Separated Unto the Gospel of God

Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated unto the gospel of God (Romans 1:1)

Introduction to Romans

The book of Romans, in my opinion, is the most comprehensive Biblical book dealing with salvation and the Christian life. When we read it slowly, we begin to realize that we may only scratch its surface in our lifetime, just seeing how deep it probes into our hearts.

The church in Rome, comprised of both Jews and Gentiles, was not a church that Paul started. In Romans 16, we see that Paul did know some people that were there. However, he had never visited there (Romans 1:13). He did have plans to stop there on the way to Spain (Romans 15:28).

Having never known these people, he was not writing to this church to warn of certain heresies, as he had in other epistles. Here, we see that Paul was writing to share, in depth, the depravity of humankind, salvation from justification to glorification, and its practical implications.

Even from the first verse, there is a lot of information about Paul. This author of the epistle uses three phrases describing his relationship with Jesus Christ.

A Servant of Jesus Christ

First, he describes himself as a servant of Jesus Christ. Paul very much was a servant, or perhaps the word “slave” would describe his position. Jesus himself said that “he that is greatest among you shall be your servant” (Matthew 23:11).

This is a quality that we too have. All of us who are saved are servants of Christ, but we do not all in fact live like it. We often admire Paul’s intellect and knowledge of the Old Testament, wanting to know the deep truths of his writings. However, we do not necessarily admire the persecution and poverty that he knew. The active servant of Jesus Christ is intimately familiar with both traits.

We do not see Paul into a lot of hobbies or just passing time. We know that he did not have a wife or children (1 Corinthians 9:5). He did have a job as a tentmaker at times (Acts 18:3) to avoid being a burden to others (1 Thessalonians 2:9). Everything he did was to serve God, and if it did not further the gospel, he did not do it.

Called to be an Apostle

He also was called to be an apostle. We are not called to be apostles in Paul’s sense, since the qualification was to have seen the risen Lord (Acts 1:22). If we think of being an apostle in the generic sense, being a “sent one,” then we too have this role. We are sent into the world to be salt and light among others, being the glory of God wherever we go. He may not have been one of the Twelve (see 1 Corinthians 15:5, 8; the Twelve are defined as people other than himself, which means Matthias was the real replacement for Judas in Acts 1:26), but he was an apostle in the sense that he was both a witness to the risen Lord Jesus (1 Corinthians 15:7) and was sent out as a missionary to reach the lost (Acts 13:1-3, cf. Ephesians 4:11).

Separated Unto the Gospel

Lastly, Paul was separated unto the gospel of God. We too as Christians are separated unto the gospel. By believing the Gospel, God has taken us from being dead in trespasses and sins, being hell-bound, and He saved us. The epistle of Romans expounds on all that happens to us as saved people in detail. We are not saved unto stagnation and status quo, but we are saved unto eternal life... and eternal life beginning right now.

These three privileges are things we own inherently as Christians, but by faith, as we see in later chapters, God can grow our vision and empower us to live out these privileges indeed.