Romans 1 is the first chapter of the Epistle to the Romans in the New Testament of the Christian Bible. It was authored by Paul the Apostle, while he was in Corinth in the mid-50s AD, with the help of an amanuensis (secretary), Tertius, who added his own greeting in Romans 16:22.
Acts 20:3 records that Paul stayed in Greece, probably Corinth, for three months. The letter is addressed "to all those in Rome who are loved by God and called to be saints".: English Standard Version
Historical context
The church in Rome had a unique historical background that influenced Paul's approach in this letter. Unlike many other churches Paul wrote to, the Roman church was not founded by him. The community of believers there had been established earlier, likely following the events of Pentecost, as visitors from Rome were present (Acts 2:10).
A significant event in the church's history was the expulsion of Jews from Rome under Emperor Claudius (mentioned in Acts 18:2). This decree, confirmed by the Roman historian Suetonius, temporarily altered the composition of the Roman church, leaving predominantly Gentile believers in leadership positions. Upon Claudius's death, Jewish Christians returned to Rome, potentially creating tension between the two groups - a situation that Paul addresses throughout the letter.
Text
The original text was written in Koine Greek. This chapter is divided into 32 verses.
Textual witnesses Some early manuscripts containing the text of this chapter in Koine Greek are:List of manuscripts „Fortsetzung der Liste der Handschriften“ Institut für Neutestamentliche Textforschung, Universität Münster. (PDF-file; 147 kB) Papyrus 40 (~250; extant verses 24–27, 31–32) Papyrus 10 (AD 316; extant verses 1–7)Grenfell, B. P.; Hunt, A. S., Oxyrhynchus Papyri II (1899), pp. 8–9. Codex Vaticanus (325–350) Codex Sinaiticus (330–360) Codex Alexandrinus (400–440) Codex Ephraemi Rescriptus (~450; extant verses 4–32) A later manuscript, Codex Boernerianus (probably ninth century) does not use the phrase ('in Rome'). In verse 7 this phrase was replaced by ('in love', Latin interlinear text – ), and in verse 15 the phrase is omitted from both the Greek and Latin texts.
Old Testament references Romans 1:17 quotes Habakkuk 2:4 Romans 1:23:
New Testament references Romans 1:1: Romans 1:17's quotation of Habakkuk 2:4 parallels the same quotation in Galatians 3:11 and Hebrews 10:38
Prescript (verses 1–7)
The letter is addressed "to all those in Rome who are loved by God and called to be saints", and not to "the church in Rome" as such. Protestant theologian Heinrich Meyer refers to "the collective Roman Christian church", whereas Methodist founder John Wesley suggested that the believers in Rome "were scattered up and down in that large city, and not yet reduced into the form of a church".Wesley's Notes on the Bible on Romans 1, accessed 1 September 2016
Verse 1 Paul, a bondservant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated to the gospel of God.: New King James Version Craig C. Hill notes that "the Pauline authorship of Romans is not in doubt". The reference to "the gospel of God" in this salutation is distinctive. The phrase appears again in Romans 15:16. William Sanday reflects that the ambiguous genitive, the gospel of God, seems to mean "the gospel which proceeds from God", or "of which God is the author", rather than "the gospel of which God is the object".Sanday, W. (1905), The Epistle to the Romans: Romans 1, accessed on 21 September 2024
Thanksgiving and occasion (verses 8–15) As with many of the Pauline epistles, Paul's first thoughts are of thanksgiving for the widespread reputation of the faith of the Roman Christians (later, in another epistle, Ignatius of Antioch praises the Church of Rome for never having been envious and for having instructed others) Ad Romans 3,1 then he expresses his longing to visit and minister to Rome.
Verse 8
Paul's thanksgivings in his epistles usually signal important themes in those letters, such as in this verse, he states his obligation to "proclaim the gospel" to the Romans 'as priestly service' (verse 9, cf. Romans 15:16, 15:25). The suggestion that the Roman believers' faith was proclaimed "throughout the whole world" is treated as hyperbole by both Meyer and Sanday. There is a similar expression in Paul's first letter to the Thessalonians, whose "faith in God has gone forth everywhere".: ESVPoole, M., Matthew Poole's Commentary on Romans 1, accessed on 23 September 2024
Verse 14 I am under obligation both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to the wise and to the foolish.: ESV Paul refers here to the Hellenistic division between Greeks and non-Greeks, spoken of as "barbarians", in place of the distinction between Jews and Gentiles, or Jews and Greeks, which is found elsewhere in his writings, including in verse 16 below. It is not clear whether the distinction between the "wise" and the "foolish" is intended to mirror the distinction between the Greeks and the barbarians, but in any case, Paul is clear that "the gospel transcends such distinctions".
The theme of the epistle (verses 16–17) In verses 16–17, Paul gives his description of the "gospel", which becomes the central theme (the keyword and the central motif) of the epistle, as well as a transition between the letter opening (1:1–15) and the body (1:18–15:13).
Verse 16
Verse 17
Romans 1:17 references Habakkuk 2:4 in the phrase "The just shall live by faith" ().Romans 1:17 in Greek. Biblehub.com The Septuagint of Habakkuk 2:4 has .Habakkuk 2 in Swete's Septuagint. Biblehub.com
The phrase comprising the last three Hebrew words of Habakkuk 2:4 ()Habakkuk 2:4 in Hebrew. Biblehub.com is cited in Greek three times in the New Testament, all in Pauline epistles – Romans 1:17; Galatians 3:11; and Hebrews 10:38 – "demonstrating its importance to the early church", asserted Dockery.Dockery, David S. "The Use of Hab. 2:4 in Rom. 1:17: Some Hermeneutical and Theological Considerations", Wesleyan Theological Journal 22, no. 2 (September 1, 1987): 24–36.
