THE GOSPEL OF THE GRACE OF CHRIST.
Romans 1:16-17, Romans 3:22-28.
I. Why I Am Not Ashamed of the Gospel.
Romans 1:16-17.
In Romans 1:14-15, Paul pronounced his indebtedness to people from all walks of life, and every level of education. We have been entrusted with the gospel not to keep it to ourselves, but to share it with others. Paul was so eager to discharge this debt that he felt ready to preach also at Rome.
ROMANS 1:16. The gospel is something of which we need not be ashamed.
The fact is that the gospel raises the contempt and scorn of all sorts of people. Paul speaks of the preaching of the cross as ‘foolishness’ (cf. 1 Corinthians 1:18), and the preaching of Christ crucified as a ‘stumbling block’ to some, and ‘foolishness’ to others (cf. 1 Corinthians 1:23). Yet despite the adverse reactions which we may receive, we are not to be ashamed of the gospel, nor of sharing our faith with others.
The gospel is the power of God for salvation.
This is part of the reason why we need not be ashamed. When we share our testimony of God’s goodness in our lives, we are not proclaiming ourselves, but what the Lord has done. When we preach the results do not lie in our own hands, so we need not worry: one may plant, another water, ‘but it is God who gives the increase’ (cf. 1 Corinthians 3:6). And what an increase! The gospel is “the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believes!”
The word “salvation” presupposes the need for deliverance. Everyone has the need to be delivered from sin and its consequences. The gospel is the message of the power of God to accomplish salvation in those who will believe (cf. John 1:12; John 3:16).
Paul emphasises the historical priority of the Jews in the preaching of the gospel (cf. Romans 9:4-5). To the Jew was the gospel first preached, but then also to the Gentile, because all alike stand in need of the Saviour.
ROMANS 1:17. Paul further refuses to be bullied into not preaching the gospel, because it reveals “the righteousness of God.”
It reveals God as the righteous judge who will do right. The rhetorical question posed by Abraham was, ‘Shall not the judge of the earth do right?’ (cf. Genesis 18:25).
The gospel also reveals God as the one who is both just (righteous), and the justifier of all who come to Him through Christ (cf. Romans 3:26). The gospel clothes us in Christ’s righteousness, the altogether righteous One who died for the unrighteous.
Our faith arises from an act of God in history, in which He sent forth His only begotten Son to die for the sins of His people (cf. John 3:16). Our faith grows “from faith to faith” as we live out our renewed lives by the principle of faith. Faith grows extensively through the collective work of evangelism. And it is by faith, from first to last, that God’s righteousness is revealed: ‘He who has begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ’ (cf. Philippians 1:6).
Paul next quotes Habakkuk 2:4 - “The just shall live by his faith.”
Against the background of the impending judgment of Judah at the hand of the Babylonians, the prophet Habakkuk had been instructed to seal up a vision which yet remained to be fulfilled in its appointed time. The unrighteous would fall, he said, but the just would live by his faith. In due time Babylon and all that it represents will fall.
Now at last, in the gospel, the meaning of being just and living by faith was being revealed. Those who have faith are ‘accounted’ righteous, like faithful Abraham (cf. Romans 4:3). Those who are made righteous in Christ Jesus are granted ‘eternal life.’ They have life in all its abundance in the here and now if their faith will but apprehend it (John 10:10). Their lives are characterised by their faith.
Thus ‘living by faith’ has faith at its outset, has faith as its content, and culminates in receiving all the benefits of faith in this life and in the hereafter. Thus the gospel preacher confidently directs his hearers onto the road to righteousness and life via faith.
II. Justification by Grace Through Faith.
Romans 3:22-28.
Paul contrasts the righteousness of God with the unrighteousness and self-righteousness of man (cf. Romans 3:21).
ROMANS 3:22. Righteousness is not something which we can accomplish, but rather comes as a free gift from God through faith in Jesus Christ. All that is required of us is that we believe the gospel, putting our trust in Jesus as the only Saviour of sinners.
ROMANS 3:23. The gospel is offered to all because all have sinned.
ROMANS 3:24. Faith in Christ gives us the assurance of certain blessings.
a. We are justified (proclaimed righteous in the courtroom of God) as a free gift of God’s grace, His undeserved love towards us.
b. We are redeemed (bought back from condemnation) at the high ransom price of Christ’s own blood.
ROMANS 3:25. Because of God’s holy anger against sin and evil, propitiation (a substitutionary sacrifice) was required. In the gospel, the righteousness of God has been made known through the death of Christ.
Due to the nature of our offence, we cannot possibly appease God. But the mystery and miracle of the gospel is that: ‘While we were still sinners, Christ died for us’ (cf. Romans 5:8). Past sins are passed over, and we are set on a right standing before God.
God will no longer hold our sins against us, but rather accepts us as righteous. When God looks upon us, He does not see the sinner, but the righteousness of Christ with which we have been clothed (cf. Isaiah 61:10).
This does not take away from the seriousness of sin. Sin still has to be punished. But when we put our trust in Jesus, we are relying upon the finished work of His sacrifice on our behalf.
ROMANS 3:26. In the Cross of Jesus, God demonstrates His justice. He is just in condemning sin, He is justified in accepting the sacrifice of His Son, and He is just in forgiving sinners.
So what is required of us in order to be justified, to be put right with God? We must put our trust in Jesus, and receive with open hand the free gift of His love and forgiveness.
ROMANS 3:27. "Where is boasting then?" asks Paul.
Men are always seeking something of which they might boast.
They might boast of nationality, religion, privilege or accomplishments.
Some might boast in their relationship with God (cf. Romans 2:17). Others might boast in their keeping of the law (cf. Romans 2:23).
Boasting in ourselves is excluded, says Paul, “by the law of faith.”
ROMANS 3:28. “Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the works of the law.”
The ‘rich young ruler’ asked Jesus, 'What good thing shall I DO, that I may have eternal life?’ (cf. Matthew 19:16).
The Philippian jailer asked Paul and Silas, ‘What must I DO to be saved?’ (cf. Acts 16:30).
This is the illusion of every age. We think that we must earn our own way into heaven! Then we imagine that we have something whereof we might boast!
But salvation does not come by works: ‘it is the free gift of God through our Lord Jesus Christ’ (cf. Romans 6:23).
Let our only boast be in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ (cf. Galatians 6:14; 1 Corinthians 1:31)!
