Sermon Tone Analysis

Thursday May 17, 2007

Romans: Romans 1:5b-The Purpose of Paul’s Apostleship and the Gospel

Lesson # 10

Please turn in your Bibles to Romans 1:1.

This evening we will continue with our study of the book of Romans.

Last Thursday, we began a study of Romans and in particular the salutation that appears 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).

In Romans 1:1, Paul identified himself to his readers by giving a three-fold description of himself.

Then, in Romans 1:2, Paul further defines the gospel that he proclaimed as the fulfillment of prophetic expectation in the Old Testament.

On Tuesday evening we noted Romans 1:3-4, which identifies to Paul’s readers the subject of the epistle, who is the Lord Jesus Christ.

Last evening we studied Romans 1:5a, and read where Paul received the unmerited spiritual gift of apostleship at the moment of his salvation.

This evening we will complete this verse by noting the purpose for which the Lord gave him this gift, which was to bring about among the Gentiles the faith, which produces obedience to God.

Romans 1:1-5, “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, concerning His Son, who was born of a descendant of David according to the flesh, who was declared the Son of God with power by the resurrection from the dead, according to the Spirit of holiness, Jesus Christ our Lord through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith among all the Gentiles for His name's sake.”

“To bring about” is the preposition eis (ei)$) (ice), which expresses the Lord Jesus Christ’s “purpose” for graciously bestowing upon Paul the unmerited spiritual gift and office of apostle and that is the purpose of the Gospel as well.

“The obedience of faith” is composed of the accusative feminine singular form of the noun hupakoe (u(pakohv) (hoop-ak-o-ay), “obedience” and the genitive feminine singular form of the noun pistis (pivsti$) (pis-tis), “faith.”

The noun hupakoe is a compound word composed of the preposition hupo (u(pov) (hoop-o), “below, under” and the noun akoe (a)kohv) (ak-o-ay), “to hear.”

This noun refers to the appropriate submissive obedience to an authority beyond oneself, whether human or divine.

In Romans 1:5, the word denotes obedience to the Father’s will, which is communicated by the Holy Spirit through the communication of the Word of God.

In “common grace”, God the Holy Spirit reveals the Father’s will to the unbeliever through the communication of the gospel by an evangelist, which is to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ in order to receive the forgiveness of sins and eternal salvation (See John 3:1-7; 16:7-11; Acts 16:31).

After salvation, God the Holy Spirit reveals the Father’s will to the believer through the communication of the Word of God by the man with the spiritual gift of pastor teacher in order that the believer might grow spiritually to greater Christ-likeness or spiritual maturity.

(See Romans 8:29; Ephesians 4:11-16).

Fellowship with God demands obedience to His commands and prohibitions and is sharing and experiencing eternal life with the Lord, which is accomplished through obedience to the voice of the Spirit whose voice is heard through the communication of the Word of God.

1 John 2:5, “But, whoever, at any time does observe conscientiously His Word, indeed, in this one, the love for the one and only God is accomplished.

By means of this we can confirm that we are at this particular moment in fellowship with Him.”

For a believer, obedience is the supreme test of his love for the Lord.

John 14:15, “If you love Me, you will observe conscientiously My commandments.”

The one who obeys the Lord’s command to love one another is a friend of the Lord.

John 15:14, “You are My friends if you do what I command you.”

The believer’s obedience is the proper, appropriate, obedient and obligatory response by him to God’s revelation of Himself since the believer has been created and redeemed by God for His purpose and good pleasure.

Obedience demonstrates the believer’s faith and is the positive response to God’s commands and acting upon those directions.

In Romans 1:5, the noun pistis means, “trust, confidence, faith in the active sense, believing, faith, trust, confidence in God.”

True Biblical faith is confident obedience to God’s Word in spite of circumstances and consequences and operates quite simply: God speaks and we hear His Word.

Faith means we trust His Word and act on it no matter what the circumstances are or what the consequences may be.

The circumstances may be impossible, and the consequences frightening and unknown but we obey God’s Word just the same and believe Him to do what is right and what is best.

Faith is the positive response and obedience to God’s commands and prohibitions and acting upon those directions whereas unbelief on the other hand is disobedient and is the negative response to God’s commands and as a result the failure to act upon God’s commands.

Hebrews 11:1-3 gives a definition of faith and also a description of the nature of faith or in other words, what faith does and how it works.

Hebrews 11:1-3, “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.

