Romans — Chapter 1

Authorship & Background

Map & Geography

• Rome (v.7, v.15): Capital of the Roman Empire that ruled Israel in NT times.

Places on this map

• RomeRome, ItalyFifteen miles up the Tiber from its port at Ostia, about 1,400 miles from Jerusalem by sea and road. Reaching it is the destination Acts is aimed at from chapter one, because from Rome the roads ran everywhere else. Wikipedia

Towns sit on their excavated or traditional site. Regions, rivers and seas are ringed rather than dotted, because for those a single point is only an anchor. Coastlines from Natural Earth.

Deep Dive

Setting: Paul writes from Corinth in the winter of about AD 57, near the end of his third missionary journey (Acts 20:2–3). Phoebe from nearby Cenchreae probably carried the letter (16:1–2), and Gaius was his host (16:23; 1 Cor 1:14). Paul did not plant the church in Rome. It likely began with Jews and converts who heard Peter at Pentecost and went home (Acts 2:10). Emperor Claudius expelled Jews from Rome around AD 49 (Acts 18:2), so for some years the church there was mostly Gentile. By now Jewish believers like Priscilla and Aquila had come back, and the two groups had to learn to live together. Paul is about to take the collection to Jerusalem, and then hopes to visit Rome on his way to Spain (15:23–29). This letter introduces him and his gospel to a church that has heard about him but has never met him.

Greeting (vv1–7)

• "Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus" (v1). The word is doulos, a slave or bondservant, someone owned by a master. In the Old Testament "servant of the LORD" was a title of honor for Moses, Joshua and David. Paul puts it first, before "apostle." He belongs to Jesus before he does anything for Jesus.
• "Called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God" (v1). "Apostle" means one sent with authority, an envoy. "Set apart" (aphōrizō) may echo Jeremiah's call before birth (Jer 1:5), which Paul applies to himself in Galatians 1:15. Some hear a play on "Pharisee," probably from a Hebrew word for "separated one": once he set himself apart from sinners, now God sets him apart for the good news.
• "The gospel of God" (v1). "Gospel" (euangelion) means good news, especially news of victory. Isaiah used the Hebrew form for the herald announcing that God reigns and is coming to rescue his people (Isa 40:9; 52:7). Roman inscriptions used it for an emperor's birth or victories. Paul's news is about a different King.
• "Promised beforehand through his prophets" (v2). This is not a new religion. It is what the Old Testament was pointing to all along, a theme Paul will return to again and again in Romans (3:21; 4; 9–11).
• "Descended from David according to the flesh" (v3). "Flesh" here means his human life and ancestry. God promised David a son with an everlasting throne (2 Sam 7:12–16; Isa 9:7). Jesus is that son.
• "Declared to be the Son of God in power… by his resurrection" (v4). The verb is horizō, "to mark out, determine, designate" (our "horizon" comes from the same root). The resurrection did not make Jesus God's Son. He is "his Son" already in v3. It publicly marked him out as the Son in power. He went from Son in weakness to Son enthroned (compare Acts 2:36; 13:33). Verses 3–4 have a balanced, almost poetic shape. Many scholars think Paul is quoting an early creed the Romans already knew.
• "The obedience of faith… among all the nations" (v5). This phrase brackets the whole letter. It appears here and again in 16:26. It can mean the obedience that faith produces, or the obedience that faith is (believing God is the first act of obeying him). Either way, Paul wants nations who trust and follow Jesus as Lord.
• "Called to be saints" (v7). "Saints" (hagioi) means holy ones, people set apart for God. It was Israel's title (Exod 19:6). Paul gives it to ordinary believers in Rome, Gentiles included. They are saints because God called them, not because they had reached some higher level.
• "Grace to you and peace" (v7). Paul turns the usual Greek greeting (chairein, "greetings") into charis, grace, and adds the Jewish shalom. Putting "the Lord Jesus Christ" right beside "God our Father" as the one source of grace says a great deal about who Jesus is.
• Commentators: Henry calls vv3–4 "a summary of the gospel doctrine concerning Christ's two natures in one person." JFB agrees that "declared" means "marked off" and insists Christ's Sonship is eternal, not something that began at the resurrection. Guzik makes the same point from horizō and notes that "God" appears more often in Romans than in any other New Testament book. On "saints," Henry adds a gentle sting: "it were well if all that are called saints were saints indeed."

