CHARLES HODGE (1797–1878) was a professor of biblical literature and theology at Princeton for over fifty years. Hodge also edited the Princeton Review for forty-six years, in which he particularly championed divine sovereignty in salvation and the infallibility of the Bible. He is especially well-known for his commentaries on Romans, Ephesians, and 1 and 2 Corinthians. 

Alister McGrath (PhD, University of Oxford) is the Andreas Idreos Professor of Science and Religion at the University of Oxford, president of the Oxford Centre for Christian Apologetics, and senior research fellow at Harris Manchester College in Oxford. He is also a noted author and coeditor of Crossway's Classic Commentaries series.

J. I. Packer (1926–2020) served as the Board of Governors’ Professor of Theology at Regent College. He authored numerous books, including the classic bestseller Knowing God. Packer also served as general editor for the English Standard Version Bible and as theological editor for the ESV Study Bible.

Romans

Good News Publishers

Romans

Verses 1–17

1. Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle. In keeping with the ancient way of starting a letter, the apostle begins by stating his name and office. It was his office that gave him the right to address the believers at Rome, and elsewhere, with that authoritative tone which pervades all his letters. Speaking as Christ's messenger, he spoke as Christ spoke, as one who had authority, and not as an ordinary teacher.

The apostle's original name was Saul, and he was first called Paul in Acts 13:9. Since this change of name is mentioned in the paragraph about the conversion of Sergius Paulus, the proconsul of Cyprus, some have supposed that Paul took his name to compliment this distinguished convert. This supposition does not seem to be in accord with Paul's character and is, on other grounds, less probable than either of the following two suggestions.

First, it was not unusual for a Jew to change his name as a result of some remarkable event, as in the case of Abraham and Jacob (Genesis 17:5, and 32:28), or when appointed to a new position (Genesis 41:45; Daniel 1:6-7). Thus a new name is sometimes equivalent to a new appointment (Revelation 2:17). So it may be that the apostle received the name Paul when he was called to the office of apostle. This supposition is supported by the argument that he received his name soon after he started to exercise his apostleship in public; also by the fact that Simon was called Cephas when he was called to be an apostle (John 1:42), and James and John were called Boanerges (Mark 3:17). Hence Theophylact says that Saul was called Paul in order that, even in this matter, he should not fall behind the most important of the apostles.

Second, it was very common for Jews who had frequent dealings with the heathen to have two names, one Jewish and the other Greek or Roman. Sometimes these names were quite different from each other, like Hillel and Pollio, and sometimes they were closely related, like Silas and Silvanus. It is most likely that this was the case with the apostle. He was called Saul among the Jews, and Paul among the Gentiles; and as he was the apostle to the Gentiles the latter name became his common designation. As this change was, however, made or announced at a decisive moment in the apostle's life (see Acts 13:9), the two explanations may be joined together. "The only supposition," says Dr. J. A. Alexander in his comment on Acts 13:9, "which is free from all these difficulties, and affords a satisfactory solution of the facts in question, is that this was the time fixed by divine authority for Paul's manifestation as the apostle of the Gentiles, and that this manifestation was made more conspicuous by its coincidence with his triumph over a representative of unbelieving and apostate Judaism, and the conversion of an official representative of Rome, whose name was identical with his own apostolic title."

In calling himself a servant (bondsman) of Christ Jesus, he may have intended either to declare himself the dependent and worshiper of Christ, as all Christians are slaves of Christ (Ephesians 6:6), or to express his official relationship to the church as Christ's minister. The latter is the more probable explanation since in the Old Testament the term "servant of the Lord" is a common official designation of anyone who is in God's service (Joshua 1:1 and 24:19; Jeremiah 29:19; Isaiah 42:1). Moreover, in the New Testament we find the same use of the word, not only in the beginning of several of the letters (Philippians 1:1, "Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus"; James 1:1, "James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ"; 2 Peter 1:1, "Simon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ"), but also, in some instances, the word "servant" is interchangeable with the word "minister" (see Colossians 1:7; 4:7, 12). It is, therefore, a general official designation of which, in the present case, apostle is the specific explanation.

It has also been correctly pointed out that as the expression servant of Christ implies implicit obedience and subjection, it assumes the Redeemer's divine authority. So we find the apostle denying that he was the servant of men and rejecting all human authority concerning matters of faith and duty, and yet affirming absolute subjection of conscience and reason to the authority of Jesus Christ.

1. Called to be an apostle. Paul was not only a servant of Christ, but by divine appointment an apostle. This idea is included in the word called, which also means "chosen, appointed"; and the calling, or vocation, of believers to grace and salvation, as well as of the apostles to their office, is uniformly ascribed to God or Christ (see Galatians 1:1; 1 Corinthians 1:1; Titus 1:1; Galatians 1:15). As the personal call of Christ was one of the essential qualifications of an apostle, Paul asserts in the use of the word called that he was neither self-appointed nor chosen by men to that sacred office.

