Romans 1:8-17 (9/20/26)

<p>Paul turns from greeting to thanksgiving: he thanks God through Jesus Christ for the Roman believers because their faith is proclaimed in all the world. He constantly remembers them in his prayers, asking that by God’s will he may at last succeed in coming to them—not as a celebrity apostle, but to impart some spiritual gift so they may be established, and that he and they may be mutually encouraged by each other’s faith. He is under obligation both to Greeks and to barbarians, to the wise and to the foolish, and so he is eager to preach the gospel in Rome as well. The heart of the letter is then stated: he is not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. In that gospel the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, “The righteous shall live by faith.” The passage therefore moves from gratitude and pastoral longing to the unashamed announcement that God’s saving power and His justifying righteousness come only through faith in Christ.</p>