Introduction
Paul starts his letter to the Romans as he does in most of the extant letters - with greetings to those he is writing to and a statement as to who he is and what he's about. In Romans 1:1-7, he makes several key points. First, and foremost in his mind, he declares himself to be a servant of Jesus Christ. Would that every Christian admit that very thing. No matter how great your ministry is, you are just supposed to be a servant of Jesus Christ. Indeed, when jealousy reared its head among the disciples as I just covered in my final chapter of John 21, Jesus says to Simon Peter that if his fate is to die as Jesus did and John's is different what is that to Peter - Follow thou me (John 21:18-22). See notes on John 21 for more commentary.
Next he relates that he has been called to be an apostle. Some today my doubt their calling. Maybe not at the missionary or pastor or priest or nun level, but us common folks who are called to go talk to someone or write something have doubts from time to time. That's especially true for an introvert like me who can't really imagine going door to door to witness. Of course most of us wouldn't want as clear a calling, probably, as Paul had. To have Jesus come down and criticize the entire direction of our lives that we had been so passionate about and end up temporarily blind for the trouble we'd caused Jesus was a very definite calling. But most wouldn't want that sort of an experience. The still small voice is great, if we listen (1 Kings 19:12) especially after the wind, earthquake, and fire that Elijah experienced.
And yet I had a dream last night where I was in a restaurant where you could choose your pizza and watch the chefs make it. I picked a particular crust and watched the guy roll it out, put topping on it and prepare it for cooking and the chef asked if I'd like to try. So I took a roll of dough and tried to stretch it out and roll it out to make the base, but no matter how hard I tried, I just had a small cutting board to work on and the toppings kept falling off as I tried to work with it. So you can take that as you want and realize that all of us little people might be choosing to stay small. Perhaps God's intention is that we all pray the prayer of Jabez for our own personal lives (1 Chronicles 4:9-10). No matter what we are trying to do, God is probably looking for us to enlarge our coast. Certainly at least I need His hand to be with me and that He will keep me from evil.
The last of verse 1 is much like part of that prayer. Paul declared that he was separated to the Gospel of God that God had declared in prophecy long before his time. The rest of his long sentence, ending with verse 7, declares that Gospel. Jesus was of the lineage of David, declared the Son of God by God, was filled with power through the Spirit, and was resurrected from the dead after dying on the cross for the sin of the world. Jesus calls all of us - Paul, the Romans Paul was addressing, and every Christian who has lived, is called to be obedient to the faith for a testimony to Christ in front of all the nations of the world who do not know God or Jesus. We are saved through God's grace and faith in him, and each of us is called to do our part in His kingdom. For Paul and others, it was to be an apostle. But each of us are called to go into all the world and preach the gospel. It's a command. Find where your place is in your workplace, school, or neighborhood and do Christ's commanded work until He comes.
He ends his introduction by asking God to grant grace and peace to each of them from God and Jesus. Today, we all still need that prayer to be prayed for each other. This is a world that doesn't know much peace - or at least God's idea of peace. There are too many wars, murders, assaults, rapes, and all the other things Paul mentions at the end of the chapter going on in a daily basis. Jesus said that peacemakers were blessed. We all need to try to figure out how to be peacemakers again, while not simply buckling under the weight of evil that tries to stamp us out.
Know that the only peace the world will really ever know will come through God's getting people's attention to the point that they know He exists, for sure. Even thinking it's very likely He exists would go a long way to changing people's desires for themselves and the people they lead. One day, after the tribulation, Jesus will set up His rule over the entire earth, and things will be different. The Bible doesn't say much about that period of time. There's some written in the minor prophets, but the details of day to day life aren't really given. All that we know is that after the millennium, Satan will be able to lead a dissatisfied faction of people once again to war against God. He doesn't get another try - it's more of a three strikes and your out event - but peace is hard won and hard to keep. That is certain.
And for the three strikes thing, there was his insurrection against God that cost him earth, there was the tribulation ending in Armageddon, and finally the war post millennium. There were other skirmishes - Adam and Eve, Noah and the others of his generation, losing at Calvary/Golgotha, and numerous other smaller battles trying to defeat or discredit the church or the Jewish people in the Old Testament.