Longing to Go to Rome (vv8–15)

• "Your faith is proclaimed in all the world" (v8). Rome was the capital, and news of a church in the emperor's city spread along every road.
• "God is my witness" (v9). Paul calls God to back up his words because some might ask why, if he cared, he had never come. The word for "serve" (latreuō) is worship language, used for priestly service. Preaching the gospel is Paul's act of worship (compare 15:16).
• "Somehow by God's will I may now at last succeed in coming to you" (v10). He reached Rome about three years later, as a prisoner after a shipwreck (Acts 27–28). God answered "by God's will," on God's route.
• "Some spiritual gift to strengthen you" (v11). Probably not a miraculous gift in the sense of 1 Corinthians 12. Paul means some spiritual benefit from his teaching and presence, a strengthening of their faith.
• "That we may be mutually encouraged" (v12). Paul catches himself and turns it around. He is the great apostle, yet he expects to be encouraged by them too. This is humility, and tact toward a church he did not found (15:20).
• "Thus far have been prevented" (v13). In 15:22 he explains that his work in the east kept him away. "Brothers" (adelphoi) is family language that includes the sisters too.
• "Greeks and… barbarians… wise and… foolish" (v14). Greeks called anyone who did not speak Greek a barbaros, someone whose speech sounded like "bar-bar," babbling. Paul names both sides of the ancient world's biggest cultural divide and says he owes the gospel to all of them.
• "I am under obligation" (v14). Literally, "I am a debtor." He has been entrusted with something that belongs to them, like a man holding money for someone else.
• Commentators: Henry on v9: "We are likely to have the most comfort in those friends that we pray most for." On v12: "It is very refreshing to Christians to compare notes about their spiritual concerns." JFB reads the "spiritual gift" as instruction, "not any supernatural gift," and notes the irony that Paul's hindered journey ended with him arriving as "a prisoner of Jesus Christ." Guzik makes the same point and stresses Paul's readiness: ready to preach, ready to suffer, ready to go wherever he was sent.

The Righteous Shall Live by Faith (vv16–17)

• "I am not ashamed of the gospel" (v16). In Rome, the city of power, a message about a Jewish teacher executed on a Roman cross sounded weak and embarrassing (1 Cor 1:23). Paul may be echoing Jesus' warning about being ashamed of him (Mark 8:38).
• "It is the power of God for salvation" (v16). The gospel is not just about power. It is God's power at work when it is preached. "Power" is dynamis. It is often said this is where we get "dynamite," which is true of the English word's origin, but Paul means the power of God that raised Jesus (v4), not an explosion. "Salvation" in Romans looks back to forgiveness and ahead to final rescue from wrath (5:9; 13:11).
• "To everyone who believes" (v16). Faith is the only condition, and it is open to all. This line is the thesis of the whole letter.
• "To the Jew first and also to the Greek" (v16). God made his promises to Israel first, and the gospel was preached to them first, as Paul's own practice in Acts shows (Acts 13:46). That priority is real, but it is not favoritism. Jews and Gentiles come in by the same door. Paul will work this out fully in chapters 9–11.
• "The righteousness of God is revealed" (v17). This is the key phrase of Romans, and readers have taken it three main ways. 1) God's own righteous character, his justice and faithfulness. 2) The righteous standing God gives to those who believe (Phil 3:9 says "the righteousness from God"), which is the classic Protestant reading. 3) God's saving action, putting things right as he promised (Isa 51:5–8). These overlap more than they compete. The gospel shows that God keeps his word and stays just, and that he declares believing sinners right with him. Luther said this verse became for him a gate to paradise once he saw it as a gift.
• "From faith for faith" (v17). This is a puzzling phrase. Suggestions include "by faith from first to last" (NIV), "from God's faithfulness to our faith," and "from one believer to another." The simplest sense: faith from beginning to end, with no switch to earning.
• "The righteous shall live by faith" (v17). This is quoted from Habakkuk 2:4. Habakkuk was told that when Babylon came as judgment, the righteous person would survive by trusting God. Paul quotes it again in Galatians 3:11, and Hebrews 10:38 uses it to call believers to endure. The Hebrew word (emunah) carries the idea of steady faithfulness, and the faith Paul means is the kind that keeps trusting. The Greek can be read "the one who is righteous by faith shall live" or "the righteous shall live by faith." Both are true in Paul's argument: chapters 1–4 explain being righteous by faith, and chapters 5–8 explain living by it.
• Commentators: Henry: "I reckon him a Christian indeed that is neither ashamed of the gospel nor a shame to it." On "faith to faith": "Faith is all in all, both in the beginning and progress of a Christian life." JFB rejects the idea of growing "from one degree of faith to another" and takes it to mean a righteousness offered in order to be received by faith. Guzik reads the righteousness of God mainly as a status God credits to the believer, and agrees the phrase means "by faith from beginning to end." All three treat these two verses as the theme of the letter.

