Friday DIVE – Romans 1:16-17 – The Good News About The Righteousness of God

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13 Now I do not want you to be unaware, brethren, that I often planned to come to you (but was hindered until now), that I might have some fruit among you also, just as among the other Gentiles. 14 I am a debtor both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to wise and to unwise. 15 So, as much as is in me, I am ready to preach the gospel to you who are in Rome also.   

16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel [c]of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek. 17 For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, “The just shall live by faith.”   

18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who [d]suppress the truth in unrighteousness, 19 because what may be known of God is [e]manifest [f]in them, for God has shown it to them.   

  • What does "gospel" mean?
      • good news
  • What is the good news in the gospel of Christ?
      • The truth about salvation
        • Ephesians 1:13-14  (NRSVue)    In him you also, when you had heard the word of truth, the gospel  of  your  salvation, and had believed in him, were marked with the seal of the promised Holy Spirit; 14 this[g] is the pledge of our inheritance toward redemption as God’s own people, to the praise of his glory. 
      • NOTE that the Ephesians believed AFTER they had heard the word of truth, which was the good news of their salvation.
      • IOW ... what they had heard was the good news about their salvation.
      • NOTE:  The Gospel is NOT about something that can be done, BUT about something that has already been done.
          • Put another way ... we were saved BEFORE we believed we were saved.
          • We were saved (objectively) BEFORE we believed (subjectively) that we had been saved
            • From the essay, Clarifying Our Theological Vision, by Dr. Gary Deddo ....
              • This hypostatic union pertains to all people since the human nature Christ assumed is common to all humankind — both believers and non-believers. Human nature, with all its attributes (mind, will, affections, etc.) has, in Christ through his life, death, resurrection and ascension, been regenerated, justified, sanctified and glorified. On that basis, God, in and through Christ has brought about the reconciliation of all humankind with himself. As a result, God holds nothing against humanity or human nature. In that way, Christ is the first-fruit or first-born from the dead and is the new head of humanity (the new Adam, to use Paul’s terms). Jesus has become the beginning of a new humanity.  Thus we can say that there is a right way to say “all are included” meaning “all humans have been reconciled” on the basis of the renewal of human nature itself in Christ.This understanding is why T.F. Torrance can assert that all are “implicated” (included) in what Christ has done, or that all humanity has been placed on a whole “new basis” in what Christ has done.  Likewise, Karl Barth can assert that on the basis of the hypostatic union of the two natures in Jesus, all people are “potentially” Christians — “potentially” members of the church or body of Christ; or all can be considered “virtual” Christians (even if not actual Christians); or that all have been saved in principle by Christ (de jure) but not all are saved in actuality (de facto).  These theological understandings parallel the New Testament understanding of Christ being all in all, but also recognizing that not all are participating in that relational reality — not all are believing, not all are responding to or are receptive of this reality. Not all are worshipping God in Spirit and in truth. Not all are active witnesses to Jesus Christ. And in that sense, not all are actual Christians.
      • A few points about salvation ...
      • We were saved by grace.
          • Ephesians 2:8   
          • We were not saved by anything we did.
          • We were not saved because we believed.
      • We were not saved by faith  (Ephesians 2:8)
      • We were saved in Christ
          • 2 Timothy 2:10  Remember Jesus Christ, raised from the dead, a descendant of David — that is my gospel, 9 for which I suffer hardship, even to the point of being chained like a criminal. But the word of God is not chained.  10 Therefore I endure everything for the sake of the elect, so that they may also obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus, with eternal glory. 
          • The salvation that Paul wanted people to obtain was the salvation that is "in" Christ.

 

