“Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle and set apart for the gospel of God–” (Romans 1:1 NIV).
So, Paul was called to be an apostle, but to what purpose? Well, that purpose is made clear in the verse quoted above where Paul tells us he was “set apart for the gospel of God.” This tells us that Paul was called to the apostolic mission of preaching the gospel (or “good news”) that…
- Jesus’ death served as the payment for the penalty of sin.
- By trusting in Him, we can be forgiven and inherit eternal life.
Of course, there are other “gospels” (spiritual and non-spiritual) that also purport to be good news but are actually something else. For example, some “gospels” emphasize good works, moral living, or strict allegiance to a set of religious principles as the path to favor with God. Then there are secular “gospels” that promote the superficial allure of social popularity or wealth accumulation as the keys to happiness and satisfaction in life.
But those “gospels” are not the “gospel of God” Paul references here in Romans 1:1. Unfortunately, the same may often be said of sermons that routinely focus on something other than a study of God’s Word. One pastoral commentator takes the opportunity of this passage to offer a timely reminder…
“If you can take Jesus Christ out of a sermon without affecting it, you’re probably wasting your time listening to it. If you can take Jesus Christ out of a book without affecting it, you’re probably wasting your time reading it. Paul wasn’t separated unto the good advice of Christian living. He was separated to the Good News of God.” (1)
We can often identify the presence of such teaching with the following question: “How much Scripture does this person use in his or her book, message, or sermon?” Spiritual presentations that routinely feature little or no Biblical text should thus serve as warnings. The insight offered by another source is one that bears repeating in this regard…
“…There are various ways to use the word of God deceitfully, or to tamper with it. Using a Bible text to preach a ‘sermon’ that has little or nothing to do with the Bible is one of the common ways of doing it.” (2)
Thus, as we close our look at the opening verse of Romans chapter one, our final commentator summarizes Paul’s introduction in verse one: “The author introduces himself in the first verses of Romans by name (Paul), by identity (bondservant), by vocation (apostle), and by purpose (separated to the gospel of God). (3)
Image Attribution :Gospel Messenger, The (1884), Internet Archive Book Images, Public Domain via flickr.com
(1) Jon Courson, Jon Courson’s Application Commentary (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2003), 866.
(2) Paul T. Butler. The Bible Study Textbook Series, Studies In Second Corinthians (College Press) [p. 93] Copyright © 1988 College Press Publishing Company https://archive.org/stream/BibleStudyTextbookSeriesSecondCorinthians/132Corinthians-Butler_djvu.txt
(3) Earl D. Radmacher, Ronald Barclay Allen, and H. Wayne House, Nelson’s New Illustrated Bible Commentary (Nashville: T. Nelson Publishers, 1999), 1421.