of our works.

Verse 13

In light of this is it any wonder that the Scriptures call our throats open graves, our tongues deceitful, and our words poison? If we lack understanding and flee from God, what shall we say that does not reveal our rebellious nature? Even the praises we would heap upon God in our state of unbelief are but mockery in His ears for we are yet trusting in our own merits for righteousness. Let no one praise God if he is not also trusting in God for his justification, for the one who praises in vain is not only storing up wrath, but is increasing his self-deceiving trust in his own merit.

Verse 14

Cursing and bitterness flow forth from the mouth of unbelievers. Do we not see this most assuredly when calamity strikes, or when death comes, and pain? The confusion and anger that people feel in the midst of suffering is often openly directed at God. Even if not openly, the inward feeling of injustice that turns to anger and bitterness reveals a secret hatred for God. Believers may balk at this, but how is it that the command to take joy in suffering and to bless God in calamity are fulfilled in anger and bitterness? So we see that even believers are tempted to despise God and His graciousness when our lives are thrust into difficulty under the weight of sin and the wrath of God upon remaining sin in this world. But if calamity and suffering are able to bring the unbeliever to his knees in repentance (cf. Ninevah), it too can bring the believer to his knees in praise to God, that though we lack the understanding of the particular, we can rest in our understanding of the ultimate, which is God’s purpose to render all things good for those who love Him and are called by His name, and to bring about glory super-abounding over all sins that have been committed, in the day of final reckoning.

Verse 15

The work of unbelief also leads to enmity and violence. What humanism can secure perfect holiness? Can man bring about what only God possesses? Yet many believe that education and the amelioration of circumstances will lead to the end of violence, strife, and murder. Yet the Scriptures reveal that evil is not in our lack of good breeding, nor in the weigh of our circumstances, but in the very nature of our rebellion against God. For when sin has removed God’s place on the throne of the heart, who can but replace it but our own finite and selfish will? And in our finitude and our selfishness, even our best intentions often lead to the hurt and pain of others. How then can we consider ourselves righteous and God to blame when we deny Him for our own will, and yet He alone is able to accomplish all things?

Verse 16

Surely the outcome of rebellion is misery and destruction. If our best efforts and intentions still lead us into pain and death, why still do we cling to our own way? Is it not because our hatred of God is greater than our desire for peace? Is it not because our love for ourselves is more powerful than our guilt over sin? Who can suffer the indictments of God’s Word when they face themselves without a veil? Who can refuse the grace of God when they encounter the full impact of their choices and their consequent effects?

Verse 17

For if they would turn from sin and turn to God, if we would turn from the flesh and walk in the Spirit, all then would know the path of peace. God’s way brings about the peace that we long for and are yet incapable of attaining upon our own merits. The feeble will of man has not the power to remove sin from even his own heart, much less the hearts of others. We would rather despise the living God in our futility than to humbly repent, trust in Him, and walk meekly in His precepts.

Verse 18

In the full consideration of all these things what we are to conclude is that unbelief amounts to a lack of fearing God. When God is accounted low or not at all, who can fear His judgment? But when God is seen for who He is, all will bow to Him in the covering of Christ, or cower before Him in their naked shame. The fear of God is the beginning of wisdom, for wisdom sees God as He is, and not as we would have Him to be.

Verse 19

Thus Paul having quoted from the Scriptures speaks to those Jews who boast in the Law. The Law speaks to those who are under it, and it speaks with condemnation for all who have ever sinned. Therefore the Jew has not reason to boast in the Law, anymore than the Gentile has reason to boast in his ignorance, for both Jew and Gentile are held accountable before God and none can speak a word on his own behalf.

Verse 20

For the works of the Law are insufficient to justify anyone before God, for those who understand the full meaning of the Law are shown, as in a mirror, the depths and coverage of sin in their own beings. The Law that points out righteousness is the same Law that reveals our unrighteousness, for by making evident what sin is and its penalty, the Law stands as evidence and testimony against us in the courtroom of God. Yet in our understanding of the Law, if we understand it rightly, we are brought to a true and healthy knowledge of sin, and not only sin in general, but the sin that besets us. If one can read through these opening verses of Paul’s epistle and not feel the weight of sin and the fear of condemnation apart from Christ Jesus, what blindness indeed has God wrought in that one!

Romans 2.17-29

Chapter 2
Verse 17

Paul transitions from his discussion of the Gentiles who are under the Law though they were without the Law to the Jews who rely upon the Law and boast in God. The Jew has surely been the recipient of God’s honor and grace, for he has received the oracles of God in the written Scriptures, and he has been privileged to know God as clearly as can be known through the Scriptures.

Verse 18

Furthermore the Jews have been given to know the will of God through the Scriptures, and to discern what is essential from what is not because all that is necessary for faith and life is written in God’s Law. Whereas the Gentiles had only their conscience to prick their sense of guilt the Jews have God’s own testimony and revelation of how He is to be understood and worshipped.

