Romans: A Pentecostal Commentary

By Dr. Matthew N.O. Sadiku

Every serious student of the Bible desires to understand the holy text, discover biblical principles, and apply the truths to his or her life. Romans: A Pentecostal Commentary, by Christian author Dr. Matthew N. O. Sadiku, is designed to help students, pastors, and Bible teachers understand the book of Romans in a clear and simple manner.

Working from the popular New International Version (NIV), Dr. Sadiku provides helpful, verse-by-verse commentary for the book of Romans in a straightforward, simple style. Because the approach is uniquely Pentecostal, Dr. Sadiku adheres to the doctrine of biblical inerrancy and adopts a literalist approach to the interpretation of this biblical text.

Romans is considered by many to be one of the most important books in the Bible, as well as the most transformative; it was used as the battle cry of Martin Luther against legalism and superstition during the Reformation. Dr. Sadiku explores new theories on Pauls letters to the Romans and supports his interpretations with historical and cultural background information from the Scriptures and outside sources. Dr. Sadiku also shares some of the blessings and lessons learned from his study.

More than a commentary, this engaging text will deepen your understanding of Romans and Christ himself.

• Language: English
• Publisher: iUniverse
• Release date: Sep 27, 2011
• ISBN: 9781462042449

Dr. Matthew N.O. Sadiku

MATTHEW N.O. SADIKU is a professor at Prairie View A & M University, Prairie View, Texas. Before joining Prairie View, he taught at Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton and Temple University, Philadelphia. He is the author of over 450 professional articles and over 70 books including Secrets of Successful Marriages, How to Discover God’s Will for Your Life., and commentaries on all the books in the New Testament. His books are used worldwide, and some of them have been translated into French, Portuguese, Korean, Chinese, Italian, and Spanish. He can be reached via email at [e-mail]

