No other portion of Holy Scripture so completely sets forth the great doctrines of the Christian faith as does Paul’s Epistle to the Romans. No other product of the pen has ever more powerfully confronted the mind of man with the great truths of God. All of man’s alibis, all of his pretenses, all of his attempts at self-justification are mightily struck down by the truths of this book. In Romans, every argument which man can muster against the claims of God are thoroughly demolished with unanswerable logic by the Apostle Paul.
Paul had heard of the church at Rome, but he had never been there, nor had any of the other apostles. Evidently the church was begun by Jews living in Rome who had come to faith in Jerusalem on the Day of Pentecost. They spread the faith on their return to Rome and the church grew.
Although many barriers separated them, Paul felt a bond with these Romans. They were his brothers and sisters in Christ, and he longed to see them face to face. He had never met most of the Christians in Rome, yet he loved them. He sent this letter to introduce himself and to make a clear declaration of the faith.
Romans 1:1-18
It is likely that the importance of the Epistle to the Romans cannot be overstated. In the summer of A.D. 386 Aurelius Augustinus, a native of Tagaste in North Africa and Professor of Rhetoric at Milan, was on the brink of beginning a new life. Taking up his scroll he read, “Not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying. But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof” (Romans 13:13-14). “No further would I read,” he said, “nor had I any need; instantly, at the end of this sentence, a clear light flooded my heart and all the darkness of doubt vanished away.” Such was the conversion experience of St. Augustine.
In November, 1515, an Augustinian monk and Professor of Sacred Theology at the University of Wittenberg, Germany, began to expound this epistle to his students. As he prepared his lectures, he became more and more convinced that the just shall live by faith. “I greatly longed to understand Paul’s Epistle to the Romans,” he wrote, “and nothing stood in the way but that one expression, ‘the righteousness of God.’ . . . Night and day I pondered until . . . I grasped the truth that the righteousness of God is that righteousness whereby, through grace and sheer mercy, he justifies us by faith. Thereupon I felt myself to be reborn . . . .” Through the reading of this epistle, Martin Luther was born into the family of God. Many credit Luther with sparking the Protestant Reformation.
On the evening of May 24, 1738, John Wesley unwillingly attended a society meeting at Aldersgate Street where someone was reading Luther’s Preface to the Epistle to the Romans. Wesley wrote in his journal, “About a quarter before nine, while he was describing the change which God works in the heart through faith in Christ, I felt my heart strangely warmed. I felt I did trust in Christ, Christ alone, for my salvation; and an assurance was given me that he had taken my sins away, even mine; and saved me from the law of sin and death.” This event, more than any other, launched the Evangelical Revival of the eighteenth century.
The great Swiss Reformer John Calvin said of this epistle, “When any one understands this Epistle, he has a passage opened to him to the understanding of the whole Scriptures.” James I. Packer, twentieth-century theologian, comments that “there is one book in the New Testament which links up with almost everything that the Bible contains: that is the Epistle to the Romans. . . . From the vantage point given by Romans, the whole landscape of the Bible is open to view, and the broad relation of the parts to the whole becomes plain. The study of Romans is the fittest starting-point for biblical interpretation and theology.”
In his commentary on Romans the well-known Greek scholar Frederic Godet observed that “The Reformation was undoubtedly the work of the Epistle to the Romans, as well as of that to the Galatians; and the probability is that every great spiritual revival in the church will be connected as effect and cause with a deeper understanding of this book.”
It has been said, “Reading through Romans repeatedly results in revival.”
I. The Gospel produces a burden (1:14).
"I am debtor both to the Greeks, and to the Barbarians; both to the wise, and to the unwise."
Paul’s burden is stated in the words, “I am debtor.” The term “debtor” refers to anyone who has a moral obligation. Paul felt he had a moral obligation to declare the gospel to all people. He would proclaim Christ with equal passion to a runaway slave like Onesimus or to a proud monarch like King Agrippa.
Paul wrote in his first letter to the Corinthians, “For though I preach the gospel, I have nothing to glory of: for necessity is laid upon me; yea, woe is unto me, if I preach not the gospel” (1 Corinthians 9:16).
