Paul, the Lord's Chosen Instrument to Write Romans, Part 2

Pastor/Teacher
John Farley
Friday,
September 25, 2009

So God was at work in the first century AD making sure everything got in place so this book of Romans would be written.

He prepared his chosen instrument Paul for his calling to proclaim the Gospel as the apostle to the Gentiles.

This is our introduction to the man who would eventually write the book of Romans.

But now he is still the chief of sinners, the sworn enemy of Christ and His Church, ultra-Jewish.

1TI 2:7 For this I was appointed a preacher and an apostle ( I am telling the truth, I am not lying) as a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and truth.

The first word in the book of Romans is “Paul”.

Here you have one of the most xenophobic (hates foreigners), legalistic (fixated on the rules and the letter of the law while ignoring the spirit of the law and the Lawgiver!) Jews who ever lived, who hated the Lord Jesus Christ, and tried to destroy the church.

Paul did a 180, and became the Apostle to the Gentiles and the greatest defender of the Gospel.

He takes Christians to make Christians.

He has chosen to get His word out one way and one way only: from one sinner to another.

We have to take stock of the marvelous way in which God prepared this particular man for his particular mission.

God’s mighty purpose was established when He inspired a man called Paul to write to believers in a city named Rome, write a book called the letter to the Romans.

We have to take stock of the marvelous way in which God prepared this particular man for his particular mission.

First of all, Paul was a super-genius.

Then you move from his natural endowments to his training and preparation in life.

First and foremost, Paul was a Jew. And not just any Jew. A Hebrew of Hebrews. In other words, pre-eminent among his fellow Jews.

Paul was trained as a Pharisee, and he had the greatest teacher that a Pharisee could have, Gamaliel.

Under Gamaliel’s instruction, Paul became an expert on the Jewish law, as it was taught and interpreted by the Pharisees.

Paul was an interpreter of the Mosaic Law. And his training as a Pharisee meant that he was a stickler for the letter of the law while ignored the spirit of the law and the Giver of the Law!

God also prepared Paul for his mission by having him be born and raised in the city of Tarsus.

Tarsus was one of three major centers of Greek culture at the time, Athens and Alexandria being the other two.

What’s notable is the fact that these were not among well-known poets at the time; these two were considered minor poets. We’re not talking Homer or Sophocles here.

Aratus was a Cilician, one of Paul’s own countrymen, and with his writings Paul was undoubtedly well acquainted, though he had flourished about 300 years before that time.

It was written by our friend William Cowper the poet we met earlier who became a believer after reading ROM 3:25.