1 Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, an Apostle by the selection of God, given authority as a preacher of the good news,
To be a servant of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles, doing the work of a priest in the good news of God, so that the offering of the Gentiles might be pleasing to God, being made holy by the Holy Spirit.
But the Lord said, Go without fear: for he is a special vessel for me, to give to the Gentiles and kings and to the children of Israel the knowledge of my name:
Paul, a servant of God, and an Apostle of Jesus Christ, in agreement with the faith of the saints of God and the full knowledge of what is true in harmony with religion,
Paul, an Apostle of Jesus Christ, by the purpose of God, and Timothy our brother,
Am I not free? am I not an Apostle? have I not seen Jesus our Lord? are you not my work in the Lord?
For God is my witness, whose servant I am in spirit in the good news of his Son, that you are at all times in my memory and in my prayers,
Of which I was made a preacher and an Apostle and a teacher;
But after we had first undergone much pain and been cruelly attacked as you saw, at Philippi, by the help of God we gave you the good news without fear, though everything was against us.
Which may be seen in the good news of the glory of the great God, which was given into my care. I give praise to him who gave me power, Christ Jesus our Lord, because he took me to be true, making me his servant,
And of this I became a preacher and an Apostle (what I say is true, not false,) and a teacher of the Gentiles in the true faith.
Simon Peter, a servant and Apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who with us have a part in the same holy faith in the righteousness of our God and Saviour Jesus Christ:
James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, sends words of love to the twelve tribes of the Jews living in all parts of the earth.
The Revelation of Jesus Christ which God gave him so that his servants might have knowledge of the things which will quickly take place: and he sent and made it clear by his angel to his servant John;
And he said to me, These words are certain and true: and the Lord, the God of the spirits of the prophets, sent his angel to make clear to his servants the things which are now to come about.
For our preaching is not about ourselves, but about Christ Jesus as Lord, and ourselves as your servants through Jesus.
For in my opinion, I am in no way less than the most important of the Apostles.
Paul, an Apostle (not from men, and not through man, but through Jesus Christ, and God the Father, who made him come back from the dead),
Am I now using arguments to men, or God? or is it my desire to give men pleasure? if I was still pleasing men, I would not be a servant of Christ. Because I say to you, my brothers, that the good news of which I was the preacher is not man's. For I did not get it from man, and I was not given teaching in it, but it came to me through revelation of Jesus Christ. For news has come to you of my way of life in the past in the Jews' religion, how I was cruel without measure to the church of God, and did great damage to it: And I went farther in the Jews' religion than a number of my generation among my countrymen, having a more burning interest in the beliefs handed down from my fathers. But when it was the good pleasure of God, by whom I was marked out even from my mother's body, through his grace, To give the revelation of his Son in me, so that I might give the news of him to the Gentiles; then I did not take the opinion of flesh and blood, And I went not up to Jerusalem to those who were Apostles before me; but I went away into Arabia, and again I came back to Damascus.
In whom you, having been given the true word, the good news of your salvation, and through your faith in him, were given the sign of the Holy Spirit of hope,
Which in other generations was not given to the sons of men, but the revelation of it has now been made to his holy Apostles and prophets in the Spirit; Which is that the Gentiles have a part in the heritage, and in the same body, and in the same hope in Christ through the good news, Of which I was made a preacher, through that grace of God which was given to me in the measure of the working of his power.
Paul and Timothy, servants of Jesus Christ, to all the saints in Christ Jesus at Philippi, with the Bishops and Deacons of the church:
And that every tongue may give witness that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
And last of all, as by one whose birth was out of the right time, he was seen by me. For I am the least of the Apostles, having no right to be named an Apostle, because of my cruel attacks on the church of God. But by the grace of God, I am what I am: and his grace which was given to me has not been for nothing; for I did more work than all of them; though not I, but the grace of God which was with me.
For if I am a preacher of the good news, I have no cause for pride in this; because I am forced to do so, for a curse is on me if I do not. But if I do it gladly, I have a reward; and if not, I am under orders to do it. What then is my reward? This, that when I am giving the good news, I may give it without payment, not making use of my rights as a preacher of the good news.
But I have said to you, You will take their land and I will give it to you for your heritage, a land flowing with milk and honey: I am the Lord your God who have made you separate from all other peoples. So then, make division between the clean beast and the unclean, and between the clean bird and the unclean: do not make yourselves disgusting by any beast or bird or anything which goes flat on the earth, which has been marked by me as unclean for you. And you are to be holy to me; for I the Lord am holy and have made you separate from the nations, so that you may be my people.
Does it seem only a small thing to you that the God of Israel has made you separate from the rest of Israel, letting you come near himself to do the work of the House of the Lord, and to take your place before the people to do what has to be done for them; Letting you, and all your brothers the sons of Levi, come near to him? and would you now be priests?