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Contents

ABBREVIATIONS

Other books by the same author

PREFACE

INTRODUCTION

PART 1

CHAPTER 1

GREETING

CHAPTER 2

PAUL’S MOTIVATION

CHAPTER 3

GENTILES: GUILTY BEFORE GOD

CHAPTER 4

RESULTS OF

GENTILE GUILT

CHAPTER 5

GOD’S PRINCIPLES OF JUDGMENT

CHAPTER 6

JEWS: GUILTY BEFORE GOD

CHAPTER 7

ADVANTAGES OF

THE JEWS

CHAPTER 8

THE WORLD: GUILTY BEFORE GOD

CHAPTER 9

RIGHTEOUSNESS THROUGH FAITH

PART 2

CHAPTER 10

ABRAHAM JUSTIFIED BY FAITH

CHAPTER 11

GOD REWARDED ABRAHAM’S FAITH

CHAPTER 12

THE BLESSINGS OF JUSTIFICATION

CHAPTER 13

RIGHTEOUSNESS IN CHIRST AND CONDEMNATION IN ADAM

CHAPTER 14

FREEDOM FROM SIN

CHAPTER 15

THE SLAVES TO RIGHTEOUSNESS

CHAPTER 16

AN ILLUSTRATION FROM MARRIAGE

CHAPTER 17

STRUGGLING WITH SIN

CHAPTER 18

LIBERATION BY THE SPIRIT

CHAPTER 19

THREE GROANS

CHAPTER 20

THE SUPERCONQUERORS

PART 3

CHAPTER 21

SOVEREIGN CHOICE—Part I

CHAPTER 22

SOVEREIGN CHOICE—Part 2

CHAPTER 23

ISRAEL REJECTS CHRIST

CHAPTER 24

ISRAEL REJECTS THE PROPHETS

CHAPTER 25

THE REMNANT OF ISRAEL

CHAPTER 26

THE TEMPORARY REJECTION OF THE JEWS

CHAPTER 27

ISRAEL’S FUTURE SALVATION

PART 4

CHAPTER 28

RESPONSIBILITIES TO GOD AND THE CHURCH

CHAPTER 29

RESPONSIBILITIES TO THE CHURCH AND SOCIETY

CHAPTER 30

RESPONSIBILITIES TO HUMAN GOVERNMENT

CHAPTER 31

RESPONSIBILITIES TOWARD NEIGHBORS

CHAPTER 32

THE CHRISTIAN LIBERTY

CHAPTER 33

THE RESPONSIBILITIES OF THE STRONG

CHAPTER 34

CHRIST OUR EXAMPLE

CHAPTER 35

THE MINISTRY

OF PAUL

CHAPTER 36

PAUL’S PLANS

CHAPTER 37

COMMENDATION AND GREETINGS

CHAPTER 38

CONCLUSION

SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY

ABBREVIATIONS

AB      Amplified Bible

cf.        confer, compare

ibid      ibidem, in the same place

KJV     King James Version

LXX    Septuagint, the OT in Greek

NASB  New American Standard Bible

NIV      New International Version

NKJV   New King James Version

NLT     New Living Translation

NRSV   New Revised Standard Version

NT        New Testament

OT       Old Testament

RSV      Revised Standard Version

TLB      The Living Bible

v., vs.     verse, verses

Other books by the same author

Secrets of Successful Marriages

How to Discover God’s Will for Your Life

Wisdom: Your Key to Success

Ephesians: A Pentecostal Commentary

To my half brothers

Michael (Bako) and Joseph (Leke).

PREFACE

In spite of the fact that Bible has the best-seller reputation, an average Christian is ignorant about it. Many adult church members are of the opinion that Bible study is for children and preachers. I believe that every Christian have the responsibility to read and seek to understand the Bible himself or herself.

Earnest Christians are hungry for information that makes the Bible come alive. The Christian life can be described as getting to know God better every day. Every Christian should regularly—daily—read the Word of God. We should find time for quiet time or personal devotions. The reason we have so many unpleasant days is that we do not spend time with God. We must spend time with God if we want His blessings on our lives and we want to hear from Him.

For over 20 years I have been using commentaries in my devotions. The blessings derived from the commentaries are overwhelming. I am writing this commentary to share some of those blessings and lessons I have learned over the years.

This commentary provides verse-by-verse exposition and application on the book of Romans. It is not just a work of reference, but a devotional literature. It is different from others in two respects. First, it is brief while some commentaries are wordy and verbose. This commentary does not delve into critical and exegetical details. Therefore, the limits of this commentary forbid that we consider all the views concerning any issue, but an attempt will be made to provide a brief, sound, yet scholarly, view. Second, it is Pentecostal in outlook. This implies that we generally adhere to the doctrine of biblical inerrancy and adopt a literalist approach to the interpretation of the Bible. Pentecostal doctrines include speaking in tongues, gifts of the Holy Spirit, signs and wonders, divine inspiration, divine healing, Christian prophets and apostles today, to mention but a few.

In order to provide a readable text, this commentary is based on the New International Version (NIV) translation, which is one of the most widely used translations. The commentary is for laymen, pastors, teachers, and students of the Word. It is designed to enrich your quiet time or personal study by making the commentary clear and simple. It is my prayer that this commentary brings you both delight and insight in understanding the Word of God.

Sir Isaac Newton once said, If I have seen further than other men, it is because I have stood on the shoulder of giants. I am most grateful to many authors whose works I have drawn from, as evident from the footnotes and Selected Bibliography. They are the giants on whose shoulder I stood while working on this project. In all I read twenty-five or so commentaries before writing this one.

I am grateful to the Inter-Library loan department at Prairie View A&M University for their service. It is my pleasure and honor to thank Dr. Stephen Akintoye, Dr. Bayo Oyebade, and Dr. David Momoh for reading of the manuscript and providing suggestions for improvement. I express my profound gratitude to Kathie Scriven for copyediting the book. Special thanks are due to my daughter Joyce for drawing the figures. I cannot thank my wife, Kike, enough for her support.

INTRODUCTION

The Bible was mainly written to transform lives. No book in history has transformed as many lives as the Bible has. The Bible consists of sixty-six books. Most Bible scholars would agree that if there is any book, out of the sixty-six, which has transformed lives more than any other, it is certainly the book of Romans. For example, Aurelius Augustine, upon reading a short passage in Romans received Jesus as Lord and later became one of the church’s outstanding theologians. Over a thousand years later, Martin Luther said that Romans is the chief part of the New Testament and the very purest gospel.

It was the book of the Reformation era, the battle cry of Martin Luther against legalism and superstition. Again, John Wesley was converted based on hearing Luther’s Preface to Roman read. So it is commonly agreed that Romans is one of the greatest Christian writings. In Romans, we have the closest thing to a systematic theology.

Before we start on our journey through this book, we should first consider some preliminary matters—authorship, church at Rome, and the message—concerning this letter.