God's Wrath on Unrighteousness (vv18–32)

• "For the wrath of God is revealed" (v18). Notice the parallel: the righteousness of God "is revealed" (v17), and the wrath of God "is revealed" (v18). The good news only makes sense against the bad news. God's wrath (orgē) is not a temper tantrum. It is a holy God's settled opposition to evil. Paul mostly speaks of wrath as coming at the final judgment (2:5; 5:9), but here it is already at work in history, as the rest of the chapter shows.
• "Ungodliness and unrighteousness" (v18). The first word points to sin against God (failing to honor him), the second to sin against people (wrongdoing). Paul's order matters: wrong worship comes first, and wrong living follows.
• "Who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth" (v18). The verb katechō means "to hold fast" or "to hold back, restrain." The lexicon lists Romans 1:18 under "hold fast," and the KJV has "hold the truth in unrighteousness." Most modern translations take it as "hold down, suppress," which fits the context of people pushing truth away. The point is the same either way: people are not neutral searchers who lack information. They have the truth and keep it locked away.
• "What can be known about God is plain to them" (vv19–20). Creation itself shows "his eternal power and divine nature." Psalm 19:1 says the same: "The heavens declare the glory of God." This is what theologians call general revelation. It cannot tell anyone about the cross, but it is enough to show that God exists and deserves thanks. So "they are without excuse."
• "They did not honor him as God or give thanks to him" (v21). The root sin here is not atheism but ingratitude, refusing to treat God as God. The result is a downward slide: futile thinking, darkened hearts, false wisdom ("claiming to be wise, they became fools," v22).
• "Exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images" (v23). This echoes Psalm 106:20, about Israel at Sinai: "They exchanged the glory of God for the image of an ox." Jeremiah 2:11 says something similar. The order "man and birds and animals and creeping things" goes steadily downward, and it reverses Genesis 1:26, where humans were made in God's image to rule over birds, animals and creeping things. Greek statues and Egyptian animal-headed gods were both familiar in Rome, but the psalm shows Israel did it too.
• "Therefore God gave them up" (vv24, 26, 28). This phrase comes three times, and it is the backbone of the passage. The verb (paradidōmi) means to hand over. God's present wrath is that he lets people have what they chose. The same verb is used of Jesus being "delivered up" for our trespasses (4:25; 8:32).
• The three exchanges (vv23, 25, 26). "Exchanged" is repeated: the glory of God for images (v23), the truth about God for a lie (v25, metallassō), and natural relations for unnatural ones (v26, the same verb). Each exchange is answered by a handing over. People trade God away, and God hands them over to the consequences of the trade. "Worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator" (v25) is the heart of all idolatry. Paul is so stung by it that he breaks into praise in the middle of the sentence: "who is blessed forever! Amen."
• "Contrary to nature" (vv26–27). Paul's example of a life turned upside down is same-sex sexual activity, for women and for men. "Nature" here means the way God made the world, male and female (Gen 1:27; 2:24), not simply what feels natural to a person. The historic Christian reading, held across Catholic, Orthodox and Protestant traditions, is that Paul is describing these acts as outside God's design, in line with Leviticus 18:22 and 20:13. Some modern interpreters argue that Paul had in mind only exploitative practices of his day, such as pederasty. Most scholars, including many who disagree with Paul, think his language is broader than that, since he speaks of mutual desire and includes women. Paul is not singling out one group as worse sinners. He gives one vivid picture of rebellion against God showing up in the body, and the list that follows (vv29–31) names sins found in every congregation.
• "Receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error" (v27). Paul does not say what the penalty is. The likeliest sense is that the disordered desire itself, and what it leads to, is part of the judgment. Sin carries its own consequences.
• "They did not see fit… God gave them up to a debased mind" (v28). This is a wordplay in Greek. "Did not see fit" is ouk edokimasan: they tested God and did not approve him. So God gave them up to an adokimos mind, a mind that fails the test. The word was used of metal that failed the assay and of coins rejected as counterfeit (Isa 1:22). They rejected God as not worth keeping, and they ended up with a mind that cannot judge rightly.
• The vice list (vv29–31). Lists like this were common among Greek moral writers. Paul names about twenty-one sins. Many are not "big" sins in human eyes: covetousness, envy, strife, gossip, boasting, being "disobedient to parents," "heartless." "Gossips" and "slanderers" sit right next to "murder." The list is meant to sweep wide, so no reader can stand outside it. "Haters of God" (theostygeis) could also be read "hated by God," as JFB notes, but "haters of God" fits the active list best. The last four words in Greek (asynetous, asynthetous, astorgous, aneleēmonas) all begin with the same "a-" sound, like "senseless, faithless, loveless, merciless."
• "They… give approval to those who practice them" (v32). This is the bottom of the slide. People know, deep down, that God judges these things. Yet they not only do them but cheer others on. Building a culture that calls evil good (Isa 5:20) is worse than private failure.
• Where this is going. Verses 18–32 describe mainly the Gentile world, and a Jewish reader would have nodded along. The trap closes in 2:1: "You have no excuse, O man, every one of you who judges." By 3:9–20 Paul has shown that Jews and Gentiles alike are "under sin." The point of this dark chapter is not to make anyone feel superior. It is to show that everyone needs the righteousness of God that is revealed in the gospel (3:21–26).
• Commentators: Henry on v18: wrath "from heaven, therefore the more terrible and the more unavoidable," and "An unrighteous wicked heart is the dungeon in which many a good truth is detained and buried." On vv19–20: "The workman is known by his work." On vv24–28: "Those who dishonoured God were given up to dishonour themselves." On v32: "to be pleased with other people's sins is to love sin for sin's sake." JFB traces "the downward progress of the human soul," sums up the handing over as "As they deserted God, God in turn deserted them," and calls v32 "the darkest feature of human depravity." JFB says nothing on vv29 and 31 and only a word on v30. Guzik makes the same wordplay point on adokimos (rejected coins), argues that "gave them up" is judgment rather than kindness, and presses gratitude: refusing to thank God is where the slide begins. He hears in v25 the serpent's old lie, "you will be like God" (Gen 3:5).