Verse 19

In addition to knowledge, the Jews also considered themselves instructors of those who were without the Law, and of those who did not understand the Law. The city on a hill whose light shines forth the truth of God was presumably not an unfamiliar concept to the Jews, for here Paul expresses that they considered themselves to be bearers of light in the darkness, and to those in darkness.

Verse 20

Paul continues to heap up the advantages and benefits of the Jews, now being called correctors of foolish men, teachers to the immature, and possessing the embodiment of knowledge and truth by virtue of the Law itself. Is it vain speculation to suggest that Paul speaks as though from experience? As a Pharisee of the Pharisees it is not unlikely that all he expresses here describes how he thought of himself apart from Christ, as a Jew whose hope was in the Law, or more specifically, in his knowledge and obedience to the Law.

Verse 21

The immediate turnaround from these expressions of greatness comes here. The teachers have not taught themselves. The preachers have not heeded their own words, but have become thieves, not only of the people’s gifts from God, but of God’s own honor and glory. Rather than considering themselves subject to the Law, have they not become its masters? And if masters of the Law, a place reserved only for the Lawgiver, have they not then become the very blasphemers they accused Christ of being? In the very least their treatment of the Law profanes the name of God.

Verse 22

For they do not only steal, but commit adultery as they condemn it, they preach against idols and yet rob temples as idols do. The words of Christ in the Sermon on the Mount come to mind here, for it is there that Christ interprets the Law in its fullest measure, whereas the Jews had limited its application to outward behavior. Paul takes up Christ’s interpretation and applies it here to the teachers of the Law who have mistaken its meaning and purpose.

Verse 23

So in their boasting of the Law while yet breaking the Law, the Jews have brought dishonor upon God as their forefathers had done through their idolatry and wickedness. What righteousness could be had from such behavior? For in proving their ignorance of the Law through their breaking of it, the Jews no longer have claim to a knowledge of the Law that saves, for as Paul said before, the doer of the Law and not simply the knower is justified.

Verse 24

And further Paul heaps scorn upon the Jews, for though they considered themselves a light to those in darkness, it is because of their own darkness that the light of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles who walk in darkness. Paul confirms that the Jews are not unlike their forefathers, for he quotes from the Prophets to confirm what their disobedience has wrought amongst the Gentiles concerning the testimony of God.

Verse 25

Paul does not diminish the value of being a Jew, for it remains that value exists in being the chosen of God. Circumcision, the sign that testifies to being in Covenant with God, is a great benefit insofar as it confirms that God is in Covenant with the Jew, but it is worthless if the Law is broken, for transgression of the Law is Covenant breaking, and Covenant breakings puts one outside the Covenant as concerns the Law. This is a hard saying for anyone who would seek his standing in the Covenant by his own merits at keeping its Laws! For the Christian is no better at Covenant keeping than the Jew, and we might say by way of transfer, “baptism has become unbaptism under the penalties of the Law.” That is, if it rested upon our merits in Law-keeping to remain in Covenant with God, we would find ourselves outside the Covenant.

Verse 26

Paul inserts another great turnaround in this verse. If the Jews, who are circumcised do not keep the Law, but the Gentiles, who are not circumcised do keep the Law, then who is truly in Covenant with God? Paul recalls what has come before in his discussion of the Gentiles, who know the Law inwardly though they are without its outward form. Thus, if the one who keeps the Law who has not received it outwardly, does God not justify him according to the Law, which is valid for all men? In this proposition Paul sets up what follows.

Verse 27

But before proceeding to the conclusion Paul builds the argument’s force by further leading questions. If the physical sign is not what confirms Law keeping, but rather it is Law keeping that confirms the physical sign, is it not then the Law keeper who has the right to judge the Law breaker, even if the Law breaker has received the sign of the Covenant? For though the Jews has been given the words of the Law, they have transgressed it because they do not understand its true meaning and purpose, so that the true interpreters who are obedient to the Law stand in judgment over their Law breaking.

Verse 28

Thus Paul arrives at his conclusion in this verse and the following, both of which are all important in our understanding of the New Covenant in Christ. The true Jew, that is, the true people of the Covenant, are not those who have been born of Jewish decent or received the outward sign of the Covenant, but the true Jew is the one who is circumcised apart from the flesh.

Verse 29

If not the outward signs, then it must be the inward sign that testifies as to who is truly in Covenant with God. Circumcision that brings one into fellowship with God effectually is that which is accomplished in the hearts of men by the power of the Spirit, and not by the having or the keeping of the outward stipulations of the Law. For bare obedience does not reach into the motives of the heart, where one may outwardly follow the Law, but inwardly despise it. Nor is the Law open to the interpretations of men, such that Jews could rob parents of their children’s gifts in the name of God (i.e. corban), but its true intent is revealed by the Spirit of God, which testifies to the heart what is God’s will for man in the Law. This testimony does not occur in contradiction to the Law, nor does it invalidate the Law, but rather in accordance with the Law it confirms the Law. Thus Law keeping becomes a matter of praising God rather than seeking the praise of men.

