Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.
Matthew 28:19-20
Romans chapter 1 is Paul’s grand opening to the most theologically rich letter in the New Testament. The chapter unfolds like a sunrise—beginning with grace and promise, rising into the glory of the gospel, and then illuminating the darkness of human rebellion so that the brilliance of God’s righteousness can be seen.
Paul’s Salutation
Romans 1:1-7 Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God, which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy Scriptures, concerning his Son, who was descended from David according to the flesh and was declared to be the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord, through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith for the sake of his name among all the nations, including you who are called to belong to Jesus Christ, To all those in Rome who are loved by God and called to be saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Paul introduces himself, his message, and his readers with deliberate theological precision. He begins by identifying himself as a doulos—not just a servant, a bondslave of Messiah—signaling total submission to Christ’s authority and establishing the legitimacy of his apostolic commission.
The words “to be” in many English translations are not in the Greek and only obscure Paul’s meaning; he was not telling what he was called to be but what he was. The title “apostle,” strictly speaking, refers to those personally chosen and commissioned by Christ to deliver His message of salvation (Luke 6:13), and it is in this precise sense that Paul identifies himself. He was a called apostle—not just by men, but by Christ Himself—and he consistently claimed the full authority of that office.
As a called apostle set apart for the gospel of God, Paul stands in continuity with the prophets of old, proclaiming the ancient message God promised beforehand in the holy Scriptures. The gospel he announces is not new but the fulfillment of the long‑anticipated plan revealed throughout the Old Testament.
Paul then centers the gospel on God’s Son, Jesus Christ, who is both fully human and fully divine—David’s descendant according to the flesh and openly declared the powerful Son of God through the resurrection by the Spirit of holiness. In these opening lines Paul affirms the two natures of Christ and His exaltation as Lord, the heart of the Christian message.
Through this risen Lord, Paul and the other apostles have received grace and apostleship with a specific purpose: to bring about the obedience of faith among all nations. Paul opens and closes his letter to the Romans emphasizing the very command that Yeshua gave his disciples just before his ascension—that is, we are to teach all nations to obey everything Yeshua commanded.
Matthew 28:19-20 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.
And what are Yeshua’s commandments? The very same ones that YHWH commanded at Mount Sinai, for Yeshua says that His words are the same as the Father’s words.
John 14:23-24 Jesus answered him, “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. Whoever does not love me does not keep my words. And the word that you hear is not mine but the Father’s who sent me.
Yeshua practiced and taught the Law of YHWH…the Torah. He said his followers would also practice and teach the Law of YHWH.
Matthew 5:19 Therefore whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.
This means the Great Commission includes teaching all nations the Torah. This is our calling as followers of Yeshua. The gospel produces not mere belief but a trusting obedience that honors Christ’s name. The Roman believers themselves are part of this global mission, for they are among those “called to belong to Jesus Christ”—those in whom God’s call has taken effect.
Paul addresses them as people loved by God and already set apart as saints. His blessing of grace and peace unites the richness of both Hebrew and Greek greetings. The Greek salutation of grace with the Hebrew blessing of peace, forming a distinctly Christian benediction. Grace is God’s favor and transforming work; peace is the wholeness that flows from reconciliation with God, a quieted conscience, and harmony with others. Together they summarize the blessings of the gospel. And these gifts do not come from Paul himself but from “God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ,” the divine source of every spiritual benefit.
The Greek text contains no definite article before “Father” or “Lord,” making the most natural rendering: “Grace to you and peace from God our Father and Lord Jesus Christ.” When one recognizes that the title Lord applies to the Father as well as to Yeshua Messiah, and that God applies to Yeshua Messiah as well as to the Father, the passage reveals a profound truth: the Father and the Son are One. In this salutation, Paul is not separating Jesus from the Father but identifying Him with the Father—“our Father and Lord, Jesus Christ”—a reality fully consistent with Isaiah 9:6, which names Messiah the Everlasting Father.
Isaiah 9:6 For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
In the same way, Paul’s letter to Titus also calls Jesus Christ our great God and Saviour.
Titus 2:13 looking for the blessed hope and appearance of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ.
And Peter also calls Jesus Christ our great God and Saviour.
2 Peter 1:1 …having obtained faith in the righteousness of our God and our Savior, Jesus Christ.
With this, Paul ends the longest and most carefully structured salutation in his letters—a greeting that has already introduced his identity, his commission, the nature of the gospel, the nature of Christ as one with the Father, and the character of the assembly in Rome. Every phrase is deliberate, preparing the reader for the profound theological journey that follows.
Paul’s Desire to Visit Rome
Romans 1:8-15 First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is proclaimed in all the world. For God is my witness, whom I serve with my spirit in the gospel of his Son, that without ceasing I mention you always in my prayers, asking that somehow by God’s will I may now at last succeed in coming to you. For I long to see you, that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to strengthen you—that is, that we may be mutually encouraged by each other’s faith, both yours and mine. I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that I have often intended to come to you (but thus far have been prevented), in order that I may reap some harvest among you as well as among the rest of the Gentiles. I am under obligation both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to the wise and to the foolish. So I am eager to preach the gospel to you also who are in Rome.
