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Summary of Romans 1:1-12

Paul, a slave of Jesus Christ, who was called to be an Apostle, and set aside for the Gospel of God, which God foretold in advance through his prophets in the Old Testament about His Son, who according to the flesh came from the line of David, who was appointed as Son-of-God-in-Power according to a spirit of holiness after his resurrection from the dead. Through Him Paul has received the grace of apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith among all gentiles, for His name. Among them the Romans were called to belong to Jesus Christ. Paul wishes grace and peace from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ to all at Rome who are beloved by God and called holy.

He gives thanks to God through Jesus Christ for the Roman Christians. For their faith is known in the whole world. Paul calls God to witness, the God whom he serves in his spirit, that he constantly remembers all of them in his prayers, praying that somehow finally he may be able to come to them, in accord with the will of God. For he longs to see them, so he may give them some spiritual grace to strengthen them -- that is, to be consoled together with them, each by the faith of the other.

Comments on 1:1-12

The above passage is mostly a long introduction. Paul says what any Jew would say, that the Messiah was foretold by the prophets. (Of course, not all Jews saw Jesus was the Messiah). To say, as some do today, that one can get something out of the Old Testament prophecies only by hindsight, only by seeing them fulfilled in Christ, is to forget that the Jews actually did understand very much, as we can see from their Aramaic Targums (Aramaic versions of the Old Testament, usually free and with fill-ins) which saw as Messianic chiefly : Genesis 3:15; Genesis 49:10; Numbers 24:17-24; Isaiah 9:5-6 and 11:1-16; and 53; Micah 5:1-3. As to Isaiah 7:14, the Babylonian Talmud,Sanhedrin, 99a reports that Hillel, one of the two great teachers at the time of Christ, thought it was Messianic, that Hezekiah, son of Achaz (to whom Isaiah spoke) had been the Messiah. Jacob Neusner, Messiah in Context, Fortress, Philadelphia, 1984, p.190) tells us that later, when the Jews saw Christians using that verse, they stopped saying it was Messianic. But they gave themselves away -- for all today admit that the child of 9:5-6 is the same as the child of 7:14 (both verses belong to the stretch we call the book of Immanuel). And the Targums do mark 9:5-6 as Messianic. The same study by Neusner gives an exhaustive survey of all Jewish literature from after the fall of Jerusalem to the Babylonian Talmud. He finds no interest in the Messiah up to that Talmud. In the period 500-600, the time of the Babylonian Talmud, he found interest did return but they spoke of only one of the great prophecies of the Old Testament, that he would be of the line of David. It is obvious that the targumic work on prophecies, which sees the Messiah in so many places, could not have been written in these periods when there was little or no interest in a Messiah. So the targumic work on the prophecies is very early. Some scholars think it goes back in oral form to the time of Ezra.¹

Paul says Jesus was appointed Son-of-God-in-power by the spirit of holiness after His resurrection. We put the hyphens in to indicate that all the words are part of one title. The sense is this: He always was the Son of God, and in His divinity always had all power. But as Philippians 2:7 tells us: "He emptied Himself," that is, He made the policy of not using His divine power for His own comfort -- He would use it only for the sick. But then after the resurrection, He said (Mt 28:18): "All power is given to me in heaven and on earth." Then He would exercise that almighty power even as man.

Paul's work is to bring about the "obedience of faith" in the gentiles. The of in that phrase is the same as the of in "The city of Washington," etc. It does not mean that Washington has a city -- it means the city that is Washington. We recall here the definition of faith Paul has in mind: if God speaks a truth, faith requires us to believe it; if He makes a promise, we must have confidence in it; if God tells us to do something, we obey, with the obedience of faith. All these are to be done in love. (Please recall the entry on faith in our glossary with the quote from the Protestant Interpreter's Dictionary of the Bible).

There is a delightful polite touch in the fact that at first he says he will give them some spiritual grace, and then as it were he pulls back and says "that is, so each may be consoled by the faith of the other."

Summary of Romans 1:13-18

He says strongly that he has often wanted to come to see them, so he could have some fruit in Rome as he already has among other gentiles. He is obliged to preach to both Greeks and non-Greeks, to the wise and the foolish. So naturally he has desired to preach at Rome too.

He is not ashamed of the Gospel. The Gospel is the power of God to bring salvation to everyone who has faith -- first to the Jews, then to the Greeks.