Romans 2.1-16

Chapter 2
Verse 1

Having offered a substantive list of heinous sins against a holy God, Paul puts his own audience under the righteous condemnation. No one is without excuse, for though all men willingly and frequently pass their own finite judgment upon others for various sins, they condemn themselves in their judgment, for they too have committed like sins; and those against an infinite God. Therefore, he says, there is no escape from condemnation upon the merits of those who cannot but sin by their very nature.

Verse 2

Paul may be arguing from the lesser to the greater in that the universal judgment of men upon men confirms to our conscience that the judgment of God who is without sin is just upon those who have sinned. In any case, God’s judgment upon sinfulness is righteous because it is God who determines what is right, and there is not a soul whose allegiance and fidelity are not required of him to worship and obey as God has ordained. Therefore even the so-called good men among us who withhold even a thought of thankfulness owed to God have fallen short of His holy standard.

Verse 3

But if there were any yet who still thought themselves able to escape the judgment of God, perhaps because of their position of self-righteousness, or perhaps hoping that their judgments against others have been slight or insignificant, Paul asks a first rhetorical question, the answer to which has been clearly stated already. All who pass judgment are under judgment, because they have transgressed in the very same ways as those they judge and condemn. If we, as sinners, have no qualms about condemning those who sin against us, how much more worthy is God to judge we who sin against Him; He who is without defect?

Verse 4

But unless Paul crushes without consideration of the new nature of his audience in Christ Jesus, he asks a second rhetorical question to lead them into further humility before God, and one that should spark thankfulness in their hearts. For though Christians may know the truth and rest in God’s grace, we have no boast before God, save to boast in His kindness, longsuffering, and patience with us—for by these attributes He has been pleased to draw us to the repentance He makes available through His Son. The Christian should not, therefore, be quick to judge, lest they forget the mercies of God that bought them from destruction and presently uphold them in righteousness before God.

Verse 5

Yet if there were any yet unrepentant in his audience, Paul reminds them of the wages of their sinfulness. For stubborn and unrepentant hearts store up daily the eternal righteous judgment and wrath of God upon sin. For every soul that enters the first death and has not the faith to plead the blood of Christ before the sentence of judgment shall surely be condemned to the second death, which is eternal punishment of their sin in pain and anguish. On the other hand, the Christian with faith in Christ’s atoning work ought to be reminded of the kindness of God every time he stumbles into sin and approaches the Father for forgiveness.

Verse 6

Paul quotes a common theme from the Scriptures, that God recompenses everyone according to the deeds of their doing. The deeds of the flesh and the deeds of the Spirit comprise the whole of human work in this world. There is no work that is not of faith or of disobedience, for as we work each work, we also will with one will; and that willing must be born of the nature of our federal head: either Adam the sinful, or Christ the righteous, as Paul will later clarify.

Verse 7

Paul lists the reward of faithfulness to Christ in seeking to persevere in His goodness (which is made ours), in His honor (which is made ours), and in His immortality (which is made ours)—eternal life in the presence and favor of God.

Verse 8

Next listed is the reward for faithlessness to Christ in seeking our own ambitions, our own standard of truth (which is not truth), our own righteousness (which is unrighteousness)—wrath and indignation in the presence and disfavor of God. For what is more appropriate to sinning against eternal God? Is it eternity apart from His presence, or eternity in the presence of His disfavor? For now we do not see Him clearly, but then we shall see Him with unveiled eyes, and this too includes those in sin. For those in Christ they shall see God through Christ, and He through Christ shall see them. But those in sin who have no mediated shall see God in His holiness and be consumed by it forever, for His wrath upon sin is relentless and perfect. Remember that He who became our sin bore upon Himself the wrath of God in order that we might find favor in His sight. Shall sinners who are not purchased by Christ’s blood escape what He bore upon Himself?

Verse 9

Here Paul introduces for the first time the distinctions of Jew and Greek. Though he is not yet transitioning into the guilt of the Jew, he foreshadows the topic of their own unrighteousness in his acknowledgment that tribulation and distress await all classes of men who are evil, including and foremost the Jew, then followed by the Greek. As those of choice preference, the Jews who reject Christ shall also be the first partakers in judgment, which was partially fulfilled in the destruction of the Temple only a generation after Christ’s crucifixion.

Verse 10

But if the Jew is first to face the judgment of God, followed by the Greek (or gentile), then the Jew is also first to find the glory and honor and peace of God in Christ, followed by the Greek. Christ, the Messiah, was of the Jews and came to the Jews, and His first disciples were of the Jews. Moreover, it was from the Jews that Christ chose His apostles. We may also expect that the Jews will be honored first at Christ’s final return and then shall the Gentiles follow so that all may thus be satisfied in Christ for eternity.

Verse 11

The reason for Paul’s mention of classes is made clear in this verse. Although the Jews experienced God’s special favor in being His chosen people, and though the Christ came from their midst; Christ came so that all classes of men would be saved and that all classes of men would be judged according to God’s good pleasure. It is not due to anything in humanity, whether Jew or Gentile, that God has chosen them for redemption or condemnation. God’s partiality is not set upon any man, or class of men, but rather upon His own glory. Therefore neither the Jews nor the Greek have reason to boast of their position, for their position is one and the same in Christ, as well as it is one in the same apart from Christ.

