#4. Romans 1:5-6 - Why?
Part I: Introductions
Paul, a slave of Christ Jesus, a called apostle, severed for the
evangel of God, concerning the Son of Him, Jesus Christ, our Lord…
The first two words of
Romans (that is, the first two words of the entire message that God
shares with all the nations in Scripture,) are, in Greek:
“PAUL”
“SLAVE”
Paul calls himself a slave. What we can now ask is this: what is Paul a slave to?
The answer, as you may have guessed, is Jesus Christ. He is Paul’s Lord. A lord, when directly translated from Greek, is “master.” Paul, the slave, has a Master – Christ.
In our study, we will see this dynamic overshadowing many deep topics. We must ask ourselves a challenging question: is this okay? We hear of “slaves” today, and we gravitate to the horrors of being subjected to other men. World history is rife with examples of how poorly man attempts to be the “master” over another. Yet here, we see Paul not merely saying “Jesus is Lord,” as if he’s checking off a requirement for belief, but willingly proclaiming it, as it is naturally true of him.
This is an intense thought, for Paul does not only say “Jesus Christ is Lord,” but is describing Jesus as our Lord (and, in context, he is speaking to the few believers in Rome.)
What is a master apart from his slave? What is a slave apart from his master? This is not the core theme of Romans, but it is a theme, and will play a large role in our study (especially Romans 6.) A master apart from a slave ceases to be a master – as the slave ceases to be a slave. When we are speaking of man, this is a good thing. There is no way around this fact, as man is cruel, as we will study in this very letter.
If
you are reading Romans for the first time, and say to yourself, “Well, I’m
living on U.S. soil – I’m free, and have no reason to want a lord!” then
I would advise you think again. Open your eyes, please; this country is not
“free.” I’ll quote our favorite atheist George Carlin, here, on an older
interview on Bill Maher’s show:
“The owners of the country bought their election. You don’t need
a ‘national conspiracy’ when interests converge. These people went to the same
universities and fraternities, they’re on the same board of directors, they’re
in the same country clubs, they have like interests. They don’t need to
call a meeting. They know what’s good for them – and they’re getting it!
There used to be 7 oil companies – there are now 3, and there will soon be 2.
The things that matter in this country have been reduced in choice. There are
two political parties, there are a handful of insurance companies, there are 6
or 7 [sources of] information now. But if you want a bagel, they’ve got
23 flavors! You have the illusion of choice. You don’t get the
important choices – no freedom of choice.”
This ties in almost directly with what we are talking about, but I will take it to another level. You did not choose the age you are at when you read this. You did not choose how many fingers or toes you have. You don’t decide the environment you’re born into, your immediate family, your extended family, and, if you suffer any mental and/or physical disabilities from birth, you surely did not choose those either (nor do I think you would willingly choose disabilities developed physically or psychologically over time.)
This is all fine and well, and you can grasp what I’m saying simply enough, and even accept what I’m saying (because… it’s literally true.) But where many start to get antsy, or even pissed off, is when I start saying something more along the lines of, “you are not the source of your political or religious beliefs – nor are you the source of your defined income. You did not decide who your significant other is. You did not decide your school, your favorite chain restaurant,” and so on and so forth.
Now, even if you don’t quite agree with me on this yet, you can look at each example I just cited and realize that, to many extents, I’m being very honest with you. You did not make the political systems for you to believe in. You did not make the concept of income. You did not make the concept of a lover.
The objection I face most often is simple: “Yes, I didn’t make these things, but I have the freedom to choose whether or not I believe in these systems! Therefore, my will is free, and I am the maker of my own destiny.”
Let me ask you a probing question. If there are so many guardrails on your life, the decisions you make, the distances you can go, and the things you can do, then how free is your will, truly? We will get into the Scripture that blatantly discusses this stuff further, but for now, we can certainly grasp the fact that our “freedom,” in many regards, is not as “free” as we believe.
What I’m getting at is this: we are slaves. Whether it’s a country, or a family, or a physique – you did not make these things. You may have a will, a desire, and a drive, but these are all crafted by internal limitations, and external factors.
