Introduction
1
📚Paul 📖, a servant 📖 of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle 📖, set apart 📖 for the gospel of God 2 📚(which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the Holy Scriptures,3 📚concerning his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, who was born of the seed of David, according to the flesh,
4 📚and declared with power to be the Son of God, according to the Spirit of holiness 📖, by the resurrection from the dead. 5 📚Through him we have received grace and apostleship, to bring about the obedience of faith 📖 among all nations, for his name’s sake,
1:5 Paul well understood that his salvation and his opportunity of serving Christ were altogether God’s gift (Eph 2:3-10; 3:7-8; 1 Tim 1:13-17; 2 Tim 1:9; Titus 3:3-8). God appointed him to serve primarily among the Gentiles (peoples other than Jews). But of course he preached to Jews also – Acts 13:45-47; 22:21; 26:17-18; Gal 1:16; 2:7-8.⚜
6 📚among whom you too are called 📖 by Jesus Christ):
7 📚To all who are in Rome, dearly loved by God, called to be saints 📖: Grace 📖 to you and peace from God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ.
1:7 All believers are “dearly loved by God” with a special love (John 13:1; 14:21, 23; 1 John 3:1; Jer 31:3).⚜
8 📚First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is proclaimed throughout the whole world. 9 📚For God is my witness, whom I serve with my spirit 📖 in the gospel of his Son, that without ceasing I make mention of you always in my prayers,
1:8-9 Paul often expressed his thankfulness to God for believers – 1 Cor 1:4; Phil 1:3; Col 1:3; 1 Thess 2:13; 2 Tim 1:3. And he prayed earnestly and faithfully for them wherever they might be – Eph 1:16; 3:16; Phil 1:4, 9; Col 1:3, 9; 2:1; 1 Thess 1:2; 3:10; 5:23; 2 Tim 1:3. He felt the burden of all the churches (2 Cor 11:28-29), and he knew the importance of prayer and its power (compare Luke 18:1; Jam 5:16).⚜
10 📚asking that by some means at last by the will of God I might have a good opportunity to come to you 📖. 11 📚For I long to see you that I may impart to you some spiritual gift 📖 so you can be strengthened; 12 📚that is, that I may be encouraged together with you by our mutual faith.
1:12 He was a great apostle but he did not proudly imagine that he could not be encouraged and edified by ordinary believers.⚜
13 📚Now I do not want you to be unaware, brethren, that often I planned to come to you (but was hindered until now) so that I might have some fruit 📖 among you also, even as among other Gentiles 📖.
14 📚I am debtor both to Greeks and to other peoples 📖, both to the wise and to the unwise.
1:14 He considered himself a debtor to all kinds of men – he knew he owed them the opportunity to hear the gospel. See Acts 20:26-27. Christ had placed this responsibility on him (Acts 26:16-18; 1 Cor 9:16-17), as He did on all the disciples and on the whole Church (Matt 28:18-20; Mark 16:15).⚜
15 📚So, as much as is in me, I am ready to preach the gospel to you who are at Rome also.
1:15 He not only felt keenly his responsibility to all men, he was eager to fulfill it. No sufferings, no troubles, no threats of death could deter him (Acts 20:24; 21:13).⚜
The theme
16 📚For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, first to the Jew 📖, and also to the Greek.
1:16 The reason for his eagerness to preach the gospel appears here. He was not ashamed of it as if it were a weak and useless thing. He knew it was the only way of salvation, the one power of God that was effective in forgiving and changing men and bringing them at last to heaven. In this letter more than in any other he wrote Paul shows what salvation means. It includes justification (Rom 3:24), peace with God (Rom 5:1), a new holy life (chapters 6–8), and glorification (being made eventually like the Lord Jesus – Rom 8:29-30). The only power to accomplish all this is the gospel of Christ (see also Acts 4:12).
17 📚For in it the righteousness 📖 of God is revealed 📖 from faith to faith. As it is written 📖,
“The righteous will live by faith”.
Man’s need of the gospel
18 📚For the wrath 📖 of God is revealed from heaven 📖 against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress 📖 the truth in unrighteousness, 19 📚because what may be known about God is evident among them, for God has showed it to them. 20 📚For since the creation of the world his invisible attributes are clearly seen, that is, his eternal power and divine nature, being understood by the things that are made, so that they are without excuse.
1:19-20 People do not sin altogether in ignorance. Creation reveals that there is a wonderful Being Who has made it. Compare Ps 19:1-4; Isa 40:21-26; Acts 14:15-17. But people close their eyes to this truth (and even deny it – Ps 14:1), and sin deliberately. This is why they are without excuse. Even if God had given no other revelation, even if there were no Bible, even if Christ had not come, people would still be without excuse for their sin. By creation alone the fact of God and His power are “clearly seen”, and people should seek the Creator and worship and serve Him (Acts 17:26-27). But they do not do this because they will not. They love their sins and after them they will go. They love their own ways and so refuse to consider the God Who points them to higher, better, holier ways.⚜
Man’s sinful condition
21 📚Because, when they knew God, they did not glorify him as God, and were not thankful, but became futile in their reasonings, and their foolish heart was darkened. 22 📚Claiming to be wise, they became fools,
1:22 All man’s talk of wisdom is empty and vain in God’s eyes. See 1 Cor 1:18-25; 2:7-8. The so-called way of wisdom which some people think leads to salvation is altogether foolishness in the sight of the Creator of the universe.⚜
23 📚and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man, and birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping animals.