The moral rightness of God is revealed in the Gospel in ever increasing degrees of faith. Scripture says: "The just man will live by faith."

For the anger of God is revealed from heaven over all impiety and violations of righteousness on the part of men who in their unrighteousness hinder what is true and right.

Comments on 1:13-18

When Paul says the Gospel is the power to bring salvation to all who have faith, he is just repeating his favorite theme of justification by faith. That will be the great thrust of the first part of this Epistle. His plan will be this: He will first show that the gentiles, if they try to gain salvation by keeping the law, fail completely. Then he will show that the Jews fail too. Jews plus gentiles equal everyone. Hence all must turn to faith for justification. (Please recall our Supplement on Luther after Galatians 2:15).

It is tremendously important to note this thrust. For soon some difficult lines will come, and commentators are inclined to infringe on Paul's thrust and ruin his argument by saying that Paul speaks only of tendencies on the part of humans. That would imply not all are failures, and then his argument intended to show that all must turn to faith for justification would fail, if some could get justification by keeping the law instead of by faith.

We will soon notice that Paul often, not always, in Romans is using the focused view (which can also be called a system as system view). Thus he will make statements that in the factual picture are too strong: they are not in accord with the historical picture. But in the focused view his statements are quite all right. For he is going (last part of chapter 1) to accuse Greeks of much more than what they really did. Similarly for the Jews (2:17ff.). He can do this only by focusing, i.e., by saying that the law in general, and even each major precept of the law is a heavy demand. But that precept gives no strength. To be under a heavy demand with no strength means one must fall and fail. In fact, all will fail under each major command! Of course he knows that is too strong in the factual picture, in which God's grace, even before Christ, is offered to us. With it, the picture changes: some still reject the grace and fail; others use it and do not fall. It is clear that Paul knows that the focused view is not factual, does not correspond to reality, for in 1 Corinthians 6:11, after giving a smaller list of the greater sins, he says to the Corinthians: "Some of you were such sinners." He says this even though Corinth was an especially licentious city. But in 1 Corinthians 6:11 he was talking in the factual picture -- here in Romans chapters 1-3 he will be often (at times he shifts) using the focused picture. Of course as we go along we will clearly point out which kind of view he is using at the moment.

When he says the Gospel is the power for Jews first and then for the Greeks, he seems to have in mind that God first revealed Himself clearly to the Jews, and also that he, Paul, in preaching, went to the synagogues first. There he usually got few converts, and often persecution instead. Then he would turn to the gentiles, and find a fine reception.

When he says that the moral rightness of God is revealed from heaven, the words "righteousness of God" have caused much dispute. The most favored view is that the phrase means His activity to save His people.² But there is reason to fear that this interpretation has been founded more on Protestant prejudice than on careful Scriptural work. Thus Martin Luther himself³ wrote that he was eager to understand the Epistle to the Romans, but for long he was disturbed by the words, 'the righteousness of God' which he took to mean that righteousness whereby God acts righteously in punishing the unrighteous. He says he pondered long and hard until he "grasped the truth that the righteousness of God is that righteousness whereby, through grace and sheer mercy, he justifies us by faith."

Today scholars have begun to see Luther's situation honestly. Thus in Justification by Faith: Lutherans and Catholics in Dialogue VII, the statement agreed on by both Lutherans and Catholics said in §24: "In their situation [that of the reformers] the major function of justification by faith was rather, to console anxious consciences terrified by the inability to do enough to earn or merit salvation." And in §29: "The starting point for Luther was his inability to find peace with God." He was scrupulous, and got out of it only by coming to think that even if he was sinning mortally all the time, everything was still all right.

The right way to approach the question -- not much noticed -- is to realize that St. Paul often has in mind a Hebrew word behind his Greek. The Hebrew behind Greek dikaiosyne (righteousness) was sedaqah. We see first that it means God's concern for what is right in general: Psalm 11:7; 33:5; Genesis 18:19. Then we see that it also stands for God's concern for the right in conferring benefits: e.g., Judges 5:11; Isaiah 61:8 and 52:1; Psalm 24:5; Job 37:23. The word also expresses His concern for what is right, in punishing: Isaiah 59:15-18 (in this passage even yeshua which usually means salvation, also means punishing. The use of naqam is the same. In 1 Samuel 15:33 ysha is also used to mean punish); Isaiah 63:5 (same usages as in 59:15-18); Isaiah 10:22; Lamentations 1:10. We see from Isaiah 5:15-16 and Ezekiel 28:22 that it is His Holiness that calls for His observance of sedaqah.

