Romans · chapter 1 of 16
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Romans 1 contains Paul's greeting to the Christians in Rome, his wish to visit them and the thesis of the whole letter: the gospel is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, and in it the righteousness of God is revealed and received by faith. From verse 18, Paul begins to show why that good news is needed: humanity has suppressed the truth about God, and so God hands people over to the results of their rebellion.
Romans is Paul's longest and most orderly letter. It was written around AD 57, probably from Corinth, to a church Paul had not yet visited that included both Jewish and Gentile believers. Chapter 1 opens the letter with a greeting rich in teaching about Jesus, announces the theme of the gospel and begins the first major section of the argument: all people, Jew and Gentile alike, need the righteousness that only God gives.
Paul introduces himself as a servant of Christ Jesus, an apostle set apart for the gospel of God. That gospel was promised in the writings of the prophets and concerns God's Son: a descendant of David according to the flesh and declared Son of God in power by his resurrection from the dead. Through him Paul received the task of calling all the nations to the obedience of faith, and the believers in Rome are among them, so he greets them with grace and peace.
He then thanks God that the faith of the Romans is known throughout the world, assures them that he prays for them constantly and explains that he longs to see them in order to strengthen them and be encouraged together with them. He calls himself a debtor to Greeks and barbarians, to the wise and the foolish, and he is eager to preach the gospel in Rome too.
Verses 16 and 17 give the thesis: Paul is not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. In it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith, just as the prophet Habakkuk said: the righteous shall live by faith.
From verse 18 Paul shows why that salvation is needed. God's wrath is revealed against the ungodliness and unrighteousness of people who suppress the truth by their wickedness. What can be known about God is plain in creation, so no one has an excuse. Even so, people did not honor him or give thanks, exchanged the glory of God for images and worshiped what was created instead of the Creator. Three times the text says that God gave them up: to impurity, to dishonorable passions and to a debased mind. The chapter ends with a long list of evils and the warning that many not only practice them but approve of those who do.
References follow ESV book names and verse numbers. Read each verse in your Bible before the explanation.
Paul says Jesus was declared the Son of God in power by his resurrection from the dead. The resurrection does not make him the Son but shows publicly that he is, which is why the gospel is news about a living person.
Paul says he is not ashamed of the gospel because it is God's power that saves everyone who believes, first the Jew and then the Greek. Salvation is not achieved by human effort but is God's work, offered to all alike.
In the gospel God's righteousness is revealed, that is, his act of declaring sinners righteous, and it is received by faith from start to finish. Paul quotes Habakkuk: the righteous shall live by faith. This verse is the key to the whole letter.
Since the creation of the world, God's eternal power and divine nature have been seen in what he made. Paul concludes that no one has an excuse: creation already bears witness to God, and the human problem is not lack of information but rejection of the truth.
6 questions with answers and references, ready for Sunday school, small group or a Bible quiz night.
Answer: As a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle and set apart for the gospel of God. — Romans 1:1
Answer: That he was descended from David according to the flesh and was declared the Son of God in power by his resurrection from the dead. — Romans 1:3-4
Answer: To share a spiritual gift that would strengthen them, to be encouraged together with them by each other's faith, and to preach the gospel there as well. — Romans 1:11-15
Answer: Because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. — Romans 1:16
Answer: He quotes Habakkuk: the righteous shall live by faith. — Romans 1:17
Answer: Because God's invisible qualities, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen in creation since the beginning of the world. — Romans 1:19-20
Romans 1 opens with a confidence that contrasts with our doubts: Paul is not ashamed of the gospel. In Sunday school or a small group it helps to ask when we feel embarrassed to speak about Christ and what this text reminds us of: the power to save lies in the message, not in our eloquence.
The rest of the chapter asks us to be honest about sin without placing ourselves above anyone. Idolatry is not limited to statues; it happens whenever we give something created the place that belongs to God. This passage invites us to give thanks, to recognize God in what he has made and to remember that God's wrath is the other side of his justice, which makes the good news all the more precious.
Romans 1 declares that the gospel is the power of God and that his righteousness is received by faith, and it starts to show that all humanity needs that righteousness. Romans 2 continues the argument and turns to the person who feels superior and judges others, to show that no one can stand before God on the strength of personal goodness.
It is a central term of the letter. It refers to God's saving action of declaring sinners righteous and putting them in right standing with him, and also to his faithfulness to his promises. Paul says that this righteousness is not earned by works but received through faith in Christ.
The text does not describe a God who pushes people toward evil but a God who judges by letting people follow the path they chose and bear its consequences. Paul repeats it three times to show that moral distortion is both the result and the penalty of rejecting God.
They were two ways of dividing humanity in the ancient world: Greeks shared Greek language and culture, and barbarians were everyone else. Together with the wise and the foolish, the phrase means Paul feels obliged to preach the gospel to every kind of person.