Rom. 1:1 Servant indicates that Paul is a “bondservant” of Christ (see note on 1 Cor. 7:21; and Preface). It also recalls the honored servants of God in the OT, such as Moses, Joshua, David, and the prophets. apostle. Paul’s authority is equal to that of the 11 original apostles chosen by Christ (Matt. 10:1–7; Acts 1:24–26; Gal. 1:1), who had seen him after his resurrection (Acts 1:22; 1 Cor. 9:1; 15:7–9). They established and governed the whole church, under Christ’s authority. They had authority to speak and write the words of God, and what they wrote was equal in authority to the OT Scriptures (1 Cor. 14:37; 1 Thess. 2:13). Paul was called to be an apostle when Jesus appeared to him on the Damascus road (Acts 9; 22; 26). Gospel means “good news.” This includes the call to saving faith and the message of how Jesus transforms all of life and all of history.

Rom. 1:2–3 Jesus fulfilled the OT prophecy that a descendant of David would rule forever. He is the Messiah (see 2 Sam. 7:12–16; Psalm 132; Isa. 11:1–5).

Rom. 1:4 As the eternal Son of God, Jesus has reigned forever with the Father and the Holy Spirit. “Son of God” was a Jewish title for the Messiah. Christ’s reign as Messiah began when he was raised from the dead according to the Spirit of holiness (through the Holy Spirit).

Rom. 1:5 Paul’s mission is to all humanity. His goal is to bring about the obedience of faith (see 16:26). Saving faith results in obedience.

Rom. 1:1–7 This is the longest introduction of any of Paul’s letters. He has never been to Rome, so he summarizes the gospel for his Roman readers. Many of the things he mentions here are also in the final verses of his letter (16:25–27): (1) Paul’s apostolic authority; (2) how the gospel fulfills OT Scriptures; (3) how the gospel centers on Jesus Christ; (4) the obedience of faith; (5) Paul’s mission to the Gentiles; and (6) the glory of Jesus Christ and God the Father.

Rom. 1:7 loved by God and called. God shows his love by calling his people to himself. All believers are God’s saints, his “holy ones.” Grace means God’s unmerited favor. Peace is not just the absence of conflict. It echoes the OT concept of blessing, in which the person and community are well and whole in all aspects of life.

Rom. 1:8 thank. Paul typically follows the greeting in his letters with a thanksgiving (compare 1 Cor. 1:1–9; Phil. 1:1–8). He is thankful because the kingdom of God is advancing throughout all the world. It is no longer confined to the Jews but has also spread to the Gentiles.

Rom. 1:13 Paul neither “planted” nor “watered” the church at Rome (see 1 Cor. 3:6), but he still rejoices in the harvest of their increased maturity and obedience.

Rom. 1:14 Paul was under an obligation to Jesus Christ, who appointed him to be the apostle to the Gentiles. Greeks. Those who spoke Greek and adopted Greek culture in the Greco-Roman world. barbarians. Those outside of Greek culture.

Rom. 1:15 preach the gospel to you also. The gospel is not just the initial call to saving faith. It is also the call to keep on walking by faith (6:4; 8:4; 2 Cor. 5:17).

Rom. 1:16 Jew first. The Jews have priority in salvation history because they are God’s chosen people. See chs. 9–11. Greek refers here to all Gentiles.

Rom. 1:1–17 The Gospel as the Revelation of God’s Righteous­ness. This first section includes Paul’s opening greeting (vv. 1–7), thanksgiving (vv. 8–15), and statement of the letter’s overall theme (vv. 16–17).

Rom. 1:17 The righteousness of God most likely means “righteousness from God.” It reflects a right standing before God that is given to people by God (see Phil. 3:9). The phrase likely has this meaning in Rom. 3:21–22 and 2 Cor. 5:21 as well (see notes on those verses). However, the expression probably also refers to God’s righteous moral character. This is seen in his holiness and justice. It is also seen in the way that his act of saving sinners through Christ’s death meets the just demand of his holy nature. From faith for faith probably means that right standing with God is by faith from start to finish. shall live by faith. People receive the gift of salvation by faith. It is also by faith that they live each day. See Hab. 2:4.

Rom. 1:18 The wrath of God refers to his personal anger against sin. God’s anger is his holy response to rejection of his love and law.

Rom. 1:19–20 things that have been made. The entire natural world reveals God through its beauty, complexity, design, and usefulness. without excuse. God has given sufficient evidence of his existence and character.