The word "apostle" occurs in its original sense of "messenger" several times in the New Testament (see John 13:16; Philippians 2:25 and 4:18). In 2 Corinthians 8:23, Paul, speaking of the brethren who were with him, calls them "representatives of the churches"; the translators of the King James Version are correct in rendering this phrase, "messengers of the churches."

As a strict official designation, the word "apostle" is confined to those men selected and commissioned by Christ himself to deliver in his name the message of salvation. It appears from Luke 6:13 that the Saviour himself gave them this title: "When morning came, he called his disciples to him and chose twelve of them, whom he also designated apostles." If it is asked why this name was chosen, it is perhaps enough to say that it was especially appropriate. It is given to those who were sent by Christ to perform a particular service, who were therefore correctly called "messengers." It is not necessary to resort for an explanation of the term to the fact that the Hebrew word for "messenger" was applied sometimes to the teachers and ministers of the synagogue and sometimes to plenipotentiaries sent by the Sanhedrin to execute some ecclesiastical commission.

The apostles, then, were Christ's direct messengers, appointed to bear testimony to what they had seen and heard. "And you also must testify," said Christ, speaking to the twelve, "for you have been with me from the beginning" (John 15:27). This was their special office; hence when Judas fell, Peter said, "It is necessary to choose one of the men who have been with us the whole time the Lord Jesus went in and out among us. ... For one of these must become a witness with us of his resurrection" (Acts 1:21-22). To be an apostle, therefore, it was necessary to have seen Christ after his resurrection (1 Corinthians 9:1) and to have had knowledge about his life and teachings from Christ himself. Without this no man could be a witness; he would only report what he had heard from others and could bear no independent testimony to what he himself had seen and heard. Christ, therefore, says to his disciples after his resurrection, "You will be my witnesses" (Acts 1:8), and the apostles accordingly constantly presented themselves in this way (Acts 2:32; 3:15; 13:31). "We are witnesses," said Peter, speaking of himself and his fellow-apostles, "of everything he did in the country of the Jews and in Jerusalem" (Acts 10:39).

When Paul was called to be an apostle, the Saviour said to him, "I have appeared to you to appoint you as a servant and as a witness of what you have seen of me and what I will show you" (Acts 26:16). Therefore we find that whenever Paul was called upon to defend his apostleship, he strenuously asserted that he was not appointed by man, but by Jesus Christ, and that his doctrines were neither received from man, nor was he taught them, but they came "by revelation from Jesus Christ" (Galatians 1:12).

Since the testimony which the apostles were to bear related to all that Jesus had taught them, it was through preaching the Gospel that they discharged their duty as witnesses. Hence Paul says, "Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel" (1 Corinthians 1:17). To the elders of Ephesus Paul said, "I consider my life worth nothing to me, if only I may finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me — the task of testifying to the gospel of God's grace" (Acts 20:24).

To give authority to this testimony the apostles were inspired, and as religious teachers were infallible (John 14:26 and 16:13). To confirm their mission, they had the power of working miracles (Matthew 10:8). They could communicate this power to others through the laying on of their hands (Acts 9:15, 17, 18; 19:6). This is what is meant by giving the Holy Spirit, for the apostles never claimed the power of communicating the sanctifying influence of the Spirit. Nor was the power to give the Spirit limited only to the apostles, for we read that Ananias, a disciple, was sent to Paul that Paul might receive the Holy Spirit (Acts 9:17).

The apostles seem also to have had the gift of "distinguishing between spirits" (1 Corinthians 12:10) and of forgiving sins (John 20:23). They ordained presbyters over the congregations which came together through their ministry (Acts 14:23) and exercised general jurisdiction over the churches (1 Corinthians 5:3-5; 2 Corinthians 10:6, 8, 11; 1 Timothy 1:20).

The apostles, therefore, were the direct messengers of Jesus Christ, sent to declare his Gospel, endued with the Holy Spirit, rendering them infallible as teachers and investing them with miraculous powers, and clothed with special prerogatives in the organization and government of the church.

It is in explanation of his apostolic office, and in the further assertion of his divine commission, that Paul adds, set apart for the gospel of God. The Greek word for "to set apart" means "to select from among others." It is used in this sense in Leviticus 20:24 and 26: "I am the Lord your God, who has set you apart from the nations." It has the same sense in Galatians 1:15: "God, who set me apart from birth"; that is, who singled me out, or chose me. It is obvious, therefore, that the apostle here refers to his appointment by God to his office. In Acts 13:2 it is said, "Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul," where a separation not to the ministry, much less to the apostleship, but to a special mission is referred to. Paul's designation to this office was neither of man, nor by man (Galatians 1:1). The words for the gospel express the purpose to which Paul was devoted when separated in this way from the mass of his brethren; it was to preach the Gospel. The divine origin of the Gospel is asserted in calling it the gospel of God. It is the joyful announcement which God makes to men of the pardon of sin, of restoration to his favor, of the renovation of their nature, of the resurrection of the body, and of eternal life.