  • What is Paul not ashamed of?
      • the Gospel
  • Why would anyone think he should be ashamed?
      • 1 Corinthians 1:23    For Jews request a sign, and Greeks seek after wisdom; 23 but we preach Christ crucified, to the Jews  a [a]stumbling block  and to the [b]Greeks foolishness, 24 but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.
  • Why was he not ashamed?
      • The Gospel was/is the power of God to salvation.
  • What is the "power of God" to salvation?
      • "power of God" = God's power
      • so ... the power of God to salvation = God's power that leads to salvation
      • Essentially, the Gospel is God's power produces salvation for those who believe in what the Gospel says.
  • Whom is it the "power of God to salvation" for?
      • Romans 1:16  everyone who believes
  • How do you understand the Gospel to be the "power of God to salvation" for everyone who believes?
      • Some versions say "power of God for salvation"
      • Others say "power of God unto salvation"
      • Barclay's version says "power of God that produces salvation"
  • What do you understand the phrase "for the Jew first and also for the Greek" to mean?
      • If you focus on the word "first" then you get an understanding that Jews would be saved BEFORE Greeks (Gentiles).
      • If you focus on the word "also" then you can get an understanding that Greeks would be saved IN THE SAME WAY as Jews.
  • What is revealed in the Gospel?
      • The Gospel reveals how it is God's power for salvation.
          • See Romans 1:17 ... and note the word "For" at the beginning of the verse.
      • The way God saves is by giving us His righteousness ... by declaring us not guilty ... because our guilt was transferred to Jesus Christ.
  • What do you understand the "righteousness of God" to be?
      • It is NOT about the righteousness that God has, BUT the righteousness that God gives.
  • What do you think "from faith to faith" means?
      • Romans 1:17  (NRSVue)   For in it the righteousness of God is revealed through faith for faith, as it is written, “The one who is righteous will live by faith.”[a]  ( [a] the one who is righteous through faith will live.)
      • Romans 1:17  (NIV)  For in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed — a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: “The righteous will live by faith.”
      • 1st faith = faith at justification
      • 2nd faith = faith during sanctification
      • Galatians 2:20  (NRSVce)  and it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith  in  the Son of God,[a] who loved me and gave himself for me.
      • Galatians 2:20  (NRSVue)    and it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by the faith  of  the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
  • How do the just live by faith?
      • Habakkuk 2:4 (NKJV)  “Behold the proud, His soul is not upright in him; But the just shall live by his faith.
          • Habakkuk 2:4 (NLT)  “Look at the proud!  They trust in themselves,  and their lives are crooked.  But the righteous will live by their faithfulness to God.
          • Habakkuk 2:4 (ICB)   See, the nation that is evil and trusts in itself will fail. But those who do right because they trust in God will live.
      • Galatians 3:11
      • Hebrews 10:38

 

 

 

The "power of God" = God's power

salvation to everyone who believes = salvation for everyone who believes

The Gospel is God's power of salvation for everyone who believes

The "righteeousness of God" = NOT the righteousness God has, BUT the righteousness God gives

The Gospel reveals the righteousness that God gives is by faith from start to finish

 

 

Power is the one thing that Rome boasted of.  Greece had its philosophy, but Rome had its power. Despite all their power, however, the Romans – like all men – were powerless to make themselves righteous before God.   Only God could make Man righteous ... and the "righteousness of God" that is in the Gospel refers NOT to the righteousness that God has, BUT the righteousness that God gives.

 

 

When we come to these two verses, the preliminaries are over and the trumpet call of Paul's gospel sounds out.  Up to these two verses, Paul has been making contact with the people to whom he was writing; he has been attracting their attention. Now the introduction is over, and the theme is stated.

Paul began by saying that he was proud of the gospel which it was his privilege to preach. It is amazing to think of the background of that statement. Paul had been imprisoned in Philippi, chased out of Thessalonica, smuggled out of Beroea, laughed at in Athens and in Corinth his message was foolishness to the Greeks and a stumbling-block to the Jews. Out of that background he declared that he was proud of the gospel. There was something in the gospel which made Paul triumphantly victorious over all that men could do to him.

In this passage we meet three great Pauline watchwords, the three foundation pillars of his thought and belief.

(i) There is the conception of salvation (soteria).  At this time in history salvation was the one thing for which men were searching.  There can seldom have been a time in history when men were more universally seeking for salvation. It was precisely that salvation, that power, that escape, that Christianity came to offer men.  Let us see just what this Christian soteria, this Christian salvation was.

(a) It was salvation from physical illness. (Matt. 9:21; Lk. 8:36.) It was not a completely other--worldly thing. It aimed at rescuing a man in body and in soul.

(b) It was salvation from danger. (Matt. 8:25; Matt. 14:30.) It was not that it gave a man a life free from perils and dangers, but it gave him a security of soul no matter what was happening.  The Christian salvation makes a man safe in a way that is independent of any outward circumstance.

(c) It was salvation from life's infection. It is from a crooked and perverse generation that a man is saved (Acts 2:40). The man who has this Christian salvation has a kind of divine antiseptic which keeps him from infection by the evil of the world.

(d) It was salvation from lostness (Matt. 18:11; Lk. 19:10). It was to seek and to save the lost that Jesus came. The unsaved man is the man who is on the wrong road, a road that leads to death. The saved man is the man who has been put on the right way.

