ROMANS 1: 16 & 17
"THE GOSPEL OF GOD’S SALVATION"
In these important words we have the theme of the letter to the Romans which is the content of the Gospel. Paul has finished his preliminary remarks and now sounds the trumpet call of the Gospel of God. These two verses contain life transforming truth. To understand and positively respond to this truth is to have your life and eternity completely altered. For one must accept the Gospel because for only by believing it can one be given the righteousness of God.
There are no two verses in this much studied letter that have stronger claims on our attentive consideration than verses 16 & 17. Here is the summarize gospel which will be explained in the rest of the book.
I. The Power of God, 1:16.
II. The Righteousness of God, 1:17.
Verse 16 starts by informing us of Paul’s zeal for the Gospel. "For I am not ashamed (of) the Gospel,"
Paul will not be tricked or intimidated away from "the Gospel." He is ready to proclaim the Gospel any place and any time a fruitful door is opened for it. You as well as I need to catch some of this courageous confidence and be fired with some spark of Paul’s enthusiasm for, and glory in, the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Rome was the place where the highest achievements of man were developing. Rome and Romans possessed great wealth, learning, culture, and religions. The city embodied the greatest in human achievement. Yet Paul feels no need to be apologetic for the message or for himself. For he knew the Gospel’s worth transcended the value of all they had and all they knew and all they believed.
This truth still stands today in spite of all the advances in human knowledge and attainment. Modern man may try to hide behind "scientific" discovery, psychology, or philosophy. He may run to his wealth, or education or the belief of a humanistic society, but we today, as with Paul then, have nothing to be ashamed of concerning the Gospel of God.
When Jesus’ name is used as a common curse word and the media sneers at most things Christian, we can become intimidated against even admitting we are an evangelical Christian. Sharing the gospel conjures up fear of being repulsive to natural man.
While I was a seminary student I ministered at the Fort Worth County Jail. Each Thursday a friend of mine (Doug Buck from Lenoir City, TN) and I would ride the bus to the downtown area where the jail was located . We tried to arrive right at 5:00pm when people were leaving from work. We would get off the bus an walk from one side of the business district to the other end PASSING OUT TRACTS. Most received our tracts graciously and some even gratefully. Others didn’t. Some supposed believers were incensed that we dare do such a thing and told us. They were ashamed of the Gospel. Fear of such ridicule keeps insecure Christians from sharing the gospel.
The Gospel message is recorded in 1 Corinthians 15:1-5 (read). It is not a statement of principles but a record of facts. We must not be ashamed to share the facts of God’s witness concerning Jesus along with their significance for each person.
People should be ashamed of offering something that does not work. The gospel, though repulsive to the lost because it exposes their sin, wickedness, and depravity, has the power to save. Many have turned to a health and wealth "gospel" that is not so intimidating and not so politically incorrect. So they remove of the offense of the cross of Christ. But without the cross our message is powerless before God. A powerless gospel will not save anyone.
Next Paul states the reason he is not ashamed of the Gospel. "For it is the power of God unto salvation."
Two things are asserted about the Gospel: that it is powerful and that its power is derived from God. The Gospel is the miraculous explosive force that changes a person from being eternally lost to being eternally saved (Jn. 4:22; 10:16; Lk. 24:47; Acts 1:8). Yet it is not a power belonging to nature or to man. The Gospel’s power is derived from God Himself. God through His Spirit empowers the knowledge of the truth, the conviction and mind, and the transformation of the heart and soul into the good hope of eternal life.
The object or purpose of the Gospel is salvation, the eternal salvation of men and women. It is a salvation whose end result is: deliverance from the state of degradation, danger, blindness, and confusion into which sin has brought them. It is deliverance from guilt and condemnation, from ignorance and error, from depravity and suffering in all its forms. The gospel can bring complete and everlasting deliverance. This salvation is what the Gospel proposes to conceive. It proposes to confer on man a depth and height of blessing which mere human philanthropy could never dream of and which all the earth’s institutions and powers together could never bring about. The Gospel SAVES. It is what can make a foolish man wise, a sinful man holy, and a miserable man joyful.
The most urgent and imperative need of the soul is not earthly significance, but peace, joy, glory, and a never ending future. Only the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ can provide such salvation. It rescues men for sin’s guilt, pollution, slavery, and punishment. The Gospel brings men into the state of righteousness, holiness, freedom, fellowship, and everlasting life.
We are next informed that this gospel of faith is for one and all. "For all those who believe, to the Jew first and also to the Gentile."
The Jew was first in privilege and in penalty (Rom. 2:9f.). From them the Messiah came and to them the Gospel was first preached and by them preached to the Gentiles. It was because of the hardness of Jewish hearts seen in Acts 28:28 that God turned Paul to the Gentiles.
The Gospel has the power to save any and every human being without distinction. The qualification is not background, nationality, intellect, or education, but belief. The Gospel of Jesus Christ is what a person must place their faith in. To believe is to receive Jesus Christ as presented in the Gospel. Such belief in God will bring a life-changing experience with Him.
The Apostle is not ashamed of the Gospel. He was willing to proclaim it, because unless people hear the Gospel they have no opportunity to believe and receive its powerful salvation. We too must not be ashamed to share of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
II. THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD (1:17).
Now Paul explains the statement that the Gospel brings salvation to those who receive it by faith. The nature or kind of salvation here intended is learned from the nature of the Gospel. The Gospel is God’s way to make men righteous before Him as is seen in verse 17. "For the righteousness of God is being revealed in it (the Gospel)."
