Romans 1.2-The Gospel is the Fulfillment of Prophetic Expectation in the Old Testament
Sunday May 13, 2007
Romans: Romans 1:2-The Gospel is the Fulfillment of Prophetic Expectation in the Old Testament
Lesson # 7
Please turn in your Bibles to Romans 1:1.
On Thursday evening we began a study of Romans and in particular the salutation that appears in Romans 1:1-7.
The salutation of the letter is contained in Romans 1:1-7, which identifies the writer as Paul (verse 1) and the recipients of the letter as being believers in Rome (verses 6 and 7) and the subject as being Jesus Christ (verse 1:2-5).
On Thursday, we studied Romans 1:1 in which Paul identifies himself to his readers by giving a three-fold description of himself.
This morning we will study Romans 1:2, in which Paul further defines the gospel that he proclaimed as the fulfillment of prophetic expectation in the Old Testament.
Romans 1:1-2, “Paul, a bond-servant of Christ Jesus, called as an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God, which He promised beforehand through His prophets in the holy Scriptures.”
“Gospel” is the noun euangelion (eu)aggevlion), which means, “good news, victorious proclamation.”
In the ancient world, the noun euangelion became a general term for the triumphant message from the battlefield, and it was used for joyous political proclamations or for personal messages of good news.
In relation to the unbeliever, the noun euangelion is God’s victorious proclamation that He has delivered the entire human race from sin, Satan, his cosmic system and eternal condemnation and has reconciled them to Himself through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
This reconciliation with God and deliverance and victory over sin, Satan and the cosmic system that God accomplished through His Son’s crucifixion, burial, death, resurrection and session is received as a gift and appropriated through faith in Christ (John 3:16-18; Acts 16:31; Romans 3-4).
In relation to the believer, the Gospel message is God’s victorious proclamation regarding the believer’s deliverance and victory positionally from the power of Satan, the old sin nature and the cosmic system of Satan (See Romans 5-7).
By positionally, I mean that God views the believer as crucified, died, buried, raised and seated with Christ since at the moment of salvation, the Holy Spirit placed the believer in union with Christ, identifying him with Christ’s crucifixion (Romans 6:6; Galatians 2:20), His death (Romans 6:2, 7-8; Colossians 2:20; 3:3), His burial (Romans 6:4; Colossians 2:12), His resurrection (Romans 6:5; Ephesians 2:6; Philippians 3:10-11; Colossians 2:12; 3:1) and His session (Ephesians 2:6; Colossians 3:1).
The believer can experience this victory and deliverance by appropriating by faith the teaching of the Word of God that he has been crucified, died, buried, raised and seated with Christ (Romans 6:11-23; 8:1-17; Galatians 2:20; Colossians 3:5-17).
In Romans 1:14-17, Paul informs his readers that the theme of his letter is that the gospel reveals the righteousness of God to all mankind and is the power of God for salvation, which is appropriated by faith in Jesus Christ.
Romans 1:14, “I am under obligation both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to the wise and to the foolish.”
Romans 1:15, “So, for my part, I am eager to preach the gospel to you also who are in Rome.”
Romans 1:16-17, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek for in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, ‘BUT THE RIGHTEOUS man SHALL LIVE BY FAITH.’”
In Romans 1:1, “God” is the noun theos (qeov$), which is a genitive of source indicating that Paul’s message to the Gentiles of eternal salvation through faith in Christ “originated” from God and was “not” of human origin.
Galatians 1:11-12, “For I would have you know, brethren that the gospel which was preached by me is not according to man. For I neither received it from man, nor was I taught it, but I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ.”
Romans 1:1-2, “Paul, a bond-servant of Christ Jesus, called as an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God, which He promised beforehand through His prophets in the holy Scriptures.”
In Romans 1:2, the relative pronoun hos (o^$), “which” refers to its antecedent euangelion, “gospel” and introduces a relative clause that further defines the gospel.
In Romans 1:1, Paul defines the gospel as originating with God as denoted by the phrase “the gospel of God” indicating that his message was “theocentric” in the sense that the gospel originated with God rather than “anthropocentric” originating with man.
His message was “Christocentric” in the sense that the historical manifestation of the truth of God was demonstrated in the words and actions of Jesus Christ.
The Gospel message expresses God’s love for the entire human race.