Proud to Witness
Romans 1:8-16 describes how Paul felt about the work God had called him to do at the end of his life. First, he starts off by blowing the horn of the people he is writing to and lifting their spirits up. The faith of the Roman church was something that had become known throughout the world. This bears a bit more thought. The world before the Roman empire took over was much more fractured. Kings and other leaders came and conquered territory, existed for a time and a place and were overtaken by another.
Nothing had changed the world like the Roman legions. And where the Roman legions conquered, Roman rule followed. Trade expanded, communication became easier as Latin joined Greek as the language to know, and roads were established tying the Roman lands together so they could move their troops around quickly as needed to control those they had conquered. Their empire at one point extended into England, down through Spain and Northern Africa, through good chunks of the Middle East, Asia minor, and up to the borders with the Germanic forces to the North. While Rome didn't control the entire world, by any stretch, they controlled a big chunk of the world known to Paul.
Paul declares that he gives thanks to God for the work of the Roman Christians. We need to follow his example and also pray for God's work to be accomplished in all Christian denominations. We all have our differences and things in common. What we have in common should be more than our differences. And where our differences involve serious issues, we all need to pray that God's truth will be made clear to all denominational leaders.
Those who have been deceived need to be set straight, but it is God that is going to have to do that. The truth is out there in other denominations or in some cases in the part of the denomination that didn't split away to be accepting of sin. The truth is out there in God's written word. The truth is out there in messages in tongues, interpretation, words of knowledge, wisdom, and prophecy, discerning of spirits, and other works of the Spirit. They just need to listen, and for those who have gone astray, some are so far astray that it is going to take a work of God at their highest levels to correct their course. But we should all be praying for those things to happen. And it wouldn't hurt for us to also pray that the current adherents of false religions would have their eyes opened to the power of God working in those denominations closest to Him, and they would leave the former and join the latter.
But if you can't do anything else for God, pray. It's easy. If you don't know what to pray for, there's a For Our Country list, which would really be good for most countries, and a For Our Colleges and Universities prayer list which could also be prayed for most any student body but is mainly oriented towards higher education, to get you started. Make intercession to God, like Paul, always in prayer.
Finally, Paul also notes that since he has long wanted to preach to the Romans and assist them in their walk with God and Jesus, he prays that his work with them will be successful, better established, and filled with spiritual gifts via the Holy Spirit. He looks forward to their mutual faith will lead to both him and them being comforted from God.
In the last four verses of this section, Romans 1:13-16, Paul acknowledges that he is in debt to the work of the Greeks, the Barbarians, the wise and unwise, as he has spoken and led many to Christ and knows that all of them have supported his ministry and helped to support his outreach to the next group both through direct gifts and funds, but especially by prayer. Now Paul feels it is his time to preach in Rome also, having hit the other major metropolitan areas of his day. Rome, the seat of Roman power and also of Roman idolatry, is next on his list.
He ends this section with the verse that every Christian should take to heart. He declares boldly that he is not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, because he knows that it is the directions for salvation for both his people, the Jews, and the Greeks (or anyone who is not a Jew). Indeed, Christ himself warned that we shouldn't be ashamed of Christ's words in the middle of the sinful generation they were living in, because if you were, then when He came back we would feel the judgment in attitude of us coming from Christ (Mark 8:38; Luke 9:26).
God's Existence Known to All
In Romans 1:17-21, Paul declares that God's glory and the existence of God are clear to all the world through His creation. I had a Sunday School teacher once, who was also a math teacher and could see the glory of God in the design of every flower, and the geometry and trigonometry displayed in each. Surely, as man has become able to understand more and more of the universe that we can see, and posit on the possible alternative universes that we can't see, and learn more about just how beautiful God has made the world, with strands of DNA and chromosomes and how they differ just slightly among all the creation to create such a wonderful diversity, it is hard to believe that anyone could say that all happened by chance.
And having seen the glory of God, and dismissed it, the wrath of God stands against all who are ungodly and unrighteous, and especially those who know the truth, but ignore it to live in unrighteousness.