Authorship

The writer of Romans identifies himself as Paul, the apostle (1:1). No serious scholar today disputes that Paul wrote the book of Romans. The few who doubt have not been able to convince many that their objections have weight. Romans should be taken as Paul’s letter dictated to Tertius (16:22). It is possibly Paul’s last letter, sent from Corinth before his final missionary journey to Jerusalem. Paul was chosen to write perhaps the greatest book in the Bible. So Roman is regarded as the gospel according to Paul. It is also regarded as the last will and testament of Paul.

Paul means little, in contrast to his former name Saul, which means asked or prayed for. We know for sure that Paul was a Jew and was born in Tarsus, a city about 700 miles north of Jerusalem and the capital of the Roman province of Cilicia (Acts 22:3). Paul’s father was a Jew who migrated to Tarsus. He was a Pharisee. His son Paul was raised a Pharisee (Acts 23:6). Therefore, Paul was born a Roman citizen, not a naturalized citizen. As a Jew, Paul learned the OT, the law, and the traditions. As a Greek, he received typical Greek education comprising music, history, religion, philosophy, poetry, and science. Roman culture, Jewish culture, and Greek culture—all summed up in this one man and prepared him to write one of the greatest books of the Bible.

Paul’s encounter with the Lord on his way to Damascus included his commissioning to serve as an apostle to the Gentiles. Some have said that Romans is the last will and testament of Paul. Paul wrote the book of Romans at Corinth during his third missionary journey. He did that just before he traveled to Jerusalem. When he wrote Romans, Paul had completed collecting the fund for the church at Jerusalem (Romans 15:26-28). Paul was martyred by Nero in AD 65 or 66. He was under arrest house arrest some years prior to the writing of Romans. In all probability, this may indicate that he wrote Romans in early AD 57.

The Church at Rome

The city of Rome was the capital of the vast Roman empire of that day, which stretched from Britain to Arabia. In Paul’s day, Rome was the largest city in the world, with about one million residents. As people used to say, All roads lead to Rome. From Rome, Paul could reach the world. I must see Rome, Paul said.

Who founded the Roman church? According to the Roman Catholic church, Peter founded the church in Rome and was the first pope. The protestants do not believe this claim for many reasons. First, Luke, a careful historian, did not record in Acts that Peter founded the church at Rome. Second, Paul’s ambition was to preach the gospel where it had never been preached before (Romans 15:20). Paul was unlikely to have gone to Rome if Peter had been there. Third, in Romans 16 where Paul greeted 27 men by name, he never mentioned Peter. Fourth, Peter’s primary responsibility or ministry was to the Jews and Rome was a Gentile city. Finally, there is no record that Peter settled in one place.

If Peter did not found the church at Rome, how was it founded? We can safely assume that the church was not planted by an apostle. Perhaps the visitors from Rome who were converted at Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2:10) went back home with their new faith. If so, it shows how the Holy Spirit can use ordinary believers to plant churches. The church at Rome was made up of both Jews and Gentiles, with Gentile Christians in the majority.

The Message

Romans is one of the pivotal books in the NT. It has been called the Christian manifesto. It has traditionally been understood as a representation of Pauline theology. The epistle quotes the OT some 57 times, more than any other NT book. It uses key word—God 154 times, law 77 times, Christ 66 times, sin 45 times, Lord 44 times, and faith 40 times.¹

Paul wrote Romans for at least three reasons. First, he wrote the believers in Rome to inform them of his imminent visit there. He planned to stop at Rome on his way to Spain.

He sent the epistle ahead by way of preparation for his visit and to demonstrate his worthiness of their missionary support. Second, Paul wrote to furnish the church at Rome with a comprehensive manifesto of the Christian faith. Third, Paul wrote to meet certain needs in the church. One of these needs was to resolve the conflict between the Jews and Gentiles in the church in Rome.

Paul wrote to furnish believers in Rome on the doctrine of justification by faith and its attendant implications for Christian living in a systematic fashion. We can summarize the letter as follows:²

*    Sin (1:18-3:20): All human beings are guilty before God and deserve the penalty of eternal death.

*    Salvation (3:21-5:21): Salvation is available to all and comes through faith in Christ and Christ alone—not by works.

*    Spiritual growth (6:1-8:17): The day-to-day struggles of life help us to mature and grow in faith.

*    Sovereignty (8:18-11:36): We belong to the Sovereignty of the universe, who is working in all things for our good and His glory.

*    Service (12:1-15:13): We need to serve God and other members of the Christian community.

