Romans 1.16-17
Christ the Lord is risen today (vs 4 & chorus)
OT:
Pastor Bobby Owens
Habakuk 2.2-4
NT:
Pastor Michael Champoux
Galatians 3.10-14
Song:
Come behold the wondrous mystery
Historical Reading:
Pastor Andrew Loginow
Apostles’ Creed
Song:
Christ or else I die
Confession & Pardon:
Pastor Zachary McGuire
Song:
Lord I need you
Sermon:
Dr. Alex Loginow
Romans 1.16-17
Introduction
I was ordained in August 2010. Bethany and I were serving at a little country perish in the middle of nowhere outside Owensboro, KY; I was the youth pastor. It was strange because I had been hired as a pastor in October 2009, but was ordained the following August; like wasn’t hiring me simultaneously ordaining me as a pastor? But Baptists do strange things some times so there we were. The service was cool though because Bethany sang, Pastors Brett and Andrew read Scripture, and my dad preached my ordination.
As part of the celebration afterward the church provided a meal and a cake. The secretary asked me if I wanted any specific verse on the cake. At that point I was about 4 years into understanding that the Bible was all about Jesus and the gospel so I said Romans 1.16. I’ve always struggled when people ask me if I have a favorite verse or a life verse because I never really have, even now, but when someone presses me on it, since then, this is the verse I say. I aspire for this verse to be true of my life and ministry, but I confess that I often fall short.
When we were preaching through Genesis we noted that Genesis 3.15 is the thesis statement or summary statement of the Bible, the same can be said of Romans 1.16-17. There is no question that these 2 verses are the thesis or summary statement of this epistle. If you remember back to your days of writing papers in school, the thesis statement is the summary of the paper’s argument. The thesis summarizes the argument a paper or dissertation makes. Romans 1.16-17 is the thesis statement or summary statement of Romans. Romans 1.18 – the end of the letter unpacks these 2 verses and how they apply to the individual Christian and the church.
There is no shame in the gospel
To set the scene let’s remind ourselves what we’ve seen so far in the Epistle to the Romans. The first 7 verses of Romans contain the Apostle Paul’s greeting to the church at Rome, which might be the most epic greeting in history – Paul’s greeting is the gospel. And then, as we saw last week, verses 8-15 are the occasion for, or the reason why, Paul wrote this letter. Paul wanted to visit the church at Rome so that they could mutually encourage one another and so that Paul could preach the gospel both to the lost in Rome and also to the church. Verse 15 says Paul is eager to preach the gospel to them in Rome.
Here we pick up in verse 16 – Paul wants to preach the gospel in Rome because he’s not ashamed of the gospel. There would have been much cultural pressure for Paul to feel shame preaching the gospel in the 1st century both from the Greco-Roman culture and from Judaism. The Jews despised the gospel of Jesus because they reject Jesus as the Christ, the Messiah. The Greco-Roman culture rejected the gospel because they were polytheistic and pluralistic.
Rome was officially polytheistic, worshipping their pantheon of gods and even the Emperor as Lord. In the 1st century the statement, “Jesus is Lord” was not merely religious, but also political because Caesar declared himself to be Lord, the son of god, and his birthday was called the good news. The rally cry of Rome was, “Caesar is Lord.” So to utter the words, “Jesus is Lord” was treason. But Rome was also pluralistic in the sense that as long as you didn’t cause any trouble, like denying Caesar, you could also believe whatever else you want.
This is similar to our modern Western culture. Most people probably don’t care what you believe, as long as you keep it to yourself or don’t try to proselytize them. But we also face a degree of pressure from the scientific consensus of naturalism, or the Western sexual ethic, which denies God’s revealed sexual ethic and hates creation order in gender, headship and submission in marriage, and really hates children. There is a sense in which we live in a pluralistic society – there is no state religion in America, but you have to play by their rules.
It is in this context that, like Paul, we cannot be ashamed of the gospel. Why does the gospel elicit shame? Why is the gospel so offensive to people? The late Dr. Tim Keller gives 4 helpful reasons:
(1) The gospel, by telling us our salvation is free and undeserved, is really insulting! It tells us we are such spiritual failures that the only way to gain salvation is for it to be a complete gift. This offends moral and religious people who think their decency gives them an advantage over less moral people.