What is the greatest limitation? Well, that’s easy. Death. You didn’t choose to die when you turn 97 – if you die at 97 (see what I mean?) The reality is that no matter how much of a drive Usain Bolt has, he cannot be the Olympic gold medalist forever. No matter how much of a drive Elon Musk has, he cannot own Tesla forever.
I can do this all day!
Everyone wants to own their beliefs. They want to be the owner of their own little worlds, and loathe the notion that God is, in fact, God. This takes them away from their precious feigned power, and relieves them of the notion that they are responsible for making the right decisions (and these people, funnily enough, also don’t like to take responsibility for their wrong decisions, which is very telling.)
Let
me give you one final example of one being shown their belief, as
opposed to one accepting a belief system. Observe Paul, on the road to
Damascus, in Acts 9:3-6–
Now in his going he came to be nearing Damascus. Suddenly a light out of
heaven flashes about him. And falling on the earth, he hears a voice saying to
him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?”
Yet he said, “Who art Thou, Lord?”
Yet He said, “I am Jesus Whom you are persecuting. Nevertheless, rise and enter the city, and it will be spoken to you what you must be doing.”
Was Paul able to choose? Did he decide for Jesus to blind him with beams of light? Shoot, did Paul decide that Jesus should die for His sake? Saul was breathing out murder against those that followed the Lord right before this happened (Acts 9:1!)
A master needs a slave. And a slave needs a master. Every living creature, apart from Christ, has Sin as their master (Rom. 6:20.) Their stubbornness to accept many of the simple facts presented above is proof of this – anywhere the truth manifests, those under Sin’s thumb hide and cower.
Yet for all this, Paul makes a simple declaration that pricks the ears of any who are sick of Sin, and again, it’s here in Romans 1:4– “Jesus Christ, our Lord.”
Jesus is our Lord. He is the Master of Paul, the slave. He is the Master of me, the slave. He is the Master of believers, making them slaves. Slaves, by definition, are not free, and to the objector who says, “I’m free now! I don’t need Christ!” I will remind you that your general lifespan (if you’re lucky) is 100 years. By definition, you’re mortal. That is not free – that is a great internal limitation inflicted on you at your conception (your mom, while pregnant, could not even fathom an idea of you apart from the fact that you are mortal, will grow up, grow old, and live your own life.)
In other words, you’re a slave no matter what – there’s no middle ground. It’s a startling revelation, so I want you to dwell on it for a good long time. You are going to die. We will be dwelling on this for the first chapter of Romans (it’s bleak, but it’s honest, and it is necessary to grasp the later truths. If you can’t wrap your head around the extremity of this fact, then we would have no reason to proceed.)
Paul’s master is no longer Sin. Paul’s master, per his own admission, is Jesus Christ. The scope, for him, has been shifted. This begs the question: what is so special about Jesus being your Lord?
More on this in the next
verse.
Jesus Christ, our Lord, through Whom we obtained grace and apostleship into faith-obedience among all the nations...
It is through Christ that we obtain things. What does a master do? He gives. What does a slave do? He receives. Whether it is an order or a blessing, the slave “gets” the things their master inflicts. We will first see what Sin likes to inflict on us, in Rom. 1:18-3:20. We will then see what Christ likes to inflict on us, in Rom. 3:21-4:25. Paul is going to first shine a light on your old master, Sin. He will then use Sin as a foil for Jesus Christ, your new Master.
The
word “obtained” in Greek is lambano. This is the third or fourth issue
we’ve found so far with the KJV. The KJV translates this word as “received.” To
make matters confusing, the blue letter bible gives this word two different definitions:
1) To take something
2) To receive something
We have taken, received the evangel – hence our translation’s “obtained.” The literal Greek transliterates as “WE-HAVE-GOT.” Oftentimes in Christendom, we are told that we must accept the truth, or we are not saved – and suffer the consequences of… well, whatever our local church seems to think. Yet the simple matter is that we would not be able to take something that is not first given. If your Master does not give, then you cannot take, or receive. This puts the burden of proof on our Lord, not on us.
The proof of this is in the wording. It is through our Lord that Paul obtains two separate things: grace and apostleship. Per the example above (Paul being blinded on the road to Damascus,) we see that, whether Paul wanted to or not, he did “get” grace and apostleship. Paul was forced to recognize his Lord’s authority – “I am Jesus Whom you are persecuting.”
