Bible Study in romans
I am starting a new Bible study in the book of Romans. To avoid copyright infringement, I'll be using the King James version of the Bible. I will also use quotes from Biblehub.com. Here is a short quote from Biblehub.com on using quotes on websites. “You will not need to write us for permission to quote from the site”.
Romans 1: 1 - 2 (KJV)
1 Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated unto the gospel of God,
2 (Which he had promised afore by his prophets in the holy scriptures,)
The Apostle Paul wrote the book of Romans, traditionally known as the author of 14 of the 27 New Testament books.
This introductory section mentions an important attribute of Paul, namely that Paul served Jesus Christ. What does it mean that Paul was a servant of Jesus?
The New Testament Koine Greek word for servant is doulos. Strong’s Exaustive Concordance (Cite) defines doulos as bondman or servant or slave. A slave is one who is the property of another. In the New Testament, they use another Greek word for servant - diakonos.
What does it mean that Paul then is a servant of Jesus Christ? It means primarily that he is not living for himself, but is completely taking direction and instruction from Jesus. His goal and aim is to please Jesus and not just live for his own interests. Paul’s whole life was to live for Jesus.
Here is a question for today from this passage: How can I today be a better servant of Jesus in all that I do? What practical ways can serve Jesus better today?
Romans 1: 3 (KJV)
3 Concerning his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, which was made of the seed of David according to the flesh;
The good news is concerning Jesus. The Greek word for concerning is peri which means about or around. So the good news is about Jesus. Paul then describes Jesus in more detail.
“which was made” is the Greek word ginomai which means to be brought to pass or happen. The seed of David is from the Greek word sperma which we get the word sperm from. The Greek word here means seed or offspring.
Paul continues on now to verse 4. Keep in mind that the original Greek text did not have verse numbers. Later, someone added those verse numbers. But verse numbers are very helpful in our study, helping with finding a reference point quickly.
The essence of this good news is Jesus Christ our Lord. There really is no good news outside of Jesus.
I had the privilege of sitting under Ray Stedman’s teaching for a number of years in the late 70s and early 80s. Here is a quote from https://www.raystedman.org/new-testament/romans/introduction-to-life. Website c 2024 by Ray Stedman Ministries.
Here is a paragraph about this section of Romans from Ray.
“When he comes, he is presented to us in two unique ways: First, concerning his human nature, the apostle says he was a descendant of David. Now the actual Greek here is much more blunt and earthy than that. It says he comes of the very sperm of David, emphasizing his intense humanity. We all came that way. We came by the union of sperm and ovum in the miracle of conception, and Jesus came in the same way, through the sperm of David. Thus, his humanity is emphasized and underscored.” Website c 2024 by Ray Stedman Ministries. Sermon by Ray Stedman.
I find this verse to be somewhat mysterious. I think Ray well describes the integration of human and Devine. The fact that God became man out of His love for us is beyond understanding. It is the heart of the gospel and is life changing.
Romans 1:4 (KJV)
4 And declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead:
All the Greek references and information come directly from biblehub.com and are used from the biblehub statement “You will not need to write us for permission to quote from the site”. https://biblehub.com/strongs/greek/1411.htm
We will continue in verse 4 now of Romans 1 and see that this is a continuation of Paul’s words in verse 3 – Concerning his Son Jesus Christ our Lord….
The Greek word for declared comes from horizo which means declare, determine, limit, or ordain. This is from horion to mark out or bound like horizon, or appoint, decree, or specify. The Greek tense defines the word as “having been declared”. This is the aorist, passive perfect participle.
In power Greek word is dunamis which means ability, power, or strength. You can probably tell that we get our word dynamite from this word.
Sometimes if you are like me you feel that the world and the devil have all the power. But that is not true. There is ultimate power in Jesus. We have access to this power because the Holy Spirit lives in our hearts as Christians. It is helpful for me in these last days to remember who has the ultimate power!
The Greek word Spirit is pneuma which means spirit or ghost. This Greek word comes from the Greek word pneo which means a current of air, Breath or breeze, or spirit. Also Christ’s spirit the Holy Spirit.
So, Jesus is declared to be the Son of God according to the Holy Spirit. But Paul describes this Spirit as the Spirit of holiness.
The Greek word for holiness here is hagiosune which means holiness. The root word is hagios which means sacredness or holiness. Paul further describes the Holy Spirit as the Spirit of sacredness or holiness. We could do a whole study on the word holiness. There is much in that word. This Greek word is a Feminine Noun, and another definition might be “a holy or sanctified state”
Then Paul writes “by the resurrection from the dead”: The Greek word for resurrection is anastasis which means raised to life again or resurrection. This is the core truth about Jesus He was raised to life or resurrected. This is the basis of our salvation.
There is much truth and theology here in just this one verse. I believe this verse and this entire passage is a great one to review once in a while when we feel the world is winning and has all the power. Jesus is the Son of God with power, and we know this from the Holy Spirit that lives inside of us as Christians and the importance that Jesus was resurrected.
Romans 1:5 (KJV)
5 By whom we have received grace and apostleship, for obedience to the faith among all nations, for his name:
This verse continues to describe the first phrase in verse 3 “Concerning his Son Jesus Christ our Lord”. It is by Jesus that Paul and others received two things. The first is grace and the second is apostleship.
Let's unpack the first of these two things using our beloved Greek Interlinear Bible online.
“You will not need to write us for permission to quote from the site”. https://biblehub.com/strongs/greek/1411.htm.
The first item Paul and others received was grace. The Greek word for grace is charis. It means grace or favor. The root Greek word is chairo which means graciousness as gratifying. It also means acceptable , benefit, favour and others. I must quote Bible Hub again on the definition of charis or grace. “grace, as a gift or blessing brought to man by Jesus Christ.”
“Favor disposed to, inclined, favorable towards, leaning towards to share benefit”. I really like that image of leaning towards to share benefit. I find it interesting that this word grace is used 140 times in the New Testament.
I don't know about you, but I struggle daily not feeling that I measure up, that I am not good enough for God, or that I am not doing enough for Him daily. This has been a strong feeling since childhood for me. But in reality I look to God's word and see that through Jesus Paul and others received grace. God is leaning towards me with grace, He desperately wants a relationship with me though Christ and even leans in. So the enemy wants me to feel and believe that I am constantly not measuring up. But because of the love of God I also am a recipient of grace which is all because of the work of Jesus on the cross.
Today I will focus on the grace given to us from Christ. On context here Paul and the other apostles received thru Christ this grace, but this grace is available to us as Christians now too. This is very encouraging.
Through Christ Paul and others received grace as we have noted but also apostleship. The Greek word for apostleship is apostole which means apostleship. This word is from the root Greek word apostello which means commision or apostleship.
The Strong's Concordance according to biblehub.com cited above defines apostole also as a sending away. In Greek this word is a Noun, Feminine. This Greek word is used 4 times in the New Testament: included here in Romans and then in Acts 1:25, 1 Corinthians 9:2 and finally Galations 2:8.