Rom. 1:21 they knew God. All people know God exists. They also know a lot about him, even if they do not have a saving knowledge of him.

Rom. 1:22 Even brilliant people who do not honor God miss the whole purpose of life and are therefore fools (see Prov. 1:7).

Rom. 1:23 Idolatry is the most basic sin. In addition to the images housed in great temples, Roman families commonly kept images of “house gods” in their homes. People today still devote their lives to, and trust in, many things other than God.

Rom. 1:24 Three times Paul says God gave them up to sin (vv. 24, 26, 28). Each time the “giving up” is a reaction to idolatry. The idol worshiper refuses to recognize that God our Maker is the center of all existence. He worships the “creature” rather than the “Creator” (v. 25).

Rom. 1:25 exchanged the truth about God for a lie. All non-Christian religions are based on false ideas about God. They are not just “different paths” to God.

Rom. 1:26–27 Not only homosexual acts but also homosexual passions or desires are dishonorable before God. Just as idolatry is unnatural (contrary to what God intended), so too homosexuality is contrary to nature. God made men and women with physical bodies that have a “natural” way of interacting with each other. Men . . . with men includes all homosexual relationships, not just those generally considered abusive. Due penalty could refer to the sin of homosexuality itself. Or, the “and” in and receiving may indicate some additional negative consequences received in themselves, that is, some form of spiritual, emotional, or physical disorder.

Rom. 1:32 People do not generally sin in innocent ignorance. They know God’s righteous decree (at least in an instinctive way) that their evildoing deserves punishment.

Rom. 2:4 Do you presume is probably addressed to Jews who thought that their covenant relationship with God would save them from final judgment. They thought that his kindness and forbearance and patience showed that they were right with him and had no need for Christ. Paul says God’s blessings should have led them to repent of their sins.

Rom. 2:5 A soft and repentant heart is needed to avoid God’s wrath on the day of wrath, the final judgment. Such repentance leads a person to trust in Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins. Unfortunately, most people are storing up wrath for themselves on that final day.

Rom. 2:6–11 Paul establishes the principle that God judges according to . . . works. In doing so, he shows no partiality.

Rom. 2:12 All will be judged according to the standard they had. Gentiles will perish (face final judgment) because of their sin (see vv. 14–15) even though they are without the law (the written laws of the OT). Jews, who possess the law, will be judged for their transgressions against it.

Rom. 2:14–16 For Gentiles, God’s law is written on their hearts. Their consciences show what is right or wrong in their behavior. Paul does not imply that the human conscience is always a perfect moral guide (see 1 Cor. 8:7, 10; 10:29). But its existence is enough to make people accountable to God.

Rom. 2:16 my gospel. Not Paul’s alone, but the gospel that he preaches.

Rom. 2:22 rob temples. Robbing temples was a common crime in the ancient world because temples contained expensive items that could be sold for profit.

Rom. 2:21–24 The Jews fail to practice the law they proclaim. Thus they will face judgment.

Rom. 2:24 Because they violated the law, the Jews were exiled by God. Their military and political defeats dishonored God because they were known as his people. Although the Jews did not face exile in Paul’s day, their sins still led Gentiles to dishonor the God they claimed to follow.

Rom. 2:25–26 The Jews tended to believe that they would be spared at the last judgment because of their circumcision (Gen. 17:9–14; Lev. 12:3). uncircumcision. Paul argues, however, that Jews who violate the law are considered by God to be uncircumcised. They are outside the covenant and headed for judgment. Circumcision would be of value for salvation if the circumcised would obey the law perfectly, but no one can do that. Paul takes up the issue of circumcision again in Rom. 4:9–16.

Rom. 2:27 The written code refers to OT laws.

Rom. 2:1–29 Most interpreters say that Paul focuses on the sin of the Jews throughout this chapter. Another view is that the sin of the moral person (whether Jewish or Gentile) who judges others is condemned in vv. 1–16, while Jews alone are condemned in vv. 17–29.

Rom. 2:28–29 In striking contrast to Jewish beliefs of his day, Paul claims that true Jewishness and genuine circumcision are not ethnic or physical matters. Rather, they are matters of the heart. They are the work of the Holy Spirit. This letter/Spirit contrast compares the old era of redemptive history with the new age begun by Jesus Christ.

Rom. 3:1 Now Paul raises the logical question of whether there is any advantage or value in being an ethnic Jew and being physically circumcised. He probably means “value for salvation.”

