Faith Alone
Romans 1.16-17
Sermon begins at 20:22
Introduction
I know of a Roman Catholic professor who became Protestant because of these two verses. Many of you are familiar with the theological differences between the two because we live in a Roman Catholic area. In fact, some of you come from that background. But for those of you who don’t, the Roman Catholic Church believes in infused righteousness, which means that when God judges us on the last day we will be found righteous before him based on our own good works that we’ve done because of the righteousness he put within us. Protestants believe in imputed righteousness, which teaches that when we’re judged on the last day we will be found righteous based on our faith in the work of Jesus Christ alone.
Another way to say it is justified by faith alone. We are made right with God by faith alone. This is the heart of the Protestant Reformation. As we’ve been moving through the five solas – sola gratia (grace alone), solus Christus (Christ alone), now sola fide (faith alone), next week sola scriptura (Scripture alone), and finally soli deo gloria (to the glory of God alone) – we hear the battle cry of the Reformation. This is the reason we’re not Roman Catholic; this is Reformed theology. As Elder Bob Owens said last week Christ alone is the center of the solas, but faith alone stands next. Martin Luther said, “justificatio est articulus stantis et cadentis ecclesiae (justification is the doctrine on which the church stands or falls).”
I know that some of you are already checking out because of long theological terms and dusty old Latin words but I plead with you, this is the most important thing in the whole world. Please give your mind and heart to the Word this morning. Your standing with God is of the most infinite importance. Everything else will fade but this is forever.
Message of Salvation
If the first rule of real estate is “location, location, location,” then the first rule of hermeneutics is “context, context, context.” We can’t understand Romans 1.16-17 without understanding the context so let me give you a birds-eye-view of Romans 1.1-15 so we have our bearings to rightly interpret verses 16-17. The apostle Paul wrote the epistle or letter (the word ἐπιστολή means letter) to the Romans. He identifies himself as a servant of Jesus Christ, who was called to be an apostle and set apart for the gospel. Notice both were done to Paul (called and set apart). This gospel was promised in the Scriptures about the Son of God who descended from David. Because of Christ’s resurrection we received grace, which produces obedience not just in Israel but also in all nations. He’s writing to the saints in Rome.
Paul writes that he thanks God for them because their faith is known worldwide. He prays for them often and wants to come see them. He wants to go to them so that they can mutually encourage each other. He’s tried to come but has been hindered. And in verse 15 Paul says, so I am eager to preach the gospel to you also who are in Rome.
Verse 16 starts with the conjunction for, we could also translate it because. He wants to preach the gospel for/because he is not ashamed of the gospel. Verse 16 is the fourth time that we see the word gospel (εὐαγγέλιον). The word was used historically to identify good news but by the time Paul is writing this letter it had become synonymous with very specific good news. He will spend the rest of the letter explaining the gospel, in fact some have called Romans “the gospel according to Paul,” but he has already teased us a bit. Look back at verses 1-4:
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
Jesus Christ was promised in the Old Testament. He is the second person of the Trinity who took on flesh in the incarnation through the line of king David. He died and was resurrected from the dead. This message is the gospel.
And then Paul tells us why he’s not ashamed of the gospel. Roman Christians would have felt a pull to be ashamed of the gospel because the culturally popular worldview was that Caesar was lord. The gospel declares that the crucified and risen Jesus is Lord and that even Caesar will bow. First century Christians would be ostracized at best and persecuted at worst because of the gospel. We feel that tension too, don’t we? The gospel of Jesus offends our western culture. Our culture preaches autonomous identity; we believe we are lord. We determine our gender, we determine whether or not to take a life, we base righteousness on political opinions. And because the gospel is so offensive to that worldview it is easy to be ashamed. We make our religion “private.”
But we ought not be ashamed for/because it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. The gospel is the power of God for salvation. It is the δύναμις of God. That is the Greek word from which we derive the English word dynamite. We must be careful not to be anachronistic. Paul certainly wasn’t thinking of dynamite when he wrote this because it wasn’t invented yet. But we can say when dynamite was invented, this was the word applied to it. It’s the word used in verse 4 to describe the resurrection of Jesus. That same power is in the gospel.
This message of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ is God’s ordained power to save everyone who believes, both Jews and gentiles. Remember in the opening of the letter Paul said this was promised beforehand in the Scriptures, so there has never been and never will be different means of salvation for Jews and gentiles. No, this message can save everyone and will save anyone who believes. This message alone saves. I hope you feel the painful exclusivity of this verse. There are not multiple messages. The gospel alone is the power of God for salvation.
