The Gospel According to Paul (Romans 1:8-17)

8. First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is being reported all over the world. Why through Jesus Christ? To the modern church this doesn’t stand out and we chalk it up to the way Paul talks, but for the early church this was a fundamental teaching about their new relationship with God. Grace was given to us from God through Jesus Christ and we also show gratitude back to God through Jesus Christ. He is our mediator. We no longer need to go to a priest to communicate with God for us.

9-11. God, whom I serve in my spirit in preaching the gospel of his Son, is my witness how constantly I remember you 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. 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. This verse shows that Paul is not looking to lord his apostleship over the Roman church and he’s not going there just to get something from them. He wants everyone to benefit from fellowship with each other. Have you ever noticed how encouraging it is just knowing that someone you work with or go to school with is also a Christ follower. Realizing that we are not alone gives us some strength and even boldness.

13. I do not want you to be unaware, brothers and sisters, 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. Why couldn’t Paul go to Rome until now? Perhaps it was similar to the leading of the Holy Spirit we read about in Acts. People tried to stop Paul from going to Jerusalem because he was in danger and yet the Holy Spirit was directing him to go there anyway. Maybe he was giving priority to the needs and growth of the Gentile churches he planted and visited them a second time instead. Or maybe the Jewish expulsion from Rome mentioned in Acts 18:2 kept him away.

14. I am obligated both to Greeks and non-Greeks, both to the wise and the foolish. Paul does not discriminate who he preaches the Gospel to. He is ‘obligated’. He cannot withhold the good news of Jesus from anyone. The Greeks called all non-Greeks barbarians or barbaroi. 'roi' is what you add to the end of a Greek word to pluralize it. There is thought that this word came about as a sort of imitation of foreign languages. So it's like saying everyone who is not American are flurdelurians (My imitation of another language, hee hee).
The Greeks take pride in their wisdom so all non-Greeks would be considered unwise in their estimation. Think of the Greeks in Athens who Paul addressed at Mars Hill (Acts 17:16-21). The Bible says that they spent all of their time debating new ideas. They were professional thinkers. So basically Paul is saying in two different ways that he must preach the Gospel to everyone.

15. That is why I am so eager to preach the gospel also to you who are in Rome.

The Gospel According to Paul
The theme of the Gospel: The righteousness of God reveled (vs 16-17)

Paul’s basis for this next argument is the Hebrew thought process on Righteousness. It is not based on an intrinsic moral value. It is a legal status. They viewed right and wrong as if they were in a courtroom receiving a verdict. So righteousness (tsaddiq)= In the right and unrighteousness (rasha’)= in the wrong. In Exodus 27 Pharaoh says, "I have sinned this time. Jehovah is 'right'(righteous), and I and my people are 'in the wrong' (wicked)." The OT is the Law. It revels to us God’s righteousness and exposes our unrighteousness or wrongness because we are unable to keep His law. We are condemned. We can only be righteous if we are “right” in relation to his law. It is impossible to keep the law perfectly. The Gospel, however, revels God’s righteousness differently. It shows us that even though we are sinners, we can be righteous. God does this through the principle of faith. Paul will deal with this thought in detail here at the beginning of the book and later he will cover how God’s righteousness is shown or proved by making us, ‘the unrighteous’, right. Paul refers to Hab 2:4b as his text for his 'sermon' that we can be made righteous by faith.

16. For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: This is a figure of speech in the Greek. Paul is not just saying that he doesn’t hide the Gospel or if someone asks him that he won’t deny it. He is saying that he takes great pride and it is an honor to share the Gospel.
first to the Jew, then to the Gentile. The Jews were God’s chosen people. What does that mean? Do they have higher privilege? God chose to revel himself through a group of people. They were to demonstrate who God is to the rest of the world. It was this same group that God sent his Son to be born into. It is a great honor and an even greater responsibility. Romans 2:9 There will be trouble and distress for every human being who does evil: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile; Some pastors make the same mistake the Jews made and begin to see themselves as elite or somehow better than those they are sent to minister to. It is a huge responsibility and a great honor. There is great accountability involved. James 3:1 says, Not many of you should become teachers, my fellow believers, because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly.
Why does Paul choose to state the order of who the Gospel is revealed? This seems like a step in the wrong direction since he is constantly trying to level the playing field between Jews and Gentiles. Paul is not stating the order of importance, but rather the chronology. It would be like a suffragette saying, "We know how important voting is. It is a privilege and responsibility first for men and now for women."

17. For in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed— A passage from the Dead Sea Scrolls called Hymn of the Initiants expounds on this idea well. "By His righteousness my sin is blotted out...If I stumble because of fleshly iniquity, my justification is in the righteousness of God which shall stand for ever...By His mercy He has cause me to approach and by His loving kindness He brings my justification near. By His true righteousness He justifies me and by His abundant goodness He makes atonement for all my iniquities. By His righteousness He cleanses me from the impurity of mortal man and from the sin of the sons of men, that I may praise God for His righteousness and the Most High for His glory."
a righteousness that can be seen from faith to faith It can be seen from person to person who has faith. For example, having multiple crowns or swirlies in their hair is a Pridemore trait. Nick's daddy had more than one, Nick has 3, Calvin has 5 and Adison has 2. That trait can been seen from Pridemore to Pridemore. Similarly, each person of faith has this in common…that God’s righteousness is revealed in the Gospel.
just as it is written: “The righteous will live by faith.” Hab 2:4 was used by Paul in Galatians 3:11 to prove that it is not the law justifies us before God. He uses the same passage in Hebrews 10:38 to encourage the readers not to give up. Faith in Hebrew is 'muna'. In Greek it is 'pistis': steadfastness or fidelity based on firm belief in God. In Habakkuk’s time God was promising that the evil would not go on forever and that eventually righteousness would win out. In the mean time the followers of God would endure the hardship by faith in God and what was to come. The word for life and salvation in Hebrew are the same word. Paul adds depth of meaning to Habakkuk’s words by saying those who are justified by faith will be saved.

And now I hear Amelia blowing spit bubbles in her crib. Hope to see you all next week!