7 To all that are in Rome, beloved of God, called `to be' saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
8 First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all, that your faith is proclaimed throughout the whole world.
9 For God is my witness, whom I serve in my spirit in the gospel of his Son, how unceasingly I make mention of you, always in my prayers
10 making request, if by any means now at length I may be prospered by the will of God to come unto you.
11 For I long to see you, that I may impart unto you some spiritual gift, to the end ye may be established;
12 that is, that I with you may be comforted in you, each of us by the other's faith, both yours and mine.
13 And I would not have you ignorant, brethren, that oftentimes I purposed to come unto you (and was hindered hitherto), that I might have some fruit in you also, even as in the rest of the Gentiles.
14 I am debtor both to Greeks and to Barbarians, both to the wise and to the foolish.
15 So, as much as in me is, I am ready to preach the gospel to you also that are in Rome.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Romans 1
Commentary on Romans 1 Matthew Henry Commentary
Chapter 1
In this chapter we may observe,
Rom 1:1-7
In this paragraph we have,
Rom 1:8-15
We may here observe,
Rom 1:16-18
Paul here enters upon a large discourse of justification, in the latter part of this chapter laying down his thesis, and, in order to the proof of it, describing the deplorable condition of the Gentile world. His transition is very handsome, and like an orator: he was ready to preach the gospel at Rome, though a place where the gospel was run down by those that called themselves the wits; for, saith he, I am not ashamed of it, v. 16. There is a great deal in the gospel which such a man as Paul might be tempted to be ashamed of, especially that he whose gospel it is was a man hanged upon a tree, that the doctrine of it was plain, had little in it to set it off among scholars, the professors of it were mean and despised, and every where spoken against; yet Paul was not ashamed to own it. I reckon him a Christian indeed that is neither ashamed of the gospel nor a shame to it. The reason of this bold profession, taken from the nature and excellency of the gospel, introduces his dissertation.
Rom 1:19-32
In this last part of the chapter the apostle applies what he had said particularly to the Gentile world, in which we may observe,
Now lay all this together, and then say whether the Gentile world, lying under so much guilt and corruption, could be justified before God by any works of their own.