2. He promised beforehand. This refers to the Gospel which Paul was sent to preach. It was the same system of grace and truth which from the beginning had been predicted and partially unfolded in the Old Testament. The reason why the apostle refers to that fact here was probably that one of the strongest proofs of the divine origin of the Gospel is found in the prophesies of the Old Testament. The advent, the character, the work, the kingdom of the Messiah are predicted there. Therefore it was from the Scriptures that the apostles reasoned in order to convince the people that Jesus is the Christ. They constantly refer to this connection between the two dispensations to substantiate their teachings. (See 3:21; 4:3; 9:27, 33; 10:11, 20 and compare Luke 24:44; John 12:16; Acts 10:43.)

Through his prophets in the Holy Scriptures. In Scripture the word prophets is applied to anyone who spoke by inspiration as the ambassador of God and the interpreter of his will. Here prophets includes all the Old Testament writers, whether prophets in the strict sense of the term or teachers or historians. Meyer insists that the line of the prophets begins with Samuel, according to Acts 3:24 ("all the prophets from Samuel on"), and therefore that the earlier writers of the Old Testament are not included here. But Moses was a prophet, and what is expressed here by the words his prophets is explained by the phrase "the Law and the Prophets" in 3:21.

By the Holy Scriptures, of course, we must understand those writings which the Jews regarded as holy because they dealt with holy things and because they were given by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.

3. Regarding his Son. These words should either be linked with the gospel or with he promised. The sense in either case is much the same. As most commentators and editors regard the second verse as a parenthesis, they of course adopt the former construction; but as there is no necessity for assuming any parenthesis, the natural grammatical connection is with he promised: the personal object of the ancient promises is the Son of God.

It is well known that in Scripture the designations given to our Lord are sometimes applied to him as a historical person, God and man, and sometimes exclusively to one or the other of the two natures, the divine and human, which enter into the constitution of the God-Man. Thus the term Son designates the Logos in all those passages in which he is spoken of as the Creator of all things; at other times it designates the incarnate Logos, as when it is said, "the Son sets you free" (John 8:36). Sometimes the same term is used in the same passage, referring first to the incarnate Word, and then to the Word as the second person of the Trinity. Thus in Hebrews 1:2 it is said, "he has spoken to us by his Son" (the historical person, Jesus Christ), "through whom" (the eternal Word) "he made the universe."

So here regarding his Son means the Son of God as clothed in our nature, the Word made flesh; but in the next clause, declared ... to be the Son of God (verse 4), the word Son designates the divine nature of Christ. In all cases, however, it is a designation implying participation in the divine nature. Christ is called the Son of God because he is consubstantial with the Father and therefore equal to him in power and glory. The term expresses the relation of the second to the first person in the Trinity, as it exists from eternity. It is therefore, as applied to Christ, not a term of office, nor an expression of any relation assumed in time. He was and is the Eternal Son.

This is proved from John 1:1-14, where the term "Son" is interchanged with "Word." It was the Son, therefore, who in the beginning was with God, who was God, who created all things, in whom was life, who is the light of men, who is by the side of the Father. In John 5:1731, Christ calls himself the Son of God in a sense which made him equal to the Father, having the same power, the same authority, and a right to the same honor. In John 10:29-42, Christ declares God to be his Father. His meaning here is that he is making himself God, one with the Father; and he vindicates his claim to this participation in the divine nature by appealing to his works.

In Colossians 1:13-17, he is said as Son to be the image of the invisible God, the exact copy and the revealer of the divine nature, the Creator of all things that are in heaven and in earth, visible and invisible.

In Hebrews 1:4-6, the title "Son" is adduced as proof that he is superior to the angels and entitled to their worship. He is therefore called God's own Son (8:32; compare the words "calling God his own Father" in John 5:18, "his own Son" in 8:3, "his one and only Son" in John 1:14, 18; 3:16, 18; 1 John 4:9). Hence giving, sending, not sparing this Son is said to be the highest conceivable evidence of the love of God (John 3:16; Romans 8:32; 1 John 4:9). The historical sense of the terms "Word," "image," "Son," "firstborn," as understood in the Scriptures and from their use in the apostolic age, shows that they must, in their application to Christ, be understood to refer to his divine nature.

Who as to his human nature was a descendant of David. As the Greek word translated descendant, derived from the verb "to have children," signifies "to begin to be, to come into existence," it is often used in reference to descent or birth ("born of a woman," Galatians 4:4; "You are her daughters," 1 Peter 3:6). The Old Testament predicted and the New Testament affirmed that the Messiah would come from the family of David (Isaiah 11:1; Jeremiah 23:5; Matthew 22:45; John 7:42; Acts 13:23).