Paul, a bondservant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated to the gospel of God (2) which He promised before through His prophets in the Holy Scriptures, (3) concerning His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, who was born of the seed of David according to the flesh, (4) and declared to be the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead.  (5) Through Him we have received grace and Apostleship for obedience to the faith among all nations for His name, (6) among whom you also are the called of Jesus Christ.  (7) To all who are in Rome, beloved of God, called to be saints:

The letter to the Romans was written by the Apostle Paul.  In our verses today, Paul begins with his personal testimony and then describes the gospel of God, and maintains that the gospel is for all nations – the Jew and the Gentiles –  and that it is the good news of salvation.  Paul was saved by grace unmerited by works.  He was a Hebrew of Hebrews, a Pharisee (thoroughly educated in the Old Testament), a Rabbi.  He was a former persecutor of Christians who was called by God to become the total opposite; to become the servant of Christ and the apostle to the Gentiles.

The gospel comes from God; Paul’s message comes out of the Old Testament scriptures – he didn’t make it up. Salvation was promised in Genesis right after the fall – 3:15:  And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel.  Paul writes that Jesus is God’s eternal Son and was born of the seed of David as prophesied, in the likeness of sinful flesh but did not share in our sinfulness.  Paul doesn’t mention Jesus death in these opening lines of Romans – this is implicit in the doctrine of the Resurrection.  The gospel centers on the person of the Son of God who existed eternally and Jesus Christ is God’s Son.  He came to save us from our sin – the gospel is not primarily about us but it is from God and about God.

Salvation is from God and the gospel tells us how God intervened in human history.  The faithful have a new standing in Christ and a fundamental break with the world. Those beloved saints of God in Romans refers to ALL believers – those set apart not because of good deeds but set apart for good deeds – for God. And all this in the first seven verses of Romans.

All religions except for Christianity can exist without the person or teacher of that religion. Christianity is not a teaching of Christ, it is Christ.