(2) The gospel is also really insulting by telling us that Jesus died for us. It tells us that we are so wicked that only the death of the Son of God could save us.
(3) The gospel, by telling us that trying to be good and spiritual isn’t enough, thereby insists that no “good” person will be saved, but only those who come to God through Jesus. This offends the modern notion that any nice person anywhere can find God “in his own way.” We don’t like losing our autonomy.
(4) The gospel tells us that our salvation was accomplished by Jesus’ suffering and serving (not conquering and destroying), and that following Him means to suffer and serve with Him. This offends the people who want salvation to be an easy life; it also offends people who want their lives to be safe and comfortable.
The world is ashamed of the gospel because it is broken in sin and deceived by the evil one. So it’s not always easy for us to not be ashamed of the gospel, is it? You may face relational pressure from family; you may be ostracized at work or school if you are not ashamed of the gospel.
We don’t always feel up to the task, but that’s exactly where God wants us to be. God wants us to feel inadequate because He wants us to trust Him. It is in a place of humility, rejection, even persecution that we are closer to the Lord Jesus than any other. Jesus was rejected and despised and died alone like a criminal.
And the good news is even when we fail, even in those times when you have been ashamed of the gospel, have you ever been there? Have you ever kept quiet or acted out of fear of man? I have. But when we do, there is forgiveness in the same gospel we were ashamed of. And that’s why we have no other option, not to be ashamed of the gospel, but to glory in the gospel because it is our salvation.
Because it is God’s power to save
Paul says he’s not ashamed of the gospel because it is the power of God for salvation. The good news of Jesus is the power of God for salvation. That word power is the Greek word δύναμις; it’s where we get the word dynamite. Now we can’t be anachronistic; Paul wasn’t thinking about dynamite when he wrote this because dynamite didn’t exist. But when Alfred Nobel invented dynamite in the 1860s this is the word he used to describe it. The gospel is power – the exertion of force from God Himself.
The 5th century Syrian bishop Theodoret compared the gospel to a pepper. “A pepper outwardly seems to be cold…but the person who crunches it between the teeth experiences the sensation of burning fire.” At 1st the gospel can appear to be an interesting theory or philosophy, but those who take it personally find it full of power. And notice the gospel does not merely contain the power of God, or inform us of the power of God; no, the gospel is the power of God.
It is the power of God for salvation. This really is good news because salvation is what we need. Ever since our father Adam sinned in the garden we have all inherited his original sin – sin came into the world through one man and death through so and so all men die because all sin (Rom 5.12). We sin, we rebel, we break God’s Law in thought, word, and deed, by what we do and leave undone. We do not love God with our whole heart; we do not love our neighbors as ourselves. But the good news is there’s power to save us and it is the gospel.
Everyone who is believing
The gospel is the power of God for salvation for everyone who is believing. Paul makes clear that salvation isn’t just for Israel; it is the power to save Israel and the gentiles – Jews and Greeks. The word believes is the Greek word πιστεύοντι; it is a present active participle. The verb is present tense; it’s ongoing. It is an active verb, meaning those who are saved are actively believing. And it’s a participle, which is a verbal noun, meaning the ones described – the believers – are classified by the action of believing. The syntax here warns us against believing the lie that someone is a Christian simply because they prayed a prayer, or walked an aisle, or were baptized, or grew up in a Christian home, or any other religious activity. Saving faith is a present active faith.
To believe means to receive faith in Jesus Christ alone. Faith begins with the knowledge of the gospel. What is the gospel? Paul already told us in verses 1-4:
the gospel of God, 2 which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy Scriptures, 3 concerning his Son, who was descended from David according to the flesh 4 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
The gospel was promised through the prophets in the Old Testament, especially starting in Genesis 3.15. It is the good news that Jesus is Lord; the true king descended from David. Jesus is truly God and truly human. Jesus possessed the Spirit of holiness; He never sinned in thought, word, and deed, and after He died for our sins, Jesus resurrected from the dead. This is the good news we call the gospel that Paul will spend all of Romans explaining and applying. This is the knowledge we need.
