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Romans 1:2

— the gospel he promised beforehand through his prophets in the Holy Scriptures

Paul’s one sentence autobiography in v.1 ends with ‘…[I am] set apart for the gospel of God’. For further clarification of the gospel that he is talking about, Paul lets the readers know the gospel he is preaching is a fulfillment of the gospel that the prophets in the Old Testament were talking about. As a side note, the prophets Paul refers to are not just the ‘official’ prophets like Isaiah and Jeremiah, but include others like Moses and David.  As we’ll see further in Romans, Paul uses old testament scriptures regularly to give evidence for his arguments and teachings. ‘What is the exact gospel Paul is talking about?’ the Roman readers might be wondering. Well he’s about to spell out the gospel in vv. 3-5, so stay tuned for that.

But it might be an interesting exercise to look at what the ‘Holy Scriptures’ are that Paul is talking about. I’ve already referred to the Holy Scriptures as the Old Testament, but is that the same as what Paul was referencing?

Back in the early centuries AD, it is understood and believed by most scholars that Jesus and his followers used the Septuagint. The Septuagint (Also known as the LXX) was the first Greek translation of the Tanakh, or the Hebrew Bible. The Tanakh is estimated to have been definitely complete by 200BC and the Greek translation was completed very soon after. The Tanakh, although in a different order and the books are divided differently, the actual content between the Tanakh and our modern Old Testament hasn’t changed. Therefore we can be sure that the Holy Scirptures that Paul is referring to are the same as ours today, and we can read in confidence that Paul really is preaching the good news that he promised through the Old Testament men of God that we can read about for ourselves today.

ASK YOURSELF: Do I know the scriptures? Would I be able to stand up for my faith when challenged, with scriptural evidence for what I believe?

I pray that God will give me a passion for diving deeper into God’s word to learn more about him and the promises he had for his people, and the promises he has for me and my future.