But what is the grace and apostleship? The grace is the source of Paul’s evangel (Rom. 3:24.) For grace, through faith, are we saved (Eph. 2:8.) If we were not given grace, we would not be saved. We will be learning more about this grace in Rom. 3:21-4:25.
The
apostleship is another matter. The Greek word here is apostole, and
its elements are “FROM-PUT,” and, when rendered literally, reads as “commission”
– just as the word “apostle” means “commissioner.” Paul’s commission was
received directly from Jesus Christ, per the primary source in Acts
(Acts 9:1-8,) and Peter’s own admission being a secondary source, in 2 Pet.
3:15-16. The commission here is to share the grace imparted to him. Here’s
what happened after Paul received his sight, post Damascus-road-debacle (Acts
9:18-20)–
[Paul] receives sight. Besides, rising, also, he is baptized, and obtaining nourishment, is strengthened. Now he came to be with the disciples in Damascus some days.
And immediately, in the synagogues, he heralded Jesus, that He is the Son of God.
Paul is severed to share this grace – this grace, specifically. The grace that is imparted to us in Romans. It is this grace that Paul wishes to share with you. Now, whether this is your first time really looking at Romans (in which case, I am honored that you are taking the time to read this through with me,) or you are a veteran simply looking for another study to soak up like vitamin D, or you are an adversary looking to argue, you will be impressed by the sheer value of this evangel. What Paul imparts in this evangel is unmatched in beauty and unparalleled in scope. The idea that this grace will inflict is going to be so dramatic and radical that, no matter what kind of reaction you have, you will indeed have a strong reaction to it. It will either shift your perspective on life, or shift your perspective on life – and there isn’t really any in-between. You will either reaffirm your desire to remain Sin’s slave, or be called out into this evangel of God.
This is what Romans is all about – your Lord, that is: who owns you (yes, unfortunately, you are owned by someone,) and the calling of grace that the One Lord is inflicting on all. The evangel will sit here, on broad display, to be shared with anyone God pleases to share it with. Paul was given a commission to all the nations. No other “commissioner” is given this kind of task. It is wholly unique in its message, and, in being truthful with you up-front, in these first 7 verses, we would, dare I say, be irrational not to hear out such a document.
Now, we do have one hang-up: what’s the catch?
Look, we’re not stupid. Everything has its pro and its con. We know that there’s no sunshine when she’s gone, and that every storm runs out of rain. This can’t possibly have no downside, right?
Well, that’s what we’re here to do – put Romans to the test. Is there a flaw? If so… where? So far, we’ve only been dealing with introductions, but… this isn’t “as mysterious” as you would think, when properly translated and considered in context, is it? So… why is there so much discord in Christianity, then?
The answer is that the point of the grace and apostleship is for (into) faith-obedience among all the nations.
Instantly, our built-in bullshit detector goes off. *Warning!* *Warning!* Warning!* *Conditionality ahead!* *What does God want from me?* *What if I don’t obey?*
This is enough to scare anyone who has been abused by religion away. This is also enough to push any skeptic away. It’s so easy to allow our pre-conceived bias in the way, our perceptions wrangled up in a big ol’ mess, causing us to spin the letter in any which way we may please.
In other words, the word “obedience” is scary. People don’t like it, and for good reason – it’s hard to obey, it’s hard to live up to expectations, it’s frustrating to be told what to do, and more. It’s a heavy ask, telling a bunch of flawed people that they “must obey.”
But here’s the thing… the word has two parts. Paul does not say that grace and apostleship is for obedience, but for faith-obedience. This changes the dynamic once again, for we know through experience and common sense that a slave is only able to obey in accord with what they are given. The words here are structured quite strangely in the CLV, and for good reason – the phrase demands your attention. In Greek, the phrase is hupakoen pisteo, or “UNDER-HEARING OF-BELIEF.” “Obedience” and “faith” are two nouns that function perfectly against each other, but ‘obedience’ is in the accusative case in Greek (making it a ‘direct object’ of a sentence, which I will be pushing you to remember throughout this study,) while ‘of-belief’ is in the genitive case in Greek (making it descriptive of the noun that came before it.)
