Romans 1: 1
"Paul, a servant [ doulos ] of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle [ apostolos ], separated unto the gospel of God,"
Paul was writing the Romans from Corinth, around 57-58 AD while on his third missionary journey. He opens his letter to the Romans basically as he did with all his letters. He uses the statement: "called to be an apostle". Paul who was formerly known as Saul, is the only Bible writer who exchanged his Jewish name for a Gentile one. As Saul he was the persecutor of the Church. God knocked him down while he was traveling down Damascus Road, and by force, forced him into a knowledge of the truth. You can read this account in the book of Acts 9:1-9 for more information.
"Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ"
The Greek for "servant" here is "doulos" {doo'-los}, meaning "One in subjection, subservient, a slave or one under bondage." And here the correct interpretation would be "bond-servant". The Hebrews had a definate meaning to the term or thought for a "bond-servant" which comes from the book of Deuteronomy in the Old Testatment:
Deuteronomy 15:12-15 "[12]And if thy brother, an Hebrew man, or an Hebrew woman, be sold unto thee, and serve thee six years; then in the seventh year thou shalt let him go free from thee. [13]And when thou sendest him out free from thee, thou shalt not let him go away empty: [14]Thou shalt furnish him liberally out of thy flock, and out of thy floor, and out of thy winepress: of that wherewith the Lord thy God had blessed thee thou shalt give unto him. [15]And thou shalt remember that thou wast a bondman in the land of Egypt, and the Lord thy God redeemed thee: therefore I command thee this thing to day.
Most of the time a Hebrew would sell his labor to another Hebrew to either pay a debt he incurred to someone else or even to the man to whom he was selling his labor. At that point he became, for all intend and purposes, a slave or fulltime servant of the man for a specific length of time. God noted, however, that this could not be for longer then six years. But then we also see this noted in Deuteronomy:
Deuteronomy 15:16-17 "[16]And it shall be, if he say unto thee, I will not go away from thee; because he loveth thee and thine house, because he is well with thee; [17]Then thou shalt take an aul, and thrust it through his ear unto the door, and he shall be thy servant for ever. And also unto thy maidservant thou shalt do likewise.
Now you would think that most slaves, after six years, would be ready to move on ... however there were those who wanted to stay with their new master. Therefore, a "bond-servant" was an individual who had paid his debt off to the Master, however, he enjoyed being a servant of the master and chose to stay on as a servant to the master and his family even though he could leave if he decided to do so. That is, he was a servant by choice, not by debt! ( Exodus 21:5-6 ) So here James is saying that he is a "bond-servant" of Jesus Christ, that is, he was a servant of Jesus Christ by choice!
Too many Christians live as though they are the masters, and not the servants that we are called to be. The Word "servant" doesn't imply that once a person becomes a Christian they become involuntary slaves, but the word conveys the idea of being a bond-servant or a devoted servant.
Paul considered himself the "doulos of Christ". He had, like we all have, been bought from Satan with a price, and only through the mercies of God was allowed life. Paul again made note of this in:
1 Corinthians 6:20 "For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's."
The idea of us being a "doulos" should stay in the back of your mind whenever you study the scriptures. "We either belong to Jesus Christ and do not own ourselves or else we are lost and belong to Satan."
Paul also notes here in his opening statement that he was also an Apostle. The Greek for "Apostle" is "apostolos" {ap-os'-tol-os} which means, "a delegate, messenger, one sent forth with orders" Today there are many churches that use the term "Apostle" for their pastors. However this is an improper use of the term.
Based on scripture, to use the term Apostole two things must have happened. First "you must have seen the Christ in His fleshly or actual body", and secondly "You must have been appointed to this office by Christ Himself, not by man".
Based on what we see in the Book of Luke, the use of the word "Apostle" refers to the hand-picked few that, save for one, were the foundation of the Church:
Luke 6:13 "And when it was day, he called unto him his disciples: and of them he chose twelve, whom also he named apostles;"
Out of the original twelve, one Apostle (Judas) fell from grace, that is, the seed did not fall on "good ground" ( see the article, "Cheap Grace Revealed" - Coming Soon! ). To fill that slot the remaining Apostles decided to cast lots to decide who would replace Judas. The lot fell on Matthias and that account can be read in Acts 1:16-26. However Jesus had another that he chose on the Damascus Road, Paul. You can see this story in Acts 9:1-9.
Romans 1: 1b - 2
"[1b] ... separated [ aphorizo ] unto the gospel of God, [2] (Which he had promised afore by his prophets in the holy scriptures,)"
The Greek word used for "separated" in our text is "aphorizo" {af-or-id'-zo}, which means "to mark off from others by boundaries, to limit, to separate". Paul, of course, notes what he was separated for: "unto the gospel of God".
