This Sunday we took our first steps into what will likely be a very lengthy journey in the book of Romans, taking a birds-eye view of Paul’s letter to the church in Rome. This is Paul’s most expansive treatise of the Gospel and what it meant for the Christians of his day, and by extension what it means for us now. We considered the political, social, and religious landscape of the city of Rome at the time and how those things informed Paul’s message to the believers there, while keeping our eye on the main goals of the letter – to encourage the church with this overarching truth: God justifies guilty, condemned sinners by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone. The first 11 chapters of his letter are focused on the theological implications and underpinnings of this statement, and chapters 12-16 are grounded in the practical applications of those truths.
One major aspect of Romans is Paul’s assertion that not only is the Gospel for all people – including the Gentiles as well as the Jews – more than that, in Christ we are all equal. The Gospel of Jesus creates a unity that removes all divisions; whether they be of color, of race, of background, of status, of heritage, of wealth – all human-based barriers between people are erased by the incredible truth of the Gospel. This was a crucial idea in Paul’s day, as there were huge divisions between Jews and Gentiles – not just the longstanding, deeply-seated contempt of non-Jews by the Jewish population, but also due to recent events of the time. Romans was written in 56-57 AD, and a few years before this in 49 AD the Roman emperor Claudius expelled all Jews and Christians from the city – however, in 54 AD Claudius died and these exilic laws were softened, allowing both Jews and Christians to return to the city. What this meant was that in those ensuing years, Christians and Jews began to be viewed as two separate groups when they had previously been sort of all lumped together by the Roman government. This created an atmosphere where divisions between Jews and Christians could be deepened even further, and Paul recognizes this danger. He writes in chapter 3, verses 9-10: “What shall we conclude then? Do we have any advantage? Not at all! For we have already made the charge that Jews and Gentiles alike are all under the power of sin. As it is written: “There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands…” He then goes on to write in verses 22-23: “…this righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” Paul is driving home the point here that in Christ, all are equal – because we are all under the same curse of sin, and we are all equally in need of a Savior. It could be argued that Jews did in fact have an advantage based on their upbringing and knowledge of the Old Testament scriptures, but without a proper understanding of the Messianic prophecies pointing to Jesus, it was all for naught.
We considered how the very end of the letter closely reflect the very beginning – both chapter 1 and chapter 16 contain very similar statements regarding the grace given by God to His people and the reasons it is given. We actually began our study on Sunday with 16:25-27: “Now to him who is able to establish you in accordance with my gospel, the message I proclaim about Jesus Christ, in keeping with the revelation of the mystery hidden for long ages past, but now revealed and made known through the prophetic writings by the command of the eternal God, so that all the Gentiles might come to the obedience that comes from faith— to the only wise God be glory forever through Jesus Christ! Amen.” (italics mine) Correlated with 1:1-5: “Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle and set apart for the gospel of God— the gospel he promised beforehand through his prophets in the Holy Scriptures regarding his Son, who as to his earthly life was a descendant of David, and who through the Spirit of holiness was appointed the Son of God in power by his resurrection from the dead: Jesus Christ our Lord. Through him we received grace and apostleship to call all the Gentiles to the obedience that comes from faith for his name’s sake.” (italics mine) Notice the structure at work here – God’s mercy displays His glory as He reaches down in grace to His people to give them faith and the very ability to live in obedience to Him, all for the sake of His name. In other words, our lives are lived in submission to the Lord in order that His glory will be reflected through us, and therefore His name will be great among the nations. We are simply a prism that, when properly used, reflects the colors of the outside source to everything around it.
We considered how Paul viewed his own life, as he was bought with the blood of Christ and set apart for Gospel work. He recounts the various trials he faced in other passages (namely 2 Corinthians 11:25-30) but always drives home this point: anything we go through on the account of the Gospel is worth it, because nothing else is worth anything near what the Gospel is worth… He writes in 1:16 “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile.” Paul wrote Romans in his older age – to this point he had never even been to the city of Rome, but his heartfelt compassion for the Gospel-rooted unity he so desired for them emerges in every sentence of his letter to them; and still stands as a landmark point of reference for us today.