Pointing to Christ

Romans 1 opens with Jesus, David's son marked out as God's Son by rising from the dead, and closes with a human race that has traded God's glory for idols and been handed over to its choice. The gospel is God's answer to that gap. In chapter 4 the same verb returns: Jesus "was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification" (4:25). Humanity was handed over to its sin, so the Son was handed over for us. The righteousness the world refused is given, as a gift, to everyone who believes.

Commentary

• Enduring Word (David Guzik): enduringword.com Guzik examines Paul's introduction, the thesis statement, general revelation, and the downward spiral of sin.
• Jamieson-Fausset-Brown (1871): blueletterbible.org A critical and explanatory commentary on the whole Bible, more concise than Matthew Henry and closer to the Hebrew and Greek, with attention to historical and geographical detail. Public domain.
• Matthew Henry's Exposition (1710): blueletterbible.org A devotional verse-by-verse commentary in the Puritan tradition, still among the most widely read three centuries on. Public domain.

Videos

Articles

• Crossway: crossway.org Who Paul was writing to and why, before the argument begins.
• Crossway: crossway.org On the whole letter: why Romans has carried the weight it has in church history.
• Crossway: crossway.org Why Paul's own story of being overtaken by grace is the right way into the letter.
• GotQuestions.org: gotquestions.org On the whole book: an overview of the book of Romans -- who wrote it, when, why, and how it fits the rest of Scripture.

Links open on the publisher's own site. Nothing here is reproduced on this page.

Reflection

• Not Ashamed of the Gospel (v.16) — Paul opens by declaring the gospel is God's saving power for everyone who believes, not merely good advice. Where in your life are you tempted to downplay or hide your faith?
• The Righteous Will Live by Faith (v.17) — Paul states the letter's thesis: God's righteousness comes through faith from start to finish, not through earned performance. Are you resting in what Christ has done, or still trying to prove yourself worthy?
• Creation Leaves No One Without Excuse (v.20) — God's eternal power and divine nature are visible in the created world, so no one can honestly claim ignorance of Him. When did creation last stir genuine worship in you rather than passing notice?
• The Root of the Downward Spiral (v.21) — Paul traces humanity's decline to a single failure: knowing God yet refusing to glorify Him or give thanks, which darkened their thinking. How consistently do gratitude and worship shape your daily life?
• God Giving People Over (vv.24,26,28) — Three times Paul describes God's judgment as simply releasing people to the desires they insisted on pursuing. Is there anything you're clinging to that God may be letting you have, to your own harm?
• Approving Sin in Others (v.32) — The chapter closes with people who not only sin but cheer others on in it, a step beyond personal failure into celebrating what God condemns. How do you resist both quietly endorsing cultural sin and responding to it with self-righteousness?