Paul's Epistle to the Romans, Part 1: An Apostle's Motivation

Romans 1:1-17

Paul opens his letter to the church at Rome by getting straight to the point. That is, he immediately launches into what is most important in life to him; namely, the gospel of Jesus Christ. He opens by clarifying both Christ’s qualifications to be the object of the gospel and Christ’s mission for all His followers who are in service to the gospel. Jesus is a son of the flesh, of the lineage of David. He is also the son of God, testified to by the Spirit of God. This uniquely marks Him out as especially worthy of the full attention of the gospel. Furthermore, Christ’s desire for His disciples is that they obey Him. To that end, He has designated servants to promote and teach this pattern of behavior.

After giving this overview of the mandate of the gospel, Paul goes on to describe how he himself is engaged in that mission. He prays for his fellow Christians and he longs to be with them so that he can bless them with his ministrations. Paul keenly feels an intense burden to do this by preaching the gospel to anyone who will listen.

This single-minded devotion to his task allows Paul to be completely unashamed of the gospel. He recognizes that this message of good news is literally the power of God on display in creation. God’s unfathomable power is applied to the supernatural work of transformation in the human heart and mind. What follows is nothing less than the righteous character of God being displayed front and center in the lives of the faithful. It is this gospel that Paul is motivated by.

How can we apply this? The great Apostle gives us a model to emulate with his stirring introduction. He describes a level of fervor and determination to see the Kingdom of God accomplished that few of us can match. It is a high and noble calling worth striving for. Anything less than the passion of Paul is not worthy of the name of Jesus. Any effort given that does not match what Paul describes here does insult and injury to Christ’s unimaginable sacrifice on our behalf.