“Faith” describes the kind of obedience
on display here. This kind of obedience is what is being manifested by
your Lord – not any old kind of obedience. This is an obedience in
belief. This does not erase the logic of the belief itself, nor does
this undercut or de-value ‘obedience’ in any way. This is a specific kind of
service being crafted in the ‘grace’ and ‘apostleship,’ that could not be
manifested otherwise.
Jesus Christ, our Lord, through Whom we obtained grace and apostleship into faith-obedience among all the nations, for His name's sake...
This is the third time we’ve seen the word “for” in Romans. Unfortunately, this is now the second different Greek word that has been used for “for.” The first two uses of “for” are in Rom. 1:1 (severed for the evangel) and earlier in 1:5 (for faith-obedience.) These two uses of the word are transliterated as “into,” and if you wanted to render them that way, you could. The evangel of God is something that Paul is severed into. Grace and apostleship brought him into faith-obedience. You are being brought in by this verbiage.
This third use of “for,” however, is the word huper. It does not transliterate as “into,” but “over.” The purpose of “faith-obedience” is over His name’s sake. This takes us full-circle on the doctrines we will be learning in Romans – justification through faith (grace – Rom. 3-4,) peace toward and from God (apostleship – Rom. 5-8,) and the conduct of the saints (faith-obedience – Rom. 12-14.) We can logically follow the train that Paul will take us on, through this. The evangel of God concerns His Son, Who gives grace and apostleship, for faith-obedience, in order for the name of Him, “Jesus Christ,” to be made known. This evangel is all about Him, and adding weight to His name – a true weight – is one of its chief goals. As we cover each doctrine, we will see the negative affirmation of any alternative “lords” (Rom. 1:18-3:20,) the positive affirmation of our Lord, showing why He deserves the name “Jesus,” (Rom. 3:21-4:25,) the peace that our Lord has with us, showing why He deserves the title “Christ,” (Rom. 5:1-8:30,) and thus will us to obey the faith that we are being “put into,” showing why He deserves to be our Lord (Rom. 12:1-15:7.)
Does that make sense? No? In due time.
This is for His name’s sake. As the letter will reveal Him,
so will His name grip your heart and mind. The obedience is not the cause
of this power, but its effect. We are obedient through the faith that is being instilled in us. Tamed
by it, if you will. In Greek, the original term ‘obey’ represents ‘hearing or
heeding words.’ Our faith instills words we naturally heed. The faith crafts
obedience toward it. The faith-obedience is
the effect of these first two objects. The questions that arise are: what exactly
is this faith, what are our terms for obeying it, and why should
we do so?
...among whom are you also...
This, in sum, is why this matters. Among the few who are given grace and apostleship for faith-obedience, which acclaims His name, you are included. You are being allotted (not required, but allotted – words matter,) this task of faith-obedience. If you are not reading, comprehending, and dwelling on any of this, then what’s the point of His name’s sake, His lordship, being shared?
Why is Romans being given you? Because a master needs a slave – and a slave needs a master. His name needs to be spread, and you have reason to be freed from the perceptions of this crappy world, which instill mundanity, death, affliction, fears, strife, heartache, and pain into your every day life.
His name, and your
life, are the reason Romans is written and displayed for you at
every single bookstore. His name, and your life. This is why you
should learn of the evangel which concerns His Son. The result (with a bit of
patience, mind you,) is a careful, satisfactory study as to the nature of God,
which establishes in us a perfect, unfailing, and otherwise unattainable peace.
* * *
This is where the structure of the first seven verses of
Paul’s letter to Rome begins to loop back around on itself. We’ve covered three
facets of Paul, three facets of the evangel, and the centerpiece – the three
facets of God’s Son. We now cover three aspects of “our Lord,” as follows:
1)
Through Whom we obtained grace and
apostleship
2)
Into faith-obedience among all the
nations
3)
Over His name’s sake, among whom are
you also
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This
structure, as I’ve mentioned before, is ever-present all throughout Romans, and
I will point it out as often as I can – the stream-of-conscious writing paired
with a perfect structure provides us an internal evidence as to the supernatural
divine quality of Romans.
- GerudoKing
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