(e) It was salvation from sin (Matt. 1:21). Men are like slaves in bondage to a master from whom they cannot escape. The Christian salvation liberates them from the tyranny of sin.

(f) It was salvation from the wrath of God (Rom. 5:9). We shall have occasion in the next passage to discuss the meaning of this phrase.  It is sufficient to note at the moment that there is in this world an inexorable moral law and in the Christian faith an inevitable element of judgment.  Without the salvation which Jesus Christ brings a man could only stand condemned.  

The Christian faith came to a desperate world offering a salvation which would keep a man safe in time and in eternity.

(ii) There is the conception of faith.  In the thought of Paul this is a rich word.

(a) At its simplest it means loyalty. When Paul wrote to the Thessalonians, he wished to know about their faith. That is, he wished to know how their loyalty was standing the test. In 2Th.1:4 faith and steadfastness are combined. Faith is the enduring fidelity which marks the real soldier of Jesus Christ.

(b) Faith means belief.  It means the conviction that something is true.  In 1 Cor. 15:17 Paul tells the Corinthians that if Jesus did not rise from the dead, then their faith is vain, all that they have believed is wrecked.  Faith is the assent that the Christian message is true.

(c) Faith sometimes means the Christian Religion (The Faith). In 2 Cor. 13:5 Paul tells his opponents to examine themselves to see if they are holding to their faith, that is, to see if they are still within the Christian Religion.

(d) Faith is sometimes practically equivalent to indestructible hope. "We walk," writes Paul, "by faith and not by sight" (2 Cor. 5:7).

(e) faith means total acceptance and absolute trust.  It means "betting your life that there is a God." It means being utterly sure that what Jesus said is true, and staking all time and eternity on that assurance. "I believe in God," said Stevenson, "and if I woke up in hell I would still believe in him."

Faith begins with receptivity. It begins when a man is at least willing to listen to the message of the truth.

It goes on to mental assent.  A man first hears and then agrees that this is true. But mental assent need not issue in action. Many a man knows very well that something is true, but does not change his actions to meet that knowledge.

The final stage is when this mental assent becomes total surrender. In full-fledged faith, a man hears the Christian message, agrees that it is true, and then casts himself upon it in a life of total yieldedness. 

(iii) There is the conception of justification.  Now there are no more difficult words to understand than justification, justify, justice and just, in all the New Testament. We shall have much occasion in this letter to meet them. At this point we can only lay down the broad lines on which all Paul's thought proceeds.

The Greek verb that Paul uses for "to justify" is dikaioun, of which the first person singular of the present indicative -- I justify -- is dikaioo.  We must be quite clear that the word justify, used in this sense, has a different meaning from its ordinary English meaning. If we justify ourselves, we produce reasons to prove that we were right; if someone justifies us, he produces reasons to prove that we acted in the right way.  But all verbs in Greek which end in "oo" do not mean to prove or to make a person or thing to be something; they always mean to treat, or account or reckon a person as something.  If God justifies a sinner, it does not mean that he finds reasons to prove that he was right -- far from it. It does not even mean, at this point, that he makes the sinner a good man.  It means that God treats the sinner as if he had not been a sinner at all. Instead of treating him as a criminal to be obliterated, God treats him as a child to be loved. That is what justification means. It means that God reckons us not as his enemies but as his friends, not as bad men deserve, but as good men deserve, not as law-breakers to be punished, but as men and women to be loved. That is the very essence of the gospel.   

That means that to be justified is to enter into a new relationship with God, a relationship of love and confidence and friendship, instead of one of distance and enmity and fear.  We no longer go to a God radiating just but terrible punishment. We go to a God radiating forgiving and redeeming love.  Justification (dikaiosune) is the right relationship between God and man.  The man who is just (dikaios) is the man who is in this right relationship, and -- here is the supreme point -- he is in it not because of anything that he has done, but because of what God has done.  He is in this right relationship not because he has meticulously performed the works of the law, but because in utter faith he has cast himself on the amazing mercy and love of God.  

In the King James Version we have the famous and highly compressed phrase, The just shall live by faith.  Now we can see that in Paul's mind this phrase meant -- It is the man who is in a right relationship with God, not because of the works of his hands, but because of his utter faith in what the love of God has done, who really knows what life is like in time and in eternity.  And to Paul the whole work of Jesus was that he had enabled men to enter into this new and precious relationship with God.  Fear was gone and love had come.  The God whom men had thought an enemy had become a friend.  

 

 

 

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