NBBS: Romans 1.1-17

Romans 1.1-7

The letter of Paul to the Romans was written before Paul ever reached Rome (54-58AD), when we think he was in Corinth. This was a church that Paul did not start, it was founded by another, most likely Peter years before when he fled persecution in Judea. If we recall from Acts 12 that Herod killed Peter's brother James and arrested Peter. When Peter was in chains between guards an Angel of the Lord came and freed him, afterwards Peter left Jerusalem.
The first seven verses of Paul's letter to the Church in Rome sets the tone for the rest of the epistle. To be clear it is the salutation customary to letters of the day, but Paul could have been much more brief. Instead, Paul includes a bit about the Gospel and indicates that not only is the Church in Rome called to be disciples, but that this 'good news' is for everyone. He also brings in the resurrection, reminding the Christians in Rome that death, the power of Caesar, has been defeated and that while Nero might be claiming to be ruler of the world that this is title is Jesus's alone.
Later in this letter Paul goes into more detail about how both gentile and Jew have a share in the kingdom, in fact this concern for both Jew and Gentile is recurring, noting the "all" and "every" that frequently come up.

In this salutation and throughout the epistle Paul is also setting up the tone of unity in Christ for Gentile and Jew. Placing and serving Christ first he minimizes a source of division between Gentile and Jew in the Church of Rome which is likely a factor in the letter's existence to begin with. Christ is King, Christ is Lord of all, so it doesn't matter if you are Gentile or Jew. Paul comes back to this point again and again in this epistle.

To send a letter to a Christian Church which happens to reside in the very same city as the ruler of the known world and to declare in that letter that someone else was 'Lord of all nations' was a very risky act. A historical note that is relevant here is that Caesar had also been called 'Son of God', and 'bringer of good news', and the Christians in Rome were well aware of this. So Paul goes further by bringing it up that Jesus was of the House of David, inferring royal ancestry that went back a thousand years which was far older than anything Rome could claim.

Other things to note:

What I have read about the size of this church is that it had probably a hundred or less members in a city of one million or more and that they met in the homes of members in the poorer districts of Rome.
The prophecy of God's Anointed is eluded to in this opening. The word 'Christ' comes from the Greek word that means 'Anointed', just as Messiah comes from the Hebrew word for anointed. Such prophecies indicated that Jesus would be of the House of David.


Romans 1.8-15
In verses 8 through 15 Paul communicates his gratitude for the church in Rome and he conveys his longing to visit them in Rome. It was Paul's plan to one day preach in Spain and to visit the church in Rome on his way there. I'd like to point out that Paul never made it to Spain, and that this is not the first time Paul's plans did not go as he expected. When Paul was in Troas he tried several times to go southward to Asia (southwest Turkey) and preach but every time he made an effort to head off that way something came up that prevented such a trek. When Paul finally decided to wait and see where the Spirit might guide him he had a vision of Macedonia and went there instead. This is a reminder to me that we sometimes need to stop and make room for the Spirit to work in our lives as we are often most needed where we do not expect.

Paul's gratitude is quite apparent in his words, but they might not explain why he is so thankful. Consider that there is this church, in Rome, right under Caesars nose. Factor in that these Christians have an idea of a different Kingdom and that such ideas put them at high risk of being persecuted and we might begin to grasp the kind of faith such individuals had. Paul is thankful for such discipleship.

Prior to Nero, Claudius had expelled the Jews from Rome (Acts 18.2) as we know from Paul's tent-builder friends, Aquila and Priscilla. Therefore the church that Peter started before Claudius most likely endured for the better part of a decade because of the Gentiles that remained in Rome. Jews were allowed back after Nero took power.

In the absence of Jews the Gentile Christians would not have had an attachment to the Laws of Moses. We understand that Christ fulfilled the law and transcended it by including Gentiles. The Jewish Christians would have been suspicious of the Gentile Christians with respect to feelings regarding the Law of Moses and this would have been a source of tension between the two groups within the Roman church. This is an important historical note to keep in mind as we read through the rest of this letter as Paul addresses it in the verses to come.

Paul had friends and even relatives in Rome when he wrote this letter, I don't know for sure but it is likely that Paul was well-informed about the goings-on of the Roman church, in particular if any divisions were forming within it. Being that this church was founded by Peter, Paul is careful not to imply that they are deficient in some way

Short expansion on The Law.
With regard to the Law of Moses, I look at it like this; when you finance something like a mortgage a debt is owed to the lender. When all payments of that debt have been made that debt is considered 'fulfilled' and it is no longer owed. It is not as if the debt never existed, rather it has been paid. I look at the Law of Moses in the same way. It was not abolished nor altered, if we abolished or altered the mortgage debt then we would either be refunded some of our funds or perhaps owe more. The debt to the Law of Moses has been paid (in the blood of Christ) and the fulfillment is that we are redeemed through Christ by faith. The coming Kingdom is not some abstract far-off thing, it started with Jesus. The Law is fulfilled and it is time for us to start living our lives in the New Kingdom on earth as it is in heaven.

Romans

Salutation

1 Paul, a servant[a] of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God, 2 which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy scriptures, 3 the gospel concerning his Son, who was descended from David according to the flesh 4 and was declared to be Son of God with power according to the spirit[b] of holiness by resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord, 5 through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith among all the Gentiles for the sake of his name, 6 including yourselves who are called to belong to Jesus Christ,

7 To all God’s beloved in Rome, who are called to be saints:

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Prayer of Thanksgiving

8 First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is proclaimed throughout the world. 9 For God, whom I serve with my spirit by announcing the gospel[c] of his Son, is my witness that without ceasing I remember you always in my prayers, 10 asking that by God’s will I may somehow at last succeed in coming to you. 11 For I am longing to see you so that I may share with you some spiritual gift to strengthen you— 12 or rather so that we may be mutually encouraged by each other’s faith, both yours and mine. 13 I want you to know, brothers and sisters,[d] 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 I have among the rest of the Gentiles. 14 I am a debtor both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to the wise and to the foolish 15 —hence my eagerness to proclaim the gospel to you also who are in Rome.

The Power of the Gospel

16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel; it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who has faith, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. 17 For in it the righteousness of God is revealed through faith for faith; as it is written, “The one who is righteous will live by faith.”[e]