I stand amazed in the presence of Jesus the Nazarene, amazed that you were there in the beginning when you knit me together in my mother’s womb. Amazed that you, the Mighty Creator who owns everything – gave that up to die on a cruel cross to redeem me and bring me back to my Father God.
”It Is good that you are able to be more and more aware of this great mystery. The mystery of ‘I Am’ who created everything even you, especially you, being prepared to give up My glory on your behalf so that you can eventually experience My glory firsthand and be glorified yourself. Let that thought be the bedrock of your life – continue to build your trust in Me, even as I lead you forward to a deeper and deeper trust in Me. And as you rise higher, you will also become more humble as you serve me by serving others. Yes I am here and want to continue to amaze you. “
Today we come to the engine room, as it were, of this letter. As we read Roman’s 1:16-18, I want you to keep this passage in mind continually as we proceed through the letter. It is basically a brief summary of what Paul is going to expand on in the next 15 chapters. So let us look carefully at it.
Remembering that we have so far seen that Paul’s focus is on presenting the gospel to the recipients. Last week ended with,”That is why I am so eager to preach the gospel also to you…”
What is this gospel then that Paul is on about?
Let us now look carefully at each word and statement in these verses and understand their weight as Paul reveals the key elements of the gospel.
“I am not ashamed of the gospel”, why?
It is because it has the power to bring salvation. Let us look at that. Firstly it is not just a message of words and thoughts, it contains the active power to change people’s lives and destinies. The Greek word here for power is dunamis from which we get our word dynamite. In Ephesians 1 we read how much power God used to raise Jesus from the dead. Now here the power is ultimately for the same purpose for us, because we are all dead in our sins.
That is the answer to the second question, “Why do we need salvation?” This is the most important event that every one of us must face during our lives here on earth. We may get so used to hearing that Jesus is “the Saviour of the world” that it loses its vital impact on us. Paul’s life was totally focused on bringing this message to the world. Are we equally convinced of its importance?
We need to take that thought in and meditate on that, because otherwise we will not be moved by what the rest of the letter tells us.
Who is this power, this gospel message meant for then? It is for everyone who believes. There can be no difference, racially, sexually, socially, religiously. The two main groups who received this letter were Jews and Gentiles and throughout the letter we are going to see Paul coming back to this subject to show that although their paths may be different the aim is the same for both groups.
Now note the key that joins the races is “belief”. IOW faith, read on.
The next concept Paul comes to is Righteousness. God is completely righteous. He is always right in his whole character and always right in every thought and deed. On the other hand we are never completely right in any of our thoughts and actions. This means that there is a huge chasm between us and God. The gospel then, describes how God “gives” us His righteousness, as a free gift. He imputes it to us. (V 17) All we need to do to receive it is to trust Him, to have faith in His work and promise. Ro 6:23; The wages of sin is death, but the (free) gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus, our Lord.
The key once again is faith. Faith from first to last. Our whole lives, as Christian’s are to be lives based on faith, from beginning to end. From the first moment we come into a relationship until we go to be with the Lord.
Finally Paul ends with a quote from Habakuk. A quote that Paul uses elsewhere. “The righteous will live by faith”. Paul wants the reader to be reminded that this is not a new concept but one which was equally true under the Old Covenant. Faith was needed then, in believing the promises God made from the time of Abraham (Genesis 12:1-2), as the full revelation of the Messiah had not yet come.
Keep these two words in the back of your mind all the time as we proceed – Faith and righteousness. (The word justification is the same root word meaning ‘to be made right’). It is Paul’s aim to make sure that we not only know how to become righteous but to live according to that.
What doesJesus say to you from these 3 verses? May you be blessed as you ponder theses things till next week