1:6-7 "Call" refers not to God's selection of some individuals rather than others for salvation but to His identification of those whom He names as His own. Later, Paul quoted Hs 2:23, that says God will call them "My-People" who were not His people; they will be called children of the living God (9:26). Thus, God Himself called the Roman Christians to belong to Christ.
"Saints" ("holy ones") does not designate some rank of Christians superior to others but describes all those God has set apart for Himself. In the NT it designates believers in Christ. All Christians are saints—those who belongto Him (Ac 9:13; Rm 8:27; 15:25-26; 16:2; 1 Co 14:33).
1:17 "Righteousness" is blamelessness before God. Contrary to the widely held view that righteousness is a human achievement, Paul's position is that righteousness is a gift that can't be earned. God declares guilty sinners righteous and so puts them in right relationship with Himself. Those who respond to God's gracious offer to be made right with Him receive the Holy Spirit. Through the Spirit's power those who have been declared righteous are in the process of being transformed into the image of Christ (8:29).
1:18 God's wrath is not an uncontrollable, destructive emotion directed against those God dislikes. Wrath describes His just, holy response to sin and rebellion. From human perspective shaped in a world permeated by sin and injustice, wrath and love are seen as polar opposites. In God, however, there is no conflict between His great love and His terrible wrath. Most human beings know that something is wrong with the world, and there is a deep longing that it be put right. The multiplicity of religions and sects give a variety of explanations of why the world isn't as it should be. They also prescribe a variety of logically incompatible solutions to right the wrongs. Both God's love and His wrath are the guarantors that what is wrong will be put right. To deny or minimize God's wrath is to obscure what He revealed in the death of His Son who bore God's wrath in our place.
1:20 Is everyone really without excuse? What about remote tribal people who never hear the gospel? This seems unduly harsh, doesn't it? Paul was clear that no one can claim ignorance of God's existence and power. Why? God has clearly revealed many of His attributes in the natural world, enough for people to respond in some manner. Certainly people cannot know all there is to know about God from nature. However, they can know enough for God to hold them accountable for responding to this knowledge. Paul affirmed that God will render just judgment to each person according to whatever light that person received—whether natural revelation, the Jewish law, or the gospel of Christ. No Scripture hints of a second chance to trust in Christ after death; equally, the NT is clear that salvation resides solely in Christ (Jn 14:6; Ac 4:12). If God is willing to go to such great lengths to reveal Himself and rescue us from sin, then surely we can be confident of His just, loving attitude toward the unevangelized.
1:24 Does God cause people to sin? At some point He may "deliver them over" to their sinful choices, giving them what they want (cp. also vv. 26,28). They abandon God's ways, and He abandons them, further intensifying their awful condition.
1:26-27 Is homosexuality wrong? Paul appealed to what is "natural" (physis—used in 2:27; 11:21,24; Gl 2:15) to contrast natural sexual relations—men with women with same-sex acts. His reasoning is not solely biological, however. Rather, the problem is people abandoning God's created order—the topic in this context (v. 20). Those engaging in homosexuality are not simply abandoning what is "natural," biologically speaking; they are rejecting the way God intended all of His creation to operate. Paul was not discussing pederastic or homosexual acts merely in connection with idol worship (cp. 1 Co 6:9-11), but instead was saying that human beings are created for natural, heterosexual relationships—the only kind of sexual relationships the Bible recognizes as acceptable.
2:6 God's judgment is not based on people's action toward others but on how people act toward Him. Those who do good in relation to God obtain eternal life (vv, 7,10,13), while those who do evil toward God receive God's wrath (vv. 8,9,12). Since justification comes by faith, not works (3:21-24) and because "there is no one righteous, not even one" (3:10), Paul could not mean that people secure salvation by self-effort. Rather he appealed to the principle: "Actions reveal a person's heart." Jesus noted that righteous actions will emerge from within (Mt 12:35).
2:14-15 One of two options is likely in understanding this difficult section, which people have sometimes interpreted as saying that a salvation exists outside of Jesus Christ. One option is that Gentile Christians are those who have the "law" written on their hearts, corresponding to Jeremiah's depiction of the new covenant (Jr 31:33). Gentiles do what the law requires without having it. Though not ethnic Jews, they are the "true Jews" because of their circumcised hearts (Rm 2:28-29). They obey the law and are declared righteous (v. 13). A second option is that Paul was speaking of Gentiles in general who respond positively to their moral sense and the light they have in ways that correspond to God's intentions, which correspond to the law Jews received.
