Romans 1:8-17

Genuine faith is always accompanied by genuine devotion. Genuine devotion is visible, as this text makes clear by inference. We can see true devotion which means we can see true faith.

Hebrews 11:6 NASB95

And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him.

How many Christians are looking for true faith in others versus just taking their outward profession at face value? What problems can this create in the the church?

lays the foundation for the new process for purging the community.

Matthew 18:15–18 NASB95

“If your brother sins, go and show him his fault in private; if he listens to you, you have won your brother. “But if he does not listen to you, take one or two more with you, so that by the mouth of two or three witnesses every fact may be confirmed. “If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector. “Truly I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth shall have been loosed in heaven.

gives an example of what NT stoning looks like.

1 Corinthians 5:5 NASB95

I have decided to deliver such a one to Satan for the destruction of his flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.

gives another example.

1 Timothy 1:20 NASB95

Among these are Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I have handed over to Satan, so that they will be taught not to blaspheme.

Hebrews 11:3 NASB95

By faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things which are visible.

This is the trust and confidence we place in God. But the capacity for such trust and confidence does not naturally reside in the fallen sinner.

The Gospel

What is the content of the gospel?

God’s absolute right.

Man’s rebellion.

God’s justice.

Man’s hopelessness.

God’s grace.

Christ’s substitution.

Man is saved by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone for the glory of God alone, according to Scripture alone.

Note that Paul said he was eager (v.15) to preach the gospel.

Christians ought to be eager to share the truth with each other, to witness to the saving grace of God in the gospel.

It is the expression of God’s power

Ashamed: ἐπαισχύνομαι. to experience or feel shame or disgrace because of some particular event or activity.

to experience or feel shame or disgrace because of some particular event or activity

εὐαγγέλιον: the gospel is good news but why is it good news?

How is the gospel the expression of God’s power for salvation?

Johannes P. Louw and Eugene Albert Nida, Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament: Based on Semantic Domains (New York: United Bible Societies, 1996), 309

1 Corinthians 1:17–18 NASB95

For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel, not in cleverness of speech, so that the cross of Christ would not be made void. For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.

Turn to : It was by God’s own wisdom that the world would not come to him through its own wisdom. Instead it would be through the foolishness of preaching.

Why does God choose to save the world through the foolishness of preaching?

So that the cross of Christ would not be made void.

So that our faith would not rest on the wisdom of men, but on the power of God.

Why is Paul not ashamed of the gospel?

It results in salvation

Nestle-Aland Greek New Testament, 28th Edition Chapter 1

παντὶ τῷ πιστεύοντι

δύναμις: the potentiality to exert force in performing some function.

σωτηρία: To rescue from danger and to restore to a former state of safety and well being.

The power of God to save is contained in the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Jews and non-Jews.

To everyone who believes

Nestle-Aland Greek New Testament, 28th Edition Chapter 1

παντὶ τῷ πιστεύοντι

Who are the believing ones

Jews and non-Jews.

Why do some men believe and others do not?

John 6:64–65 NASB95

“But there are some of you who do not believe.” For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were who did not believe, and who it was that would betray Him. And He was saying, “For this reason I have said to you, that no one can come to Me unless it has been granted him from the Father.”

John 10:26–29 NASB95

“But you do not believe because you are not of My sheep. “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me; and I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand. “My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand.

Psalm 147:15 NASB95

He sends forth His command to the earth; His word runs very swiftly.

26-

Isaiah 40:8 NASB95

The grass withers, the flower fades, But the word of our God stands forever.

Isaiah 55:10 NASB95

“For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven, And do not return there without watering the earth And making it bear and sprout, And furnishing seed to the sower and bread to the eater;

Isaiah 55:10–11 NASB95

“For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven, And do not return there without watering the earth And making it bear and sprout, And furnishing seed to the sower and bread to the eater; So will My word be which goes forth from My mouth; It will not return to Me empty, Without accomplishing what I desire, And without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it.

A frustrated deity is impossible.

What Paul is saying here, then, is that the gospel is God’s effective power active in the world of men to bring about deliverance from His wrath in the final judgment and reinstatement in that glory of God which was lost through sin - that is, an eschatological salvation which reflects its slendour back into the present of those who are to share in it.

It is the revelation of God’s righteousness

How does the gospel reveal God’s righteousness?

1 John 4:10 NASB95

In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.

In the gospel we see the wrath of God poured out on Christ who stood in the place of sinners, bearing upon himself our judgment. In this we see God’s righteousness. But we also see God’s grace, mercy, and compassion in that it is through faith in that finished work that man is rescued from divine wrath.

ἀποκαλύπτω: to cause something to be fully known, to disclose, bring to light, make fully known.

Entirely by faith

Ephesians 2:8–10 NASB95

For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.

Eph

The righteousness of God is made clear, or a righteous status is being revealed which is altogether by faith. The starting point of righteousness is faith and the extent and end of righteousness is faith. The phrase highlights the centrality of faith in the letter to the Romans.

Affirmed by God’s Word

Habakkuk 2:4 NASB95

“Behold, as for the proud one, His soul is not right within him; But the righteous will live by his faith.

The phrase, the just shall live by faith should be understood to mean that a man LIVES and does not die, only by faith. By his faith, the just man lives, is made alive. And the faith that we call “his” faith is only his because it has been given to him by God. There is no other way for him to come into the kind of faith that renders the dead man alive.

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