At that time the Lord had the tribe of Levi marked out to take up the ark of the Lord's agreement, to be before the Lord and to do his work and to give blessings in his name, to this day.
Give ear, O sea-lands, to me; and take note, you peoples from far: I have been marked out by the Lord from the first; when I was still in my mother's body, he had my name in mind:
And he said to them, Go into all the world, and give the good news to everyone. He who has faith and is given baptism will get salvation; but he who has not faith will be judged.
If any man is my servant, let him come after me; and where I am, there will my servant be. If any man becomes my servant, my Father will give him honour.
If then I, the Lord and the Master, have made your feet clean, it is right for you to make one another's feet clean. I have given you an example, so that you may do what I have done to you. Truly I say to you, A servant is not greater than his lord; and he who is sent is not greater than the one who sent him.
And while they were doing the Lord's work, and going without food, the Holy Spirit said, Let Barnabas and Saul be given to me for the special work for which they have been marked out by me. Then, after prayer and going without food they put their hands on them, and sent them away. So, being sent out by the Holy Spirit, they went down to Seleucia; and from there they went by ship to Cyprus.
But Saul, whose other name is Paul, being full of the Holy Spirit, looking hard at him, said,
And when he let him do so, Paul, from the steps, made a sign with his hand to the people, and when they were all quiet, he said to them in the Hebrew language,
Came to my side and said, Brother Saul, let your eyes be open. And in that very hour I was able to see him. And he said, You have been marked out by the God of our fathers to have knowledge of his purpose, and to see the Upright One and to give ear to the words of his mouth. For you will be a witness for him to all men of what you have seen and of what has come to your ears.
For such people are not servants of the Lord Christ, but of their stomachs; and by their smooth and well-said words the hearts of those who have no knowledge of evil are tricked.
And I am certain that when I come, I will be full of the blessing of Christ.
For I have no feeling of shame about the good news, because it is the power of God giving salvation to everyone who has faith, to the Jew first, and then to the Greek.
Through whom grace has been given to us, sending us out to make disciples to the faith among all nations, for his name:
But get up on your feet: for I have come to you for this purpose, to make you a servant and a witness of the things in which you have seen me, and of those in which you will see me; And I will keep you safe from the people, and from the Gentiles, to whom I send you, To make their eyes open, turning them from the dark to the light, and from the power of Satan to God, so that they may have forgiveness of sins and a heritage among those who are made holy by faith in me.
And when we had all gone down on the earth, a voice came to me, saying in the Hebrew language, Saul, Saul, why are you attacking me so cruelly? It is hard for you to go against the impulse which is driving you.
And he said to me, Go, for I will send you far away to the Gentiles.
And when I went down on the earth, a voice came to my ears saying to me, Saul, Saul, why are you attacking me so cruelly?
It was right for us to have such a high priest, one who is holy and without evil, doing no wrong, having no part with sinners, and made higher than the heavens:
It is a true saying, in which all may put their faith, that Christ Jesus came into the world to give salvation to sinners, of whom I am the chief: But for this reason I was given mercy, so that in me, the chief of sinners, Jesus Christ might make clear all his mercy, as an example to those who in the future would have faith in him to eternal life.
But it is right for us to give praise to God at all times for you, brothers, loved by the Lord, because it was the purpose of God from the first that you might have salvation, being made holy by the Spirit and by faith in what is true: And in this purpose he gave you a part through the good news of which we were the preachers, even that you might have part in the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Romans 1
Commentary on Romans 1 Matthew Henry Commentary
Chapter 1
In this chapter we may observe,
Rom 1:1-7
In this paragraph we have,
Rom 1:8-15
We may here observe,
Rom 1:16-18
Paul here enters upon a large discourse of justification, in the latter part of this chapter laying down his thesis, and, in order to the proof of it, describing the deplorable condition of the Gentile world. His transition is very handsome, and like an orator: he was ready to preach the gospel at Rome, though a place where the gospel was run down by those that called themselves the wits; for, saith he, I am not ashamed of it, v. 16. There is a great deal in the gospel which such a man as Paul might be tempted to be ashamed of, especially that he whose gospel it is was a man hanged upon a tree, that the doctrine of it was plain, had little in it to set it off among scholars, the professors of it were mean and despised, and every where spoken against; yet Paul was not ashamed to own it. I reckon him a Christian indeed that is neither ashamed of the gospel nor a shame to it. The reason of this bold profession, taken from the nature and excellency of the gospel, introduces his dissertation.
Rom 1:19-32
In this last part of the chapter the apostle applies what he had said particularly to the Gentile world, in which we may observe,
Now lay all this together, and then say whether the Gentile world, lying under so much guilt and corruption, could be justified before God by any works of their own.