Father, as we return to the beginning of this letter after starting in the middle, I ask that you would help us to draw something useful from this introduction from Paul to the ekklesia at Rome. Help us to have our identity formed correctly, to understand who we are more as a function of our relationship with You than it is based on what we do. In Jesus’ name,

Amen

Romans 1:1-6

Paul, a loving and loyal servant  of the Anointed One,  Jesus. He called me to be his apostle  and set me apart  with a mission to reveal God’s wonderful gospel. I write to all his beloved chosen ones in Rome, for you are also called as holy ones.  May his joyous grace and total well-being, flowing from our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, rest upon you.

My commission is to preach the good news. Yet it is not entirely new, but the fulfillment of the hope promised to us through his prophets in the sacred Scriptures. For the gospel is all about God’s Son. As a man he descended from David’s royal lineage, but as the mighty Son of God he was raised from the dead and miraculously set apart with a display of triumphant power supplied by the Spirit of Holiness. And now Jesus is our Lord and our Messiah. Through him grace cascaded into us, empowering us with the gift of apostleship, so that we can win people from every nation into the obedience that comes from faith, to bring honor to his name. And you are among the chosen ones who are called to belong to Jesus, the Anointed One.

Paraphrase:
Hi, my name is Paul. I am writing to you as an introduction, as I desire to come to you on my way to Spain to spread the gospel. First things first, you should know that I am a loving servant of Jesus. Then I want you to know that I am an apostle, sent, along with others, to spread the gospel of God. I want you to be well, and to sense and live in His grace and complete peace and wholeness. The good news (gospel) is not entirely new, in fact, it is a fulfillment of the Jewish scriptures. This is why, I, as a trained pharisee, am comfortable following Jesus, who appeared to me as one who is untimely born. Jesus descended from King David in the flesh, but is the very son of God and was raised from the dead after people whom I once considered to be authorities put him to death. Jesus was raised to life by the power of the Holy Spirit, the very same Spirit who you have in your hearts, who gives you life each moment. The one who heals you from the inside and shows you how to live. This risen Jesus is why I know I am an apostle, why I face danger every day, all day. I am sent as a herald to proclaim His ascent to the throne (this is what a gospel was in the Ancient Near East, a proclamation that there is a new Caesar, a new lord over you people, and it is a good thing).

Ok, so I have paraphrased the text and added some extra tidbits from around the rest of the New Testament, so what? What can we draw from this text? Paul had his identity straight. He put his place in Jesus first, then explained what he had been called to do. Never put your doings before your beings. I am tempted to go on a rant about that, but I don’t think that I will right now. Then, he blesses them with peace and wholeness through Jesus, from the Father, but the Holy Spirit. It is not quite his standard greeting, but then you have to remember that Paul was writing this as an introduction before he expected to meet them in person. He did not plant these congregations. He knew a handful of the prominent leaders, but not the majority of the Jesus followers in Rome. Why was he writing this letter? He hoped to prepare them to support him on his mission to the Iberian Peninsula. Jesus is real, His coming was foretold, and He fulfilled the Torah and Prophets. I serve Him, as you all do. You can trust that I am a good man, and that I am a genuine servant of Jesus, an apostle to the nations.