by David Flatt
Synopsis: The gospel is God's good news to humanity. It was anticipated by the prophets but revealed through the person of Jesus Christ.
Have you heard the news? News is important to us. We often begin and end our days watching the news. Why do we care about the news? Why do we concern ourselves with the day's events at home and abroad? Mainly, we want to know how events have reshaped our world and changed our lives. Beginning his letter to the saints at Rome, Paul identifies the gospel as God's news for the world:
Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God, which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the Holy Scriptures, concerning His Son, who was descended from David according to the flesh and was declared to be the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord (Rom. 1:1-4).
God has good news for the world. Paul was chosen to proclaim the message of what God did for the world through the Messiah. The good news of God was anticipated and promised in the past by the prophets and Scriptures. Yet, we must ask, "To what, exactly, is Paul referring?"
In reading this expression, we typically think of a couple of prophecies regarding the Messiah. Paul is not referencing a couple of prophecies when he uses the phrase "the Holy Scriptures." Instead, he is explaining how the entire Old Testament anticipated the good news of God through the Messiah. Romans is a dissertation of how God used the Messiah to fulfill the Old Testament.
More specifically, God's news is about what He has done for the world through His Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord. The descriptive terms Paul uses to identify the Messiah are quite bold in a Roman context. In the Roman Empire, Caesar was lord or king. Similarly, the expression "son of God" was affixed to the Roman emperors. For example, Roman coins were inscribed with claims of Caesar being "son of god" (cf. Matt. 22:15-22).
In light of this background, Paul's introduction is audacious. The recipients of this letter, living at the epicenter of the Roman Empire, had pledged allegiance, not to Caesar, but another King, Jesus Christ. Potentially, this could be viewed as treasonous and punishable by death. The saints at Rome were proof of the gospel's power and gave Paul hope for its potential westward expansion. Their commitment must have been encouraging to the apostle.
Next, Paul identifies the human ancestry of God's Son: Jesus came from a royal family, irrelevant to the Romans, but essential to the Israelite people—the seed of David. This royal dynasty pre-dated the Roman Empire and the Caesars by a thousand years. The Roman Empire had only been in existence for about seventy years at the time of this writing.
While Paul's introduction resonates within a Roman framework, it also carries a Jewish echo. He refers to the prophets, the Holy Scriptures, and the seed of David—all are meaningful to Israelites. God's special covenant with David (2 Sam. 7:8-16) was fulfilled through Jesus, the Messiah. Peter referenced and explained this covenant in his sermon on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2:29-31). In our present study of Romans, this is the first connection made between Jesus and Israel, but it will certainly not be the last.
While Jesus' royal pedigree is impressive, His resurrection from the dead is profoundly consequential. He was declared to be the Messiah by His resurrection from the dead. No Caesar—past, present, or future—could make such a claim. Claims of divinity by Roman rulers were disproved the moment they took their last breaths. Jesus died but lived again; His resurrection forever changed the world and our place in it.
An understanding of the resurrection caused Paul to obey King Jesus. Having received grace and a new vocation—apostleship —Paul's identity was transformed by the resurrected Christ. The same was true of the saints at Rome. They understood who they were in light of the news of God's Son. While separated by distance and ethnicity, they were now part of God's family, sharing a mutual faith with all other believers.
When I was a sophomore in high school, one day, someone walked into our classroom and whispered in the ear of our science teacher. With a surprised look on his face, he turned on the TV. Images of the burning World Trade Center towers came on the screen. Many reading this vividly remember that September morning. As news began to break about the details of what had happened, our attention turned to an important question: what does this mean?
News of life and death reshapes our reality. The lives of thousands in New York City were forever altered in an instant. As a nation, we are still struggling with the implications and consequences of the events of September 11, 2001. In a more hopeful way, what God did for humanity through His Son forever changed the world. Through Jesus' death on the cross, and His subsequent resurrection, He destroyed evil, sin, and death—offering new life.
For Paul and the saints at Rome, the gospel transformed their lives and reshaped their destinies. More broadly, the good news of God can save everyone. Paul was eager to explain the implications of God's news to the people of Rome. He wrote,
So I am eager to preach the gospel to you also who are in Rome. For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, "The righteous shall live by faith" (Rom. 1:14-17, ESV).
Consider the consequences of the gospel. All mankind can be saved through faith. The resurrection of Jesus destroyed the ethnic barrier between Jews and Gentiles (Eph. 2:11-22). By faith in Jesus Christ, believers everywhere can be united into the family of God.
The gospel reveals the righteousness of God. To understand the meaning of this phrase, "dikaiosunē theou" in the Greek, we need more than a Greek lexicon. Yes, biblical terms must be defined with their original linguistic meanings; however, this is only half of understanding how it is used. It is important that we also consider the biblical context.