For by it the men of old gained approval.

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.”

A Christian’s faith is based upon trusting in the authority of the Scriptures in order to govern his life and is a non-meritorious system of perception.

The object of the Christian’s faith at the moment of salvation is the Lord Jesus Christ and the object of his faith after salvation is the written Word of God.

In order for the Christian to please God and gain His approval he must trust in the authority of the Scriptures to govern his life (See Hebrews 11:6).

Hebrews 11:6, “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.”

Just as the Christian received the Lord Jesus as his Savior by exercising faith in Him for eternal salvation, so after salvation he is to live by the same principle of faith (Compare Ephesians 2:8-9 with Colossians 2:5-7).

Fellowship with God is based upon a moment-by-moment walk of faith in the Lord.

Galatians 2:20, “I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the {life} which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.”

Faith in the Word of God is the way to victory over the enemy, Satan.

1 John 5:4, “For whatever is born of God overcomes the world; and this is the victory that has overcome the world -- our faith.”

In fact, the believer is commanded to take up for himself the shield of faith.

Ephesians 6:16, “In addition to everything, I solemnly charge all of you to take up for yourselves your shield, which is your faith because that will enable all of you to extinguish all the flaming arrows originating from the evil one.”

The believer acquires faith through hearing the communication of the Word of Christ.

Romans 10:17, “So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ.”

The noun pistis functions grammatically as a “genitive of production” meaning that the genitive noun pistis is “producing” the action of the noun hupakoe, “obedience.”

Therefore, the expression eis hupakoen pisteos, “to bring about the obedience of faith” refers to “faith that produces obedience to God.”

Also, the genitive noun pistis could be interpreted as a “genitive of source” meaning that obedience “originates” or “comes from” faith.

The Lord bestowed upon Paul the spiritual gift of apostleship for two reasons: (1) In relation to the unbeliever, that they might obey the gospel message and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ for eternal salvation.

(2) In relation to the believer, that they might obey the gospel after salvation and express faith in the Word of God and grow to spiritual maturity or greater Christ-likeness while at the same time being delivered experientially from the sin nature, Satan and his cosmic system.

Noah demonstrated his faith in the Lord by his obedience to the Lord’s command to build the ark and so did Abraham when he obeyed the Lord’s command to leave Ur of the Chaldeans and go to a place that the Lord would show him in due time.

Hebrews 11:7, “By means of faith, Noah, after having received a divine warning concerning the things which at the time were not yet seen, and having responding reverentially built an ark for the deliverance of his household through which (faith) he rendered the wickedness of the world more evident and censurable and as a result he became a possessor of divine righteousness because of his faith.”

Hebrews 11:8, “By faith Abraham, when he was called, obeyed by going out to a place which he was to receive for an inheritance; and he went out, not knowing where he was going.”

In the epistle of James, James teaches his readers who were believers that Abraham demonstrated his faith by performing works and when he speaks of works, he is referring to actions that are produced by obedience to God’s commands.

James 2:14-24 is addressed to believers challenging them to operated in faith “after” salvation and which faith is demonstrated by obedience to God resulting in good works that are approved by God.

James 2:14, “What use is it, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but he has no works?

Can that faith save him?”

In the Bible, the term “brethren” is always used as a designation for believers and never unbelievers, thus James is addressing his readers as fellow believers in relation to their walk with God “after” salvation since they are already saved.

Therefore, the term “save” is “not” a reference to eternal salvation but rather the believer’s “deliverance” after salvation from his sin nature, the devil and the cosmic system by obeying the Word of God.

The term “works” is “not” a reference to working for one’s eternal salvation but rather it is a designation for obedience to God resulting in actions that benefit one’s fellow believer.

James 2:15-16, “If a brother or sister is without clothing and in need of daily food and one of you says to them, ‘Go in peace, be warmed and be filled,’ and yet you do not give them what is necessary for their body, what use is that?”

James 2:17, “Even so faith, if it has no works, is dead, being by itself.”

In James 2:15-17, James teaches his readers that if they do not help their fellow believer who is destitute and in need of the essentials of life, then they are not operating in faith meaning they are disobeying God who commanded them to love one another as themselves (Mark 12:28-31).

James 2:18, “But someone may well say, ‘You have faith and I have works; show me your faith without the works, and I will show you my faith by my works.’”

James teaches that a believer’s faith is demonstrated by his works and when he speaks of works, he is referring to his actions that benefit his fellow believer, and which actions are produced by obedience to God’s Word.