Paul opens the body of his letter with heartfelt thanksgiving, rejoicing that the faith of the Roman believers is being spoken of throughout the world. Their strategic location at the heart of the Empire made their witness unusually visible, and Paul blesses God for a church whose steadfastness had already become a testimony far beyond their city. His gratitude is deeply personal—he thanks “my God through Jesus Christ”—acknowledging Christ’s mediating role and expressing sincere joy in a congregation he had never met.
Paul assures them that his longing to visit Rome is genuine, calling God as witness to the constancy of his prayers. Though he had often planned to come, he had been repeatedly hindered, submitting each disappointment to the sovereign will of God. His desire was pastoral: to strengthen a church that had not yet received apostolic instruction and to impart some spiritual gift for their establishment. Yet Paul’s humility shines as he clarifies that the encouragement would be mutual—he expected to be comforted by their faith even as he ministered to them.
He explains that his repeated attempts to reach Rome were driven by his calling as the apostle to the Gentiles. He longed to reap spiritual fruit among them just as he had among other Gentile communities. Feeling himself a debtor to all peoples—Greeks and barbarians, wise and unwise—Paul was eager to preach the gospel in Rome, despite its dangers and its reputation as a center of opposition to the faith. His readiness reflects both his devotion to Christ and his recognition of Rome’s immense influence in the spread of the gospel.
In these verses Paul reveals his heart: thankful for the Romans’ faith, prayerful in longing to see them, submissive to God’s will, eager to strengthen them, and ready to proclaim Christ boldly in the most prominent city of the ancient world.
The Gospel’s Power and Purpose
Romans 1:16-17 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, “The righteous shall live by faith.”
Paul’s declaration, “I am not ashamed of the gospel,” is a fearless challenge thrown into the heart of Rome itself. Critics had long suggested that he avoided the capital out of fear—fear of its intellectual pride, political might, or cultural sophistication. But Paul dismisses such accusations with a triumphant affirmation. Rome was the world’s center of power, a place where human arrogance, idolatry, and cruelty were enthroned. To preach a crucified Messiah there seemed foolish to the proud. Yet Paul, fully conscious of the divine power entrusted to him, was unafraid. Christ Himself warned that God would be ashamed of those who were ashamed of His word (Mark 8:38), and Paul refuses to shrink back. He is bold because the gospel he proclaims is nothing less than the power of God for salvation.
This gospel is not human theory or moral reform. It is God’s own saving power—eternal, irresistible, and wholly sufficient to deliver sinners from wrath and death. It announces salvation through the death, burial, and resurrection of Messiah (1 Corinthians 15:3–4). And this salvation must be believed, received, and obeyed. Scripture speaks of “obeying the gospel” (2 Thessalonians 1:8), reminding us that true faith is never detached from repentance, holiness, or submission to God’s commands. When Paul says salvation is for “everyone who believes,” he uses belief as a summary term for the entire response God requires. Faith is essential, but it is not isolated; it is the doorway into a life shaped by obedience to the Holy Spirit.
1 Corinthians 15:3–4
For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures,
2 Thessalonians 1:5-8
This is evidence of the righteous judgment of God, that you may be considered worthy of the kingdom of God, for which you are also suffering—since indeed God considers it just to repay with affliction those who afflict you, and to grant relief to you who are afflicted as well as to us, when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus.
Paul adds that the gospel is “to the Jew first and also to the Greek.” This is not a statement of superiority but of sequence. The Jews received the message first because of their covenantal role, yet both Jew and Gentile stand equally in need of salvation and equally welcome to receive it.
In verse 17 Paul explains how this saving faith operates: “For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith, as it is written, ‘The righteous shall live by faith.’” Quoting Habakkuk, he shows that faith is not merely a belief system but a way of life. It is truth embraced, embodied, and enacted. Faith governs the mind and directs the actions. We do what we believe to be true. If God’s Word is truth, then God’s Word becomes the pattern we live by.
“Righteousness” simply means walking in the right ways of God. These ways are not subjective or invented by human opinion; they are revealed in Scripture—most fundamentally in the Torah, the instructions of God. To live by faith is to walk in these right ways. Thus the righteousness revealed in the gospel is not abstract but practical: it is the lived obedience that flows from genuine trust in YHWH and His Messiah.
In Romans 1:16–17 Paul announces the theme of the entire epistle: the gospel reveals God’s righteousness, and that righteousness is received and expressed through a life of faithful obedience.
God’s Wrath On Unrighteousness
Romans 1:18-23 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.
After announcing the righteousness revealed in the gospel, Paul turns to its opposite—the unrighteousness of humanity, which he says “suppresses the truth.” According to Scripture, truth is defined by YHWH’s Law (Psalm 119:142), so Paul is contrasting those who live by obedient faith with those who reject YHWH’s Law. Unrighteousness, in Paul’s framework, is simply lawlessness—living contrary to the Word of YHWH.