Moody Smith, Jr. showed that in Romans 1:17, by exegesis of Galatians 3:11 (also quoting Habakkuk 2:4), Paul took the with the verb not by the subject of the sentence, .Smith, D. Moody, Jr. "HO DE DIKAIOS EK PISTEOS ZESETAI". Second article in XXIX (Studies & Documents, ed. Jacob Geerlings), Studies in the History and Text of the New Testament in honor of Kennet Willis Clark, Boyd L. Daniels & M. Jack Suggs, eds., pp. 13-25. This is supported by Qumran interpretation of the text, as well as Paul's contemporaries and more recent commentators, such as Lightfoot.Lightfoot wrote: "I cannot doubt that ek pisteos is to be taken with zesetai; and not with ho dikaios". Lightfoot, J.B. Notes on the Epistles of St. Paul, Bibliolife. 2010. p. 250. .
God's wrath on the idolaters (verses 18–32) Verses 18–19 function as the "heading" for the exposition that runs to Romans 3:20, that God's wrath falls on all human beings who turn from God and do not follow the truth of God; a consistent picture of a just God who acts to judge sin in both the Old Testament and New Testament. Paul starts first with God's wrath that comes deservedly on the state religion of the Gentiles (20–32), drawn against the background of the fall of the first human beings in to sin.
Several scholars believe verses 18 to 32 (and chapter 2) are a non-Pauline interpolation, but this is a minority position.Percy Neale Harrison, Paulines and Pastorals (London: Villiers Publications, 1964), 80–85; Robert Martyr Hawkins, The Recovery of the Historical Paul (Nashville, TN: Vanderbilt University Press, 1943), 79-86; Alfred Firmin Loisy, The Origins of the New Testament (New Hyde Park, NY: University Books, 1962), 250; ibid., The Birth of the Christian Religion (New Hyde Park, NY: University Books, 1962), 363 n.21; Winsome Munro, Authority in Paul and Peter: The Identification of a Pastoral Stratum in the Pauline Corpus and 1 Peter, SNTSMS 45 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1983), 113; John C. O'Neill, Paul's Letter to the Romans (Harmondsworth: Penguin Books, 1975), 40-56; William O. Walker, Jr., "Romans 1.18–2.29: A Non-Pauline Interpolation?" New Testament Studies 45, no. 4 (1999): 533–52.
Verses 19–20
In verses 19–20, Paul writes about the "knowledge of God". This passage gives one of the important statements in the Bible relating to the concept of 'natural revelation': that other than revealing himself in Christ and in the Scriptures, God reveals himself to everyone through nature and history, and all human beings have the capacity to receive such revelation because they continue to bear the divine image. It echoes what Paul and Barnabas has said to a crowd in Lystra in Acts 14:16-17:
Divine abandonment terminology A significant feature in Romans 1:18-32 is the three occurrences of the phrase "God gave them up" (Greek: / paradidōmi) in verses 24, 26, and 28. This repetition creates a structural pattern that emphasizes the consequences of rejecting divine revelation. The term implies more than passive withdrawal; it suggests an active handing over to the natural consequences of human choices. This threefold repetition shows a progression in Paul's argument about the consequences of idolatry and rejection of God.
The consequences of rejecting God (verses 20–25) Paul begins to explain from verse 18 onwards why the "gospel" () is needed: it is to save humankind, both gentiles and Jews, from the wrath of God (). The wrath of God is explained by Meyer as "the affection of a personal God,[...] the love of the holy God (who is neither neutral nor one-sided in his affection) for all that is good in its energy as antagonistic to all that is evil".Meyer, H. A. W. (1880), Meyer's NT Commentary on Romans 1, accessed 4 September 2016
Verses 26–27
Commentators' attention has been given to verses 26–27 in relation to homosexuality. "gave them up" (also in verse 24; "gave them over" in verse 28) is from the Greek word , 'hand over', refers to more than a passive withholding of divine grace on God's part, but as God's reaction to the people who turning from the truth of God and his moral requirements, that is to "turn them over" their own gods and sinful ways as well as the consequences of it (verses 23, 25, 27). "the due", "which was meet" (KJV) or "was fitting" (King James 2000 Bible) (). Equivalent to "was due", which is better, though the word expresses a necessity in the nature of the case – that which must needs be as the consequence of violating the divine law.Vincent, Marvin R., Vincent's Word Studies in the New Testament, 1985. "penalty" or "recompense" (KJV) (); Greek concordance and lexicon define this word as: "a reward, recompense, retribution";Strong, J. The exhaustive concordance of the Bible: Showing every word of the text of the common English version of the canonical books, and every occurrence of each word in regular order. Ontario: Woodside Bible Fellowship. 1996. "remunerating, a reward given in compensation, requital, recompense; in a bad sense."Thayer, Joseph. Thayer's Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament: Coded with Strong's Concordance Numbers. Peabody: Hendrickson Publishers. 1995. .
Interpretation Verses 26–27 have been debated by 20th- and 21st-century interpreters as to its relevance today and as to what it actually prohibits.