Imagine writing to a family you have never met, in the great capital city, asking them to host you and help fund your next journey. You would introduce yourself carefully, and you would explain what you actually stand for. That is Romans. Paul has finally reached Corinth after the storm of the Corinthian letters. He is about to carry the collection to Jerusalem, and afterwards he hopes to visit Rome on his way to Spain. The believers there have heard rumours about him. So he writes the longest and most carefully argued of his letters — and he begins not with himself, but with the good news he says he is not ashamed of, and with the problem that makes it necessary.
Where it sits in the story: Act 5 — the church reaching the capital of the world. The gospel that began in Jerusalem is already in Rome, carried by unnamed believers; Paul did not found this church. Romans sets out the whole sweep of the Bible's story as Paul understands it: humanity turned from God, Israel's calling, Christ's death and resurrection, the Spirit, and the renewal of creation. Chapter 1 states the theme and begins with the first of those — the human turning away.
What this chapter is doing: To introduce Paul to the Roman believers, to state the letter's theme — God's saving righteousness revealed in the gospel for Jew and Gentile alike — and to begin showing why all humanity needs it.
- 1:1–7 — Paul greets them as a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle. The gospel was promised in the prophets and concerns God's Son, descended from David and declared Son of God in power by the resurrection.
- 1:8–15 — He thanks God that their faith is known everywhere, and tells them he has long wanted to visit so that they may strengthen each other. He is under obligation to all people, Greek and non-Greek, wise and foolish.
- 1:16–17 — The theme: Paul is not ashamed of the gospel, for it is God's power for salvation to everyone who believes, the Jew first and also the Greek. In it God's righteousness is revealed, from faith to faith; the righteous shall live by faith.
- 1:18–25 — God's wrath is revealed against human wickedness that suppresses the truth. God's power and nature have been plain in creation, yet people did not honour him; they exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images and worshipped created things.
- 1:26–32 — So God gave them over to what they desired. Paul names women and men exchanging natural sexual relations for relations with the same sex, then a long list — greed, envy, murder, deceit, gossip, arrogance, disobedience to parents, heartlessness — and those who approve of such things.
- Many churches — including the Roman Catholic, Orthodox and most evangelical traditions — read the passage as teaching that same-sex sexual acts as such are contrary to God's design, while calling for love and respect towards gay and lesbian people.
- Other Christians and scholars argue that Paul had in view particular ancient practices — excess, exploitation, relations tied to idol worship or between unequal partners — and that his idea of 'nature' did not address committed same-sex partnerships as known today; some churches bless such unions.
Key verse: Romans 1:16 · So what: Paul's opening is bold without being boastful: he believes this news can change anyone, from any background. His description of human wrongdoing is broad — it includes idolatry and sexual sins, but also gossip, envy and arrogance, which catch almost everyone. Readers who feel singled out by one line should know that the next chapter turns the same searchlight on the one doing the judging.