3:10-18 That no one is righteous indicates human inability to secure salvation apart from God's provision. This does not mean that people are as bad as they can be, or that they cannot do good things from a human perspective. However, as to eternal salvation, their situation is hopeless so long as they are left to themselves. God's initiating grace must come first. Righteousness must come from God (vv. 21-22).
3:25 What sins has God passed over? In Eden God threatened death as punishment for disobedience and sin (Gn 2:17). In the fall Adam and Eve died spiritually, being separated from God and subject to sin and death even though they did not immediately die physically. Implementing His plan to redeem His lost creatures, God sought out those who obediently trusted Him (e.g., Abel, Gn 4:4; Enoch, Gn 5:24; Noah, Gn 6:9; Abram, Gn 15:6; and their spiritual successors). Though they were sinners, God spared them from eternal damnation, the just punishment for their sin. Paul explained God's justice in passing over these sins: In due time, Christ would die in their place (Rm 5:6). Christ's death covers the sins of all believers both prior and subsequent to His atoning death.
But what kind of God (Father) sends His Son to such a horrific death to satisfy His own sense of justice? First, Jesus voluntarily gave His life (Jn 10:14-18). So this was the eternally agreed-upon plan by Father, Son, and Spirit. Second, the triune God—not just the Son—is involved in this world's suffering. The Father and Spirit were not undetached observers but were intimately involved with the Son's suffering on the cross. Third, consider God's holiness and sin's offensiveness to such a perfect, unsullied, personal Being. Sin elicits His just, wrathful response—the removal of all traces of both sin and sinner. Fourth, we must grasp God's limitless love for His human creatures made in His own image. Though He could justly write us off forever, in love God acted to save those who trust in Him. So while His holiness required the just payment of death for sinners, in love He paid the penalty Himself in the person of His only Son.
4:6 God considers those who trust Him as righteous. Expressing it in economic terms, God puts their sins on Christ's account and credits Christ's righteousness to their account (vv. 23-25). Believers are not suddenly made morally pure to live sinless lives thereafter; rather, they are now considered "in Christ," with all the blessings and benefits of that position.
5:12 Employing the concept of corporate solidarity, Paul explained that when Adam sinned all humanity was profoundly affected through that act of rebellion. There is a corresponding corporate solidarity in Christ. Whereas "in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive" (1 Co 15:22). Therefore, Paul said later that "no condemnation" comes to "those in Christ Jesus" (Rm 8:1, emphasis added). So while the damaging consequences of Adam's sin, including an inherited tendency to sin, were passed on to all of Adam's descendants, justification likewise passes on to all who receive God's gift of righteousness secured through Christ's death (vv. 17-19). Note, however, that Paul did not teach universalism here. God forces His righteousness on no one; people must receive the offered gift through faith.
6:1 Paul opposed the prevalent idea (which some espouse even today) of antinomianism. That is, since God saves people by grace (5:21), it does not matter how people live. Paul found this idea abhorrent—completely inconsistent with salvation's purpose, which is to produce holy lives. The result of entering into Christ should be victory over sin—ultimately but also presently. This mandates every effort to counter sin's effects in a believer's life.
6:16,22 Paul's positive use of the metaphor of slavery may strike Christians today as offensive. However, slavery's pervasiveness in the ancient world helped convey his point graphically. In fact, everyone is a slave either to sin—an evil, malicious slave master—or to God. God grants His slaves eternal life and freedom from sin's destructive power. Sin pays death as wages; God grants life (v. 23).
7:15-25 This section is hotly debated. In one view, the internal struggle was Paul's (and others') personal Christian experience. In Christ, all Christians want to do what pleases God (vv. 18,22) but find themselves frustrated in their efforts because of the lingering presence of sin's power within (vv. 17,20,23). The struggle continues in this age, with progress and victory possible only through the power of the Holy Spirit (8:2,5,11) and ultimately when Christ returns (8:23). Alternatively, some scholars argue that here Paul spoke of the position of Jewish people (and thus of himself as a formerly unbelieving Jew) living in frustration under the law. In this view Paul described the unbeliever's struggle, experiencing defeat apart from Christ. He was a slave to the law of sin (cp. 7:25 and 8:2) and struggled with the body of death (cp. 7:24 and 6:6).
8:9 Paul identified the indispensable constituent of those in Christ: the Holy Spirit (vv. 15-17). There are no Spiritless Christians. They are no longer "in the flesh" but are freed from a merely human, powerless life. The Spirit grants spiritual life to believers at the point of salvation. The Spirit indwells believers (v. 11) and provides to believers the capacity to please God and to put to death the sinful behaviors opposed to the life of Christ (v. 13).