Verse 12

Paul expounds upon this theme of impartiality by concerning himself with the Law of God. Gentiles, to whom God did not reveal His Law are under the penalty of death according to the Law, though they have it not. This condemnation occurs according to the Law, yet without their having the Law, by virtue of all that has been said already regarding the testimony of conscience and Creation. Jews, to whom God graciously revealed His Law, are under the penalty of death according to the Law, for all men are sinful, including Jews who have the Law. The judgment of the Law falls upon the Jews because in their knowledge of it they were yet obstinate in their sin. The judgment of God falls upon the Gentiles because in their knowledge of Him they were yet obstinate in their sin. So over those with the Law or without the Law, God is the impartial judge of all sinners.

Verse 13

The reason why all are condemned regardless of being given the Law is detailed in this and the next verse. Righteousness is not accomplished by having been given the Law, that is, in hearing it and being able to understand its commands, but in performing it perfectly. God’s justice requires not simply that the Law be understood in all its precepts, but that is also be accomplished and obeyed in all its precepts. James has so pointedly said that he who stumbles at the least of the commandments of God is held guilty before them all. For though the Law is made of many and various components, it is yet one Law, God’s Law, and its transgression at any point is a transgression against the perfect God, who cannot bear any sin to have a part with Him.

Verse 14

Continuing his exposition, Paul shows that the Gentiles follow the Law and recognize its virtue even though they have not been given the Law by the divine revelation. When the Law forbids murder and the Gentiles, by way of their own laws also condemn murder, the Gentiles have confirmed what the Law commands. When the Law requires society to be ordered such that children are under their parents’s authority and the Gentiles so order their society in the same fashion, the Gentiles have confirmed what the Law commands. Thus, although the Gentiles were not given the Law in all its varied parts as were the Jews, Gentiles nonetheless recognizes the authority of the Law in its essential principles, that is, the Ten Commandments.

Verse 15

How is it that the Gentiles, who are without the Law of Moses, are able to confirm the Law of Moses in their own laws? It is because the work of the Law is upon their conscience by virtue of being created in God’s image. The Law is within us because we are God’s image, reflecting His rational mind and His moral understanding. The animals are neither reasoning beings, nor are they bound by any knowledge of proper relationship, for they are no created in the image of God. Yet all men possess both the power of reasoning and the knowledge of moral relationships such that their own consciences bear witness to the validity of God’s Law. When a man appeals to conscience for wrongs done against him he appeals to God’s Law. When a man appeals to conscience to excuse himself from wrong he recognizes a Law bearing upon him. The Law is inescapable because it is bound up in our very being.

Verse 16

The relationship of the Gentile to the Law having been made evidently clear, Paul closes his thought on the matter of Gentiles and the Law with an authoritative remark. The judgment of the Law upon the Gentiles, who know its validity implicitly, shall, according to the gospel Paul has received from Christ, be accomplished by God, their true Judge. Knowledge of the Law and its condemnation, which is kept secret in their hearts according to their foolish suppression, shall be laid bare before God and He shall judge them through the agency of the One they have rejected, who was and is their only hope of righteousness, Christ Jesus.

Romans 1.18-32

Chapter 1
Verse 18

Having stated the means by which men are justified before the just and holy God, Paul must proceed to demonstrate why it is that men need to be justified at all. Against any who would claim that God’s Fatherhood over all men by virtue of being our Creator were such that He accepts us all unconditionally, Paul asserts that God’s righteous wrath is poured out from heaven upon all ungodliness and unrighteousness. And if this were not plain enough, Paul further states the primary reason why God’ wrath is revealed; those who are ungodly and unrighteous are those who suppress the truth by their unrighteousness. It is not merely that evil acts are counted as unrighteousness, nor is it only that acts leading to evil consequences encompass unrighteousness, but rather any thought contrary to, any deed out of accordance with, any lack of conformity unto the truth is ungodly, unrighteous, and deserving of God’s righteous wrath.

Verse 19

Those who would complain that the knowledge of God is hidden, or that it is insufficient to condemn anyone have the rebuke of Paul to answer. The truth of God is evident to all men, because God made it evident o them. The New American Standard translation I am using says, “that which is known about God is evident within them.” What else testifies within the mind of man concerning the reality of God and his guiltiness of sin but the conscience? In Ecclesiastes, the Preacher tells us that God has set eternity in the hearts of men. Many times in the Old Testament we are told that God’s Spirit is the One who gives wisdom and knowledge to men to understand all things. The knowledge of architecture necessary to build the tabernacle and its articles of worship was granted by God to his appointed builders. What Paul says in brief we may affirm in full, that all knowledge and the conviction of it within our minds is wrought by the mind of God and by His Spirit enlightening us to know. The different between the genius of Mozart in his youth and the insanity of Nietzsche in his agedness comes not from fate, nor evolution, nor their own skill of thought and apprehension, but by the Will and work of God to enlighten the mind and condition the soul by means of many circumstances.