Every believer is deeply in debt because of the love of Christ. It was probably this same concept that inspired Isaac Watts to pen the words to the hymn “At the Cross” when he said, “But drops of grief can ne’er repay the debt of love I owe. Here, Lord, I give myself away, ‘tis all that I can do.”
Those who know the truth of the gospel are debtors to all mankind. [Read 2 Kings 7:1-9.] We are like those lepers of old who, having stumbled on vast resources when their fellow citizens were starving in a besieged city, must say, “We do not well: this day is a day of good tidings, and we hold our peace.” Those who have found the treasures of the gospel must share it with all mankind. It is a debt.
II. The Gospel produces boldness (1:15).
"So, as much as in me is, I am ready to preach the gospel to you that are in Rome also."
Paul’s boldness is found in his words, “I am ready.” He was not only able and willing, but he was ready to preach as well. Paul was ready to preach the gospel at Rome. When he preached it at Jerusalem, the religious center of the world, he was mobbed. When he preached it at Athens, the intellectual center of the world, he was mocked. When he preached it at Rome, the legislative center of the world, he was martyred. He was ready for that. He was ready to preach the gospel at Rome.
Paul was like the old country preacher who, when asked how he prepared his Sunday sermon, said, “I read myself full, think myself clear, pray myself hot, and let myself go.” Many Christians are not ready to be let go because they are not read full, clear-minded about Christian doctrine, or prayed up.
Proclaiming the gospel was a consuming passion for Paul (“as much as in me is”). How much do we care that all unsaved people—including our unsaved mothers, fathers, husbands, wives, or children—are racing toward the Lake of Fire? What is quenching our desire to see people trust Christ?
III. The Gospel produces confidence (1:16).
"For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek."
Paul states his confidence with the words, “I am not ashamed.”
A. Paul’s absolute confidence in the gospel was based on its supremacy.
Paul knew the gospel was far superior to any religion or philosophy ever known on earth.
B. Paul’s absolute confidence in the gospel was based on its sufficiency.
Paul wrote, “It is the power of God unto salvation.” The world does not need a better system of education, more social reform, new ideas in religion. It needs the gospel. It is a message sufficient to transform the life of any who believe.
C. Paul’s absolute confidence in the gospel was based on its simplicity.
It is the power of God unto salvation “to every one that believeth.” Could anything be simpler than that? The gospel call is to a simple trust in Jesus Christ as personal Savior from sin.
Are you ashamed of the gospel? Jesus said, “For whosoever shall be ashamed of me and my words, of him shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he shall come in his own glory, and in his Father’s, and of the holy angels” (Luke 9:26).
IV. The Gospel reveals God’s righteousness (1:17).
"For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith."
God is righteous; man is unrighteous. The gospel shows how the righteousness of God can be bestowed on sinful man. It is “from faith to faith.” In other words, the righteousness of God is received by faith in Jesus Christ and is in turn revealed in faithful living.
“The just shall live by faith.” This little quotation from Habakkuk 2:4 is so important to the New Testament that it is quoted again twice, in Galatians 3:11 and Hebrews 10:38. The prophet Habakkuk wrote this great truth against the background of the Babylonian invasion of the Hebrew people and the fact that suffering and seeming injustice stalk the righteous. The just, in open contrast with the unbeliever, will live by faith. The words of this quotation are found in Romans because here a major focus in on “the just.” The Book of Romans reveals of condemned man can be justified before a righteous God.
V. The Gospel reveals God’s wrath (1:18).
"For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness;"
It is a mistake to neglect the severer side of the Bible’s teaching. Did you know that Christ spoke more about hell that He did about heaven? In the gospel of Matthew, where we have the most complete record of Christ’s public utterances, for every verse in which He referred to heaven there are three in which He referred to hell. In Paul’s presentation of the gospel, the bad news of human sin and God’s wrath comes before the good news of salvation through Christ.
Illustration
You are drowning in the river, would you reach out to a helping hand?
You see a person drowning in the river, would you reach your hand out to help him?
We all have a responsibility with the gospel.
First, we must choose whether or not we are going to accept it.
Second, we must share it with others who need it.
jonathanrmcleod@yahoo.com