8:20-23 Evil in the world resulted from human sin and selfishness (Gn 3:17). Now the creation struggles in "bondage of corruption" and groans, awaiting its restoration. Christians still corrupted by sin await the redemption of their bodies. Christians value the creation as God's handiwork and groan with it in eager anticipation of the better days of the new creation (see 2 Pt 3:13; Rv 21:1).
8:28 Paul did not say all things are good—an absurd claim in view of both natural tragedies and human atrocities. When suffering, Christians might conclude either that God does not love them or that He is not sufficiently protecting them. Paul thus insisted that in all things God works to accomplish what is good for His people. Clearly God does not always spare His people from tragedies, illnesses, and other adverse circumstances of life, or even shield them from their opponents' persecution (v. 36). In any of these difficulties—and Paul listed some awful ones (vv. 35,38-39)—God is working for His people's good.
Prosperity theology maintains that "good" means God always physically heals or protects trusting, praying believers from tragedies. But this teaching runs counter to the tenor of this passage. In fact, to say that God always prospers His people borders on heresy, calling into question God's working of His sovereign purposes through His people's suffering (5:3-5; see Jms 1:2-4,9-11). Rather than promising escape, Paul intended here to provide hope for the afflicted. God will accomplish "good": His loving purposes for His creation and glory to His people. The "good" concerns their final salvation.
Despite any alleged evidence to the contrary, nothing can separate God's people from His perpetual love.
8:29-30 Paul assured his readers that God would accomplish His saving purposes for them. Paul listed five distinct aspects of salvation, each building on the former. "Foreknew" denotes possession of prior knowledge, which humans or God may possess. God has previously known who His people will be. Some argue that when predicated of God, this is a special knowledge, equivalent to election: the Hebrew "knowing" implies establishing an intimate relationship. While God knows His people in a special way, it is not certain Paul here intended "foreknew" to equal "elect," since he knew and used terms for election elsewhere in Rm (8:33; 9:11; 11:5). Besides, how might God have had a special relationship with people before they even existed? In either case, certainly God intimately knows His church (see 2 Tm 2:19).
Beyond God's foreknowledge of His people, He has "predestined" a general outcome for them: being "conformed to the image of His Son," so that at His coming Christ will exult with His many brothers and sisters who bear His family resemblance. So God "calls" these His own people (9:24-26); He invites them to be His. Before the bar of justice, God declares them "not guilty." They are "justified." At Christ's return, God will "glorify" His people, restoring the glory diminished by sin (3:23; 8:17).
9:6 Here, and in what follows, Paul distinguished two kinds of Israel and two kinds of election. God chose physical, historical Israel by selecting Abraham and his descendants (the "election" mentioned in v. 11). God chose the historical nation Israel, through which He accomplished many purposes, including the establishment of both Scripture (v. 4; 3:2) and the line of the Messiah (v. 5). But not all of elect, ethnic Israel constitutes elect, spiritual (saved) Israel (v. 8). Paul distinguished two kinds of election: (1) the election of the nation Israel to achieve certain tasks (also why God chose individuals—the patriarchs and Pharaoh, v. 17), and (2) election to salvation. To be in the latter group (that is, to attain righteousness) requires faith in Christ (vv. 30-33; recall what makes a true Jew in 2:28-29).
9:13-14,21 These verses may give the impression that God acts arbitrarily and apart from human cooperation, suggesting God disregards human freedom, and consequently could not hold people responsible for their actions. None of this fairly represents Paul's point here. God's gracious and merciful plan does not violate human freedom. To select Jacob over Esau reflects God's choice to have the nation Israel come through Jacob's descendants, not Esau's. In saying God "hated" Esau, Paul did not imply that God excluded him from salvation.
For Messiah's line, God chose the tribe of Judah (not the most noble of characters), rather than the descendants of Joseph (a true believer). (In that sense, he "hated" Joseph but "loved" Judah.) God executes His redemptive, gracious plan as He pleases. Humans have no claim on God. So, on the national level, God sovereignly decided to have mercy on Israel (including the patriarchs). Nevertheless, Abraham's physical children cannot claim they are automatically "elected" for salvation and are therefore "righteous" apart from genuine faith in Christ (vv. 31-32). Yet God's gracious election also operates for salvation: God has determined to save those who trust in His Son. God will have mercy on whom He wills to have mercy, and no claim even of Jewish descent will override what the divine Potter chooses to do.
