The Preacher's Lectionary Notebook - Set Apart for a Promise Kept
The Fourth Sunday of Advent (Year A)
Romans 1:1–7 opens Paul’s longest and most theologically rich letter with a kind of overture, and tucked inside that overture are phrases that hum with Advent resonance. Paul introduces himself as “set apart for the gospel of God,” and that simple line pulls the reader into a story much older and larger than Paul’s own calling. To be set apart is not to withdraw from the world but to be caught up in God’s long, steady purpose—a purpose that has been unfolding since the earliest promises whispered through the prophets. In Advent, we are reminded that God has been weaving a redemptive plan through centuries, through families, through unexpected people, until the threads gather into the singular moment when Christ enters the world. So when Paul says he is set apart for this gospel, he stands as one more witness to the same steady hope that Advent trains hearts to expect.
Paul immediately grounds this gospel in history. It is not a new invention or a sudden spiritual insight; it is “promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy scriptures.” Advent is, at its core, the season that remembers those promises. Israel carried these promises like lanterns in the dark—Isaiah’s vision of a child born who would bear the government on his shoulders, Micah’s prophecy of a ruler coming from Bethlehem, the Psalms singing of a king from David’s line whose throne would endure forever. These promises kept hope alive during long nights of exile, disappointment, and silence. Paul steps into that story and says the gospel he proclaims—this good news he’s given his life to—is the fulfillment of those ancient words. Advent reminds the church that the arrival of Jesus wasn’t an accident or an improvisation. It was the culmination of a promise that God never abandoned.
Then Paul draws the focus even tighter—this gospel is “concerning his Son, who was descended from David according to the flesh.” Advent gathers around the mystery that the eternal Son enters history with a genealogy, with ancestors, with a family line that roots him in the earth. The promised Messiah wasn’t going to float down from heaven untouched by human life; he was going to come through David’s lineage, sharing the same frailty and particularity as any child born into the world. Paul’s phrase “according to the flesh” is not an aside—it is the heart of the incarnation. Advent invites reflection on a Messiah who grows within Mary’s womb, who carries the royal promise in the tiniest and most vulnerable form. The Son of God comes as the Son of David, fulfilling what God pledged generations before. It is quite an extraordinary thing that the God of the universe, to quote Stanley Hauerwas, “shows up in Mary's belly.”
In these opening verses, Paul is not simply introducing himself; he is situating the Roman believers—and the readers who come after them—inside the great sweep of God’s redemptive story. Advent provides the same perspective. The season looks back to promises kept and looks forward to promises yet to be fulfilled. Romans 1:1–7 anchors the beginning of Paul’s letter in that dual movement: a gospel rooted in ancient expectation and realized in the birth, life, and lordship of Jesus Christ, the Son given for the world.
FOR FURTHER REFLECTION
What does it mean today to be “set apart for the gospel of God,” and how might this calling shape the way believers enter the Advent season?
How do the prophetic promises of the Old Testament shape Christian hope during Advent, and in what ways does Paul’s emphasis on promise-fulfillment deepen understanding of Christ’s birth?
Why is Jesus’ descent from David “according to the flesh” essential to Paul’s gospel, and how does reflecting on Christ’s true humanity enrich Advent devotion and anticipation?