Gospel Identity & Purpose

Passage: Romans 1:1-4

Romans 1:1–4 NET

1 From Paul, a slave of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God.2 This gospel he promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy scriptures, 3 concerning his Son who was a descendant of David with reference to the flesh,4 who was appointed the Son-of-God-in-power according to the Holy Spirit by the resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord.

PRAY

INTRO [title slide]: Do you know who you are and what your life is about? Do you have a foundation upon which to understand your life’s meaning and purpose?

(wording) In the opening greeting of this letter to the Romans, Paul identifies himself, and will identify his recipients, based upon relationship to God through Jesus. And this same good news from God is central to his life’s calling: the gospel of God in the Lord Jesus Christ.

Like it was for Paul, and for the saints in Rome to whom he writes, God’s good news through Jesus Christ must remain central to your identity and purpose.

Christian, God’s good news through Jesus Christ is central to your identity and purpose.

What do you know to be true about the world in which you live, and especially about yourself? And how will you live accordingly? Paul’s letter to the Roman church, and especially this introduction, can serve us well to answer these questions.

In a sense, Paul begins his letter the way typical of letters in his day, which included a prescript identifying the author, his recipients, and a brief greeting (vv. 1-7). The Apostle Paul, though, developed his own method for these openings with much greater depth and intentionality, and nowhere is it this more developed than in Romans (probably, as we said, because he had not been there yet personally). Really, the same is true of the entire genre of these epistles, where Paul uses letters to say and teach much more than was customary in letters. Again, nowhere is this more pronounced than in Romans, the longest of his letters.

Just so, Paul’s introduction will run all the way through verse 17, with verses 16&17 forming a kind of succinct expression of the letter’s theme. But even right in the prescript of vv. 1-7, Paul has packed this tightly with theological truth, so we don’t want to rush through it. ***

In v. 1…

Paul identifies himself in three ways: a bondslave of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle, and set apart for the gospel of God. (verse 1)

Notice that in this opening verse Paul is identifying his master, his office, and his purpose. (The question for us will be: In what ways can we [and should we] identify with Paul’s self-identification?)

The first thing Paul tells us is who his master is. He is a bondservant of Jesus Christ. - The word Paul uses is the Greek word doulos, which can be translated as slave or bondservant (bondslave), depending on the context. (I am wary, I am cautious, to not pass over this quickly for two reasons: First because of our justified preconceptions of the evils of slavery due to our own recent history in North America with its worst abuses. But second, the concept of being a willing servant/slave of God is an critical biblical concept that should inform the way we see ourselves and relate to the God who saves us.

- (So about Paul identifying himself as a slave of Christ…) Throughout history and in this time of the Roman empire, many slaves were completely beholden to their masters, and most didn’t have a choice about the matter, and slaves didn’t have the rights of normal citizens. However, slavery in the Roman empire was still somewhat different from the slavery in the western world most recent in our collective memories. Slaves were not treated equally (in terms of rights and individual freedoms), but they were also not treated as less than human, and therefore as mere property only. Slaves were often permitted to work for pay and could save up enough to buy their freedom. Paul even encourages those who can, to do so (in a letter to Corinth, 1 Cor 7:21). But realistically, there Paul also says one can belong to and serve Christ even while being a bondslave.

- Furthermore, since someone could become a slave by simply being on the losing side of a war, some were highly educated and entrusted with immense amounts of wealth and responsibility. That’s why people could understand and relate to the parable of the talents Jesus gave about servants/slaves in Matt 25:15ff. - We should note too that the NT assumes human trafficking is a sin, where “enslavers” (kidnapping people to enslave them) is listed in 1 Tim 1:9-10 alongside the likes of murderers and the sexually immoral. Christians were right, and are right, to strive for stamping out the evil of trafficking in human beings.

- And Christians, we must not be prejudiced or partial, because God shows no partiality. (You should know that if you are prejudiced against people for being the way God made them, he is displeased.) In fact, we should gratefully and joyfully embrace the beautiful variety that God has created into the human race. (I mean, God decided to make me like a speckled egg, and my wife and I both so small that we have to lean forward in a stiff wind.) … But seriously, God bred this variety into us. We should love it and celebrate it. And some cultural differences and practices that aren’t sinful should fall into this category of beautiful variety as well. But I’ve digressed enough due to the sensitive nature and need for clarity around this topic.)