What is the righteousness of God? Is it some moral quality that is transferred to believers? Some have advanced this mistaken concept, but it falls short in conveying what Paul is trying to communicate. The righteousness of God relates to His justice and faithfulness, which becomes more evident as we get into the heart of Paul's writing. The righteousness of God must address two issues: (1) How will God be faithful to the covenant that He made with Abraham? (2) How will God bring justice to an unjust world?
As will be discussed in detail later, God made a covenant with Abraham, a binding agreement through which He would right the world (Gen. 12, 15). He wished to save, not only Abraham's family, but also the whole world (Rom. 4). Justice is a legal concept. God's righteousness, or justice, is based on this covenant. His dealings with Abraham reflect His covenant-justice.
God was faithful to the covenant He made with Abraham. He was faithful to it despite Israel's corresponding unfaithfulness. More broadly, His dealings with humanity are fair and impartial, even when His actions may not appear as such.
The justice of God is oft discussed in the Old Testament, especially the Psalms. When people do bad things, will God do anything about it? As injustice increases in the world, will God set it right—and if so, how? The answer to these questions is Jesus, the Messiah. Paul will explain that God sets the world aright through Jesus Christ His Son. Additionally, He can also justify us if we believe what He has done through Jesus, i.e., understand, accept, and obey the gospel.
Lastly, to briefly illustrate God justifying the world by faith, Paul cites Habakkuk: "Behold, his soul which is lifted up is not upright in him: but the just shall live by his faith" (Hab. 2:4). Habakkuk has a complaint against God. The Israelites were characterized by lawlessness, violence, and injustice (Hab. 1:1-4). Did God care? If so, what was He going to do about it? How would He punish sin? How should the faithful respond? Trusting in the Lord, we have confidence that He will punish the evil and reward the righteous. In other words, just will live by faith.
Justification by faith is a significant theme of this letter. The Jews believed that justification was achieved by keeping the law, i.e., their works. Paul will explain that this is not the case. Throughout time, the justified, or righteous, have been qualified as such due to having faith in God's righteousness. What about us? Do we trust in God's righteousness or our own doing? If you are uncertain about what God has done in the past, or what He has promised to do in the future, continue reading. In Romans, Paul proves that the covenant faithfulness of God has been kept through the good news of the Messiah. By faith, God will welcome us into His family.
We joyfully sing, "The Gospel Is for All," but have we considered the full meaning and consequence of this? Like Simon Peter, we often fail to recognize the full consequence of the truths that we confess.
First, if the gospel is for all, we must change the way we view our fellow man. We must reject the self-constructed walls of race, class, and social status (Gal. 3:24-29; Eph. 2:11-22). While the gospel broke down ethnic barriers between people, the world continually tries to rebuild them. Paul was concerned about this happening in Rome between Christians of Jewish and pagan backgrounds. Rather than forming Jewish churches and Gentile churches, they needed to be united in love.
Today, people continue to divide, conquer, and oppress through the use of race, class, and social status. The gospel proves that our Creator does not show partiality within the human family, and neither must we (Acts 10:34-35). Instead, let us promote the message of reconciliation through the resurrected Lord (2 Cor. 5:17-19).
Second, if the gospel is for all, we must learn to love. James and John wished to call down fire from heaven and destroy the Samaritans in response to their rejection of Jesus, likely appealing to the example of Elijah as justification (Luke 9:51-54; 2 Kings 1:9-16). Yet, Jesus rebuked them by saying, ". . . Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of. For the Son of man is not come to destroy men's lives, but to save them . . ." (Luke 9:55-56, KJV). The sons of Zebedee needed to learn love. They needed to see the Samaritans as Jesus saw them: people made in the image of God who needed a Savior. Love is the lens through which we should view our fellow man.
Third, if the gospel is for all, we must engage the world by love. After tearing down the walls in our hearts and learning to love, we are ready to approach the world with the gospel. We owe a debt of love to our fellow man (Rom. 13:8-10). Love, which is expressed through empathy and humility, will significantly aid us in our work of sharing the gospel with other people. Like Paul, we must find common ground with people to save them:
For though I am free from all, I have made myself a servant to all, that I might win more of them. To the Jews I became as a Jew, in order to win Jews. To those under the law I became as one under the law (though not being myself under the law) that I might win those under the law. To those outside the law I became as one outside the law (not being outside the law of God but under the law of Christ) that I might win those outside the law. To the weak I became weak, that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all people, that by all means I might save some. I do it all for the sake of the gospel, that I may share with them in its blessings (1 Cor. 9:19-23, ESV).
In Romans, Paul is telling us a story of love. There is a sturdy scaffolding on which all this rests. Paul will explain the framework of Abraham, the Law of Moses, and Israel. However, Romans is much more than a theological term paper. It is a story about the Creator's unchanging, self-giving love for us, His creation. The ending of this story has already been told. The Creator is going to be united in love with His family through the Messiah and by the Spirit. The question for us is, will we be part of this story by faith and love?
Author Bio: David and his family began laboring with the Fry Road church of Christ in Houston, TX, in 2019. The church website is fryroad.org. He can be reached at dflatt85@yahoo.com.
