Servant, sent, separated

Paul, a bondservant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated to the gospel of God – Romans 1.1

I like the fact that Romans follows Acts in our canon. I like it because we left Paul in Rome and we just read about when this letter was drafted. I don't know off the top of my head which letter was actually written first, but I like Romans being here.

In the header of his letter Paul sets out his qualifications to write the later.

He was a servant - a bond servant. A doulos. A slave.  One in permanent submission to another.

He was an apostle. An apostolos. One who was sent out. An ambassador.

He was separated to the gospel. As a Pharisee he was one who was set apart for the task of persecuting The Way. Now he was set apart to God. Later in this letter he talks about serving God with the same intensity as serving the flesh before salvation. He knew what he was talking about.

Now I, of course, realise that Paul held the office of apostle and that gave him apostolic authority to write this letter. But I think there is a principle here that still applies to all of us.

We need to remember that we are servants. We are bound to our new master for the rest of our lives. We too are sent out to proclaim the gospel of Christ. We too are set apart from the world to God’s work.

The question we have to ask ourselves is whether or not we are serving our new master, whether we are acting ambassadors for Christ, and whether or not we are living set apart to God’s service.

Or do we serve our old master, the flesh? Do we keep quiet and stay at home? Do we live like the rest of the world?

Could we write the same words Paul wrote?