God’s Good News

PRAY: Almighty triune God, thank you for the privilege of knowing you, submitting to you, and serving you. Bring glory to your name today through the preaching of your word, and glorify yourself in our hearts through the songs we sing and the prayers we pray, and through our fellowship together in the Spirit as your saints. Convince our hearts and minds of your goodness. Let us confess our sins and be right with you, God. And use us in the world to display and proclaim the glory of Jesus Christ our Lord. In his name we pray, Amen.

Read the passage:

Romans 1:1–7 ESV

1 Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle, set apart for 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, 5 through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith for the sake of his name among all the nations, 6 including you who are called to belong to Jesus Christ, 7 To all those in Rome who are loved by God and called to be saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Last week’s sermon from vv. 1-2 we titled Gospel Identity & Purpose (in connection with all these introductory verses) - Paul identifies himself according to his relationship to God through the gospel of Jesus Christ and his corresponding responsibility from God to proclaim this gospel, and he also identifies his recipients according to their relationship to Jesus Christ. Our application of this is, that although we cannot identify with everything about Paul’s conversion or apostolic responsibility, each one of us must come to realize that…

God’s good news is Jesus Christ. Our relationship to him determines our relationship to God, and it is he who defines and directs us.

Paul opened this letter by identifying himself (in v. 1) as a bondslave of Christ (his new Master is the Lord Jesus), and identifies himself as an Apostle (his office & the basis of his authority), and identifies himself as having been set apart for the gospel of God (that is the new purpose that God has given him, particularly to proclaim the gospel of God’s offer of salvation to the Gentiles also).

Paul develops his identity and purpose further by defending God’s gospel in connection with the Hebrew Scriptures and with abundant clarity that Jesus is its central figure (vv. 2-4… both the gospel and the Scriptures). Then he explains his specific task with relationship to the Lord Jesus (v. 5), which leads to the recipients’ relationship to Jesus as well (vv. 6-7).

Last time we addressed from the end of v. 1 that the source of this gospel Paul proclaims is God himself… it is God’s gospel. This is not just any typical good news. This is God’s good news.

We also covered v. 2 and Paul’s defense of his teaching about the Lord Jesus as being completely consistent with God’s revelation in the Hebrew Scriptures (the OT), especially in the fulfillment of God’s promises concerning this good news of the Messiah, Jesus our Lord. (Paul will include at least sixty quotations from the OT in this letter to the Romans, proving that the gospel of Jesus as Messiah is a continuation of God’s faithfulness in fulfillment of his promises.)

So from vv. 3 forward we continue to follow Paul’s line of reasoning concerning God’s gospel, as fulfillment of divine promise particularly concerning the Messiah. 3 times in these few verses Paul specifically labels Jesus as the Christ, which is the Gk work for Messiah (1, 4, & 6). God’s good news centers on God’s revelation and accomplishment in the Son, the Messiah, the Lord Jesus.

In other words…

God’s good news is a person. God the Son, Jesus the Messiah, fulfills divine promise and provides divine power to save. (verses 3 & 4)

God’s gospel centers in one particular person, as Paul describes the good news “concerning his [God’s] Son” all the way to “Jesus Christ our Lord” at the end of v. 4.

Even as he already expressed the gospel as fulfillment of God’s promise in Scripture (v. 2), Paul’s emphasis in vv. 3&4 is the Son’s fulfillment of messianic promise, established first by his earthly pedigree. Every Jew would have known (every Jew who hoped in the promise of God in his covenant with David knew) that the Messiah would come from the lineage of David, as the promise was given to David and to his house forever, of a future delivering king of perfect and eternal rule. So Paul first makes clear that when the eternal Son of God assumed humanity, he did so in fulfillment of messianic prophecy, he was born in the lineage of David, which is what he means by “according to the flesh” here. (Sometimes flesh (sarx) can refer to the sinfulness of our humanity, or to the frailty of our humanity, or to simply true humanity, as it does here.)

But the Lord Jesus, of the lineage of David, is an even better Messiah who brings greater deliverance than any would have anticipated. And it’s this second emphasis which makes this so clear, that Jesus was also demonstrated by the Holy Spirit to be the Son of God (which is also a messianic title) in power by his resurrection from the dead.

Paul is not saying Jesus became the Son of God at this point; rather, he is expressing that Jesus’ resurrection from the dead was divine declaration, proof of his power to be the ultimate ruler and deliverer. So although he was always the divine Son, now by his resurrection in power he has inaugurated a new era in which he is authorized to save all who believe in him because of what he accomplished on the cross in his sacrificial death and resurrection.