Paul should be regarded as a missionary and evangelist, and only secondarily a theologian. As the specially-selected apostle to the Gentiles, his great yearning for them was that they glorify God in their lives. As Stuart Briscoe well said, More than any of us will ever realize, our lives have been touched and transformed not only by the Son of God, but also through the Pharisee, the proud son of Tarsus.³ However, we dare not glory in a man, not even in Paul.

NOTES

1.    J. MacArthur, Romans 1-8: The MacArthur New Testament Commentary (Chicago, IL: Moody Publishers, 1991), p. xi.

2.    B. B. Barton, D. R. Veerman, and N. Wilson, Romans—Life Application Bible Commentary (Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, 1992), pp. xx-xxvi.

3.    D. S. Briscoe, Romans—The Communicator’s Commentary (Waco, TX: Word Books, 1982), pp. 23-24.

SKU-000203182_TEXT.pdf

A map showing the Roman empire

PART 1

Revelation of God’s Righteousness

Romans 1:1-3:31

CHAPTER 1

GREETING

Romans 1:1-7

The Author

Verse 1a: Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle

The first seven verses are one complex sentence in Greek.

The seven verses will be treated in this chapter.

1a Greetings are very important in most cultures. For example, Africans regard someone who does not greet them as rude. Paul takes the time to greet his readers in a manner that communicates both his love and care for them. His greetings in this epistle are longer and more lofty than those in his other epistles.

Paul was originally known as Saul (Acts 7:58). He was a Jew, from the tribe of Benjamin (Philippians 3:5) and may have been named after Saul, the first king of Israel. Saul is a Hebrew name which means prayed or asked for. Paul is a fully Romanized name (meaning small or little) which is perhaps reflective of his self-designation as the least of the apostles. The Lion of the tribe of Judah had cut him down to size. The change in name from Saul to Paul is mentioned in Acts 13:9.

Saul of Tarsus became Paul, the bond servant or slave (doulos in Greek) of Christ Jesus. Referring to Jesus Christ four times in the first seven verses indicates the centrality of Christ in Paul’s mindset. The word translated servant means slave, indicating one who is subject to the will and wholly at the disposal of the master. A slave was a piece of property, not a person. In loving devotion, Paul enslaved himself to Christ. As a servant/slave of Jesus Christ, Paul realized that he had been bought with a price (the blood of Jesus) and was living totally for His Master. By calling himself the servant of Christ, Paul shows that the authority he exercises is a derived one. He has committed himself to total subjection, obedience, and devotion to his Master.

In the OT, the designation servant of the Lord was used for prominent figures such as Abraham (Genesis 26:24), Moses (Joshua 1:2), Joshua (Joshua 24:29), David (2 Samuel 7:5), and Isaiah (Isaiah 20:3). No matter what position we find ourselves in—farmer, pastor, teacher, professor, physician, carpenter, worker, president—we must see ourselves first as servants of Christ. For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many (Mark 10:45).

Paul was more than a servant of Christ; he was an apostle. Paul saw himself uniquely as the apostle to the Gentiles. He was set apart for this very purpose. An apostle (apostolos in Greek) is one who is sent. It is what we would call a missionary or an ambassador sent out by his native country.

In the Bible, the word apostle is used in two different ways. First, it refers to each of the twelve apostles that Jesus called. To be an apostle in this sense, one must have been with the Lord in His earthly ministry and witnessed His resurrection. Second, there are apostles besides the Twelve who were not with Jesus in His earthly ministry. These include Paul, Barnabas (Acts 14:4,14), Matthias (Acts 1:26), James (the Lord’s brother) (Galatians 1:19), Timothy and Silvanus (1 Thessalonians 1:1, 2:6).

Paul’s reference to his apostleship served two purposes. First, it identified him as one on a commission from the Lord and one representing Him. In other words, he wanted to show that he was sent by Jesus. Second, it showed his authority to speak as a leader. This is particularly more necessary since Paul had never visited the church in Rome.

Gospel of God

Verses 1b-4: 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.

1b Paul was not just a servant of Christ and an apostle, he was set apart and sent to preach the gospel of God. He was separated from his mother’s womb (Galatians 1:15) to do this. Just like Paul, Jacob, Samson, Jeremiah, and John the Baptist were separated before birth to an appointed calling. As Kent Hughes rightly said, A Pharisee set himself apart for the Law, but God set Paul apart for the gospel.¹ The gospel of God is the gospel of His Son. The apostles did not invent it. It was revealed to them by God. The gospel is good news—those in the dark see a marvelous light and those who are in sin receive righteousness. The central thrust of the gospel is Jesus Christ our Lord. It is a message with power that brings people to salvation.