Many ask about whether it is fair that those who have never heard of God will be judged. This section speaks to that. Everyone should know that this wonderful world didn't just happen. It was created. You can look at my comments on Genesis 1 for a science and bible based discussion about when. But clearly, there can be no doubt that things didn't happen randomly. So it is perfectly reasonable for God to say they should have known.
I'll talk a bit more about this later, but the world knew God from Adam and Eve's time. All of the false religions that have come about have been created by man with Satan and his worker bee's help. It is the duty of every Christian parent to try to pass on the knowledge of God to the next generation. If some parts of the world have failed in this, and instead turned themselves over to false religions, then that is their fault and not God. You can't blame God for the free choices people have made.
But to be clear, the vanity of people's hearts have created a lot of false religions, and the pride and vanity of mankind has had a tendency to make people think that man is all that is important and man can solve anything as we learn more and more. Many would declare that they don't need a God anymore. The world has moved beyond that, according to many today. God is not mocked. There is indeed a darkness which is becoming more pervasive in the world. It's harder and harder to not be influenced by the world and lose your way as a Christian. But it isn't impossible. Don't be foolish. Know God. Glorify Him! See what He is willing to do through His people to change the world for the better. Be part of the solution and not part of the problem.
Romans 1:22-23 shows the final state of what Paul saw in the world then, and which is still an issue today. As people thought themselves wiser and more knowledgeable, they saw no reason to believe in the God of their forefathers. They made images to worship of many things, and turned their worship from God to things.
There isn't as much idolatry today, although it is still prevalent in some eastern religions. There are also some Christian issues where images are venerated and adored instead of concentrating on God. This should be stopped in its tracks, but is very ingrained in some parts of Christianity. We need to do better as well.
His warning resonates today just as it did then. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools. The more man has learned, the more man has turned away from God thinking they can solve all their own problems. Yet for all our technology and wealth, the COVID-19 epidemic took the lives of over one million Americans. The verse still resonates. Should we abhor idolatry? Yes. We shouldn't look to the Hindu or Buddhist images that they revere and wish for anything like that. We need to seek out the Holy Spirit and be filled with Him and give God alone the glory for all the great things He has done.
Homosexuality and Other Offenses Against God
But Paul doesn't stop at the aspects of idolatry. He also condemns the practices of gay and lesbian sexual relationships at the end of the chapter (Romans 1:24-32). You can read his clear challenges to those who participate in that lifestyle, and goes on to list all the other things that God hates. It's a long list, and has a couple of things that might be surprising - debate, disobedient to parents, having no understanding, unmerciful? To be clear there are many things we would consider big and small both in the list. But also realize that Paul was writing to the Roman Christians. We like to think of the early church as some ideal, but they were also fighting against sin in themselves and their surroundings just like we are today. The way that sin entices may change, but the basic sin problems that plague humanity remain the same.
But the last verse declares that the Judgment of God will come on all those who do such things, as they are worthy of death, and also those who have pleasure in those who do them.
I have another article about homosexuality, and you can read more about it there. But for those who say that homosexuality isn't a thing that God hates in the New Testament, they are deluding themselves. Paul had traveled through Asia Minor. I wouldn't go so far as to say that homosexuality was rampant in the Greek and Roman cultures, but it was well accepted at least as long as both participants weren't older and citizens. I won't go into all the problems and manifestations of the Greek and Roman cultures and homosexuality, but Wikipedia has some good summaries if you are interested.
The important thing to realize is that what the culture you live in says is acceptable or unacceptable doesn't make any difference to God. The only thing that will matter on judgment day is what He has declared to be acceptable and unacceptable. And in both Testaments of the Bible, homosexuality is declared to be against His will and unnatural. And as Christians, we are expected to declare that truth, just as Paul did. But we also have to love people and let the Holy Spirit do His work in the hearts we speak to. We are commanded to extend godly love to everyone. If people can't see God's love for them in us, then there is probably something wrong with us.
There are many things that go on in many societies on earth that society says is okay. That doesn't mean that God won't damn the people who do those things, regardless of societal ideas. Carrying on with the last paragraph, it isn't hate toward someone to tell them that regardless of their life choices acceptance by society on earth, their eternal soul is at risk. A few years on earth versus eternity should be a clear choice. We also need to realize that God may judge a complete society based on the actions of one or a small subset of the people living in it. Rome and Greece both fell. Before them, many empires came and went, sometimes because of the actions of a single leader or king. Look at the transition from Babylon to Persia, for example and why it happened (Daniel 4-5).
