We often overlook important truths when reading the opening and closing statements of Paul’s letters thinking, perhaps, they contain only formalities without much in the way of edifying content. But we would be mistaken to think this. The opening line of his letter to the Romans is a case in point: “Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God...” (Rom. 1:1). Here Paul asserts three things about himself: that he is a servant of Christ Jesus, that he is called to be an apostle, and that he had been set apart for the gospel of God.