Interestingly, the prophet Jeremiah also used the potter as an illustration of how God works, clearly acknowledging that God may vary His response, given human reaction to His words (Jr 18:5-10). God desires people to repent and turn to Him. The potter illustration shows that God is not immovable nor impassive and that He does not carry out His plans willy-nilly.
9:22-23 Three interpretations diverge here. (1) Paul taught "double predestination": before creation, God determined to save some and damn others (a view often associated with Calvinists). God fixed the number He will glorify and the number He will destroy. Given that all sinners deserve condemnation, God's choice to save some demonstrates His mercy. (2) God elects some to save, leaving the rest to their deserved fate. In both of these views the non-elect, objects of His wrath, justly deserve their fate; so God is not unjust by not electing them. (3) God predetermined the general outcomes—either wrath or glory—but the saved or the destroyed determine their own fate (in response to God's initiating grace). In this view the criterion for inclusion or exclusion in "My-People" is whether sinners pursue righteousness by faith or in self-reliance (v. 32; 10:3-4,9-10). That is, those destroyed prepared themselves for their destruction. People are predestined to condemnation so long as they choose to continue in their ways and resist God's grace.
10:9-10 Merely mouthing "Jesus is Lord" and proclaiming that Jesus rose from the dead cannot secure salvation. Presumably the devil (see Jms 2:19) and many people (Mt 7:21-23) could meet these requirements and not be true followers of Christ. A heartfelt confession of Jesus' lordship designates a lifelong commitment that issues from the center of a person's being, the heart. What matters is not saying Jesus is Lord but making Him Lord at the core of one's existence. This is what Paul really meant by calling on the name of the Lord to be saved (10:13).
10:14-15 Since salvation comes by confessing Jesus as Lord, Christians must preach this good news. But what about those to whom no preacher came? Paul did not deal with that question here. His concern centered on God's message to the Israelites, to whom the message did go and who did hear, but who also, tragically, rejected the message (vv. 16-21).
Two points remain. First, those who know the truth must spare no effort to proclaim it to others, for salvation is at stake. Second, the fate of the unevangelized rests in the hands of a loving and just God who will judge people on the basis of the light they received. (See article on "What about Those Who Have Never Heard about Christ?" p. 1696.)
11:7-8 Though most Jews have rejected the message of salvation in Jesus, a remnant within the total population—the elect—did obtain salvation (vv. 5-6). The rest were "hardened"—a curious term. Since the entire point of 9:30–10:3 and 10:16-21 is that Israel was responsible for its rejection of God's salvation despite the prophets' best efforts to call them to repentance, Paul did not mean that God determined their obstinacy. If God Himself hardened some Jews' hearts so they could not believe, it makes no sense for God to say through Isaiah, "I spread out My hands all day long to a rebellious people who walk in the wrong path, following their own thoughts" (Rm 10:21; Is 65:2). This passage from Isaiah that Paul cited goes on to castigate Israel for provoking God and repudiating His laws.
Other uses of the hardening metaphor (a calcifying or callous-building effect) often make clear that hardening of the heart is a self-induced state (e.g., Mt 13:15; Mk 6:52; 8:17; 2 Co 3:14). Even the explicit statement that God hardened Pharaoh's heart follows a series of events showing that Pharaoh was hardening his own heart (Ex 8:15,19,32; 9:7,34-35; 1 Sm 6:6; cp. Ex 9:12; 10:1; 11:10; 14:8). Therefore, though God may indeed solidify people's resolve to reject the truth, apparently He does so because they have first resolved themselves to do so. God does not harden hearts that would otherwise have been responsive to Him. Jesus' quotation of Is 6:9-10 made this very point (Mt 13:14-15).
11:22 Paul's warning extends to the Christian church as a whole. On the one side, God's election of Israel did not guarantee each individual Jew's salvation. On the other side, we cannot presume that all members of a church are saved. The same God is both kind and stern—kind to those who follow Him but stern to those who wander off. Paul issued the warning to "remain in His kindness" or risk being cut off.
11:25-26 Paul showed here that hardening is not a permanent sentence against Israel, even though it resulted from their rejection of the message about Christ. First, he reaffirmed that only a part of Israel was hardened. That is, many Jews of Paul's day did acknowledgeJesus as Lord and were saved. Nevertheless, at the end of the age, the Jews will turn en masse to Christ (or some believe that Jews throughout the church age will respond to the gospel). When Paul stated that all Israel will be saved, he did not intend "all" without exception but "all" as in a very large number (see 1 Sm 25:1;1 Kg 12:1; 2 Ch 12:1; Is 45:25; Dn 9:11; Mk 1:5; Lk 3:21; Ac 13:24). Paul used similar connotations for "all" and "many" in Rm 5:18-19 (cp. a similar usage of "all" in 11:32).