We need to seriously pray for the government leaders we have chosen that they will choose God and His will, and not mock Him and ignore His truth and direction and definition of right and wrong behavior. Our leaders really shouldn't be doing wrong themselves. Read the list of offenses at the end of Romans 1 and think of all the people in government above you (or below you perhaps). How do they measure up to the list? This can be done in any country on earth, by the way. Just because I'm American, and we have our own issues, doesn't necessarily mean your country is immune. If you are lucky enough to not have any problems in government, then how about your business leaders, your religious leaders, your educators?
I'm pretty sure the rest of Babylon wasn't happy with the results of the party that the king chose to enjoy. It might have been fun while it was going on, but the consequences were calamitous and affected everyone and not just the high and mighty who attended it. It is true that if it wasn't that party, it might have been something else. Nebuchadnezzar had been judged at the end of Daniel 4 above. But God's judgment on one man affected the lives of the entire Babylonian empire. Were the Greeks judged because of Alexander the Great and others who flouted God's definition of right and wrong? Were the Romans judged for their acceptance of sin as long as it was just between free men and slaves that they considered property or a few others who had no social standing?
Clearly, each had their own suite of gods that were worshiped and who the leaders expected the citizens to worship. Some of the emperors of Rome, besides living in a sinful life themselves, actively persecuted the Christian church, so that factored in as well in their decline, I'm certain. The sins were widespread. But what pushed God over the limit to say this is as long as your empire lasts (or at least goes on as it is currently going)? The Romans did eventually turn to accept Christianity and even counted one Emperor as being Christian. The Catholic church is based out of Rome. The Eastern Orthodox branch of the early church is based out of Constantinople, founded by the Roman Emperor Constantine - the first Christian Roman Emperor. But there were centuries of sin issues before that.
What's one party, many in America might well say today? By itself, not much. But God is Holy, and that was His last straw for Babylon. What will it be for us? Whether or not we understand God's view of what our society says is okay, He is the ultimate judge of the universe. His decision is the only one that matters for where you spend eternity. Jesus gave up His divinity, came down and lived among us, was tortured and killed, and rose again victorious just as Paul laid out earlier in the chapter. He paid a price for our sins.
God is Holy to a level that we cannot comprehend. In the early chapters of Joshua, God's favor was removed from Israel after Jericho because Achan took something he wasn't supposed to as a prize when Jericho was sacked. Many died in the first battle for Ai because God wasn't with them. For this cause, Achan and his family and all that he had was cut off by stoning and burning at the command of God. God is serious. Jesus has paid a huge price that all could be saved. God is Holy. He expects us to live up to His standards. Society standards aren't material to our case.
For all things, the good Christian life can be summarized as listening to what the Holy Spirit is directing you to do, and doing it. On the flip side, it can be summarized as avoiding all the things the Holy Spirit is telling you not to do. We are all saved by grace. And God's grace can cover much. But at the same time, we don't know when the rapture will happen - or when our heart will simply stop for that matter. For some, the first indication of heart problems is, in fact, death. It is far better to be avoiding all of the sins and trespasses that Paul lists here or that appear in other locations in the Bible or that the Holy Spirit has talked with you specifically about because you never know when your last moment on earth will be.
At death, you will begin your eternity immediately. There is no holding cell where others can try to pray you into heaven. After death, you will begin your eternal life in either the torment compartment of sheol - for now, eventually to be the lake of fire that God had prepared for the angels who were disobedient. Or you will go to heaven to be with God since the paradise compartment of sheol was emptied in the short time after Jesus rose from the dead (Ephesians 4:8-10). The choices you made on earth determine the result. Nothing else.
You can ponder what happens to those who have never heard about God as you study further in Romans with me. But you've heard about Jesus and the salvation that He gave the world, so you don't qualify for that very difficult to meet escape hatch. God expects you to choose Him and His path for salvation. There is no other, and now that you've heard about it, you have no excuse.