Paul, in his letter to the Romans, now comes to the next section. Earlier he talked about the fact that he often had the intention to travel to Rome, but so far he had not succeeded. Now he draws the circle a little larger and no longer speaks about the church in Rome, but directs the view to his mission for all nations and people. He thus places the Romans, or more specifically the church in Rome, in a larger context.
“To Greeks as well as non-Greeks, to the wise as well as to the unwise, I am a debtor. Hence the desire in me also to preach the gospel to you who are in Rome.”
Romans 1:14-15
Greeks and non-Greeks
Paul speaks of “Greeks and non-Greeks.” The known world was dominated by Greek culture. The New Testament was also written in Greek. Greek was the world language, just as English is today and perhaps Chinese tomorrow. The simplified division of the world was a language division. The Greeks called all people who did not speak Greek “barbarians.” Therefore, in our text the word gr. barbaros is used, which is translated as “non-Greeks”. Together, the two groups “Greeks and non-Greeks” form a comprehensive description of “all” peoples. No one is left out.
Paul as a debtor
Paul saw himself as a “debtor” to all people. He was in debt to all men according to his own understanding. Or rather, according to his own understanding, he owed it to all people to talk about something. In Corinthians, he talks about this:
“For if I preach gospel, it gives me no reason to boast, because it is a necessity imposed upon me. But woe to me if I do not preach the gospel! For if I do this service voluntarily, I have my reward in it; but if I do it involuntarily, where was I entrusted with the administration. Now in what does my reward consist? In that, as a preacher of the gospel, I give the gospel free of charge, so that I would not have to make use of my authority in the gospel to the full.”
1Cor 9,17-18
For Paul, the preaching of the gospel was an “imposed necessity”. Perhaps to our ears the “imposed” sounds as “forced”. However, Paul himself did not say so anywhere. It was imposed on him in the sense that he was “entrusted” with this proclamation (cf. 1Cor 9:17 1Th 2:4 1Tim 1:11 Tit 1:3). This was not merely a job, and likewise it was not a profession. Rather, he recognized this as his calling from God. This calling was so real that he could not escape it. That is why he was a debtor to the Romans, not because he had done wrong, but because of his calling he was inevitably drawn to those who had not heard the gospel, the “good news”, before.
Who is Paul evangelizing?
What did Paul want in Rome? Proclaim the Gospel! But to whom?
“Hence, therefore, the desire in me to preach the gospel also to you who are in Rome.”
Rom 1:15
He had mentioned the word gospel before when he spoke of the “gospel of God” (Rom 1:1). The Greek euaggelion is literally a “good message”, from Gr. eu “good” and Gr. aggelion “message”. Paul wanted to go to Rome and he wanted to meet this Roman church locally with the good news. He was concerned with the Gospel, with which he himself was entrusted.
The expression “to preach the gospel” is only one verb in Greek. Not a “thing” (more precisely: gospel) is central here, but he wanted to “do” something. One would like to describe this correctly as “evangelizing”, but today we imagine something different. When we speak of “evangelizing” today, we mean preaching to “unbelievers.” But this is not the case in Rome. Paul wanted to “evangelize” the church, not the unbelievers in Rome.
It seems better, therefore, if we do not refer this term “evangelize” exclusively to “unbelievers” but include the congregation right away. Indeed, the need exists in the church as well as outside the church: we should know this good news. In many communities, on the other hand, a distinction is made between those who are “inside” and belong, and those who are “outside” and do not (yet) belong. Perhaps this difference is not so relevant. Paul, at least, wants to evangelize the church, namely to enrich it with a good news.
I am not ashamed of the gospel
“For I am not ashamed of the gospel.”
Rom 1:16
With these words Paul follows up the previous sentences. The reference to him not being ashamed shows that it is about his personal experience. Paul himself is not ashamed of the gospel. Because he knows what it is all about and why he is writing to the Romans now. It is a statement full of strength and confidence. In a moment he justifies the statement:
“For I am not ashamed of the gospel: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth, to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. For God’s righteousness is revealed in it by faith for faith, as it is written: The righteous shall live by faith.”
Rom 1:16-17
Here we learn important things about the Gospel. It is “a power of God for salvation”. So, if we listen carefully, this good news is not talking about me, or about my supposed power. Nor does the Gospel speak of my sin or shortcomings. The Gospel speaks of God’s doing. The focus is quite different from other religions and quite different from what religious people would like it to be. See also the article “God is not religious”.
Paul is not ashamed of the gospel because something extraordinary is happening here. Perhaps one would expect God to come at man with expectations, perhaps with messages of damnation, of original sin, of all these things that have taken on a very great significance in two thousand years of Christianity. But Paul speaks of something else. His focus is on God. The gospel is a “God power for salvation.” It is very different from how many people have come to know church or faith, and it is very different from what is often still preached today. Man is not central to the Gospel, nor is the Gospel a list of requirements. In the Bible we do not read “You must believe”, “You should keep quiet time”, “Read your Bible” as a precondition to salvation, as is sometimes still proclaimed today. Always it remains a reference to what God is doing.
Salvation for every believer
“[Das Evangelium] is a God power for salvation for every believer.”