God’s good news centers on the Son’s position and power as the promised Messianic King, and as such he is the Lord who saves, because of what he accomplished by his sacrificial death and resurrection in power. Jesus is both Messiah of divine promise and Messiah of divine power to save all who believe in him. As Paul will say in Rom 1:16, “I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes…”

Do you see how God’s intervention through Jesus is so central to the the great drama of God’s covenant promises and history with Israel? And do you begin to see that the Son coming to earth is therefore the fulcrum of all human history and that his accomplishment is at the very center of God’s good news? Do you begin to see also that how we relate to him therefore determines our relationship to God?

Here (at the end of v. 4) Paul has made a turn to how we relate to Jesus, calling him “our Lord.” From there he emphasizes again, in greater detail, the specific apostolic task in relationship to Jesus (v. 5), and includes the recipients as part of the aim of that task as they too have come to a relationship with Jesus by faith (vv 6&7).

Paul elaborates the Apostles’ responsibility in relationship to the Lord Jesus Christ. (verse 5)

There are three things to note in this verse: 1. Paul states that the apostolic responsibility is faith among all peoples (with an intentional emphasis on inclusion of Gentiles). 2. He connects this saving faith with a life of obedience to Christ. 3. And he emphasizes that all this is for the glory of Christ: “for his name’s sake.”

Paul switches to the plural, using “we.” “Through him we have received grace and apostleship,” so he doesn’t refer to himself alone in this foundational responsibility. And it was purely by God’s grace that they were chosen for apostleship, which Scripture indicates is always the case in God’s choosing us for salvation and his choosing for any particular responsibility. Also, two-thirds of the way through this verse Paul states that their apostolic ministry is intended to make disciples among all nations. - The Gk word is ethnos, and it is variously translated as nations, people, or Gentiles. It is a group of persons united by kinship, culture, and common traditions. In the plural it is frequently the whole group of non-Jews that become a central focus of the worldwide gospel proclamation. That is probably Paul’s intent here. Even though he specifically was commissioned to the Gentiles in particular, his understanding is that this is part and parcel with the foundational ministry of the Apostles to begin the disciple-making mission of Christ’s people.

Second, what are we to make of their responsibility to “bring about the obedience of faith”? There are two possible interpretations which are closely related in Paul’s theology. Paul might be intending the meaning to be “obedience, which is faith.” This could be what Paul is saying, since at some points, though not often, he can use the word obedience interchangeably for faith: Rom 10:16a “But they have not all obeyed the gospel.” (In that context the emphasis is absolutely on believing and confessing Christ for salvation, but that not all who hear the proclamation respond in obedience to it.) The second possibility for Paul’s meaning is that he intends in this introduction to tie obedience to true saving faith, where the meaning is that Christ’s true disciples will lead lives of faithfulness to Christ. After all, that is the meaning of discipleship. Either view is consistent with Paul’s theology and aims in this letter. Faith and obedience are always distinct for Paul, but they are also inseparable. Douglas Moo summarizes, “One cannot have faith in Christ Jesus without acknowledging him as Lord, with all the consequences that follow from that basic commitment.” (NIV Biblical Theology Study Bible)

So Paul connects saving faith with a life of obedience to Christ…

And finally, he says that this apostolic responsibility, this mission, to bring about the obedience of faith among the nations is for the the sake of his name. It is for Christ’s glory. Think about the heights to which language like this elevates the Lord Jesus. Before encountering Christ, a Pharisee like Paul, knowing many Scripture references with wording such as this, would have only said “for the sake of his name” with reference to Almighty God. Now, in this age of God the Son achieving God’s means of salvation, God is in fact supremely glorified when the Lord Jesus Christ is esteemed. Where Christ is glorified, God is glorified. Conversely, if Christ be not glorified, God’s name is not lifted up. No one can honor God apart from the Lordship of Jesus. But, even if other individuals will not glorify God because they do not respond to Christ, faithful proclamation of the gospel itself brings glory to Christ (who is God). Like Paul, we proclaim for the sake of his name.

Do you see why Paul takes this Apostolic ministry so seriously, and why we should take this mission as our own? If people are not submitting to Jesus, then they cannot know God. You cannot know God apart from worshipping Jesus, nor can anyone else. Paul ties God’s gospel to our relationship response to Jesus.