1:21-23 Paul here speaks of mankind’s history and shows how idolatry came about. People in the beginning knew the one true God, the Creator of the universe. But they were not grateful for this greatest of privileges (v 28). And they did not fulfill the chief purpose of their creation – to bring glory and honor to God (Isa 43:7; 1 Cor 10:31; Rev 4:11). On thankfulness see Lev 7:12-13; Ps 7:17; 50:14-15; 56:12; 1 Thess 5:18.
Instead of being thankful for the knowledge of God they had, they began to speculate and to invent philosophies and religious systems. This all led to darkness of heart (Eph 4:18), arrogance and idolatry. Verses 23 and 25 show us what idolatry is. See also Ex 20:4-6; Ps 115:2-8; Isa 40:18-26; 44:12-20. (God’s own nation Israel – the nation above all others which had the clearest revelation of God – was guilty of this just as every other nation in the world – see Jer 2:11-12.)⚜
24 📚Therefore God gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts to dishonour their bodies between themselves.
1:24 Verses 26,28. One way in which God punished mankind for its sin was to give it up to further sin and to the judgment that comes upon all sin. Abandoning men to the sins which they insist on doing is one of the worst of punishments and a perfectly just one. Compare Deut 32:19-22; Jud 2:10-15.⚜
25 📚They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshipped and served created things rather than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen.
1:25 The knowledge of the true God was a hindrance to their sinning. Therefore they rejected it and adopted lying thoughts and false teachings as their guide. Some of the worst of these is the lie that God is like the creation He had made, or like the idols men make, and the lie that to worship God’s creation (sun, moon, stars, animals, etc), or to worship idols or the “gods” is the same as worshiping God. The true God will never accept such worship – Ex 20:3-6; 1 Kings 18:21; 2 Kings 17:14-18; Ps 78:56-59; Prov 1:29-31; Jer 2:11-13; Matt 4:10; Rev 9:20-21; 21:8.⚜
26 📚For this reason God gave them up to vile passions. Even their women exchanged the natural use for what is against nature. 27 📚Likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust for one another, men committing shameful acts with other men, and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error.
1:26-27 Sodomy is a sin that God condemns everywhere in His Word. See Gen 19:4-5; Lev 18:22; 20:13; 1 Cor 6:9; 1 Tim 1:10; Jude 7. Here in Romans Paul says it came about because God punished mankind for its sin of rejecting Him by abandoning them to the basest lusts of their fallen hearts. In these days, in some parts of the world, such sinful behavior is being accepted as a legitimate lifestyle and there men live openly with other men and women with women in a sexual relationship. But man’s view of things and God’s view are very different. Sodomy and lesbianism are not acceptable to God, and He will punish these sins as He does all other sin (Rev 21:8) – unless the sinner repents, turns to Him in faith, forsaking the old sinful way of living. Of course, Paul does not mean that these practices are the worst of all sins, only that they reveal how deeply mankind has fallen from its original condition. They are representative of a great many sins that are hateful to God (such as the ones listed in verses 29-32 and other places in the Bible).⚜
28 📚And since they did not regard it as worthwhile to keep God in their knowledge, God gave them up to a depraved mind to do improper things.
1:28 Observe carefully these terrible (but true) words. The knowledge of God is the greatest treasure God gave people, worth far more than the whole world (compare Ps 19:10; 119:72; Prov 2:1-5; Jer 9:23-24). Mankind has treated this treasure as if it were rubbish. And they have paid the penalty for it. God gave them up to the depravity which they chose and loved.⚜
29 📚They are filled with all unrighteousness, sexual immorality, wickedness, greed, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, depravity. They are slanderers, 30 📚backbiters, haters of God 📖, insolent, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, 31 📚without understanding, covenant breakers, without natural affection, unforgiving, unmerciful. 32 📚Knowing the judgment of God, that those who commit such things are worthy of death, they not only do them, but take pleasure in those who do them.
1:29-32 Now Paul speaks of the present condition of mankind. Let no one think this description of the sinfulness of people is exaggerated. Of course, not every single person is guilty of every sin listed here, but the seeds of every sin are in us all and people in general are as these words state. See Rom 3:9-19; Gen 8:21; Ps 51:5; Jer 17:9; Matt 7:11; 15:19-20; Eph 2:1-3; 4:17-19.⚜
1:32 This is the greatest evidence of the depravity of people. Even when they still have some knowledge of right and wrong, and know that God has appointed death as the just punishment for sin (Rom 5:12; Gen 2:17; Ex 21:36; Heb 2:15), this does not keep them from sinning. They not only go on in their own sins but delight in the depravity of others. Are we better by nature than others who do this? No. See Rom 3:9; Eph 2:3. Can the gospel do anything for such people? Yes, wonderful things. See v 16.⚜