Verse 20

But it is not only our conscience that testifies to the reality of God, which we in our sin suppress. It has been visibly seen in Creation as the product of God’s invisible attributes, His eternal power, and His divine nature. Although the natural world does not function as convincing proof of God’s Being—for how would we know if the apostle Paul did not speak to us God’s revelation of this truth?—yet men marvel at the complexity, the power, and the intricate logical connections evident in nature. The invisible attributes of God, His logical mind, are reflected in the knowledge of geometry as well as in the universal law whereby all men consider love, peace, faithfulness, and other invisible attributes—though they seek their own standard for them. The eternal power of God is reflected in the forces we spy in nature that God uses to both create and destroy as well as uphold what we observe with our senses. Is not the power of the Sun, which sustains, by God’s Will, all the growth and security of life on earth a fitting example of the eternal power of God, which no doubt exceeds the power of the sun infinitely? God’s divine nature is revealed in the sublimity we experience at our great finitude in this existence. Who has not seen the majesty of nature and marveled at its immensity and endurance in comparison to one’s own feeble and fleeting lifespan? The recognition of our finitude is only explained by the comparison to something longer lasting, and in nature we are brought by an analogy to understand the greatness of God’s divinity, that He is above all immensity and finitude. Yet all of these testimonies of Creation that stand as evidence of conviction are not enough to prove to the blinded heart the true nature and purpose of God. While its evidence is not enough to prove the purpose of God, it is enough to convict us all of our guiltiness in denying Him the authority and worship He commands.

Verse 21

Here Paul brings the conviction to its apex, that all men having this knowledge of God are condemned in it because they refuse to honor God as He is known, nor to give Him thanks for His Providence, but instead they invent fictions from their foolish hearts, which have been so perpetuated that they no longer recognize the testimony of God in the things He has made, nor in their own consciences. Where else can we see so clearly this tendency of the human heart but in our first parents, Adam and Eve. Surely Eve understood the attributes, power, and divinity of God enough to know that there was nothing that she could do that would make her like Him, and yet she believed the lies of the deceiver who promised two separate falsehoods—that she would not truly die upon eating the forbidden fruit, and that it held for her rewards greater than God Himself was willing to give to her. What impunity against God’s holy nature! What is worse, Adam chose to believe his wife though God Himself had spoken the words of life directly to him, and had taken such great care in providing Adam with his counterpart. Let us recognize in this historical truth that we should not place our trust in what our senses reveal, nor in what others speak to us alone, but by the Word of God must we think and act.

Verse 22

Humanity, created with minds to know and wills to accomplish great things, exchanged the wisdom of God for the foolishness of self-sufficiency, that is, self-destruction, and in so choosing their wisdom became foolishness, and their profession of knowledge proves to be false. Let not the power of men turn away your heart. There is no knowledge, nor power, nor wisdom that is so great as to match the knowledge and power of God revealed in His Word. The miracles of science, of philosophy, of the rich and famous—for all the wonders that they can produce—they have still never been able to make what is false become that which is true. For those who desire the truth, which comes only by God speaking by His Word, are wise although all the world considers them to be fools.

Verse 23

The foolishness of men is revealed in having exchanged the glory of God, which does not change, nor is it subject to corruption; for that which is constantly changing and characterized by corruption. Men worship natural beasts, themselves, or the fictions hung upon these material and finite beings rather than worshipping their Creator and the One who sustains all life, including and especially their own lives.

Verse 24

Yet God, rich in mercy as He is, did not obliterate humanity entirely, yet He gave them over to the consequences of their desires. All who lust after impurity risk the further corruption of their bodies not because of natural laws inevitably existing, but because of God orchestration of His Creation through which He does sometimes draw men to Himself as well as through which He also destroys men by their own lusts. Is it not the experience of so many who have defiled themselves to have shame not only before men, but within their own hearts? The shame of consequences resulting from sin is God’s grace to those who repent and God’s condemnation of those who continue to reject Him as their Lord and Savior.

Verse 25

Paul again touches on the reason why men are judged and condemned in their body as well as in their mind. They have forsaken the truth for lies and poured forth their desires upon created things rather than God, their Creator. But God is not at a loss because of their rejection, for God remains blessed forever as a result of His self-sufficient Being, and by the will and power of His purpose to bring about His own glory. Do we not see the great contrast here presented between humanity and God? Humanity is full of impurity, deceit, lies, corruption, and finite imperfection whereas God is all of purity, all of truth, all of incorruption, and all of infinite and eternal blessedness.

Verse 26

Having exchanged the truth for a lie, God gave them over to the lusts of their hearts. So says verse twenty-four. Here we see in more detail what are the objects and fruit of such lusts. Degrading passions. The exchange of the natural functions of human sexuality for the unnatural is a lowering of our created nature. What God has designed humanity mocks by forsaking the relations between husband and wife and pursuing adulterous intercourse as well as homosexual and beastial intercourse. Whatever the manifestation of these unnatural lusts—and perhaps it is best to emphasize that unnaturalness of adultery, for it is the sin least condemned in our present age—they degrade the human to something lower than God’s intended purpose. And is it a wonder that shame should follow?

