7 To all in Rome who are loved by God and called to be his holy people:
Grace and peace to you from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ.
Paul’s Longing to Visit Rome
8 First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is being reported all over the world. 9 God, whom I serve in my spirit in preaching the gospel of his Son, is my witness how constantly I remember you 10 in my prayers at all times; and I pray that now at last by God’s will the way may be opened for me to come to you.
11 I long to see you so that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to make you strong— 12 that is, that you and I may be mutually encouraged by each other’s faith. 13 I do not want you to be unaware, brothers and sisters,[d] that I planned many times to come to you (but have been prevented from doing so until now)in order that I might have a harvest among you, just as I have had among the other Gentiles.
14 I am obligated both to Greeks and non-Greeks, both to the wise and the foolish. 15 That is why I am so eager to preach the gospel also to you who are in Rome.
16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile.17 For in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed—a righteousness that is by faith from first to last,[e] just as it is written: “The righteous will live by faith.”[f]
God’s Wrath Against Sinful Humanity
18 The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness, 19 since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. 20 For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.
21 For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22 Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like a mortal human being and birds and animals and reptiles.
24 Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. 25 They exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen.
26 Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural sexual relations for unnatural ones. 27 In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed shameful acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their error.
28 Furthermore, just as they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, so God gave them over to a depraved mind, so that they do what ought not to be done. 29 They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, 30 slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; 31 they have no understanding, no fidelity, no love, no mercy.32 Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them.
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JOHN WESLEY
Verse 1
[1] Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated unto the gospel of God,
Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ-To this introduction the conclusion answers, Romans 15:15, etc.
Called to be an apostle — And made an apostle by that calling. While God calls, he makes what he calls. As the Judaizing teachers disputed his claim to the apostolical office, it is with great propriety that he asserts it in the very entrance of an epistle wherein their principles are entirely overthrown. And various other proper and important thoughts are suggested in this short introduction; particularly the prophecies concerning the gospel, the descent of Jesus from David, the great doctrines of his Godhead and resurrection, the sending the gospel to the gentiles, the privileges of Christians, and the obedience and holiness to which they were obliged in virtue of their profession.
Separated — By God, not only from the bulk of other men, from other Jews, from other disciples, but even from other Christian teachers, to be a peculiar instrument of God in spreading the gospel.
Verse 2
[2] (Which he had promised afore by his prophets in the holy scriptures,)
Which he promised before — Of old time, frequently, solemnly. And the promise and accomplishment confirm each other. Deuteronomy 18:18; Isaiah 9:6,7; 53:1; 61:1; Jeremiah 23:5.
Verse 3
[3] Concerning his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, which was made of the seed of David according to the flesh;
Who was of the seed of David according to the flesh — That is, with regard to his human nature. Both the natures of our Saviour are here mentioned; but the human is mentioned first, because the divine was not manifested in its full evidence till after his resurrection.
Verse 4
[4] And declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead:
But powerfully declared to be the Son of God, according to the Spirit of Holiness — That is, according to his divine nature.
By the resurrection from the dead — For this is both the fountain and the object of our faith; and the preaching of the apostles was the consequence of Christ's resurrection.
Verse 5
[5] By whom we have received grace and apostleship, for obedience to the faith among all nations, for his name:
By whom we have received — I and the other apostles.
Grace and apostleship — The favour to be an apostle, and qualifications for it.
For obedience to the faith in all nations — That is, that all nations may embrace the faith of Christ.
For his name — For his sake; out of regard to him.
Verse 6
[6] Among whom are ye also the called of Jesus Christ:
Among whom — The nations brought to the obedience of faith.
Are ye also — But St. Paul gives them no preeminence above others.
Verse 7
[7] To all that be in Rome, beloved of God, called to be saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ.
To all that are in Rome — Most of these were heathens by birth, Romans 1:13, though with Jews mixed among them. They were scattered up and down in that large city, and not yet reduced into the form of a church. Only some had begun to meet in the house of Aquila and Priscilla.
Beloved of God — And from his free love, not from any merit of yours, called by his word and his Spirit to believe in him, and now through faith holy as he is holy.
Grace — The peculiar favour of God.
And peace — All manner of blessings, temporal, spiritual, and eternal. This is both a Christian salutation and an apostolic benediction.
