ROMANS: GREETINGS

 GREETINGS

Passage: Rom. 1:1-7

Structure:

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

  B. 1:2-4, Son of God… Jesus Christ

A’. 1:5-6, Through whom we received grace and apostleship

  B’, 1:7, grace and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ

Important terms:

Paul – we know that his “birthname” was Saul (Acts 7:58), like the first king of Israel. Yet, at some point, he adopted the name/title Paul (Acts 13:1 to 13:13). Paul means “a little one.”    

Servant – the better translation is “slave.” Lit. “owned body and soul.” The term is used often for the dedicated personalities serving God (Moses – Josh. 1:2; Samuel – 1 Sam. 3:9-10; David – 2 Sam. 3:18; 7:5,8).    

Called – two important things to note: (1) Paul is called, not “became.” It is Jesus Christ who calls to the ministry or in apostleship. (2) The word “called” is related to the word “church” – those who are called out.    

Name is proclaimed among the nation for salvation (cp. 4:12). Jesus is the name that God presents Himself to the world (John 17: 6,11-12).

Grace is a gift (3:24), used in Romans 24 times.  

Peace – a part of a regular Jewish greeting – Peace be with you, Shalom aleichem. Paul successfully combines the grace from God that results in peace among the people.  

Commentary:

Gospel was promised beforehand by His prophets in the Holy Scriptures. This means that the OT is a great witness for the Gospel. It is an important skill to able explain life, ministry, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.   

Gospel was declared to be [the person of] the Son of God. Therefore, according to Paul the Gospel is not a set of propositions or theological statements, but the person of Jesus Christ. The main prove of the Gospel is His resurrection from the dead – victory over death that Adam brought into the world (5:12-14).    

In his discussion of the Son of God Paul sets juxtaposition of son of David and all nations. David was a king of Israel. Yet, it is through him God made a covenant promising that the God’s anointed will sit on the throne forever (2 Sam. 7). This Messianic King will be a blessing to all of the nations for the promise goes back to Abraham (Gen. 12:1-3).

Book of Concord:

1:3 – FC, SD VIII:37, in discussion of distinctive features of the person and the nature of Christ.

1:4 – FC, SD VIII:85, quoting Luther’s Treatise on the Last Words of David (LW 15:293-294), authors of the Formula of Concord reiterate the importance of identification of the human nature of Christ (not losing from sight His divine nature from the eternity). 

Hebrews

 Letter to Hebrews  

Title: The title “to Hebrews”, unlike many of Pauline letters, is taken from the traditional listings of the letters (at least by the second half of the II century AD by Clement of Alexandria). Yet, the text for sure was known earlier. Clement of Rome [who died in 96 AD] quotes the passages it the “letter.” The letter also is a conditional title. There is a final greeting (13:22-25), but there is none in the beginning of the letter, which is a strong sign against epistolary genre. I personal idea (IMHO): it was a presentation (13:22, exhortation) for the gathering of overseers/bishops (12:15) that later was distributed or sent to other regions (13:22 could be translated as “sent” not “written”).     

Date of writing: Nowhere else in the Bible we hear about the imprisonment of Timothy – it should happen after or during his deployment to Ephesus. On the other hand, it should be completed at least a couple of years before 70 AD, overwise the comparison with the sacrificial “current” system (9:25, notice the present tense) would not make any sense. Therefore, connecting the great anti-Roman revolt of 66-70 AD in Jerusalem with 12:4, the letter was written 67-68 AD.           

Structure: adapted (and improved) from TLSB, p. 2104:

A. 1:1-3a, Intro: Christ is the true and final revelation

  B. 1:3b – 10:18, Superiority of Jesus

a. 1:3b – 2:18, superiority over angels

b. 3:1 – 4:13, superiority over Moses

c. 4:14 – 7:28, superiority over priesthood, Jesus is new Melchizedek.

d. 8:1 – 10:18, superiority of His sacrifice

  B’. 10:19 – 13:19, Exhortation to Faithfulness

a. 10:19-39, invitation to faithfulness

  b. 11, OT examples of faithfulness

    c. 12:1-13, Jesus the faithful

  b’. 12:14 – 13:29, warning based on OT examples of disobedience

a’. 13:1-19, final exhortation   

A. 13:20-21, Final blessings

    C. 13:22-25, “Epistle” greeting attachment

Main themes: As one can see from the structure, there are two MAIN themes: superiority of Jesus and, based on the confidence of access to the holy place because of Him, exhortation to faithfulness.

Main Characters:

As presenters:	As characters:
author/presenter (I believe – St. Paul) Timothy, leaders, all the saints, Italians	Angels, Moses, Melchizedek, Aaron, priests, list of the OT saints (both man and women).

Reflection in other parts of the Bible: to understand and fully appreciate the Letter to Hebrews one needs to know:

Story of Creation (Gen. 1:1 – 2:3)

Angelic role in the world (Gen. 3:22-24; Ps. 8, 91; Job 1-2; Is. 6:1-6; Lk. 1:19, 2:13-15; 1 Cor. 6:3 etc.)

The story of Moses (Exodus, Numbers, Deuteronomy)

Structure of the OT liturgical system: priests, sacrifices, calendar etc.

Story of the Patriarchs (Gen. 11 – 50) 

There are many things that are good to know, but it’s too long of a list for us.

Lutheran teaching: It is a well-known fact that Luther had “suspicions” on place of the Epistle in the Canon of Scripture. Yet, holding his reservations to himself, Luther wrote on the author and the content of the Letter, “we should be satisfied with the doctrine that he [author] bases so constantly on Scripture. For discloses a firm grasp of the reading of the Scriptures and of the proper way of dealing with them” (LW 35:395).   

OT sacrificial system was transformed through the sacrifice of Christ. Pastors are not the mediators but the ministers of grace (AC XXIV:36).    

Lutheran hymnody:

LSB 834 – O God, O Lord of Heaven and Earth

LSB 520 – Stars of the Morning, So Gloriously Bright

Relevancy of the Book: The author shows with depth the superiority of Jesus as the Messiah over any created element of the world, be it angels, humans, rituals, or sacred space. He Himself created the world and paid the price to redeem the brokenness of the world. Now we are invited to enjoy the benefits of this redemption and follow His footsteps as the agents of the world’s transformation.       

Memory verses: 9:27 “As it is appointed for man to die once, and after that judgement comes”.