Today our church began a teaching series in Romans.  I wanted to share some of my thoughts form today’s talk.

Most of the commentaries I read this week really missed the target of what this letter is all about.   All too often, scholars get hung up on the meaning of certain Greek word or on some minute aspect of Roman culture.  While these tidbits are interesting and add color to Paul’s letter to the Romans, they often get in the way of us seeing the big picture.  What I see in this letter is Paul’s desire to bring unity to the church that was segregated along cultural/racial lines.  The timing of this letter is our first clue to its purpose.

Paul is living in the city of Corinth at the end of his third, and final, Church planting journey around 57 AD.  He now hopes to extend the reach of the church beyond the Mediterranean.  He begins to lay out his plans for his next missionary journey.  First, Paul plans to deliver the offering collected from several churches to the church in Jerusalem.  He then, according to this letter, plans to stop off and visit the church in Rome on his mission to plant churches in Spain.

But why did Paul want to visit the established church in Rome? Paul made it clear in 2 Corinthians that his practice was to never preach the Gospel where another man had built the foundaiton.   So is this trip to Rome a violation of his own principles?  Why Rome? Why now?

Paul’s visit seems to be timed so he can address the confluence of two circumstances.

First, The Church in Rome was predominantly a Gentile church where fewer and fewer Jews were accepting the Gospel. The church in Rome was taking on a strong Gentile character and there was a growing feeling among the Brotheren that the Gospel was no longer for the Jews.

Second, many Jews had fled Rome under the persecution of Emporor Claudius (Acts 18:2). Paul had evangelized, discipled and ministered to many of these dispersed Jews in his travels to both Corinth and Ephasus—people like Aquilla and Priscilla who are mentioned in this letter. After Claudius died, these Jewish Christians returned to Rome. Now back home in Rome, Paul names many of these former refugees in chapter 16.  (Some commentators think Chapter 16 should not be a part of this letter, but I think it is a crucial part of this letter.)

These two circumstances appear to be the backdrop for Paul’s letter to the Romans. Paul tries to pave the way for his trip so that he might bring unity to both the Gentile and Jewish Christians in Rome.  He wants the Church in Rome to be one church of both Jew and Gentile.  He does not want to see two divided church built on racial or cultural divisions.  Paul’s mission to Rome was not to build on the foundation of another, but to bridge the gap between the existing Gentile church and the Jewish exiles who had returned..

Paul keeps God in focus throughout his introduction and reminds the Roman church, that all believers have unity in God.

There is Unity in God’s Calling

Romans 1:1-7
Paul, a bond-servant of Christ Jesus, called as an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God, which He promised beforehand through His prophets in the holy Scriptures, concerning His Son, who was born of a descendant of David according to the flesh,  who was declared the Son of God with power by the resurrection from the dead, according to the Spirit of holiness, Jesus Christ our Lord,  through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith among all the Gentiles for His name’s sake,  among whom you also are the called of Jesus Christ;  to all who are beloved of God in Rome, called as saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Paul emphasizes here the unity of calling.  Everyone, Apostle and Saint alike, are unified by the common calling in Jesus.  Jesus, who was a Jew in the flesh, is the savior of all the Gentiles and the Jews.  There is unity in His call that is not limited by ethnic distinctions.

There is Unity in God’s Ministry

Romans 1:8-12
First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all, because your faith is being proclaimed throughout the whole world.   For God, whom I serve in my spirit in the preaching of the gospel of His Son, is my witness as to how unceasingly I make mention of you, always in my prayers making request, if perhaps now at last by the will of God I may succeed in coming to you. For I long to see you so that I may impart some spiritual gift to you, that you may be established; that is, that I may be encouraged together with you while among you, each of us by the other’s faith, both yours and mine.

We serve God by the power of the Spirit and not by the strength of the flesh.  No matter if the believer is a Jew or a Gentile, Black or White, Male or Female; we are all given the ministry of service one to the other.  Paul, an Apostle, certainly had a very public role beyond the average Christian (sometimes Pastors or Elders are given this same public role), but still everyone needs the encouragement of the church.  Despite the different roles we play in the Body, we must minister to one another in the unity of God’s Spirit.

There is Unity in God’s Family

Romans 1:13-14
I do not want you to be unaware, brethren, that often I have planned to come to you (and have been prevented so far) so that I may obtain some fruit among you also, even as among the rest of the Gentiles. I am under obligation both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to the wise and to the foolish.

So often we divide ourselves using subjective distinctions.  For the Roman’s, it was seeing all those who did not speak Greek as barbarians.  They imagined that all those who did not have their education and culture (including the Jews) were fools.   Paul makes clear in his choice of words that while these distinctions have meaning to the world which is lost in sin, they do not have meaning in the church of God.  The church is one Family.  We are not divided, but live in unity as one Family of brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus.

There is Unity in God’s Salvation

Romans 1:15-17
So, for my part, I am eager to preach the gospel to you also who are in Rome. For I am 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. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, “But the righteous man shall live by faith.”

Finally, Paul makes clear that the Gospel gives us the power to live above the disunity of racial bigotry.  Those of us who believe in the resurrected Jesus, must live by faith.  When our eyes wrongly tell us that others are inferior or undeserving of the Gospel, we must remember the spiritual reality that in God, there is unity through salvation.