John 3:16, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.”
The Gospel expresses God’s desire that all men be saved, both Jew and Gentile.
1 Timothy 2:4, “God desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth (Bible Doctrine, the mind of Christ).”
In Romans 1:2, the relative clause contained further defines the gospel as the fulfillment of God’s promises through His prophets whose writings are contained in the Old Testament Scriptures.
By stating this fact, Paul is refuting his critics, the Judaizers that his message was “new” and was subverting the Old Testament Scriptures.
He was frequently accused by the Judaizers of teaching against the Mosaic Law and proclaiming a message that was unheard of in Judaism.
The Judaizers were composed of both regenerate and unregenerate Jews who taught strict adherence to the 613 mandates found in the Mosaic Law as well as the oral traditions of the Rabbis, which are now, documented in the Mishna and the Talmud as well.
The Lord Jesus Christ condemned the oral traditions of the rabbis in Mark 7, which spoke very little or nothing about the good news of salvation for all men through faith in the Messiah.
Therefore, we can see that Paul’s opponents were the ones whose message did not originate with God.
Paul denounces the teaching of the Judaizers in the book of Galatians since they taught a “different gospel” according to Galatians 1:6 and “distorted the gospel of Christ” (Gal. 1:7).
The phrase “He (God) promised beforehand” is the aorist (deponent) middle indicative form of the verb proepangellomai (proepaggevllomai), which is a compound word composed of the preposition pro (prov), “before” and the verb epangellomai (e)paggevllomai), “to promise.”
The prefix pro, “before” emphasizes that the promise was made in the past.
Therefore, the compound verb proepangellomai, “He promised beforehand” emphasizes that Paul’s gospel message was a fulfillment of prophetic expectation in the Old Testament.
Thus, in Romans 1:1-2, Paul is declaring to his readers that the gospel was not a new message but one declared throughout the Old Testament.
Genesis 3:15, “And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise you on the head, and you shall bruise him on the heel.”
The prophecy of Genesis 3:15 is the “seed plot” of the Virgin Birth and Incarnation of the Son of God (Isa. 7:14; Mt. 1:23; John 1:14; 1 Tim. 3:16).
It is also the “seed plot” of the Redemption and Salvation of mankind as well as the defeat of Satan, which is developed in further detail in the rest of the Bible (Gal. 3:13; Eph. 1:7; Col. 2:14; Heb. 2:14-15; 1 Jn. 3:8).
From this point on in Genesis the chain of promises and prophecies concerning the “Seed or Descendant of the woman” grows until it culminates in the birth of Christ who not only was the “Seed or Descendant of the woman” but also “the Seed or Descendant of Abraham” and the “Seed or Descendant of David.”
Genesis 22:18, “In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice.”
Deuteronomy 18:18, “I will raise up a prophet from among their countrymen like you, and I will put My words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him.”
Isaiah 9:6, “For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us; and the government will rest on His shoulders; and His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace.”
Jeremiah 23:5, “Behold, the days are coming," declares the LORD, when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch (figure for Jesus Christ); And He (Jesus Christ) will reign as king and act wisely and do justice and righteousness in the land.”
Micah 5:2, “But as for you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, too little to be among the clans of Judah, from you One will go forth for Me to be ruler in Israel. His goings forth are from long ago, from the days of eternity.”
Romans 1:1-2, “Paul, a bond-servant of Christ Jesus, called as an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God, which He promised beforehand through His prophets in the holy Scriptures.”
“Prophet” is the noun phophetes (profhvth$), which is a reference to the writings of the Old Testament prophets who were authorized spokesman for God and proclaimed His will, purpose and plan (See Hebrews 1:1-2).
The death and resurrection of Jesus Christ was foretold by the prophets in the Old Testament Scriptures (See 1 Corinthians 15:3-4).
There were a number of activities that the prophets of God were involved in such as communicating doctrine, issuing judgments, communicating future events, serving in the Temple, performing miracles, proclaiming Messianic prophecies, and interceding through prayer for the people (Hab. 3).
The Old Testament was divided into three sections: (1) The Torah (2) The Prophets (3) The Writings.
The first section is called the “Torah” meaning “the Law” and contained: (1) Genesis (2) Exodus (3) Leviticus (4) Numbers (5) Deuteronomy.