Note also that Paul wants to go preach the gospel to people who already believe. The gospel isn’t merely the doorway into salvation; it is salvation. Tim Keller has said the gospel is not the ABC’s of Christianity; it is the A-Z. It is not only God’s means of saving the lost but also keeping the found. We all need the gospel every week, every day.
Means of Salvation
Paul then gives us the conjunction for a third time; for in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith. How is the good news of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ the power of God for salvation? Because in it the righteousness of God is being revealed. God is the holy creator and we are fallen image bearers. We have offended his righteousness; fallen short of his glory. But through his grace alone he has revealed his righteousness in Christ alone. Jesus lived without sin. He followed God’s law even to the satisfaction of Inspector Javert. He never put anything before God, never made a graven image, never took God’s name in vein, never broke Sabbath, he never murdered in thought or deed, never committed adultery in thought or deed, he never stole, never lied, never coveted. Jesus is the righteousness of God.
After actively accomplishing righteousness through his life and ministry, Jesus passively accomplished righteousness through his death on the cross. Theologians use the term penal substitutionary atonement – Jesus was our substitute receiving our penalty to pay for our sins. This is the great exchange, our sin for his righteousness! Our debt for his reward! Our damnation for his eternal life! Our rebellion for his son ship! Our hell for his kingdom!
And this righteousness is applied to us by faith alone. From beginning to end it is all of faith. Paul had said earlier that the gospel had been foretold in the Old Testament and here he gives us one example, Habakkuk 2.4: The righteous shall live by faith. In Habakkuk’s prophecy YHWH tells the prophet that he will use the Babylonians to judge Israel because of their sin, but like with all Old Testament prophecies, if Israel will repent and believe, YHWH will save them. Salvation comes in 2.4, but the righteous shall live by his faith. Paul is telling us that the historical situation involving Israel and Babylon in the 600’s BC was a providential picture given to point to the gospel. Judgment is coming and it is deserved because of sin, but through faith we can be made righteous and if we are righteous we will live.
The Reformed tradition has long defined faith in a three-fold manner: knowledge, assent, and trust. Let’s use this chair as an example. Faith begins with knowledge. I need to know that this is not a cheeseburger and I shouldn’t try to eat it. I need to know that it is a chair made for sitting. In the same way faith starts with knowledge of the gospel. We must know that Jesus Christ was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried, that he descended to hell, and the third day he rose again from the dead, that he ascended to heaven and sits at the right hand of the Father from which he will come to judge the living and the dead. Knowledge is an inflexible element of faith. The person who said, “preach the gospel and if necessary use words” could not be more wrong. The gospel demands words. We must know the gospel.
But knowledge alone is damning. The demons believe and shudder. The second leg of the triad of faith is assent. Simple knowledge that this is a chair is not enough for me to sit in the chair. I have to assent that I believe the chair will hold me. If I don’t believe the chair will hold me I wont trust. Bethany and I had some friends in Kentucky whose house was filled with skinny people furniture; do you know what I mean? Like their chairs were all wooden antique chairs from the 1800s. I’m like, man I’m not sitting my hind end in your skinny person chair. That’s not going to end well. I do not assent that your chair will hold me. The same is true with faith. It is not enough to know the facts about Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection; you must also assent to its truth. You must believe that you deserve judgment for your sin and that Jesus paid for your sins.
The final element is trust. I don’t actually have faith in the chair until I sit in the chair. Sitting, resting, putting all my weight on the chair is trust. So it is with faith. We must trust Jesus. We must put the full weight of our hope on him alone. Whether we are going to stay upright or fall is predicated upon whether or not Jesus will hold us. We are trusting in him alone.
If you don’t have faith in Jesus I hope you see that God brought you here so that I could tell you this message. Trust in Christ. Believe in Jesus. If you try to stand on your own you will rightly receive the wages for your sin, which is death, hell, judgment, wrath. But if you will posture your heart like a deer that comes to a stream, having nothing to offer but the truth that without the water the deer will die, if you will come to Jesus in that way, you will be saved. “Jesus I have nothing to offer you except without you I am dead.” If you will acknowledge that, then God has already given you the gift of faith. The righteous will live by faith!
Conclusion
Remember that Roman Catholic professor I mentioned? The one who converted to Protestantism because of these verses? His name was Martin Luther. And God used him to initiate the Protestant Reformation. After 1,000 years in Roman bondage God recovered the gospel through the study of his Word. Martin Luther changed the world because he read the Bible and trusted by faith. It’s the same thing that happened to Janie DiTrapani. I pray it’s the same thing that has happened to you this morning. Trust Christ and be saved this morning for your only hope lies in sola fide – faith alone.