From God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ — This is the usual way wherein the apostles speak, "God the Father," "God our Father." Nor do they often, in speaking of him, use the word Lord, as it implies the proper name of God, Jehovah. In the Old Testament, indeed, the holy men generally said, "The Lord our God;" for they were then, as it were, servants; whereas now they are sons: and sons so well know their father, that they need not frequently mention his proper name. It is one and the same peace, and one and the same grace, which is from God and from Jesus Christ. Our trust and prayer fix on God, as he is the Father of Christ; and on Christ, as he presents us to the Father.
Verse 8
[8] First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all, that your faith is spoken of throughout the whole world.
I thank — In the very entrance of this one epistle are the traces of all spiritual affections; but of thankfulness above all, with the expression of which almost all St. Paul's epistles begin. He here particularly thanks God, that what otherwise himself should have done, was done at Rome already.
My God — This very word expresses faith, hope, love, and consequently all true religion.
Through Jesus Christ — The gifts of God all pass through Christ to us; and all our petitions and thanksgivings pass through Christ to God.
That your faith is spoken of — In this kind of congratulations St. Paul describes either the whole of Christianity, as Colossians 1:3, etc.; or some part of it, as 1 Corinthians 1:5. Accordingly here he mentions the faith of the Romans, suitably to his design, Romans 1:12,17.
Through the whole world — This joyful news spreading everywhere, that there were Christians also in the imperial city. And the goodness and wisdom of God established faith in the chief cities; in Jerusalem and Rome particularly; that from thence it might be diffused to all nations.
Verse 9
[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;
God, whom I serve — As an apostle.
In my spirit — Not only with my body, but with my inmost soul.
In the gospel — By preaching it.
Verse 10
[10] Making request, if by any means now at length I might have a prosperous journey by the will of God to come unto you.
JOHN WESLEY
Always — In all my solemn addresses to God.
If by any means now at length — This accumulation of particles declares the strength of his desire.
JOHN WESLEY
Verse 12
[12] That is, that I may be comforted together with you by the mutual faith both of you and me.
That is, I long to be comforted by the mutual faith both of you and me - He not only associates the Romans with, but even prefers them before, himself. How different is this style of the apostle from that of the modern court of Rome!
Verse 13
[13] Now I would not have you ignorant, brethren, that oftentimes I purposed to come unto you, (but was let hitherto,) that I might have some fruit among you also, even as among other Gentiles.
Brethren — A frequent, holy, simple, sweet, and yet grand, appellation. The apostles but rarely address persons by their names; 'O ye Corinthians," "O Timotheus." St. Paul generally uses this appellation, " Brethren;" sometimes in exhortation, " My beloved," or, " My beloved brethren;" St. James, "Brethren," "My brethren," My beloved brethren;" St. Peter and Jude always, " Beloved;" St. John frequently, " Beloved;" once, " Brethren;" oftener than once, My little children." Though I have been hindered hitherto - Either by business, see Romans 15:22; or persecution, 1 Thessalonians 2:2; or the Spirit, Acts 16:7.
That I might have some fruit — Of my ministerial labours. Even as I have already had from the many churches I have planted and watered among the other gentiles.
Verse 14
[14] I am debtor both to the Greeks, and to the Barbarians; both to the wise, and to the unwise.
To the Greeks and the barbarians — He includes the Romans under the Greeks; so that this division comprises all nations.
Both to the wise, and the unwise — For there were unwise even among the Greeks, and wise even among the barbarians.
I am a debtor to all — I am bound by my divine mission to preach the gospel to them.
Verse 16
[16] For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.
For I am not ashamed of the gospel — To the world, indeed, it is folly and weakness, 1 Corinthians 1:18; therefore, in the judgment of the world, he ought to be ashamed of it; especially at Rome, the head and theatre of the world. But Paul is not ashamed, knowing it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth - The great and gloriously powerful means of saving all who accept salvation in God's own way. As St. Paul comprises the sum of the gospel in this epistle, so he does the sum of the epistle in this and the following verse.
Both to the Jew, and to the gentile — There is a noble frankness, as well as a comprehensive sense, in these words, by which he, on the one hand, shows the Jews their absolute need of the gospel; and, on the other, tells the politest and greatest nation in the world both that their salvation depended on receiving it, and that the first offers of it were in every place to be made to the despised Jews.
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