We find next that underlying both kinds of uses of sedaqah -- favorable and unfavorable -- lies the covenant, e.g., Psalm 103:17 uses sedaqah in parallel with hesed, the word for the covenant bond -- showing that they mean the same. It shows also in many other places, e.g., especially in Deuteronomy 11:26. God's concern for what is right in itself shows dramatically in the widespread theme of sheggagah, the case of inadvertent violations, which still called for a makeup, e.g., in chapter 4 of Leviticus, in Genesis 12:17 and in many other places in Old Testament and New Testament and Patristic literature. The widespread concept of sin as a debt that must be paid shows also His concern for moral rightness. This concept is common in the Old Testament, in Intertestamental Literature, in the New Testament, in Rabbinic texts, and in Patristic works.

We conclude: the favored view that righteousness of God means saving activity is not entirely wrong, but it is shallow and onesided. Rather the real basis is the covenant, in which He promises benefits for obedience, penalty for disobedience.

When used to refer to humans, sedaqah has the same meaning as we have seen it has referring to God.⁴

If we move on to verse 18 which speaks of the anger of God revealed from the heavens, we note that it opens with the word for. Commentators have not noticed that fact. For continues the thought in the same direction, unlike but which changes the direction. So 17 and 18 are unified in this way: both are a carrying out of the covenant commitment God has made.

In passing, we notice the expression in verse 17, "from faith to faith." We take it to mean moving from one degree of faith to another. This is parallel to "from death to death" in 2 Corinthians 2:16. It means going from one step in faith to another.

Paul also, in verse 17 cites Habacuc 2:4: "The just man will live by faith." The original sense was that the upright man would live when the Chaldeans invaded, by his fidelity to God. Paul extends the sense here. Rabbis commonly were loose in their handling of Old Testament texts. Paul was trained as a Rabbi.

At the end of verse 18 Paul speaks of those who by their unrighteousness -- violation of the moral order -- hinder or hold back the truth. At times Paul uses truth to mean moral good, and lie to mean sin. If we think of the English expression "true to form" we can follow this usage. God has as it were a pattern or form in His mind to which humans should conform. If they do that, they are "true to form," and practice the truth. The opposite is a lie.

Summary of Romans 1:19-28

God makes known to people His own existence. He is invisible, but can be known by the visible things of His creation, so that His invisible power and divinity can be known. So those who do not come to know Him are without excuse.

But many who did come to know His existence did not honor Him as God or give thanks. They became foolish in their thoughts, and their ununderstanding heart became dark. They said they were wise, but really became fools. For instead of Him they worshipped images of corruptible man, and flying things, and creeping things.

Since they did this, God let them go into the uncleanness they wanted, so as to dishonor their bodies with each other. They followed the lie instead of the truth of God. They worshipped and served creatures instead of the Creator -- who is blessed forever. Amen.

Because of this, God turned them over to the dishonorable passions they wanted. Their women exchanged their natural use for the unnatural. The men similarly left the natural use of the woman and burned instead with desire for other men, so that males did what was improper on males. They received in their own persons the pay proper for their wandering. They for their part did not see fit to keep God in their knowledge -- God for His part handed them over to a depraved mind with which they did what was not right.

Comments on 1:19-28

Paul says that God has made Himself known by His creation. Anyone who does not come to know His existence is without excuse. Anthropology shows this is true, for primitives do know God or gods. Many of those who worship many gods also know one great God -- who in some cases they say they do not worship since they have nothing worthy of Him. In fact, modern anthropology shows that the primitives on the least advanced level of material culture at least very often know only one God, and worship Him. Polytheism and other distortions come with advancing civilization.

St. Justin the Martyr, in his First Apology 46 (around 145 A.D.) has a remarkable comment, which does not contradict St. Paul. He says that many in the past who were thought to be atheists -- he mentions Socrates and Heraclitus -- were really Christians, since they followed the Logos (the Divine Word). In Second Apology 10.8 he adds that "the Logos . . . is in everyone." What does the Logos do in each one? He makes known to people what they must do, what morality requires. We will see later remarkable implications of this. We can see now that such people are not atheists in Paul's sense, for they do know and follow the Spirit of Christ, without knowing what it is that they are following.