First we need to learn what kind of righteousness is being indicated. [The word righteousness is from righteous, what is right, conformable to right, which comes from right or just. ]
What is right in a biblical sense is not determined by man or by any human consideration, but by God. It is righteousness by the standard of God and has God as its standard. Righteousness that has God as its goal and standard. It shows itself in behavior conformable to God. This is the righteousness that every man, woman, and child falls short of. The righteousness of God is not a righteousness of human attainment, it is of God.
The righteousness of God is revealed in the Gospel. What the Gospel reveals ( - uncovers, uncover what is hidden) is that we are not righteous on our own but God is able to make us righteous by means of believing the Gospel. Christ then becomes our righteousness (1 Cor.1: 30) and we are justified by His blood, His death, and His obedience. We are justified in the sight of God by coming into relationship with Him as our head, our Lord.
The righteousness which the Gospel offers us sinner is thus God’s own righteousness in which we can stand in right relation to God forever. The righteousness of God which once separated the sinner from God’s presence now keeps him in God’s presence. The righteousness that will condemn the unrepentant sinner who rejects it, saves and keeps safe for all eternity the sinner who accepts it. The righteousness that separates when rejected saves when it is accepted. The righteousness which God’s grace bestows on a man by faith (and continues to bestow by faith) is the righteousness of God.
To pronounce one righteous is to justify. Justification means that God treats the sinner as if he had not been a sinner at all. Instead of treating him as a criminal to be obliterated, God treats him as a child to be loved. Justification means God sees us not as His enemies but as His friends, not as law breakers to be punished but as men and women to be loved.
To be justified is to enter into a new relationship with God, a relationship of love and confidence and friendship, instead of distance and enmity and fear. We no longer flee from a God who will give us just but terrible punishment, but we go to a God who gives us forgiving and redeeming love. Justification is the right relationship between God and man. Here is the supreme point. The man who is just is the man who is in this right relationship not because of anything he has done but because of what God has done. He is in the right relationship not because of his performed works or carrying out of the divine law, but because in utter faith he has cast himself on the amazing mercy and love of God as seen at Calvary.
The good news is that no matter how helplessly mired in your own self-centeredness you may be, there’s a way to gain a right standing and be accepted before God. The gospel is for those who come to the end of their trying and completely trust this gospel of what God has done for you and will do in you when you believe. It’s the instrument of God’s power to save, deliver, set free, to be accepted and righteous before God. And it’s all through what Jesus has done and not your own effort.
Now notice the emphasis on faith as verse 17 continues, "From (out of) faith unto faith."
The means or channel whereby righteousness is given is "faith." The means of righteousness or salvation is not of works, good deeds, or moral life. If so a man would earn his righteousness on his own and it would not be a righteousness of God but of himself. The righteousness of God is holiness and perfection infinitely higher than the righteous works of sinful man which are as filthy rags in God’s eyes. Thus God’s righteousness must be obtained by faith.
"Out of faith into faith" means from a weak imperfect faith into a faith which is mature (Calvin). This can be illustrated in how a person comes to saving faith initially. Faith begins when a man is at least willing to listen to the message of truth (Rom 10:17), it goes on to mental assent. A man hears the message and then agrees it is true. But mental assent may fall short of commitment which leads to actions. Many a person knows very well that something is true but does not change his actions corresponding to that knowledge. The final stage is when mental assent becomes total surrender. In saving or sanctifying faith a person hears the Christian message, agrees that it is true and then totally yields his life in response to it.
Once a person becomes saved and righteous by faith in God, that person will being living daily a life of faith. "Just as it stands written, BUT THE RIGHTEOUS MAN WILL LIVE BY (out of ) FAITH."
Righteousness by faith is no new idea, but is found in the prophets. " So Paul here quotes a verse from Habakkuk 2:4. This righteousness is based on faith and leads to an ever increasing walk of faith.
When one looks around it appears as if wicked men are getting away with their wickedness. You might ask why should you obey God and go to church, others are not and they seem to be doing all right. God does not seem to be punishing them for all their faithlessness nor does He seem to be blessing me for all my obedience. (such was Habakkuk’s questions in his day) [Hendricksen, NT Com. p 65].
But the person of faith is to have quite confidence in God’s ways, knowing he is and will be accepted by God. A relationship of faith not worldly sight. And your right relationship will continue forever, not because of the works you have done for your God but because of your faith in what the love of God has done to justify you on Calvary.
CONCLUSION
Salvation comes from establishing a relationship with the Living Lord of the universe. When we trust Him as Lord of our life He saves us from sin, self, and Satan and makes us righteous before Him. The source and means of God’s righteousness is faith in the perfect life, atoning death, and bodily resurrection of Christ Jesus. By putting your trust for your acceptance before God in the sinless life of the divine Son and in His substitutionary death for man’s sin and His bodily resurrection to life, God gives us the ultimate gift, the free gift of the righteousness of God. [This was the spark that lit the reformation.]
Righteousness before God is received by faith, by believing God, by trusting that God is righteous and He always does what is right. And you receive it by believing that God will do for you what you can’t do for yourself. A leper cannot change his spots and you can’t make yourself good, holy, righteous, upright or acceptable. But God can and will if you come to Him believing that by the death and resurrection of His Son, He can change your nature, He can regenerate your life, He can transform your life by faith!
It does not matter who or what we are, how much or how little we have sinned, unless we receive the righteousness which is of God as the ground of our acceptance we have no part in the salvation of the Gospel. But once we accept the Gospel it is endowed with the power of God to change our whole outlook on life, our whole way and direction of life, it changes our eternal destiny. How could we be ashamed of such a Gospel?
