Read or listen the Epistle to the Romans online (ESV, Bible Gateway)

Inscription – Rom. 1:1-7

As usual, Paul includes extensive additions in the prescript of his letter. In verses 3-4, Paul used a Christ hymn that is older than this letter.

The text in the verses is very concise. The key issues are the following:

1. Paul acted as an apostle by the calling of God and commissioned by him (verse 1).

2. The Gospel (verse 2) and Christ (verse 3) have already been prophesied in the Old Testament. For Paul, the connection between the Old Testament and Christ and his church is self-evident.

3. Christ is the foundation of our whole faith (verse 5) 4. Christ calls people to his church and to participate in his grace. No one can call himself to his church by himself (verse 6).

Verse 4 should not be interpreted in such a way that Jesus became the Son of God only in the resurrection, but instead, by also looking at Phil. 2:5-11, we see that Paul wants to emphasize that the resurrection "revealed" that Jesus is the Son of God. As a man on earth, Jesus was like any other Jew of his time, but the resurrection was the definitive sign that he was also God. Also compare John 1:1-18.

Thanksgiving and prayer – Rom. 1:8-15

After the inscription, Paul often placed thanksgiving to God (for example, 1 Cor. 1:4-9 and 1 Thess. 1:2-10). Here too we could learn from Paul; so often we forget to be thankful to God. Everyone is probably familiar with the thought, "You know to be grateful for your health only when you have lost it." Many things are so self-evident to us that we no longer notice God's goodness in them. We should look for reasons to be thankful in our own lives. Gratitude influences our whole being and our relationship with those close to us.

In verse 12, Paul talks about expecting to learn something from the Romans. Congregational life is too often pastor-centred. Lay people also have a lot to give – even to pastors.

The main subject of the letter – Rom. 1:16-17

This short passage can be called the core of Lutheran doctrine: man is saved by grace alone, because of Christ's atoning work alone. This passage was very important to the reformer Martin Luther.

The actual idea of justification by faith is simple but living it out is difficult. In our natural religious thinking, there exists the idea that our own works are relevant in salvation. We would absolutely want to do some part – no matter how small – of the work of salvation by ourselves. We can learn the idea of salvation by Christ's atoning work alone in a minute but understanding it and applying it to our own relationship with God is a lifelong struggle against our own religious ideas.

This salvation applies to everyone, no one is left out of it except by their own will (verse 16).

In verse 16, Paul says that we should not be ashamed of the gospel. The temptation to be ashamed comes from the fact that the power of Christ in this world is not visible. Various prosperity theologies try to make that power visible, but nevertheless it remains a mystery for this time and this world until the end.

General revelation – Rom. 1:18-20

Religious scholars have said that there is no nation in the world without religious ideas. We see the greatness of God and the traces of his hand in everything around us. Paul states that no one can miss this so-called general revelation. No one can say that God did not speak to him or approach him. Even today, many scientists say that their research has led them to ask who is behind all this, who has designed all this that they are studying.

Idolatry and its penalty – Rom. 1:21-32

However, this so-called general revelation – i.e. nature, histories of nations, human destinies – is not the way many people usually encounter God. Paul states that there is a vicious circle here: whoever does not understand the general revelation drifts further and further away from God. For example, if someone thinks that there is no God behind nature, but everything happens by chance, he will also interpret all new information from this point of view. This way his (wrong) preconception only gets stronger, and it becomes increasingly difficult for him to find God's fingerprints in nature.

Blindness to the general revelation affects all human behavior, not only our concept of God. If everything were just a result of chance, nothing would have any meaning – everything would be only chance – there would be no right and wrong, we could live as we wanted. And that is what many people do today. Paul gives many examples of such behavior.

The fact that Paul has specifically chosen homosexuality as one example may be because it shows how deviation from God's will leads to what is contrary to nature. God as the Creator wants to sustain life in this world, but homosexuality does not lead to that.

In verse 21, the idea of "becoming futile" is related to the idea that the god whom one serves changes the servant into the likeness of the one being served. Serving a vain god makes a person futile, serving a living God makes a person alive.

Verses 29-31 contain one of the many lists of sins in the New Testament. None of them aim to be a complete list, but only a list of examples: this is what happens where God is given up as Creator (verses 21 and 25).

We Lutherans are in danger of underestimating the significance of sin: as we are saved by grace alone, we think that sin is not such a big deal, because after all, a good life does not save us, but Christ does. However, Paul does not accept such thinking, instead he emphasizes (verses 26-32) that a sin can never be committed without it affecting our relationship with God.

God is holy and he hates sin. Often such an idea is labelled old-fashioned and pertaining to the Old Testament, but without this concept it is impossible for us to understand the New Testament (compare Rom. 8:28). It is precisely because God hates sin that Jesus died on the cross to atone for our sins. God does not overlook sin. If he did, he would not have paid the highest price possible for the atonement of sin – the death of his only Son, Jesus, on the cross.

Why does Paul begin the Epistle to the Romans by making us all sinners and debtors before God? The answer is quite simple: only a sinner needs Christ as his Savior (compare Matt. 9:12-13).

A hopeless and unfair situation?

The situation outlined by Paul seems hopeless: man cannot find God. Paul gets to the heart of the matter: only God can find us when we are lost, we can never find our lost relationship with God.

But if the situation is so dark and difficult, isn't it unfair that God condemns people to hell? Isn't Paul contradictory: on the one hand, we can get knowledge about God, but on the other hand, only he can birth faith in us? These questions are difficult, and we cannot give them answers that would satisfy all. However, a few principles can be found in the Bible.

Matthew 25:14-30 tells us the parable of the talents. One servant received five talents, the second servant two talents, and the third servant one talent. When it was time to settle the accounts, the number of talents each had received was taken into consideration. He who brought one talent was not condemned because he did not bring ten or four talents, but because he had not invested his talent. This speaks to us about God's justice: he takes into consideration the opportunities each of us had to learn about God. To whom much was given, of him much will be required, and to whom less was given, of him less will be required.

Deuteronomy 29:28 informs us of another principle: God has not revealed everything to us. We do not get answers to all our questions, but we do get a clear answer to one question: how to be saved. We must not reject our own salvation because we do not know exactly how God will deal with a Hindu who has not heard as much about God as we have. One or even several unanswered questions must not avert us from the most important thing: salvation in Christ.