We drew 3 main points out of our study on Sunday…
- The proclamation of the Gospel and the obedience of those saved by it have a common goal, which is: the glory of God. Chapter 16, verses 25-27 (noted above) drive this point home. As has been said by many different people through the years, “the chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever.” Consider for a moment the little we know about heaven, and reflect on this: what will be the most striking thing there? Revelation 21:23 says “And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and its lamp is the Lamb.” God’s glory will be so magnificent that it will envelop everything, and being in His presence is an experience we cannot begin to grasp while in this life… Chuck Swindoll once wrote, “The grand plan of God – of which we are all invited to become a part of – is nothing less than the Creator’s intention to bring His creation back under divine dominion, to cleanse it of evil, to redeem, reclaim, and renovate the universe so that it may fully reflect His glory again.” Personally I love that idea of being renovated. In our business, we regularly use micrometers – precise measuring instruments used to determine specific dimensions – but in order for them to be accurate, they must be re-set back to zero on a regular basis. Otherwise they will give inaccurate readings. In other words, if they are not founded in the right place, they will go astray and be incorrect. May our spiritual lives be founded on the truth as revealed to us by God’s mercy in Scripture, directing our every thought and deed.
- Boldness is the natural result of a life founded on the paradigm-shifting truth of the Gospel. To unpack this statement, we considered Colossians 1:24-29 – which culminates in these statements: “To them God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. Him we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone mature in Christ” (27-28). Paul states with no ambiguity that his intention – his calling – is to proclaim the Gospel to all people. What does it mean to ‘proclaim’ something? To declare in no uncertain terms that this is the truth. The original word for proclaim conveyed a double-meaning, one was to announce a statement to be true, at the same time this statement denounced everything opposed to it as untrue. If Christianity is true, and we know it is, then anything opposed to it cannot be true. This highlights the absurdity in things such as the “Coexist” bumper stickers that we see – suggesting that we’re all fine in our own beliefs, that we should just leave each other alone to pursue whatever we want as ‘our truth’. But, if we are convinced as Christ-followers that the Gospel is indeed the true revelation of God through His Son, we have a mandate by the Lord himself to boldly proclaim this to the world – both by our words and by our actions.
- You can’t be steadfast if you are not first established. This is seen in the above passage, in Colossians 1:23, when Paul states that the Lord has set us free from the grip of sin in order that we would be remade into His holy image, and this will happen “if you continue in your faith, established and firm…” Note the if-then at work here: we will indeed be steadfast (consistent) in our faith if we are indeed first established (rooted) in the truth. We considered Psalm 1:1-4 to drive this home – a famous passage, one of the best known sections of the book of Psalm, but so easy to miss the deeper implications if we are not careful. The Psalmist writes: “Blessed is the one who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; but their delight is in the law of the Lord, and on His law they meditate day and night. They are like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither.” Notice the progression at work in verses 1-2, and consider it like this. If you are walking on a sidewalk with a friend engaged in a casual conversation, you are listening to them to some degree but you’re also paying attention to your surroundings – low-hanging trees, uneven parts of the sidewalk, other people walking by. But if they say something that catches your ear and you stop to stand there and converse, now they have more of your attention – you’re still aware of things around you but you’re more focused on what they are saying. But even more so, if you are sitting in their house intently listening to what they have to say, intentionally putting aside all distractions, then they have your full, rapt attention. This is the way the enemy wants sin to work in our lives – a little of this becomes that, and before we know it, it has our full attention. In contrast, the one whose delight is in the truth of God is like a tree planted by a stream, yielding fruit all the time. And no tree produces fruit for it’s own enjoyment – it grows fruit strictly for the good of those around it. May we reflect this principle as believers in Christ, as we seek deeper communion with Him and greater submission in all things.
To God be the glory, now and forevermore.
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