The second section was the Prophets which were divided into two sections: (1) The “Former” Prophets (2) The “Latter” Prophets.
The “Former” prophets: (1) Joshua (2) Judges (3) Samuel (4) Kings.
The “Latter” Prophets were divided into two categories: (1) Major (2) Minor.
The “Major” Prophets: (1) Isaiah (2) Jeremiah (3) Ezekiel.
The “Minor” Prophets were also called the Twelve because they were all contained in one book: (1) Hosea (2) Joel (3) Amos (4) Obadiah (5) Jonah (6) Micah (7) Nahum (8) Habakkuk (9) Zephaniah (10) Haggai (11) Zechariah (12) Malachi.
The third and final section was called the “Writings”: (1) The Poetical Books: Psalms, Proverbs and Job (2) The Five Rolls (Megilloth): Song of Solomon, Ruth, Ecclesiastes, Esther and Lamentations (3) The Historical Books: Daniel, Ezra and Nehemiah (1 book) and Chronicles.
An inspired prophet could be identified using the tests for prophets in Deut. 13:1-5; 18:14-22.
Deuteronomy 18:22, “When a prophet speaks in the name of the LORD, if the thing does not come about or come true, that is the thing which the LORD has not spoken. The prophet has spoken it presumptuously; you shall not be afraid of him.”
Moses wrote the Pentateuch (Ex. 17:14; 24:4-7; 34:27; Deut. 31:9,22,24; Ezra 7:6; Ps. 103:7; Josh. 8:31, 23:6; I Kings 2:3).
Some prophets clearly state that they were ordered to write (Jer. 30:2; Ezek. 43:11; Is. 8:1) and each of the 12 Minor Prophets call themselves prophets.
The historical books were written by prophets (I Chron. 29:29; II Chron. 9:29; 12:15; 13:22; 20:34; 32:32; 33:19).
Daniel accepted the book of Jeremiah as scripture (Dan. 9:2) and Joshua received Moses’ writing as Scripture (Josh. 1:26) and Isaiah and Micah accepted each other's writings as scripture contemporaneously (Is. 2:2-4; Micah 4:1-4).
Solomon, Samuel, Daniel, Isaiah and Ezekiel all had dreams and visions, which squares with God’s description of a prophet (Deut. 13:1; Num. 12:6-8).
The New Testament quotes the Old Testament over six hundred times (all of the Old Testament books are quoted except Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther, Ecclesiastes, and Song of Solomon and Acts 2:30 and Matthew 24:15 identify David and Daniel as prophets).
Not only did the apostles learn from the Old Testament Scriptures and quote them extensively in their writings but also our Lord in His human nature did as well.
After His resurrection from the dead, the Lord Jesus Christ employed the Old Testament Scriptures to instruct His disciples that the Messiah had to die and rise again from the dead (See Luke 24:44-47).
In Romans 1:2, “through” is the preposition dia (diaV), which denotes that the prophets were the intermediate agency, which God employed to communicate His plan of salvation through faith in the Messiah.
This prepositional phrase “through His prophets in the Holy Scriptures” along with the expression “the Gospel of God” expresses the principle of “inspiration” of the Scriptures.
2 Timothy 3:16-17, “All Scripture is God-breathed (theopneustos) and is profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.”
2 Peter 1:20-21, “But know this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture is a matter of one’s own interpretation, for no prophecy was ever made an act of human will, but men moved (phero) by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.”
The doctrine of inspiration contends that, God the Holy Spirit so supernaturally directed the human authors of Scripture that without destroying their individuality, their literary style, their personal interests, or their vocabulary, God’s complete and connected thought towards man was recorded with perfect accuracy in the original languages of Scripture.
Therefore, the Bible in its original languages is the exact record, the mind and will of God and contain the very words of God, and therefore, bear the “authority” of divine authorship.
“Holy” is the adjective hagios (a^gio$), which describes a “person or thing that has been set apart as sacred or consecrated to God or by God.”
The adjective describes the writings of the Old Testament prophets as being set apart by God in order to reveal His will, purpose, and plan for mankind and to reveal who and what man is and who and what God is and what He has done for us through His Son Jesus Christ.
Therefore, the adjective emphasizes that the writings of the Old Testament prophets were divine in quality and character and in origin.