June 22, 2020

Romans 1:1
Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated unto the gospel of God,
While quickly reading a text message, email, or letter it is easy to miss important details. When we do this important information is easily lost. The way to remedy this is to slow down and concentrate on what we are reading. The beginning of the book of Romans is often bypassed as a simple introduction, but it holds great meaning.
In Romans 1:1 Paul is addressing the groups of believers in Rome. These are not a unified church and they lack the scriptures to grow. To get them to listen to him he begins sharing to important things.
1. He was Humble
In this letter he tells them his name is Paul. Why is this important? Because Paul means little. He was recognizing he was not important. With all Paul had accomplished he could have become haughty, but he remained humble. The name Saul means “great.” It would be possible the believers in Rome could have heard of the fame of Saul. Saul was exceptional by the Jews standards. By using the name Paul, he was declaring he was a changed individual and that in his eyes he must diminish.
2. He was a Servant
During this time servants did not gain a great degree of respect. They were the lower level of society. They were obliged to do the bidding of another. Paul declares he is at the bidding of Jesus Christ. This tells the believers that this is not Paul’s letter but Christ’s.
In our society of self-promotion and self-serving attitudes three things are important as we try to reach others. The first is that we remain humble. Paul had to simply look at his past the remember what he had done against Christ to be humble. We all have sin in our past we can look at to realize we are far from perfect standard Christ set. Secondly, we need to remember the rank of servant is honorable to Christ. He humbled himself in the form a servant to set the example for us. He also told the disciples,
“Mark 10:44 And whosoever of you will be the chiefest, shall be servant of all.” Lastly it is important to remember the servant is at the bidding of his master. As believers it is our privilege to serve Almighty God. It’s important we make sure that we listen to Him to serve Him well.
Jacob Jarriel