Verse 27

Whereas the unnatural lusts of women were expressed in the previous verse, here Paul turns to the unnatural lusts of men, whose passions for other men burned within them, as though uncontrollably. Not only was this reckless abandonment of God’s Creative order a spiritual evil, but God’s wisdom has designed Creation in such a way that a breach of His order also reaps the physical consequences of sickness, pain, and even death. The injustice of men is not beyond the justice of God, and this is precisely the point that Paul wishes to bring to bear upon the minds of the Romans—no matter the temporary benefits, no matter the intellectual and emotional excuses for sin, God shall punish the iniquity that is evident to us, though we deny it.

Verse 28

Paul continues to emphasize the willful unbelief of humanity and the longsuffering of God to both tolerate sinfulness, yet not without the justice of providing painful consequences for their sin. For if men have been so willful as to ignore God and pay Him no acknowledgement, God has abandoned them to their own devices, to their depraved minds and all the hateful acts to which those minds set their aims.

Verse 29

For all men of this nature are filled with unrighteousness, wickedness, greed, evil, envy, murder, strife, deceit, malice, and gossip—such vices that we would all condemn in others are what we would embrace for ourselves in one way or another, seeking our own benefit. For who has not thought wickedness, greed, or envy? Who has not hated, nor born ill will, a lying heart, or malice for another? Who has not reveled in speaking of another’s misfortune, failure, or mistakes to another? It is our own hearts that condemn us according to the words of Paul.

Verse 30

Still further we are slanderers, haters of God, insolent, arrogant, boastful, inventors of evil, and disobedient to parents. Who has not spoken ill of another, more yet who has not regretted that circumstances that God has brought, and questioned His goodness? Who has not stood firm in will against all wisdom? Who has not thought well of himself and also told another of his appreciation? Will there ever be an end to the ways in which we create opportunity and fulfillment of sin? And is there ever a point in life where our will to be our own authority has not caused our parents’s grief, nor our lack of care for them as well?

Verse 31

We too lack understanding, are worthless to trust, have not love, nor mercy. How Paul’s indictments seem to build in intensity. Who would claim their own ignorance? Yet we know nothing but by God’s grace. Who would consider themself to be unfaithful? Yet who do we betray more than ourselves, whom we love the most? And this shows us that we truly do not know how to love, for who betrays what they love? And though we may forgive ourselves, we despise our nature and wish ourselves to be something other than we are, having no mercy for the pitiful creatures we have made ourselves to be. And though these words are directed to the inner man, we may pull back and also notice that the criticisms apply to our treatment of others as well. And above all others, we forsake God first and foremost.

Verse 32

And all of this vileness, in what state is it accomplished? With a knowledge of the law that convicts our hearts of stone to no avail. We know that evil deserves its fullest measure, and yet we continue in our sinful thoughts and behaviors, and if we often feel ashamed, we are more often proud of our accomplishments, and especially when in our sin we escape the punishment of the law. Many puzzle over the example that Augustine gives in his confessions of stealing the fruit and feelings great remorse over it in retrospect. Yet it is this example that approves Paul’s words here. For though we have nothing to gain from our sin, we so often act in willful rebellion against the law for the very purpose of showing ourselves masters of it by our breaking. Yet we have no power above what God has given, and surely His justice shall no be escaped, though all our hearts may hope in such thoughts, and foolishly.

Romans 1.1-17

Chapter 1
Verse 1

Paul opens his letter by calling himself a slave of Christ. But this slave of Christ is also His apostle, not by Paul’s choice, but by the divine intervention and call of God. Paul’s divine call to apostleship occurred in the direct appearance of Christ to Paul on the Damascus road, and, presumably, under the direct or inspired teaching of Christ as Scripture is silent concerning Paul’s whereabouts for several years following his conversion. The purpose of God’s calling of Paul to be Christ’s apostle is the gospel of God. The gospel of God is nothing else but the person and work of Christ, the Son of God, whose perfect obedience, death on the cross, and vindicating resurrection have secured righteousness before God and the hope of eternal life in His glorious presence for those who believe in Him. For this reason Paul was set apart.

Verse 2

The gospel of God is not a promise that was recently made to Paul, or to any other at that time. Rather, the gospel of God concerning the person and work of Christ was promised in the inspired written word of God’s prophets. These prophets of God who composed the holy Scriptures including the Law (the Mosaic Pentateuch) and the Prophets (the Major and Minor prophets as well as the Wisdom books). From the first promises of God to Adam and Eve after their fall from righteous preservation, the people of God looked to the Word of God through the mouths of His prophets concerning the Messiah who would crush the deceiver and restore God’s people to righteousness and blessed peace on earth.

