“Romans serves as the flagship of the fleet of Pauline letters within the New Testament.” (1)
The first chapter of the Book of Romans introduces us to the central theme of this great Biblical book. That theme involves God’s righteousness and humanity’s relation to it. Romans chapter one will also explore the nature of humanity’s rebellion against God, along with the destructive consequences associated with that rebellion. But before we delve into those topics, let’s begin with first things first.
When traveling outside our home country, it’s important to carry a valid passport or similar form of identification. A passport serves to validate our identity and authenticate the person we claim to be. Without those credentials, our capacity to travel abroad would be greatly limited. In keeping with this idea, Paul the Apostle will lay out his “credentials” here in the opening verses of Romans, chapter one.
Those credentials help form Paul’s statement of faith and establish his authority to speak about Jesus’ life and ministry…
“Paul, a bondservant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated to the gospel of God” (Romans 1:1).
This opening salutation will continue through verse seven and forms the longest introductory greeting in any of Paul’s New Testament epistles. However, the first verse of this letter offers a remarkably concise description of who Paul is and what he does. We’ll explore these aspects of Paul’s identity at greater length over the next few studies.
It’s also interesting to note that Paul’s name constitutes the very first word of this epistle. Today, we typically sign our names or identify ourselves at the end of a handwritten message. But in the first century, it was customary to begin a piece of correspondence with the name of the author, the recipient’s name, and a greeting. In accordance with that first-century custom, Paul identified himself as the author of this epistle right at the beginning of his opening sentence.
However, there was a practical reason for ancient writers to “sign” their names at the beginning of their correspondence…
“All letters and other written communications, in New Testament times, were written upon parchments and conveyed to their recipients in rolled-up form; and that ancient style of letter required, as a practical consideration, that the signature of the writer be at the beginning. Otherwise, it would have been necessary to unroll the entire scroll to find the name of the sender. Therefore, Paul followed the custom of the times in placing his name along with the salutation in the beginning of the epistle.” (2)
(1) Earl D. Radmacher, Ronald Barclay Allen, and H. Wayne House, Nelson’s New Illustrated Bible Commentary (Nashville: T. Nelson Publishers, 1999), 1420.
(2) Coffman, James Burton. “Commentary on Romans 1”. “Coffman’s Commentaries on the Bible”. https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/eng/bcc/romans-1.html. Abilene Christian University Press, Abilene, Texas, USA. 1983-1999.