What and Why Paul Preaches (Romans 1:1-7)

The Gospel: Paul’s Motive and Message

Romans 1:1–7 ESV

Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God, which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy Scriptures, concerning his Son, who was descended from David according to the flesh 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, 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, including you who are called to belong to Jesus Christ, 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.

Main Point: The gospel is God’s promise, invitation, and commission to us of life and for life!

1. Promise:

a. Origin

b. Oath

2. Invitation

a. Invite

b. Into something

3. Commission

a. Mandate/Command

b. Mission

4. “of life” = A gift of life (justification)

5. “for life” = A direction for life (sanctification)

Seven inferred “I proclaim because…” statements from Paul

I PROCLAIM BECAUSE I AM A SERVANT OF GOD (vs. 1)

· His nature (a slave): “a servant of Christ Jesus,”

· His function (an apostle): “called to be an apostle, set apart”

· His work (testifying of God): “for the gospel of God

I PROCLAIM THE GOOD NEWS OF GOD (vs. 1)

· Good News #1: The Gospel is from God! (It’s origin is from God and by God)

REVIEW WHAT I WATCHED THIS WEEK FROM A NT SURVEY AT AN IVY LEAGUE SCHOOL.

We determine what is holy

The scripture are from people—not God

The Scriptures are not from men

The Scriptures are not the idea of men

The Scriptures do not present our ideas, desires, and plans

The Scripture COMPLETELY comes from God—He just used a man’s hand and intellect to write it.

· Good News #2: The Gospel is God!

The Gospel is the news that God has revealed Himself to us

The Gospel is the news that God is with us

The Gospel is the news that God worked on our behalf

The Gospel is the news that God care!

I PROCLAIM WHAT GOD PROMISED (vs. 2)

· The Gospel is God making good on His promises (here are just a few)

o = God promises to crush the serpent with the seed of the woman (interesting, not the seed of the father).

o and 9 = God promises He would dwell with His people.

o = God promises a great shepherd will come and care for His people.

o = God promises the suffering servant would come to redeem and heal His people.

o = God promises to set up a kingdom that would never be destroyed.

I PROCLAIM THE LORD JESUS CHRIST (vs. 3-4)

THE SUBJECT OF THE GOSPEL IS JESUS CHRIST: (two-fold nature)

o The Human

§ The Line of Mary (Luke) = Nathan’s line

§ The Line of Joseph (Matthew)= Solomon’s line

o The Son of God

§ “declared” (GK horizo) = to assign someone to a particular task, function, or role—‘to appoint, to designate, to assign, to give a task to.’[1]

The Message: The resurrection demonstrates the power and holiness of Jesus Christ!

The Point: JESUS CHRIST IS THE LORD!

I PROCLAIM FOR A RESPONSE OF OBEDIENCE (vs. 5)

· The effect of the Gospel is twofold:

o Grace for salvation = We obey the gospel for salvation!

o A calling to Apostleship (messengers) = We obey God by proclaiming the gospel as servant messengers for the Lord Jesus Christ!

§ The weight of obeying Christ and making disciples is not a responsibility reserved only for leadership; rather, it is for EVERYONE! ()

· The result of the gospel is God’s glory. And… Our obedience glorifies the name of God

· The target of the gospel is the whole world! And… Our obedience to God encourages others to come to God

The effect of the gospel brings us to Christ and commissions us for Christ, the result of the gospel is God’s glory, and the target of the gospel is the whole world.

I PROCLAIM BECAUSE YOU ARE CALLED BY GOD (vs. 6-7)

· “Called” (GK kletos) = to being invited, called, invited to a meal.[2]

o Woodrow Kroll argues: “The expression “the called” is a favorite of the apostle Paul to indicate a very particular group—those who have trusted in the Lord Jesus as Savior.”

· “Saint” (GK hagios) = pertaining to being holy in the sense of/or moral qualities and possessing certain essentially divine qualities in contrast with what is human—‘holy, pure, divine.’[3]

o Holy = Means to be:

§ Set apart for Christ

§ Filled with the Fruit of the Spirit

§ Endowed with the Gifts of the Spirit.

o Chuck Swindoll points out: “The term “saint” is the noun form of the adjective “holy”. Something is kept “holy” when it is set aside for the dedicated use, as when a priest reserved certain things in the temple for the rituals of worship.”

I PROCLAIM BECAUSE YOU ARE LOVED BY GOD (vs. 7)

· Our salvation and response flow from the God’s love for us.

· “Loved” (GK agapetos): pertaining to one who is in a very special relationship with another, only, only beloved, in reference to an only son. [4]

· = God loved us—His children—so much that He was willing to sacrifice Himself and experience a pain within the Godhead that is unimaginable to us.

o Jesus’ cry from the cross (my God, my God, why have you forsaken me) was not empty, nor was He waxing eloquent.

o Somehow, in someway, Jesus felt deep agony in the flesh for our redemption. Why? Because we are ALL His children.

I PROCLAIM BECAUSE WE HAVE GRACE AND PEACE FROM GOD (vs. 7)

· This is Paul’s personal concoction of a greeting:

o Peace (HB shalom/GK eirene): Jewish greeting

o Grace (GK charis): Christian greeting

Peace is what the Jews wanted—the Garden of Eden and the glory days of Israel restored

Grace is what we all need—not to be consumed by the wrath of God.

In summation

1. I PROCLAIM BECAUSE I AM A SERVANT OF GOD (vs. 1)

2. I PROCLAIM THE GOOD NEWS OF GOD (vs. 1)

3. I PROCLAIM WHAT GOD PROMISED (vs. 2)

4. I PROCLAIM THE LORD JESUS CHRIST (vs. 3-4)

5. I PROCLAIM FOR A RESPONSE OF OBEDIENCE (vs. 5)

6. I PROCLAIM BECAUSE YOU ARE CALLED BY GOD (vs. 6-7)

7. I PROCLAIM BECAUSE YOU ARE LOVED BY GOD (vs. 7)

8. I PROCLAIM BECAUSE WE HAVE GRACE AND PEACE FROM GOD (vs. 7)

The Desired Response:

1. Initially come to Him!

2. Faithfully walk with Him!

[1] Johannes P. Louw and Eugene Albert Nida, Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament: Based on Semantic Domains (New York: United Bible Societies, 1996), 482.

[2] William Arndt et al., A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2000), 549.

[3] Johannes P. Louw and Eugene Albert Nida, Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament: Based on Semantic Domains (New York: United Bible Societies, 1996), 744.

[4] William Arndt et al., A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2000), 7.