2 The good news Paul preaches is not an afterthought of God. It was promised long ago by God. Thus it is really old news that was anticipated in the Hebrew Scriptures, now fulfilled and completed in Jesus. The promise made to Abraham is now a reality. The gospel is deeply rooted in the OT. Paul demonstrates this fact by quoting constantly from the OT. He made 61 OT quotations in Romans. According to Alva McClain, He quotes from Genesis five times; Exodus, four times; Leviticus, twice; Deuteronomy, five ; 1 Kings, twice; Psalm, fifteen times; Proverbs, twice; Isaiah, nineteen times; Ezekiel, once; Hosea, twice; Joel, once; Nahum, once; Habakkuk, once; Malachi, once.² In the OT, God promised that a David’s descendant would have eternal reign (2 Samuel 7:12-13). The prophets foresaw God’s saving intervention on behalf of His people. What the prophets wrote became the Holy Scripture.

For example, Isaiah said: You who bring good tidings to Zion, go up on a high mountain. You who bring good tidings to Jerusalem, lift up your voice with a shout, lift it up, do not be afraid; say to the towns of Judah, ‘Here is your God’ (Isaiah 40:9). The fact that Paul was able to show his critics that the gospel was promised beforehand in the OT served to establish the credibility of both the message and the messenger.

3 The gospel concerns the Son of God, Jesus Christ our Lord. He is the object and the focus of the gospel. According to the flesh, Jesus was of the seed of David. Jesus could not be a Roman or Greek. He could not be a Jew from the tribe of Benjamin, like Paul. He must be from the line of David to fulfill prophecy. Mary (Jesus’ natural mother) and Joseph (Jesus’ legal father) were both descendants of David. The NT begins and ends with a reference to Jesus Christ as the son of David (Matthew 1:1; Revelation 22:16).

According to His human nature, Jesus was a descendant of David. He was born into the royal family line of King David. This is in keeping with the OT promise that a descendant of David would have an eternal reign (2 Samuel 7:12-16). Paul is identifying Jesus as the one ultimately fulfilling this promise. John Phillips well said, Romans is the gospel according to Paul.³

4 According to His divine nature, Jesus was shown to be the Son of God when He was raised from the dead by the Spirit of holiness; that is, the Holy Spirit. In other words, the resurrection declares Him to be what He is—the Son of God—which identifies Him as deity.

The good news of God centered on the person and work of the One whom Paul delighted to call Jesus Christ our Lord. This is the full name of our Lord which is used 10 times in this epistle. It denotes the fact that He is both human and divine. Jesus speaks of His humanity; He is the Savior. Christ speaks of His Messianic office; He is the Anointed One. Lord speaks of His right to rule all things and all people; He is the Lord Jehovah. Jesus is our Lord and Master. He reigns over us. We are His subjects. We are duty bound to own Him as both Lord and Christ.

Paul’s Commission

Verse 5: Through 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.

5 Now Paul gives more details about his ministry. First, he ministers through the strength which Christ provides. Second, he ministers for his name’s sake. In addition, Paul mentions two important provisions of the gospel: conversion, which is through God’s grace, and vocation, which in Paul’s case was apostleship. Paul was made an apostle to the Gentiles just as Peter was the apostle to the Jews. Paul saw his ministry primarily to the Gentiles. He was the first missionary of the church.

Personal grace must come before true service. Wherever Paul went, his objective was the same—to bring people to obedience that comes from faith (NIV) or obedient of faith (RSV). John MacArthur well said, Faith and obedience manifest the inseparable two sides of the coin of salvation, which Paul here calls the obedience of faith.⁴ Obedience is the true measure of faith. Faith is the proper response to the gospel message. It always leads to obedience to Christ. True faith is verified in obedience. Like Paul, we are saved to witness for Christ and do good works.

John Stott sums up the gospel by saying, Its origin is God the Father and its substance Jesus Christ the Son. Its attestation is Old Testament Scripture and its scope all the nations. Our immediate purpose in proclaiming it is to bring people to the obedience of faith, but our ultimate goal is the greater glory of the name of Jesus Christ.⁵

Salutation

Verses 6-7: And 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.

6 Being called to belong to Jesus is the greatest invitation ever given. The Roman believers have responded to that invitation and now belong to the community of faith. They are included in God’s