Verse 3

Paul speaks clearly that the promise of the holy Scriptures in their entirety is Christ the Messiah, born as a descendent of David according to the flesh, though revealed by the Spirit to be the eternally begotten Son of God. Son of God and Son of Man, Christ Jesus is fully human and fully divine, possessing the nature and attributes of both, excepting the sinful nature of Adam, the federal head of fallen humanity. It is important to notice that the incarnation is indicated by Paul to be part of the promise of the holy Scriptures. Though some still contend that the Old Testament nowhere prophesies the birth of God’s own Son, Paul affirms that it indeed does prophesy the same.

Verse 4

We know that Jesus the Christ is the Son of God because of His resurrection. We must not miss the importance of this point. The resurrection of Christ is the proof of His divinity. The Jewish leaders rejected the prophesies of the second Elijah, who was John the Baptist. The Jewish leaders rejected the teachings of Christ, who spoke with divine authority. The Jewish leaders rejected the miracles of Christ, accomplished in the power of the Spirit of God. Yet having rejected him in these external witnesses, they also rejected the witness of their own standard, the holy Scriptures, and therefore condemned Jesus as a blasphemer worthy of a death worse than even the Law commanded—for rather than stoning Jesus according to the Mosaic Law, the Jewish leaders saw it fit for Jesus to suffer at the hands of pagans, according to the most vile and cruel punishment of the day—death on a cross. Yet in the resurrection of Christ Jesus from the dead, God proved Jesus to be the Christ, and this final rebuttal to the false doctrine of the Jewish leaders was the final vindication of Jesus’s Messianic Kingship and Sovereign rule as the Son of God whom He claimed to be. The cross became the objective sign for all men to look and see their salvation accomplished in Christ, and the resurrection became the objective sign for all men to look and see their hope of eternal life accomplished in Christ for our blessedness of fellowship with God, and to His glory. Moreover, Paul refers to this resurrection of Christ from the dead as in accord with the spirit of holiness and identifies Jesus once more as its object for perfect fulfillment. That is, the resurrection was set apart by God’s righteous aim so that Christ Jesus would receive the first fruits of glory for our glorification; eternal life in the presence of God.

Verse 5

In Christ Jesus Paul asserts himself as a recipient of God’s grace and apostleship, for the purpose of bringing Gentiles into the obedience of faith for the sake of Jesus Christ. As Lord of Creation, the glory of the King is manifested in the multiplication of worshippers from all tribes and tongues of men. He who created all things, desires that all things worship Him in the fullness of His glory. For this reason Paul is called to be an apostle to the Gentiles, so that God’s grace might be manifest unto those who are called according to the purpose of God and in the name of Christ Jesus alone.

Verse 6

For it is in the name of Jesus Christ and by His power that Gentiles have been called, even those Gentiles who are among the Romans to whom Paul is writing.

Verse 7

Therefore, Paul gives thanks to God for all the beloved of God in Rome who have been given the titles of saints, the holy ones. And it is according to the unsurpassed and all surpassing grace and peace of God that Paul commends grace and peace from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul, the slave of Christ, reminds us that our slavery to Christ, that is, our complete fidelity to Him according to the knowledge we possess in seeing and beholding Him—this realization of Christ is that by which we experience the grace and peace of God the Father, Who, but for the sake of Christ and His own glory, would only bestow His wrath upon us.

Verse 8

Paul transitions from this brief expression of praise into a more substantial expression of gratitude for God. His thankfulness to God springs from the inclusion of these Romans into the faith by which and through which the grace of God is being proclaimed throughout the whole world. These Romans were living in such a way that others around them were expounding upon the profound faith that they were exhibiting. Certainly this proclamation is one reason why Paul is writing to them, for though he had not yet visited them, he had heard of their faith through witnesses or emissaries who were traveling throughout the Roman empire and testifying of their faith in Christ.

Verse 9

Paul pleads to the witness of God, and according to God’s commissioning of Paul to preach the gospel of Jesus, of his unceasing prayers for the Roman Christians. Is this not an example to us that we should pray for our brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus? And what should be our prayer, but that God would strengthen their faith, enlarge their hearts to serve God and one another, and by His grace that we might share in their fellowship by visiting them in their joys and afflictions.

Verse 10

What is the chief desire of Paul in his prayers to God on behalf of the Romans? It is to finally be granted to visit them and to impart to them the wisdom of God that has been granted to him by the power and revelation of Christ. So too should we wish to share what God has granted us in the way of knowledge and wisdom to those who will benefit from hearing.

Verse 11

Paul states explicitly the content of his desire, which is to impart a spiritual gift to the Romans, which includes his preaching of the Word, but also the presence and service of his body, which makes all words more remarkable to the mind, more palatable to the affections, and more lasting to the will. The word of this spiritual gift of Paul’s preaching, teaching, and serving in person is that the Church in Rome should be established in faith.