Rom. 3:2 One might expect Paul to answer that there is no advantage in being a Jew (see v. 1). Instead, he claims that the Jews have great advantages, mainly in possessing the oracles of God, which refers to the OT Scriptures. On the Jews being entrusted with the oracles of God, see Deut. 4:8; 5:22–27; Ps. 147:20.

Rom. 3:3–4 Even though most Jews were unfaithful and refused to trust and obey God, he remains faithful to them. God will fulfill his covenant promises, particularly his promise to save them. Paul does not mean that every single Jew will be saved, though. He discusses God’s faithfulness to the Jews more fully in chs. 9–11.

Rom. 3:5–8 Some of Paul’s Jewish opponents claimed that he taught a doctrine of “cheap grace,” that is, that God receives more glory when Christians do evil and then are forgiven. Paul emphatically denies this but waits until ch. 6 to discuss this charge in more detail.

Rom. 3:9 Greeks. The entire Gentile world in contrast to the Jews.

Rom. 3:10–12 Paul focuses on the sinfulness of every human being, citing Ps. 14:1–3 and perhaps thinking of Eccles. 7:20. no one does good. Human beings do some things that seem to be good. But these actions, prior to salvation, are still stained by evil because they are not done for God’s glory (Rom. 1:21) and do not come from faith (14:23).

Rom. 3:13–14 Paul quotes from Ps. 5:9 and 10:7. The reference to the grave highlights either the corruption of the heart or the deadly effects of sin.

Rom. 3:15–17 Paul draws from Isa. 59:7–8 to show how human history includes murder, war, and disorder.

Rom. 3:18 The root cause of sin is failure to fear and honor God (Ps. 36:1).

Rom. 3:19 law. The Mosaic law.

Rom. 1:18–3:20 God’s Righteousness in His Wrath against Sinners. God’s wrath is rightly revealed against all people, since all have sinned (3:23). Paul describes the sinfulness of the Gentiles (1:18–32), and the Jews (2:1–3:8), and of all people, Jew and Gentile alike (3:9–20).

Rom. 3:19–20 These verses represent the conclusion of vv. 9–18 and all of 1:18–3:20. All humans, without exception, are sinners.

Rom. 3:20 Works of the law means all that the law requires. Justified is a legal term meaning “declared righteous” (see note on Gal. 2:16).

Rom. 3:21 The righteousness of God has been shown now, in the period of salvation history that began with Jesus’ death and resurrection. On the righteousness of God, see note on 1:17. By God’s saving acts in Christ, humans may stand in the right before God, the divine judge. apart from the law. Righteousness is not based on obeying the law. Yet the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it. The OT Scriptures looked forward to salvation through Christ (see 1:2).

Rom. 3:24 The word redemption recalls the exodus and the blood of the Passover lamb (see Exodus 12–15; Eph. 1:7; Col. 1:14). On justification, see note on Gal. 2:16.

Rom. 3:25 Jesus’ blood “propitiated” or satisfied God’s wrath (1:18). Thus he could forgive sinners while also maintaining his holiness. Some scholars argue that the word propitiation should be translated expiation (the wiping away of sin), but the word refers to the satisfaction of God’s wrath, turning it from wrath to favor. God’s righteous anger needed to be satisfied before sin could be forgiven. God in his love sent his Son to meet the demands of God’s holy anger against sin. God’s justice was questioned because he had patiently overlooked former sins. But Paul says that God knew Christ’s death would happen, where the full payment for the guilt of sin would be made.

Rom. 3:26 In the cross of Christ, God has shown himself to be just (utterly holy, so that the penalty demanded by the law is not removed but is paid by Christ). He is also the justifier of all those who trust in Jesus. That is, he provides the means of justification and declares people to be in right standing with himself. Here is the heart of the Christian faith, for at the cross God’s justice and love meet.

Rom. 3:27 The word law in this verse probably means principle, though some think it refers to the OT law.

Rom. 3:28 Justification is by faith alone, apart from . . . the law. It does not depend at all on doing any works of the law.

Rom. 3:29–30 Since God is the Lord of all, whether Jews or Gentiles, there can be only one way of justification—by faith.

Rom. 3:31 Although Paul supports the lasting moral teachings of the law (uphold), he knows that some will accuse him of abandoning it (overthrow). He will defend himself against such charges in chs. 6–7.