Romans 1-2

I love the book of Romans. It is a book about Power. His Power. And it contains so many helpful tools to live a faith-filled life.

The first eight verses of the first chapter have some great nuggets.

¹Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle and set apart for the gospel of God— ²the gospel he promised beforehand through his prophets in the Holy Scriptures ³regarding his Son, who as to his human nature was a descendant of David, ⁴and who through the Spirit of holiness was declared with power to be the Son of God by his resurrection from the dead: Jesus Christ our Lord. ⁵Through him and for his name's sake, we received grace and apostleship to call people from among all the Gentiles to the obedience that comes from faith. ⁶And you also are among those who are called to belong to Jesus Christ.

⁷To all in Rome who are loved by God and called to be saints:
Grace and peace to you from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ.

⁸First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is being reported all over the world.

This brings some questions to mind:

1. Who am I appointed to be and by Whom? (verses 1-2)

• God appoints me to be a partner in His Work.
• I am appointed as a vessel.
  
• I have been set apart to share the Good News.
  

2. Who is this all about? (verses 3-4)

• It's all about Jesus. Not me, not my works, not my glory, not my walk. It's all about Him!
  

3. What has Jesus done for us? (verses 5-6)

• Though Him we received unmerited grace from God.
  
• We belong to Jesus Christ. Doesn't that give you a great measure of comfort? We "belong" to Jesus.
  

4. What does He want us to do? (verses 4, 7-8)

• We have been called to be saints. The Amplified version says it this way:...called to be saints and designated for a consecrated life... (verse 7)
• We are designated to live a consecrated life. For Him
• Make disciples for His Name's sake among all the nations (Amplified verse 4)
• Let the report of our faith be known to all the world and commended everywhere (Amplified verse 8)

And that was just the first 8 verses! Do you see the value of this letter to the Romans that Paul wrote?

May the Lord bless you with understanding as your read this wonderful book!