The point Paul is making here goes more along the meaning of bondslave, consistent with an OT practice concerning slavery. Under Mosaic law, slaves had to be set free in the seventh year, but then a man could choose to walk away, or he could freely choose to continue working for one he considered to be a benevolent master and good provider for him and his family (yes, most slaves had families). It’s this side of choosing to bind oneself in service to a wise and benevolent master that makes “bondslave” the best translation here.

We are not dragged kicking and screaming into the service of God. Rather, we come to know his goodness to us in Christ Jesus, who has in fact set us free from slavery to sin, and we therefore now use that freedom to serve Jesus, who is Lord, our Master.

And with the other things that follow, Paul is probably suggesting yet another positive connotation as well: He is a bondslave of God in the order of honored historical servants like Moses, Joshua, Elijah, and David, who are also said to be slaves/servants of God… as titles of honor. Yes, Paul is wholly bound in allegiance and obedience to this Master, Jesus Christ, but it is a privilege, an honor, to serve him.

Do you identify yourself as a bondslave of Jesus, your Lord?

It is your life’s honor to submit yourself as a bondslave of the Lord who has graciously rescued you and made you his own adopted child. As Paul says in Rom 8:16-17, “The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ.” So what Paul advocates is a mindset and behavior of recognizing the Lordship of Jesus and serving him with complete trust and allegiance.

Who am I? To whom do I belong (see v. 6)? Who or what is my master, my Lord? To whom do I submit everything that I am and have? (You cannot truly and faithfully serve two masters, which Jesus himself teaches. [Mt 6:24])

As we look at the second and third ways that Paul identifies himself, we should note their connection to the first. Paul’s authority as an apostle, and being an authority on the true gospel, are derived from Christ’s own authority, who is Paul’s Master.

(2nd and 3rd ways he identifies himself, according to his apostolic office and corresponding purpose: called to be an apostle and set apart for the gospel of God). Paul was indeed called by Christ (on the Damascus road) to be an Apostle, who were men that had physically seen the risen Lord and were specifically called by Jesus for this purpose. The Apostles were unique in that they “established and governed the whole church, under Jesus Christ, and they had authority to speak and write the words of God, equal in authority to the OT Scriptures.” (ESVSB)

So Paul is an Apostle (commissioned especially as Apostle to the Gentiles), and therefore has been “set apart for the gospel,” the good news, with a unique responsibility of heralding God’s now fulfilled plan to include Gentiles in the kingdom of God through the Lord Jesus.

Paul is likely making two points by introducing himself with this doubling up of apostleship and being set apart by God for his gospel. With this introduction Paul establishes first his authority from Christ with relationship to these house churches in Rome. There is good reason to listen to him and submit to the authority of his teaching.

Secondly, Paul may be drawing a comparison that the good news he heralds is from God, and is therefore something far greater than the kinds of good news heralded from the emperors (like spreading the word about the birth of a son). Instead, the source of Paul’s good news is God himself, and the content of that good news is concerning GOD’S own Son. This is God’s gospel about his own Son! (more on that in vv. 3&4)

Since we do not share Paul’s office as an Apostle, nor his unique calling to spearhead gospel witness among the Gentiles, in what sense then can we and should we relate to Paul’s calling and purpose?

Have you established your life’s purpose according to being set apart through and for the gospel?

Yes, the emphasis here in v. 1 (and also in v. 5) is on Paul’s unique calling of apostleship, but as we recently studied from the evangelistic thrust in Titus, and in Jesus’ prayer of John 17, we are all, like the first disciples and even the Apostles themselves,… all true believers are set apart to Christ and sent by him to make disciples.

More to this point, notice that in vv. 5&6 Paul’s specific task is bringing about the obedience of faith among all the Gentiles (or peoples), including this specific audience: “including you who are called to belong to Jesus Christ.” They are set apart by the gospel. And in verse 8 Paul thanks God for them because their faith is proclaimed in all the world. They have been set apart for the gospel.

Who am I, and what do I do? I have been set apart by God to belong to Jesus Christ. I am a disciple of Jesus whose primary purpose it is to worship God in the splendor of his holiness, to become more like Jesus, and to see others come to know and grow in Jesus.