To return to St. Paul's picture: Even though they did know God, many by their sins of idolatry went down and down farther in the moral scale, for they lost the light. They even worshipped animals or animal headed human figures -- the Egyptians did this. Their chief God Amon-Ra had a ram's head with a human body. Their descent could be compared to a spiral, which gets larger as it goes farther out. We notice that at the bottom is homosexuality. And in the last verse of this chapter, Paul will say that there are some who once knew these things deserve death, but now they not only do them, but approve of doing them. That of course is the ultimate degradation, to say sin is good.

Summary of Romans 1:29-32

Now Paul gives a horrible litany of the vices of the gentiles: they are full of all kinds of wickedness, evil, covetousness, malice, envy, murder, strife, deceit, ill-will, gossiping, slander, hating God, insolence, haughtiness, boastfulness, inventing evil, disobedience to parents, foolishness, faithlessness, heartlessness, ruthlessness. They once knew the just decree of God that those who do such things deserve death. But now they not only do these things, they even approve of those who do them.

Comments on 1:19-32

In our comments at the start of 1:13-18 we observed that Paul is using his familiar pattern of a focused picture in chapter 1, especially in the last verses. This is clear since everyone admits that historically the gentiles were not as wicked as this, and especially that not all were that wicked. As we said above, Paul himself knows that not all were thus, for, as we pointed out above, in 1 Corinthians 6:11, after a smaller litany of great sins, he said that only "certain ones of them" were that way. In 1 Corinthians he was using the factual picture, in which one sees that the grace of God is available even before Christ. Those who use it do not have to fall. But in the focused picture, people cannot get that grace, and of course do fall.

What do the commentators do here? Here are some samples: Many admit that the picture Paul gives is not realistic. Yet they do not compare this passage with 1 Corinthians 6:11 where, as we said, Paul recognizes that not all were guilty of all the great sins. Nor do they relate this passage to 2:1-3 in spite of Paul's connecting word in 2:1, "for this reason." (More on this when we reach 2:1-3). Fitzmyer says: "In this entire section, Paul is not saying that every individual pagan before Christ's coming was a moral failure. . . . He does not mean that paganism was de iure incapable of moral uprightness." But this ruins Paul's argument that all are hopeless and so must turn to faith. Leenhardt says: "He wishes to describe an orientation of the human being, its inner tendencies." Our comment here is the same as on Fitzmyer. Michel says: "Paul will not characterize each pagan as such, rather he points out the direction in which the inner disintegration of paganism drives them." -- Same comment again.

But we can explain: Paul needs to use the focused picture in the first part of Romans, as we said, to make the claim that all -- Jew and gentile -- are hopeless if they try for salvation by keeping the law. Gentiles all fail. His charges against the Jews begin in 2:17. But they to, in a focused picture, fail. It is only in a focused picture that all fail. Why we say that all fail will be clearer when we get into the first lines of chapter 2. (We recall that Paul himself did not make chapter and verse divisions. That is the work of later editors. In fact, in his day, the manuscripts did not even separate words).

In 1:32 we rendered in such a way as to distinguish two periods of time: they once did know these things deserve death; now they approve of doing these things. Not all versions bring this out. But it is necessary. For one cannot at one and the same time know a thing deserves death and say it is good. The key is in the Greek aorist participle epignontes. It can be translated as expressing mere aspect of action, or as standing for past time. We have taken it this second way. Quite a few commentators, as Cranfield says, wonder how it can be worse to approve of a sin than to commit the sin. They miss the fact that it is one thing to sin and admit sin is sin, another thing -- and much worse -- to say that sin is good! In addition, they seem not to have noted the time difference we just explained, nor the fact that the people in question do both -- they both sin and say sin is not sin but good.

In the course of his litany of vices, Paul made homosexuality the centerpiece as it were. We add: In the Old Testament, Leviticus 20:13 prescribes: "If a man lies with a male as with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination. They shall be put to death." In the New Testament, the Epistle of Jude 7: "Just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding cities, which likewise acted immorally and indulged in unnatural lust, serve as an example by undergoing a punishment of eternal fire." The Intertestamental literature of the Jews shows how they interpreted God's punishment of Sodom and Gomorrah.