“First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all, that your faith is spoken of throughout the whole world” (Romans 1:8).
As mentioned earlier, Romans 1:1-7 forms the longest introductory greeting among Paul the Apostle’s Biblical epistles. But now that those formalities are complete, our author is prepared to undertake his first order of business here in verse eight. This involved a warmer and more personal tone that began when Paul essentially said, “Let me start by telling you something.”
The Living Bible translation of this passage captures the exuberant spirit of that “something” in its paraphrase of this verse: “Let me say first of all that wherever I go I hear you being talked about! For your faith in God is becoming known around the world. How I thank God through Jesus Christ for this good report, and for each one of you.”
We can better understand Paul’s sense of enthusiasm when we remember that Rome was the capital city of an empire that dominated the known world of that era. To have such an excellent witness for Christ in the very heart of that empire was truly cause for rejoicing. This was especially true when we consider the fact that Paul interacted with other congregations (such as those in Corinth, Galatia, and Crete) who struggled with reputations that were less than stellar.
This passage also marks the first appearance of the most significant word in this epistle: faith. One Biblical scholar highlights the various applications of this word as it appears here in the Book of Romans. For example, the word “faith” is used in three distinct ways…
1. Verse 5. It is used of a body of truths or doctrines related to Jesus and the Christian life (cf. Acts 6:7; 13:8; 14:22; 16:5; Rom. 14:1; 16:26; Gal. 1:23; 6:10; Jude 3, 20).
2. Verse 8. It is used in the sense of personal trust in Jesus. The English terms “believe,” “faith,” and “trust” all translate one Greek term (pistis/pisteuo). The gospel is both conceptual (doctrine) and personal (cf. v.16; John 1:12; 3:16).
3. Verse 17. It is used in its OT sense of trustworthiness, loyalty, or dependability. This is the meaning of Hab. 2:4. In the OT there was not a developed doctrine of faith, but example after example of lives of faith (cf. Abraham in Gen. 15:6), not perfect faith but struggling faith (cf. Hebrews 11). The hope of mankind is not in their ability to perform or believe correctly, but in God’s character (cf. Rom. 3:24; 6:23; Eph. 2:8-9). Only God is faithful (cf. Deut. 7:9; Isa. 49:7; Mal. 3:6; 1 Cor. 1:9; 10:13)! (1)
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(1) Dr. Bob Utley. Free Bible Commentary, Copyright © 2014 Bible Lessons International. Romans 1. (n.d.). https://www.freebiblecommentary.org/new_testament_studies/VOL05/VOL05_01.html