In Roman's verses 2 thru 5 we see the Gospel in two dimensions. We see it being displayed as historical and personal. Historically in the Old Testatment we see that God had proclaimed, through the prophets, this good news of the gospel in advance. We see the personal side, of course, as we are "separated" unto the gospel.
Romans 1: 3 - 4
"[3] Concerning his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, which was made [ ginomai ] of the seed of David according to the flesh; [4] And declared to be the Son of God with power [ dunamis ] according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead:
The Greek for "was made" is "ginomai" {ghin'-om-ahee}, which means "to become, i.e. to come into existence, received being". So our Lord basically "received His being"! Now for someone to receive something, they have to "already exist". That is He became the seed of David willingly by leaving his heavenly realm for us! This proves to us His remarkable love for us! The term "Son of God" is basically a title rather than a name ( See Psalm 2:7 ).
The Romans text states that Christ was declared to be the "Son of God" with "power". The Greek for power is "dunamis" {doo'-nam-is} which means "inherent power, power residing in a thing by virtue of its nature, or which a person or thing exerts and puts forth". It is from this greek word that we get our English word "Dynamite". The "power residing in Jesus was the power of the almighty God and that power, as noted in our text, was proved by His resurrection from the dead".
Romans 1: 5 - 6
"[5] By whom we have received [ lambano ] grace and apostleship, for [ huper ] obedience to the faith among all nations [ ethnos ], for [ huper ] his name: [6] Among whom are ye also the called [ kletos ] of Jesus Christ:"
These two verses are some of the most beautiful verses within the Book of Romans to me personally. I have to explain them in an almost reverse fashion.
In verse 6 we are told that those of us that are "born again" have been "called" by Jesus Christ Himself. The Greek word used for "called" here which is the Greek "kletos" {klay-tos'} which basically means "invited, appointed ones". What an awesome thought that we have been "invited and appointed" by Jesus Christ, the Lord God Almighty, to be His! When we grasp this knowledge what a difference that can make in our daily walk! How beautiful it is to know we are "the appointed ones" of Jesus Christ!
Now in verse five we see that "we have received" both grace and apostleship. The Greek word used here for "have received" is lambano {lam-ban'-o} which means "to claim, procure, for one's self". A better rendering of the original greek for the first part of verse five would be "Through whom we have received grace and apostleship". That is, "we have received both grace and apostleship through Jesus Christ, because of what He did for us. The Greek word used here for "grace" is charis {khar'-ece} which means "good will, loving-kindness, favour". And what "loving-kindness" have we received ... salvation through our Lord!
The Greek word used here for "apostleship" is apostolos {ap-os'-tol-os} which means "a delegate, messenger, one sent forth with orders ". Why have we received grace and apostleship? "For obedience to the faith among all nations, for His name"! The greek word used here for "for" is "huper" {hoop-er'} which means "for the sake of, on behalf of". The grace and apostleship we have received is for us, on behalf of Jesus Christ, to show our faith and obedience to our Lord to all nations! It is due to our faith and obedience that others will come to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.
Pastor David Buffaloe of bibleteacher.org gave what I consider one of the best renderings of verse 5 that I've seen. He noted it this way: "Through whom (Christ) we receive Divine favor and Apostleship to urge among all nations the obedience which faith produces, in behalf of His (Christ's) name".
And a word from our Lord in the book of John which I think applies to all of the above verses:
John 15:14-17 "[14] Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you. [15] Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you. [16] Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you. [17] These things I command you, that ye love one another."
This verse, verse 6, in Romans, along with many others, has been used by those that believe that we are "elected and predestinated" by God to be Christians and those that aren't Christians were not "elected and predestinated" by God as part of His Kingdom. Therefore no one basically has a choice whether or not they become Christians.
That idea totally destroys the idea that man has a "free will" which I personally believe he does. However the bible does teach the Election of God as well. I pray, in the very near future, to write more on the subject of election but in the mean time let me state this very elementary thought:
The bible teaches that God is "all knowing", that is, He is omniscience. The bible teaches us that God knew us before we were in our mother's womb. Now, if God is "all knowing" and He knew us before we were born He therefore knows who will and who will not accept the salvation that He has provided through His Son Jesus Christ before their birth. If God does not know who will or will not then God is not "all knowing".
I realize that this is a very elemetary view ... but at times it helps many understand. As we go through Romans I also hope to talk more on this subject as we come across more verses on this subject.
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Last modified: January 27, 2011
