And continuing in Romans...

"Paul, a servant^* of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God, ²which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy scriptures..."

Romans 1

 

 

So it narrows down.  Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, identifying himself with all who seek to serve the Lord Jesus Christ. 

 

Then Paul, called to be an apostle.  It is a job within the movement of spreading Jesus' message to the world.  Paul gives us lists of some of these jobs, teachers, preachers, apostles, healers, prophets, and more.  The Apostles were the leaders of the church, the twelve disciples became Apostles. 

 

Then Paul, set apart for the gospel of God.  The gospel is the Good News, the message of Jesus who lived, died, and lived again.  We know from the book of Acts and Paul's letters that he was a traveling missionary, going town to town to share the gospel of God.  This seems to distinguish him again from the other Apostles, some of whom were travelers, but others of whom seemed to stay settled in the church of Jerusalem and Judea.

 

Now, we develop again on the sense of the gospel of God.  What is it, in Paul's own words?  It is that "which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy scriptures..."  Who is he?  God.  I know, it is odd not to have "he" capitalized.  "he" and "his prophets".  Paul has been set apart for that which God promised beforehand through God's prophets in the holy scriptures.

 

Now, a point of clarity about the 'holy scriptures'.  These are what we know to be the "Old Testament" of our bibles.  The Letter to the Romans, the gospel accounts of the life and miracles of Jesus, these are (literally) only beginning to be written.  The gospel of God does NOT include Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.  It includes Genesis to Malachi. 

 

Think about this.  Paul is telling the Romans that God promised everything that we are going to find in this Letter in the Old Testament of our bible.  God's prophets set everything down before the first word of the New Testament was ever written.  Can you imagine sharing the faith without pulling out your bible to share the words of John 3:16?  Or the Great Commission in Matthew 28?

 

Paul's work is to share the gospel of God, the good news of God, which was laid out in the Old Testament by God's prophets before Jesus came down to fulfill what had been promised.  And that doesn't just mean Isaiah and all those other guys so fun to try and remember.  Moses was a prophet, David was a prophet, they were the 'mouthpieces of God'.

 

So Paul is not coming with something new.  He is not taking the Jewish faith and putting a new spin on it.  Our faith is the faith of the Jewish religion fulfilled in Jesus.  And Paul will spend much time in this Letter speaking more on that.

 

This phrase continues to develop the authority under which Paul operates, servant of God, apostle, set aside for the gospel that ALREADY exists in the words of God's prophets.  Thus is the story that he will tell.