So Paul ends verse one with a reference to the gospel of God, and in vv. 2-4, Paul develops what this message is that he has been set apart to herald. First,…

Paul ties God’s gospel in Christ Jesus (which he heralds) to God’s promises in the Holy Scriptures. (verse 2)

This is “the gospel of God, which he promised beforehand by his prophets in the Holy Scriptures.”

Prophets were people God selected to speak on his behalf, whether in instructions, or warnings, or even declaration future things that God would do. Whenever Paul and other NT writers reference the prophets in this way, they mean the entire body of Hebrew Scriptures inspired by God (the “holy Scriptures”), known to us now as the OT.

Even if the reference were to mean only prophets specifically, it would still include the likes of Moses and David as well, whom we sometimes don’t think of as being prophets, although Moses even calls himself a prophet when referencing a future greater prophet (Deut 18:15), whom the NT interprets to be the Lord Jesus. And some Davidic psalms were previously understood as anticipating the Messiah, and the NT quotes several of them, giving clarity that this is so. - As further examples, the prophets Jeremiah (Jer 31:31-34) and Ezekiel (Ezek 36:25-27) spoke from God of a new covenant in the future, and Isaiah depicted a Messiah who would suffer, and whose sacrifice would make possible our peace with God (Is 9:6-7, 53:1-12).

And if the good news in Jesus Christ is tied directly to God’s own promises in the holy Scriptures (that’s the point), then Paul is also tethering his own ministry to those Scriptures. What Paul proclaims is not something new and imaginative, but rather is the central fulfillment of what God promised beforehand. So Paul has the authority of being commissioned by Christ as an Apostle, and concerning Jesus as God’s gospel he also stands on the authority of God’s own word.

By way of application for all of us,

Do you tether yourself and your purpose to the authority and promise of God’s own word in the Holy Scriptures?

Even with Paul teaching that we are not bound to the Mosaic law but to the law of Christ, we should be careful not to untether ourselves from God’s proclamation in the Hebrew Scriptures. (Listen carefully as I tell you, or remind you, the necessary value of the Old Testament to the gospel and our understanding and living.) It is essential to the gospel that God created everything, and created us specifically to worship him (in his own image). And it is critical to the gospel that God is holy and is therefore just in his response to sin (think of Adam & Eve, the flood, the giving of the law). And it is vital to the gospel that God has had a merciful plan to choose a people (Israel) to represent him and be the vehicle through which he would work and would unveil his plan, and indispensable to the gospel that God makes covenants that he faithfully keeps, and that those with whom he has covenanted must trust him by faith (Abraham, Israel, David). It is fundamental to the gospel for Israel to represent humanity’s inability to live up to the standard of God’s perfect character, and the need for forgiveness of sin to be in his holy presence. It is central to the gospel that there will be a king who is worthy to be the true anointed one of God, and worthy to represent God and rule over not only Israel but over all people… forever. All of these things, and more, from the OT, lead to the necessity and sufficiency of God’s own accomplishment in the Lord Jesus Christ.

It is therefore not only unwise (foolish) for some in the contemporary church to unhitch themselves from the OT, but it is downright dangerous. For we do not understand the meaning of the gospel without it, and we do not represent God or his gospel accurately without it. The church will not understand and worship God in depth and fullness if we untether ourselves from any part of his truth in the Holy Scriptures.

So what have we seen already about the gospel? God is the source of the gospel (end of v. 1). The gospel is God fulfilling his promises, which we have in the Holy Scriptures (v. 2). And (in verses 3 & 4) the gospel is a person: God the Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. [that will be the first part of our emphasis for next time] The good news is “concerning his Son… Jesus Christ our Lord” It centers on God’s revelation in the Son, the Messiah, the Lord Jesus.

Conclusion: To wrap up for today, we should each be asking…

Does the gospel define me? Has God’s good news in Jesus Christ changed my identity?

Is God’s good news through Jesus Christ demonstrated as central to my purpose?

Who am I, and what is my life about?

People who will listen to, and submit to, what the Spirit says through Paul in Romans will have abundant clarity and hope and joy on these questions at the heart of our existence. God’s good news in Jesus Christ is central to my identity… and my purpose.

PRAY

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