Verse 12

The encouragement in faith is accomplished not only by the presence of Paul in his preaching, teaching, and service, but in the additional and reciprocal works of the saints of Rome to exhort and serve Paul, thereby encouraging his faith in Christ and in the work He is accomplishing in their hearts. What better encouragement can there be to a minister of God’s Word than to see that Word take precedence in the hearts and lives of those to whom he ministers, and to be the recipient of their love and good deeds as well? Surely there is not only the sharpening of minds in this divine transaction, but also the deepening of relationships such that the Body of Christ is sanctified in the unity that resembles that much more the unity of Christ the Son with God the Father. Let us remember that the unity of the Son and the Father is not only one of Being, but of knowing and willing—can the Church express the unity of the Godhead if it is not united in mind and will, that is, by the doctrines that determine the content of its beliefs and the impetus for its actions? Only when mind of Christ pervades the minds of His people shall a proper unity of the Christ’s Body be revealed in the world.

Verse 13

Paul wants the Romans to know that his long absence in coming has not been the result of willful neglect, but of necessity and circumstance. Paul has longed to visit them in order to reap the fruit of Christ that they are bearing according to God’s faithfulness among them. Paul’s ministry to the Gentiles in Asia Minor and throughout the Roman Empire had not yet had firsthand fruition in Rome, and Paul has desired to cultivate the Gospel there by his own efforts according to the call of Christ. Can we not see the enduring passion of Paul for the call of Christ to be His witness to the Gentiles? No other thought consumes his mind so superlatively, so extensively as does the thought of preaching Christ to the Gentiles, and particularly the Gentiles in Rome. What a lesson this is to ministers today! Here Paul desires to preach the gospel—not simply to the unconverted (though certainly that is also his desire)—but to the converted! A minister who does not cease to desire to preach the gospel to his congregants is a minister who does not cease to see both the greatness of our need for Christ, and the greatness of Christ in supplying all our needs in Himself.

Verse 14

Paul continues to press home the purpose of his desire and its driving force. Paul is compelled, he is obliged, by the commission of God, to preach to Greeks and non-Greeks alike, to the wisest of their ranks and to the most foolish of their number. In this simple phrase we are reminded of Paul’s willingness to become all things to all men so that by all means some might be saved.

Verse 15

And in light of these preceding statements, Paul expresses his eagerness (as though it bore repeating!) to preach the Gospel to the Romans. Would that all of us who are called by the name “Christian” recognize in Paul’s eagerness that all important motive that ought to characterize our proclamation of the gospel to our fellow believers and to those who languish in unbelief. It is not that we might attain the satisfaction of men, nor that we should advance our justification before God—for the praise of men cannot reach the heights of heaven, nor can the works of our hands accomplish what God alone can do (and this shall be the theme of Paul’s letter). We do not preach to win the praise of men, nor do we preach to win the favor of God. Yet we preach the gospel of God in order to see His glory and grace poured out in the hearts of others as it has been poured out abundantly upon us. Grace manifests grace, whereas self-interest only manifests self-destruction. Let us then recognize that we can only preach the grace of God to the extent that we have understood and accepted the grace of God for ourselves, according to Christ Jesus and by His illuminating power.

Verse 16

Is it any other reason than Paul’s understanding of the manifest grace of God given to him in Christ that he could say with confidence, “I am not ashamed of the gospel?” For surely the proclamation of the gospel had brought him much shame as the world counts shame: beatings, shipwrecks, scourging, rejection, threats, insults, and a host of hardships were Paul’s lot in this life, his reward for preaching the gospel unashamedly. Though few of us shall endure the reward that Paul endured in this life, fewer still will receive his reward in heaven, and fewer still than that shall understand and experience the grace of God to the degree that Paul experienced it in his sufferings for Christ. But as potent as were the persecutions that Paul endured, and as sweet as was Christ’s support in his suffering, above these things Paul expresses his boast in the gospel according to its great power to save everyone who believes, first the Jews, but also the Greek. It was not Paul’s greatest boast, and his chief confidence that Christ had done so much for him, but rather it was Paul’s greatest boast and chief confidence that Christ has done so much for the world, and that for the sake of God’s own righteousness. The eternal vision of Paul sees far beyond his own subjective hope and joy, and by his eternal vision his subjective hope and joy is surpassed to overflowing.

Verse 17

Here we encounter the reason for Paul’s confidence, the source of His hope in Christ, and the theme that will drive his exposition of the gospel of Jesus Christ to the Romans: “For in [the gospel] the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, ‘BUT THE RIGHTEOUS MAN SHALL LIVE BY FAITH.’” Paul uses the word that came directly from the mouth of God to the prophet Habakkuk as his theme and point of departure for the declaration of the gospel in its essential structure. How shall a man be found acceptable in God’s sight? How shall a man attain the satisfaction of perfect peace? How shall a man be vindicated of his faults? To these questions and others Paul’s response is: from faith to faith, God is the righteous One who makes men righteous: God who is all of justice is also all for our justification. No work but His own shall satisfy Him who works all things according to the pleasure of His Will. No work but His own shall accomplish the Good end that He has determined from the beginning. No work but His own will He heed as hale to withhold His righteous wrath when a sinner stands before Him on the day of judgment.

Purpose

This blog is devoted to my own personal reflections on the book of Romans. It is not intended to be an exhaustive exegesis, nor is it intended as an apologetic. It is merely meant to provide myself with an outlet for my own thoughts, in the hopes that others who read may also be encouraged, if God wills it so.