Human race is completely guilty before the Lord: (Chap.1)
The (chap.1) begins with greetings and salutation to the church of Rome and ends with the hopeless condition of human race.
Paul a servant, an apostle and separated for Gospel: (1:1):
Paul identifies himself as a servant or slave (doulos). A slave is owned by his master. It was a love bond slave to his master.
Just as David says: (Ps.40:6b) “my ears you have pierced” Paul boasts and he has no shame to say that he was a bond servant of the Lord Jesus Christ recalling the picture of slave in (Ex.21:2-6). He is also an apostle that is one sent by God and who has seen the risen Lord Jesus Christ face to face. The apostle cease to exist after Paul. Further he is separated or kept apart for Gospel of God, the message of good news from God that centred on His Son which Paul was eager to preach without shame. Although he was set apart for Gospel, it did not keep Paul from making tents to support himself and his companions. He was also mingling with the pagan society. He had special calling to preach the Gospel to Gentiles which made him a missionary also.
The basis for preaching Christ: (1:2-7):
The Messiah was prophesied in the Old Testament. The Messiah is now proclaimed in New Testament. Although Paul did not quote O.T. reference, Philip expounded the OT scripture (Isa.53:7-8) and lead the Ethiopian eunuch to Christ and thereafter gave him the baptism. Other prophesies for the Gospel are (Gen.12:3; Ps.16:10; 40:6-10; Isa.11:1ff; Zech.9:9-11; Mal.4:1-6). The Gospel is not new or something of someone’s clever invention. All scripture is God breathed (2 Tim.3:16). Just like the centre of orbit is Sun, the centre of Christianity is the person, the Lord Jesus Christ. He was born of David. He had the double inheritance from David as both His mother Mary and father Joseph are the descendants of King David. The evidence of Jesus’ humanity is the His human birth and the evidence of His deity is His Resurrection from the dead. He rose from the death by His own power as declared by the Lord “Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days”(Jn.2:19). The Lord Jesus Christ has opened the door of God’s kindness for the entire humanity. Just as Paul received the grace and apostleship, as Christians we have this great undeserved privilege and at the same time a great responsibility too. As Paul’s life was completely transformed, through the grace our lives are should completely be transformed to the obedience of Christ. Our God given responsibility should be to witness and testify before the world and proclaim Christ wherever we are. As God calls us, we need to exercise this great responsibility as evangelists and missionaries. Every Christian (believer) should involve in the work of God or preaching the Gospel.
This is the obedience that comes from faith. Those who obey are invited to become part of God’s family. They must lead holy lives and be set apart or dedicated for the Gospel. The church of Rome has exercised this privilege and although it is a Gentile church, they too belong to the family of God. Paul greets them and calls them as saints who are loved by God. Paul prays that God’s love, grace and peace be upon them. So for every Christian it is the greatest privilege to be born again and join into the family of God.
Thanksgiving and Paul’s longing to visit Rome: (1:8-13):
Paul had not visited till then and not even founded the church. There is no historical or Biblical evidences that Peter had founded the Roman church. It is believed that on the day of Pentecost there were some visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes (Gentiles who had become full converts to Judaism) (Acts 2:10-11) when they returned, started the church in Rome. The church of Rome did not have any founder apostle. Although Paul did not found the church he knew many people in the church of Rome (Rom.16: 1ff)
Paul gave thanks to God for the believers of Rome. The news of their faith has reached the entire Christian known world. Although Rome was notorious and seen as an enemy of human race, the church in Rome made an impact and their faith has reached far-off places. Paul makes it a point to pray for the church of Rome without ceasing for their spiritual growth and also his visit to Rome. He was longing to see them. But he left the decision to God. Paul always wanted to obey God’s plan for his life.
Paul saw that the Church in Rome was lacking some extraordinary gifts of the Holy Spirit. It may not be the gifts of the Holy Spirit as we see in (1 Cor.12). It is quite likely that such gifts are conferred by the apostles and none of the apostles had visited Rome prior to Paul. Therefore the Roman Christians had not yet received such miraculous gifts and thus they differed widely from all other churches which had been raised by the apostle’s ministry. Paul was careful not to emphasize himself as the giver, he was humble enough to say that he wanted to receive help from them as well. Many times Paul had planned to come to Rome, but he was prevented from doing so by some unavoidable circumstances. But he knew God was aware of his plans and when God allows him, that would be the best. By the end of 3-missionary journey, Paul had travelled through Syria, Galatia, Asia, Macedonia and Achaia. The churches in these areas are mostly made of Gentile believers.