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1 Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, 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 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 you 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.

 

Martin Luther describes Paul’s epistle to the Romans as “...the chief part of the New Testament, and is truly the purest gospel... It is a bright light, almost sufficient to illuminate the entire Holy Scripture”. As I was reading this opening to Romans and some commentary, I was struck by the fact that Paul both opens this letter and closes it with a unique phrase: “obedience of faith (Romans 1:6 and Romans 16:25). I believe that this is not an accident.

Faith is believing that which we hope for, the unseen. Obedience of faith, however, is not about having to follow a strict set of rules or commandments in order to be observant of one’s faith or full of faith. Instead, I believe that Paul is saying that faith brings about a fundamental change within the believer creating an obedient nature. The internal change brought on by faith ‘rewrites’ a person’s inner code to be obedient, a servant of the Lord. In my study Bible, it says that a more accurate translation of the word servant in Romans 1:1 would be to use the word slave. A slave must be humble and obedient to the master.

While not a popular term in our modern society, I think this more clearly defines our ties to God. We are bound and wholly God’s. Our ‘choosing’ to follow Christ is more of a submission, a giving up of ourselves to follow Jesus fully. We are called into a relationship with a Lord and Savior who seeks a full life for us in Him. When we believe that, truly believe in our bones, our only response logical response is to submit humbly to His call for our lives.

Chad Ryberg

Cryberg@livinglord.org

 

Prayer Concern: Grace to say sorry in our lives