James 2:19, “You believe that God is one.

You do well; the demons also believe, and shudder.”

James teaches his readers that the demons believe that God is one but they do not produce actions that are the result of obedience to God.

James 2:20, “But are you willing to recognize, you foolish fellow, that faith without works is useless?”

James 2:21, “Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up Isaac his son on the altar?”

James teaches that Abraham was justified by his works and identifies what those works were, namely, the offering of Isaac his son on the altar, which was in obedience to God.

Therefore, we can see that when James uses the term “works” in this passage he is referring to a believer’s actions that are the result of obedience to God’s Word.

When James uses the term “justified,” he is “not” referring to justification in relation to eternal salvation but rather justification in the sense of “approval” by God for one’s obedience to Him.

James 2:22, “You see that faith was working with his works, and as a result of the works, faith was perfected.”

James teaches that Abraham’s faith produced actions that were in obedience to God and which actions, he calls “works.”

When James uses the term “perfected” he means perfected in the sense of being accomplished.

Therefore, James is teaching that as a result of Abraham’s actions in sacrificing Isaac, and which actions were in obedience to God, the goal of faith was accomplished.

The goal of faith is obedience to God, which is what Paul is referring to in Romans 1:5 with the phrase “through whom we have received the gift of apostleship in order to bring about the obedience, which is produced by faith.”

James 2:23, “and the Scripture was fulfilled which says, ‘AND ABRAHAM BELIEVED GOD, AND IT WAS RECKONED TO HIM AS RIGHTEOUSNESS,’ and he was called the friend of God.”

James is quoting Genesis 15:6 and as we noted when we studied Genesis 15:6, although, the New Testament writers employ Genesis 15:6 to teach that justification is through faith alone in Christ alone, it does “not” mean that Genesis 15:6 records the moment when Abraham first got saved.

The reason for this is that first of all, Abraham had already obeyed the Lord’s call to leave Ur and Haran (Acts 7:2-5; Gen. 12:1-5) and secondly, the Lord had entered into a covenant agreement with him as recorded in Genesis 12:1-3 and 15:4-5, which is something the Lord would never do with an unbeliever.

James 2:24, “You see that a man is justified by works and not by faith alone.”

When James uses the term “justified by works” he means that a believer is justified before God in the sense that he is “approved” by God when he produces actions that are in obedience to God.

This obedience demonstrates his faith in God and does “not” refer to justification in relation to eternal salvation.

Abraham was a tremendous example for James’ readers to follow in that Abraham was approved by God because his attempted sacrifice of his beloved son Isaac was in obedience to God’s commands and which obedience demonstrated his faith.

James is not attempting to describe for his readers how they can identify a so-called “genuine” believer but rather he is simply challenging his readers to obey God, which demonstrates their faith and benefits their fellow believer.

Romans 1:5, “through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith among all the Gentiles for His name's sake.”

The prepositional phrase en pasin tois ethnesin (e)n pa~sin toi~$ e*qnesin), “among all the Gentiles” refers to those who are “not” of Jewish racial descent.

The apostle Paul was called as an apostle to the Gentiles by the Lord Himself and not the other apostles (See Acts 9:15; 22:21; Romans 11:13; 15:16; Galatians 1:15-16; 2:2, 7-9; Ephesians 3:1; 1 Timothy 2:7).

The Lord Jesus Christ commanded His disciples to present the gospel to all the nations, both Israel and the Gentile nations (See Matthew 24:14; 28:19) since He came to save both Israel and the Gentiles (Luke 2:32).

In Ephesians 3:1-13, Paul teaches that it was a mystery that the Gentiles through faith in Christ would become fellow heirs with Jewish believers, fellow members of the body of Christ and fellow partakers of the four unconditional covenants of promise to Israel.

The mystery is not that the Gentiles would be saved since this was prophesied in the Old Testament (Isa.

11:10; 60:3) but rather, it refers to the fact that they would become fellow heirs with Jewish believers, fellow members with Jewish believers in the body of Christ and fellow partakers of the covenant promises to Israel.

The prepositional phrase “for His name’s sake” is composed of the preposition huper (u(peVr) (hoop-er), “on behalf of” and the articular neuter singular genitive (of advantage) form of the noun onoma (o*noma) (on-om-ah), “name” and the genitive singular intensive personal pronoun autos (au)tov$) (ow-tos), “His.”