Romans 1:8-17

Reading verses 8-11 shows how much Paul really cared for the people he was writing to. This verse reminds me of special people:
^9" For God is my witness, whom I serve with my spirit in the gospel of his Son, that without ceasing I make mention of you always in my prayers;"And then I like verse 12:
 ¹² When we get together, I want to encourage you in your faith, but I also want to be encouraged by yours.
This seems to be a good goal to have for when two groups/individual believers get together. It's amazing how God uses people to encourage each other.
¹³ I want you to know, dear brothers and sisters,^[e] that I planned many times to visit you, but I was prevented until now. I want to work among you and see spiritual fruit, just as I have seen among other Gentiles. ¹⁴ For I have a great sense of obligation to people in both the civilized world and the rest of the world,^[f] to the educated and uneducated alike. ¹⁵ So I am eager to come to you in Rome, too, to preach the Good News.

So was Rome considered an uncivilized and uneducated place or the opposite? Do you Paul is speaking particularly about education in the ways of God, or every area in general? Do you think the Romans were offended by these words from Paul?

¹⁶ For I am not ashamed of this Good News about Christ. It is the power of God at work, saving everyone who believes—the Jew first and also the Gentile.^[g] 

Living in a country that is not founded in Christianity, (though I know this is changing in the States,) still makes the "not being ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ" come a little more to life and maybe helps understand Paul's context a little better... most of his environment wasn't  founded in Christianity, either, but coming from either Judaism or paganism.

¹⁷ This Good News tells us how God makes us right in his sight. This is accomplished from start to finish by faith. As the Scriptures say, “It is through faith that a righteous person has life.”^[h]

So God makes us right in His sight through things we learn in His word and then act on by our faith...  not that it's based on works, but that the faith in the word helps us put action to those words. Paul then concludes that this faith impacts the ability of a righteous person to have life. The KJV says it this way:

^{17 "}For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith."

It makes sense to me that the KJV uses the word "just" because that implies a higher moral nature, something intangible which takes faith to even begin to comprehend. Based on natural desires and what a person is institutionally born with, "just" is on an opposite level.


This portion of scripture leaves me with these questions to apply to life:

• Am I encouraging others in faith and coming together with other believers so that their faith can also encourage me?
• Am I ashamed of the news of Jesus Christ? When I am, do I really realize the power that this message holds and what it means for the hearer?
• Do I recognize how much my spiritual life is dependent upon faith? While it's easy to desire tangible evidence of things, God doesn't operate this way and this is the very basis of my ability to even approach Him.

Romans 1:1-7

I find it interesting how Paul identifies himself :

• a slave of Christ Jesus,
• chosen by God to be
• an apostle and
• sent out to preach his Good News.

He then identifies what this Good News is specifically:

 ² God promised this Good News long ago through his prophets in the holy Scriptures. ³ The Good News is about his Son. In his earthly life he was born into King David’s family line, ⁴ and he was shown to be^[a] the Son of God when he was raised from the dead by the power of the Holy Spirit.^[b] He is Jesus Christ our Lord.

 Paul is highlighting that Jesus was both before David and the son of David. Revelation 5:5 calls Christ the "root of David." And root obviously comes before fruit:

Revelation 5:5 And one of the elders saith unto me, Weep not: behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, hath prevailed to open the book, and to loose the seven seals thereof.

But we know that the New Testament also calls him the son (or offspring, fruit,) of David:

Matthew 1:1

The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.

I just found it interesting how all of this tied together to show how Christ existed before the family line that He chose to use to come to Earth.

⁵ Through Christ, God has given us the privilege^[c] and authority as apostles to tell Gentiles everywhere what God has done for them, so that they will believe and obey him, bringing glory to his name.

⁶ And you are included among those Gentiles who have been called to belong to Jesus Christ.

Verses 5-6 share Paul's burden with ALL who are called. When Paul identified himself as a slave, he identified his purpose in life as obedience. He then shows how the first step for ANYONE coming to God must be belief and then obedience as well. The second way Paul identified himself to the church was as one who was chosen by God, and he then shares that identity with the Gentiles saying that they also " have been called to belong to Jesus Christ."  Paul last identified himself as an apostle sent to preach the Good News, and we know this is ultimately what every Christian is called to do, though maybe in different ways

⁷ I am writing to all of you in Rome who are loved by God and are called to be his own holy people.

Is there anything more special than knowing how undeserving we are and yet seeing how God calls us to be His own holy people? What does holy mean to you?

Being holy is impossible with our nature... Until we die to the flesh and live through Christ. And we can't even WANT to do that as humans on our own!  

For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure. (Philippians 2:13 KJV)

I see 'holy' as separated unto God. So holy conduct would acknowledge that I am not my own and wholeheartedly follow after what God wanted to do with my life. It would be set aside exclusively for God.
I pray the ending of this verse for you:

May God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ give you grace and peace.