Romans 1:1-7

The Address is elaborate, for Paul is introducing himself to a strange community; and stately, as befits Christ's ambassador approaching the imperial city.

Romans 1:1 f., Romans 1:5 f. He is an apostle by (God's) calling not by his own will (1 Corinthians 9:16 f.) or human choice (Galatians 1:1)set apart to be a messenger of God's good news, which had been the burden of prophetic scriptures; his apostleship aims at bringing all the nations, amongst whom the Romans are conspicuous (cf. Romans 1:8), unto obedience of faith.

Romans 1:3 f. explains the good news: it is about Jesus Christ, who while He came of David's seed in the physical order, was first of all God's Son, marked out as such in accordance with His sinless character by the fact of His resurrection (cf. Acts 2:22; Acts 2:27).

Romans 1:6 f. Jesus Christ called the readers to salvation, making them God's beloved, and saints by the nature of their calling.Grace and apostleship (Romans 1:5) is not the grace of apostleship: all the grace Paul received looked toward his apostleship (see Galatians 1:15 f.). A small but representative group of ancient witnesses vouches for the reading: To all that are in God's love called to be saints (cf. Ephesians 1:1, mg.) a form of words differing from the TR but by a single Greek syllable beside Rome. Zahn (ZK and INT) prefers the shorter reading (cf. WH Appendix, and see Introd. § 4).