NOTE 1 AT ROMANS 1:1:

Out of the six Greek words for “servant” used in the New Testament,
Paul used one of the most slavish terms possible. The word used in
this verse is “DOULOS” and comes from the root word “DEO.” DEO
means “to bind” (Strong’s Concordance). So Paul is literally
speaking of himself as being a bondman or slave of Jesus Christ–a
slave by free choice yet owned and purchased by Jesus Christ (1
Corinthians 6:19-20).
The idea of being a love-slave by choice comes from Old Testament
passages such as Exodus 21:2-6 and Deuteronomy 15:12-17.
When Israelites bought Hebrew slaves, they had to set them free in
the seventh year. However, if the slaves loved their masters and
didn’t want to go free, then holes were bored through the lobes of
their ears, pronouncing them bond-slaves forever.
By the use of this word, Paul was declaring Jesus as his absolute
Master yet indicating the idea of his expression of love and free
choice to the one whom he served.
NOTE 2 AT ROMANS 1:1:
Notice that Paul spoke of his servitude to Christ before he
mentioned his apostleship. This reveals Paul’s priorities and
humility. These were key factors in his success.
NOTE 3 AT ROMANS 1:2:
The concept of the Gospel (see note 5 at Acts 20:24) was not new.
Galatians 3:8 says that the Lord preached the Gospel unto
Abraham. Also, Moses gave the conditions of the Gospel in
Deuteronomy 30:11-14. Paul quoted this passage in Romans 10:6-8
as he explained faith as the only condition to receiving God’s grace.
Jesus Himself said that the Law of Moses, the prophets, and the
psalms were full of prophecies concerning Him (Luke 24:44).
The Gospel was woven throughout the Old Testament scriptures.
Indeed, the job of the Old Testament Law was to “shut us up” or
constrain us toward the Gospel (Galatians 3:23). In this sense, there
is no conflict between the Old Testament Law and the New
Testament grace. The Old Testament ministry of Law was only
temporary (Galatians 3:19) until the Gospel could be put into effect
by the sacrifice of Jesus.
The conflict between Law and grace comes when people try to mix
the two. As Jesus described in His parables about the new wine in
the old wineskin and the new patch on the old garment (see note 1
at Luke 5:36), the two covenants are not compatible.
The Old Testament Law paved the way for the Gospel and pointed
people toward the Gospel. If the Law is used to point out people’s
need and bring them to their knees through hopelessness of self-
salvation, then the Gospel is used to provide salvation and
relationship; there is no conflict. Conflict arises only when people
refuse to use faith in God’s grace as the only means of salvation
and insist that some degree of devotion to Law is required for
justification (see note 2 at Luke 9:55 and note 1 at Luke 16:16).
NOTE 4 AT ROMANS 1:4:
The resurrection of Jesus from the dead is the greatest witness of
all to the validity of Jesus’ claims (see note 1 at Acts 1:3).
NOTE 5 AT ROMANS 1:5:
This is the first of 24 times the term “grace” is used in Paul’s epistle
to the Romans. The Greek word for “grace” is “CHARIS,” and
CHARIS is translated many different ways throughout the New
Testament. It is translated in the following ways: “acceptable,
benefit, favour, gift, grace(-ious), joy, liberality, pleasure, thank(-s,
-worthy)” (Strong’s Concordance). The most common way it is
translated is as “grace,” used 130 times in the New Testament.
According to Thayer’s Greek-English Lexicon, “the word ‘charis’
contains the idea of ‘kindness which bestows upon one what he has
not deserved’...the N.T. writers use ‘charis’ pre-eminently of that
kindness by which God bestows favors even upon the ill-deserving.”
Another form of the Greek word CHARIS is “CHARISMA,” and
CHARISMA is translated “(free) gift” (Strong’s Concordance). Vine’s
Expository Dictionary defines CHARISMA as “a gift of grace, a gift
involving grace (charis) on the part of God as the Donor.” In other
words, CHARISMA is a specific form or manifestation of the grace
of God. It is used to describe as free gifts the following:
righteousness (Romans 5:16-17), spiritual gifts (1 Corinthians
12:28-31 and Romans 12:6-8), eternal life (Romans 6:23), the five
ministry gifts (Ephesians 4:11), celibacy (1 Corinthians 7:7),
healings (1 Corinthians 12:9, 28, and 30), and miraculous
intervention (2 Corinthians 1:11).
NOTE 6 AT ROMANS 1:5:
The Greek word used here for “obedience” is “HUPAKOE,” and it
means “attentive hearkening, i.e. (by implication) compliance or
submission” (Strong’s Concordance).
Many times in the New Testament, faith and obedience are linked
together (Acts 6:7, Romans 16:26, James 2:14-22, and 1 Peter
1:21). This is because the origin and historical development of the
words “believe” and “obey” are closely related. What you believe is
what you will do.
If you really believed that the building you were in was on fire, you
would do something. Different people might do different things, but it
is inconceivable that anyone who really believed the building was on
fire would do nothing. The New Testament calls this a “work of faith”
(1 Thessalonians 1:2-3 and 2 Thessalonians 1:11). This is an action
corresponding to and induced by what a person believes. This
differs from a work of the Law in that works of the Law require no
faith and are works of one’s own resources without any reference
to, reliance on, or trust in God (Galatians 2:16, 3:12, 5:4; Romans
3:28, 4:15-16, and 9:30-32).
NOTE 7 AT ROMANS 1:6:
This verse states that we are “the called of Jesus Christ.” The next
verse (Romans 1:7) states to what Jesus has called us: He called
us to be saints (see note 5 at Acts 9:13). God’s grace has extended
the call (or invitation) to every person to become a saint through
salvation (Titus 2:11), but not everyone chooses to respond
positively to this call. If a person rejects God’s call, then God
chooses to reject that person (Luke 12:9 and 1 John 2:23), therefore
the statement of Matthew 22:14, “For many are called, but few are
chosen.”