But the audience to whom Paul writes, who are expected to both read and embrace the truths of this letter, are those who demonstrate their calling to belong to Christ, their “obedience of faith.”

Paul connects this “obedience of faith” to the recipients’ relationship to Jesus Christ. (verses 6 & 7)

(v. 6) “including you who are called to belong to Jesus Christ.” The intended meaning of this calling cannot be merely an invitation to belong to Jesus, for that would erase the meaning Paul has flowing from v. 5 to 6. Certainly, the NT can use the word call to mean a general invitation, but there are many other places where this calling is not general (or universal) but is an effectual call, as theologians have come to term it. Whether or not you choose to agree with me that there are more uses of this meaning of calling in the NT, Paul’s point here is clear. This grand apostolic mission of making disciples of Jesus from among all peoples is true of these readers themselves in Rome, who are called to belong to Jesus.

Even so (since for Paul all seven verses are one introductory greeting sentence), in the next breath he connects that they are called in Christ Jesus to being the very ones to whom he writes this letter (v. 7): “to all those in Rome… loved by God… and called to be saints.” This is the same word for called. They are called in Christ Jesus and called to be saints, and saints is the Gk word for holy, for being set apart to God for his purposes. The NT teaches that all believers are saints. There is not a special class of Christian called saints. Every believer who belongs to God through faith in Jesus is also one whom God has set apart to himself, a saint. And we are not saints because we always behave sinlessly, but because God has moved us from the category of sinner and imputed us with Christ’s righteousness.

So too, even as God does truly love the world and has demonstrated it by offering a salvation in Christ Jesus to all peoples (and that really is love, that he gave his own Son… that the Son left the glories of heaven to become a man and give his own life), God does differentiate a unique, covenant love (a familial love) for those who relate to him rightly through submission to the Lord Jesus.

Another interpretation of the sense of these verses, which I do not agree with, would be that (beginning at verse 5) there is only potential that they should respond with obedience of faith, and potential that they might respond to the call and God’s love to become his saints. The problem with that is, it seems pretty clear that Paul’s intent is to say he’s writing a letter to “called saints” in Rome (even the words “to be” we have added for flow in English). These are “called saints.” Now of course, there might be among them some who have yet to truly respond in saving faith to Jesus, but Paul’s general audience is the saints, who should learn and apply fully what it is that they have come to believe and need to communicate to others.

Even so, to these called saints in Rome who are loved by God and are called in Christ Jesus, he sends greetings of grace and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Notice again the elevation of the Lord Jesus to be juxtaposed alongside God the Father. Second, these greetings from Paul are turned into a prayer-like benediction (a prayerful blessing) on his hearers. Specifically, Paul includes both Greek and Jewish flavored greetings: Paul edits the standard Gk greeting and makes it actually God’s grace (which is both his favor in Christ and his power to live for Christ), and then he also includes the Jewish greeting of peace, which is a total well-being associated with God’s presence with this people. “Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.”

CONCLUSION:

So what we have emphasized today from the text of Paul’s introductory greeting is that…

God’s good news is Jesus Christ. Our relationship to him determines our relationship to God, and it is he who defines and directs us.

Paul identifies himself and his purpose, and he identifies his hearers, according to how we relate to God by faith in Jesus Christ, and in obeying the command of Christ.

Before we leave this text, let’s consider briefly the implications of a couple parts of this. First…

What’s so good about God’s good news?

The good news is good because it’s from God. The good news is good because it is a fulfillment of his covenant promises. The good news is good because it is concerning God’s own Son, who accomplished what is necessary for our salvation and was raised to prove his power to save.

God’s good news is his Son, Jesus the Messiah. Whether or not this gospel is truly good news to us depends on our relationship to the Lord Jesus.

God’s good news centers in Jesus Christ, and our relationship to him is what makes the good news good to us.

That also means God’s good news through Jesus divides the world. You are either obedient to God through submission to Jesus, or you are against God in rebellious self-will. [repeat… God’s good news through Jesus divides the world….]

And Christian, the more we rightly worship God through submissive obedience to the Lord Jesus, the better this good news is revealed to be in our hearts and lives! - Do you think Paul knows just how good this good news is?! Paul wants both Gentile and Jewish Christians to know the full goodness of God’s good news and to live accordingly, even in terms of getting along with one another in their differences.

As we continue to study Romans, let God’s goodness in the good news of Jesus Christ be made known more and more to you so that you understand yourself better, according to how God defines who you are, and understand better what direction he now has for your life.

PRAY

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