Rom 1:16
There is a thought that is widespread primarily in Free Church circles: that God requires faith from us so that He can save us. That is something of a prerequisite. If we fulfill this condition, He saves us. If we do not fulfill them, God will throw us into hell to torment us forever. This is more or less the doctrine of heaven and hell.
This view is derived from this section, among others. There are other similar passages in Romans, chapter 3. They are all interpreted to be about God setting conditions for us to fulfill. Faith then naturally becomes a “work”, an achievement. Representatives of this direction are so strongly convinced that anyone who questions this is immediately classified as a “heretic”. That one must “believe to be saved” has become a pillar of the understanding of God. However, this view has nothing to do with the Bible, and with these passages in the Epistle to the Romans.
What is happening in this interpretation is a misuse of these biblical passages. It is a kind of indulgence in which I contribute something (faith) and then God does His part (salvation). Faith for salvation. Today, people no longer pay with money as in the Middle Ages, but with faith. However, the principle is the same. This has nothing to do with biblical faith, because faith is not a currency there.
Now what is going on in this section? We have seen before that the gospel proclamation, the evangelizing that Paul is aiming at, is not addressed to unbelievers but to believers. Nowhere in the text can it be deduced that this is a statement about the whole world. Paul is addressing the church in Rome. To them he says:
“[Das Evangelium] is a power of God unto salvation to every believer, to the Jew first as well as to the Greek.”
Rom 1:16
It is not just about “some” believers, but about “every” believer. In the church in Rome there are believers of different origins. There are Jews in it and also Greeks. The Jews had a privileged position, for did not the Messiah, the Christ, come from the Jewish people? The non-Jewish believers, the Greeks, were “guests and fellow residents” and not quite equal. They were only “docked” in the beginning, but not an “integrated part” of the community. Paul corrects that here, at least in part, by making it clear that the gospel is for both groups, and for all believers (the church), Jews first, but also Greeks. For more on this topic, see the article “Is Faith a Service I Have to Provide?”.
The fact that at the time of this letter there was still a preference for the Jew over the Greeks in the churches (“to the Jew first”) shows that a transitional period still applies here. While the nations are now directly integrated into the church and they no longer had to “dock” with the nation of Israel as proselytes, some preferences of the Jews still apply. Salvation, however, Paul says, is for all believers alike.
The preferences of the Jews are completely overcome by Paul only in one of his last letters. We read of this in Ephesians 2:11-22. The nation believers were until then “guests of the covenant promise,” writes the apostle. This changes in the letter to the Ephesians. Beginning in Ephesians, we read that nation believers are “no longer guests and sojourners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the family of God” (Eph 2:19). It is amazingly late in the apostle’s ministry. For us, the last one has great significance, because from there is the time in which we find ourselves today. The Epistle to the Romans is still on its way there in terms of content.
God’s own justice
Of the gospel Paul wants to bring to the Romans, he now says more:
“For God’s righteousness is revealed in it by faith for faith, as it is written: The righteous shall live by faith.”
Rom 1:17
Here it is confirmed once again that Paul is concerned here with believers, and not with unbelievers. All believers will live by faith. He comes back to this in detail in later chapters.
The apostle emphasizes something in particular: the Gospel speaks of God’s own righteousness. Accordingly, it is not about my righteousness, it is not about my faith, it is not about any religious acts, it is not about any ethics that we should follow or any effort on our part. This righteousness of God was brought about by God Himself. This is what the Gospel speaks of. He achieved righteousness on the cross, and He confirms it through the resurrection of Christ (Rom 4:25). For the time being, this has nothing to do with me or with us. But we can hear this gospel, this good news that God has made peace with the world from Himself, that He has reconciled Himself to this world (2 Cor. 5:14-21).
By faith for faith
The righteousness of God is revealed “by faith for faith,” Paul writes. Faith arises from belief. It is hard to imagine how our faith, as quite imperfect human beings, could have kicked off there. What kind of faith is meant here? And who believes here? There are obviously two people, groups or positions present: By faith for faith – there are two present.
The key to understanding here is right in the verse. It is about the justice of God. This righteousness is revealed “by faith for faith.” But the righteousness of God was not brought about by us. Nor is it brought about by faith. The justice of God followed an act. There is not something left to do now, but something has already been “accomplished”. This is the good news.
Something has been concretely changed in the world. God’s justice was brought about. It is the faith of Christ that made Him go the way of the cross. This is how this justice was brought about. This is the basis. Today it is we who believe, namely trust this message. That is why it is called “by faith for faith”, because it is from Christ’s faith to our faith.
This is confirmed from the rest of the Letter to the Romans. Romans 3:22 literally says, “But one righteousness of God through the faith of Jesus Christ, which is for all and comes to all who believe.” Not a faith “in” or “on” Jesus is mentioned here, although many translations reinterpret this based on traditions. But it is about His faith, “through the faith of Jesus Christ” (a genitive).
After this little digression, back to Romans 1, where the point was that both groups of believers share in this “power of God unto salvation.” Faith is logically the unifying element between all believers. The apostle confirms this once again with a quotation:
“As it is written: The righteous shall live by faith.”
Got 2.4
Paul has given us a fascinating insight into his mission here. He addresses the church in Rome and makes it clear right from the beginning that the good news with which he comes applies equally to all believers in the church – namely both Jews and Greeks in the church. This equality was new to the audience. Today we know nothing else, but at that time it was a stunning message. We could see it that way today.