12:19-20 Paul rejected revenge as a Christian response to injustice, but did he then imply another kind of revenge after all—heaping fiery coals on an enemy's head (perhaps an image of hell)? The first two lines of the quotation and its final statement of God's reward that Paul did not cite here (from Pr 25:21-22) argue for a positive meaning to this. The next verse confirms this: "Conquer evil with good." More likely, then, "fiery coals" envision a positive effect: shaming the enemy into repentance. The burning coals may refer to an Egyptian ritual during which one demonstrated genuine repentance by carrying hot coals in some container. Paul urged Christians to do good to enemies so they see their sins and repent. Obviously, repentance will not always follow, but this is the Christian response when injured (recall Mt 5:44-47).
13:1 Paul urged Christians to be submissive and model citizens because God has installed the governing authorities to keep the civil order and punish wrongdoers. Peter gave similar instructions about submission (1 Pt 2:13-14,17). However, submission to authorities is not absolute. Both Jesus and the writer of Ac established this central Christian principle. Jesus said, "Give back to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's" (Mt 22:21). Peter and the apostles declared that they must obey God rather than human beings (Ac 5:29). Any submission to the authorities must pass through the filter of God's will and call upon a believer's life.
The difficulty here involves discerning God's will and call in those areas to which Scripture does not speak, which requires determining and applying biblical principles rather than explicit biblical statements. This is the Christian's crucial duty, for a failure to discern carefully God's will risks disobeying God and incurring His displeasure. Of course, obeying God against the government may result in incurring the government's anger—as the NT and subsequent church history well attest—but this puts a Christian in good company (Mt 5:10-12).
13:11-12 The "daylight" evokes the common biblical idea of the "Day of the Lord"—used in both testaments to refer to God's appearance, often to judge as well as vindicate (e.g., Is 13:6,9; Jl 2:1-2,11,31-32; Am 5:18-20; 1 Co 5:5; 1 Th 5:2; 2 Pt 3:10). Paul did not set a date for the "day" to arrive but instead asserted that soon God would assess all of their deeds (Rm 14:10). This is the time to live righteously in anticipation of the Lord's return and judgment. By "nearer" Paul did not mean "at any moment," since in chapter 11 he envisioned a long interlude until the end (e.g., 11:11-32).
14:4,13-14 When he forbade judging, Paul did not mean Christians must not call a sin a sin. (See the article "Who Are You to Judge Others?" p. 1417) The context concerns Jewish practices such as dietary regulations, Sabbath keeping, and feasts—"doubtful issues"(v. 1)—that troubled many new (especially Jewish) Christians. Some believed they should remain kosher, while others thought differently. Paul insisted these are individual, non-moral matters for each believer to decide, for each one will give an account to God, not to other Christians (vv. 10-11). Since Jesus declared that nothing is unclean in itself (see Mt 15:11; Mk 7:19), what one chooses to eat or not eat is a matter of personal preference.
But we cannot take Paul's conclusion to cover any and all actions. That is, we cannot say that believers may engage in anything they wish as long as they hold the personal opinion that it is acceptable. Sin is never permissible for a Christian. At the same time, mature Christians have a responsibility not to flaunt what they are free to do before God in ways that harm other Christians (14:15,20-21; 1 Co 8).
16:1-2 Paul called his helper Phoebe a diakonos of the church. Bible versions differ on whether to translate this term as "servant" or "minister" or to transliterate it as "deacon[ess]," since by the time Paul wrote to the Romans this term could already have designated the office of deacon (Php 1:1; 1 Ti 3:8,12). Probably the latter is more likely, though it is far from certain.
16:7 Many claim that Junia (or Junias), designating one of Paul's relatives, could be either a man's or a woman's name. In fact, the masculine form, Junias (as a contraction of Junianus), has not been located elsewhere, whereas the feminine Junia is common. Of course, if this person was a woman, this would be an intriguing fact, particularly since Paul called Andronicus and Junia "apostles." J. D. G. Dunn suggests they were husband and wife—a reasonable assumption.
The precise status of all who are called apostles isn't clear. Some were close associates of the apostles, such as Barnabas (Ac 14:14) and James (Gl 1:19), but also see the Greek term apostolos in 2 Co 8:23 and Php 2:25.
16:17 The term "the doctrine" implies that by this time the gospel had already been taught to the point that it could be followed and understood and also should have been defended against corruption (see 2 Th 3:6).