The letter begins, "Paul, a bond-servant of Christ Jesus," what a way to introduce yourself. I mean this is Paul we are talking about and by this time he already has some serious accomplishments under his belt (for a review of his presalvation list see Php 3:5,6). By this time, he is even on his second missionary journey and he was a major influence in the gospel explosion in Antioch (Ac 11:25,26) but Paul does not load himself up with titles as many of us likely would: Rev. Apostle Paul co-pastor of Antioch missionary to the Gentiles etc. He just calls himself a bond-servant of Christ Jesus. The word that is translated bond-servant is doulos. Doulos in the Greek culture of the day is often used to refer to the involuntary permanent service of a slave; in this context Paul was likely using it to describe a servant who had voluntarily committed himself to a master he loved and respected (see Ex 21:5,6; Ge 26:24; Nu 12:7; Gal 1:10; 2Sa 7:5; Is 53:11).
Next, "called as an Apostle," the word for called comes from the Greek kletos (pronounced klay-tos) which sometimes refers to the calling of God of all to believe in the Gospel of Jesus Christ for salvation (which is apart from God's election of people for salvation, but I digress) but is here used to refer to a call or divine appointment to a specific job; in this case to the office of Apostle.
The word Apostle comes from the Greek apostolos and means means one who is sent and is sometimes translated as messenger. The Apostles were something like official ambassadors of Jesus Christ; appointed by Him to speak on His behalf and like the prophets of the Old Testament they were given the power to perform miracles to establish their authority (Mt 10:1; 2Co 12:12). Every book in the New Testament was written by an Apostle or by someone who was a direct disciple of him. Paul was an Apostle selected by Christ while Paul was on his way to Damascus (Ac 9:4,15,16; 22:14; 26:16) and trained him to fulfill this ministry (Gal 1:12, 16), God had purposed him for this task even before he was born (Gal 1:15). Also he was specifically called for the mission field along with Barnabas (Ac 13:2). Even still, Paul never though himself worth of his calling and called himself the least among the Apostles (1Co 15:9).
The Next part is, "set apart for the gospel of God" the word for set apart is the Greek word aphorizo which is fairly strait forward (also aphorizo can refer to either set or apart) . Interestingly enough this is distinct from from the Greek word hagiazo which means to sanctify or dedicate something to holy use (which is also closely related to the Greek word for saint: hagios which could be roughly "one who is sanctified or set apart of holiness, but I digress, again). Aphorizo may mean a more general separation as opposed to hagiazo which always means to make holy, pure, and consecrated.
Euaggelion is the Greek word for Gospel --which means good news-- and was actually a frequently used word in the Roman world at the time. Commonly used as part of the Emperor worship of the day. Town heralds would use this word to proclaim important favorable news about the Emperor like the birth of a son or the successful conquest of a new land. In this instance Paul is announcing the good news of the work of God in Jesus Christ: the forgiveness from sin, the deliverance from sin's power, and promise of eternal life. The Gospel of Jesus Christ is both a gracious gift completely apart from anything we can do (see Eph 2:8,9) and a command to believe (Rom 10:9, John 3:14-21,36; etc.). God commands everyone everywhere to repent of their sin and believe the Gospel unto eternal life but also makes it quite clear that salvation is of the Lord and only those elect before the beginning of time will be saved. So is it God's responsibility or man's? I think the answer is yes. Of course we go into that more, but that is for another day.
I apologize, I know I said bite-sized chunks. I think however, if today's entry was any indication, we are going to need to learn to take bigger bites. Next time verse 2.
Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us,
But to Your name give glory
Because of your lovingkindness,
Because of your truth.
Amen
Amen
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