Psalm 119:142
Your righteousness is righteous forever,
and your law is true.
Paul begins by declaring that the wrath of God is revealed against all ungodliness and unrighteousness. This wrath is not impulsive anger but God’s holy, settled opposition to everything that contradicts His nature. The Gentile world stood under this wrath not because of arbitrary judgment but because they abandoned reverence for God, and once reverence collapses, moral corruption inevitably follows. Every sin will either be forgiven through Messiah’s blood or face God’s just punishment.
Humanity’s guilt lies in its deliberate suppression of truth. People were not ignorant of God, He had made Himself known through conscience, creation, and remnants of ancient revelation. His invisible attributes—eternal power and divine nature—are clearly seen in the created order. Creation itself testifies to its Maker, leaving humanity without excuse. Their ignorance was not innocent but willful; they held the truth captive beneath their unrighteousness.
Knowing God, they refused to honor Him or give thanks. This neglect of worship and gratitude became the first step in a catastrophic descent. Their thinking became futile, their hearts darkened, and their claim to wisdom collapsed into folly. Severed from divine revelation, human intellect cannot answer life’s most basic questions and inevitably drifts into absurdity. Ancient cultures, proud of their philosophies, descended into idolatry—worshiping humans, animals, and even creeping things. This was not progress but apostasy.
Paul describes this fall as the great exchange:
- God’s glory exchanged for images
- Truth exchanged for lies
- The Creator exchanged for created things
Idolatry is not merely a wrong idea, it is misdirected worship. It blinds the mind, corrupts the heart, and unleashes moral chaos. Paul’s description is both historical and prophetic: whenever people refuse to glorify God or give thanks, they begin a downward spiral that ends in darkness, folly, and spiritual death.
To reveal the beauty of the gospel, Paul first shows the depth of the darkness from which it rescues us.
Romans 1:24-32 Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.
For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature; and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error. And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done. They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. Though they know God’s righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them.
Having traced humanity’s downward spiral from truth to idolatry, Paul now shows the terrible consequences of that rebellion: God “gave them up.” Three times in this passage Paul repeats that phrase (vv. 24, 26, 28), revealing a judicial act in which God hands people over to the very sins they insist on pursuing. This is not passive resignation but active judgment. When people exchange God’s glory for images and refuse to retain Him in their knowledge, God responds by releasing them to the corrupt desires of their own hearts. The first result is sexual impurity—dishonoring their bodies among themselves—because idolatry always distorts the human body, which was created to reflect God’s image. When the truth of God is exchanged for a lie, the truth about humanity collapses as well.
Paul then describes a further stage of judgment: God gives them over to “dishonorable passions,” including same‑sex relations that violate the created order. These acts are not presented as mere cultural deviations but as evidence of a deeper spiritual disorder, affections that have been twisted because worship has been misdirected. When the Creator is rejected, creation itself becomes disordered in the human heart.
Finally, Paul says God gives them over to a “debased mind,” a moral reasoning so corrupted that people can no longer discern right from wrong. The result is a catalogue of sins—envy, murder, deceit, malice, arrogance, disobedience, cruelty—showing that unrighteousness is not limited to one category of behavior but is the full expression of a life severed from God’s truth. Paul emphasizes that these sins flow from a single root: the rejection of God’s revelation. When people refuse to acknowledge God, their minds become incapable of moral clarity, and their lives become filled with every kind of lawlessness. Worse still, they not only practice such things but approve of others who do them, celebrating what God condemns. This is the final stage of rebellion—sin becomes virtue, and virtue becomes sin.
In these verses Paul shows that unrighteousness is not merely doing wrong but living contrary to the Torah, the truth of God’s Word. When truth is suppressed, God’s Law is abandoned, and the human heart descends into chaos. Romans 1:24–32 is therefore not only a description of ancient paganism but a timeless warning: when people reject God’s truth, God gives them over to the consequences of their own rebellion.
Romans 1 forms Paul’s opening argument for the necessity of the gospel. He begins with the righteousness revealed in Messiah and then exposes the unrighteousness that dominates the world. Truth—defined by God’s Law—is the dividing line. Those who receive the gospel live by obedient faith; those who reject it suppress the truth and descend into idolatry, moral confusion, and spiritual darkness. Paul shows that humanity’s problem is not ignorance but rebellion: people knew God, yet refused to honor Him, and God’s wrath is revealed against this willful rejection. The chapter ends with a sobering picture of what happens when truth is exchanged for lies and the Creator is traded for created things. Yet this darkness sets the stage for the brilliance of the gospel. Only when the depth of human sin is understood can the glory of God’s righteousness in Christ be fully appreciated. Romans 1 is therefore both an indictment and an invitation, revealing the world’s desperate need and preparing the reader for the saving power of the gospel that Paul will unfold in the chapters ahead.
YHWH bless you and keep you; YHWH make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; YHWH lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.
Numbers 6:24-26