But faith is more than knowledge; faith includes assent. You don’t just know this good news, but you confess it and do not deny it. And faith means trust. When God gives you the gift of faith you transfer your trust to Christ alone. You forsake all other means of salvation, all other means of righteousness for the imputed righteousness of Christ. And your trust in Jesus is revealed in your repentance. Repentance means to confess your sin and turn from your sin. Repentance is when you crucify your pride, acknowledge your guilt, and turn from your sin to Jesus.
Because it reveals God’s righteousness beginning and ending with faith
The gospel is the only hope of salvation, the only hope of forgiveness of sin and eternal life because it is in the gospel that the righteousness of God is revealed. There is much debate among scholars and theologians about this phrase, “righteousness of God” (δικαιοσύνη θεοῦ). Does it refer to the righteousness that comes from God – the declaration of righteous or is the word righteousness describing God’s saving power? The word θεοῦ (God) is syntactically classified as genitive here and this phrase in Romans 1.17 makes most sense as a genitive of source – meaning this is righteousness that comes from God. It is in the good news of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ that we learn of the imputed righteousness of Christ to us. The righteousness, the sinlessness, the Law-keeping of Jesus, this alien righteousness, is imputed to us, not infused in us, so that we are declared righteous before God exclusively because of what Jesus did.
Paul then uses this difficult phrase that this righteousness is from faith for faith (ἐκ πίστεως εἰς πίστιν). What does that mean? Contrary to what many Christians think, Paul is not describing degrees of faith here. Instead he is highlighting the centrality of faith. The righteousness of God is accessed, connected, exclusively through faith – from start to finish, faith. Like a light switch links a light bulb to its electrical source, so faith connects us to the righteousness of God.
And this righteousness is revealed (ἀποκαλύπτεται). This is the same word as the title of the book of Revelation. This is an apocalypse, an unveiling, a revealing of what was always true, but formerly hidden. The imputed righteousness of Christ for the salvation of God’s elected has been God’s plan since the foundation of the world; it was hidden before, but now has been revealed, unveiled in the gospel of Jesus.
Just as it was written
And Paul proves this by quoting from the Old Testament, specifically Habakkuk 2.4. But it is not merely this random verse that foreshadows Jesus in the Old Testament; all of the Old Testament is about Jesus. In Romans 4 Paul will show us how Abraham was declared righteous through faith – trusting in the Genesis 3.15 promise fulfilled in Jesus Christ. This corrects a false teaching held by legalistic Christians or Dispensational Christians that in the Old Testament people where saved by keeping the Law and that in the New Testament people are saved by grace through faith. This is a lie! From Adam foreword every saint has only ever been saved by grace through faith.
And this is a healthy reminder to us that if we want to understand the Scripture; if we want to read the Bible the right way, the way God intends, then we must read all Scripture as Christian Scripture. The gospel of Jesus is the lens through which we read all Scripture, or else we read it incorrectly. And when you read Scripture in a Christ-centered way, the Bible comes alive in a way it never has before; it all fits; it all makes sense. And you know what else it does? It creates joy, humility, and gratitude in us.
When we rode the safari at Disney’s Animal Kingdom, the driver told us that an African Elephant is pregnant for 22 months! Dang, right? We thought Bethany was super pregnant when Sophia was 7 days late, but she wasn’t African Elephant pregnant. The Old Testament is more pregnant with the gospel of Jesus than an African Elephant. Paul will spend the rest of Romans showing us how the Old Testament is expectant with the good news of Jesus.
Conclusion
And we will spend the remainder of the book of Romans unpacking fully what these 2 verses mean. But look at the glory of Christ that has been revealed by simply scratching the surface of these wondrous words. And what we have heard, we will now see as we behold the wondrous mystery in the bread and the wine – Jesus’ body broken for us; Jesus’ blood shed for us. This, my dear brothers and sisters, is the power of God for salvation for everyone who is believing, both Jews and gentiles, for in this gospel the righteousness of God has been revealed just as He promised us in the Old Testament. Whether you’re ordained or not, this is worth aspiring to.