For weeks we have traversed the first 8 chapters of Paul’s letter to the Romans…his presentation of God’s righteousness…what it is and how it underpins the story of redemption. Before we move into the next major section…where the Jews and Gentiles fit into this cosmic plan…I think it would be appropriate to do a panoramic overview of what we have learned so far.
The story is not finished. There is still more to come before we dive into the ways God’s righteousness plays out in our everyday lives, but…let’s pause and reflect…
Paul begins by presenting a very dark picture of the state of the world. Gentiles, in the main, are guilty of heinous sin. They have not only rejected the knowledge of God by trading His glory for created things, worshiping creatures instead of the Creator, but they have suppressed the truth by their wickedness. Together with this wickedness, they worship and live in keeping with the worst of the idols they have created…indulging in perversity so bad that they reverse right and wrong.
The result, from God’s perspective, is judgment through consequences. God allows them to become what they have chosen…people who can no longer think straight…people with reprobate minds.
“In the Bible, a reprobate refers to a person who is morally corrupt, rejected by God, or disqualified from the faith because of persistent sin and refusal to repent. It describes someone who has failed God’s moral test and whose conscience has become debased or worthless.” (Source: Google AI)
Reprobates! Their consciences no longer function! They have no moral compass! They are dead…worthless…fit only for Gehenna…the rubbish heap where trash is burned.
And the Jews? Oh, they are the self-righteous ones. They think they are okay because they have God’s law…as though the mere possession of His law would protect them from God’s wrath. So sorry, Jews. It doesn’t work that way. They are as guilty of sin as the Gentiles simply because they do what the Gentiles do…they also make up their own rules and live by them.
Now, the dilemma is that there is not one single person on earth who has made it with God…not one. God is perfectly just to condemn the whole world to death. He is righteous and acts in righteousness by punishing sin.
So, what did God do? Did he wipe out the human race and start again? No! He sent His own Son, as a human being, to do for the guilty human race what they couldn’t do for themselves. Jesus lived the sinless life humans were supposed to live…and then He died the death humans deserved to die for failing to live in obedience to God’s righteous requirements. What a trade!
The question is…how can the life and death of Jesus save us from the consequences of our rebellion? Paul launches into the story of Abraham…the man who fathered the Jewish nation. Abraham shows us how to move from condemnation to salvation…from death to life…from hell to God…by faith!
God told Abraham what He had planned to do, to make him the father of a nation so vast that it would be like comparing them to the stars in the sky and…Abraham believed God. It was as simple as that! From that moment, Abraham was on God’s side and then… God cut covenant with him. He had inherited God’s righteousness through a transaction by faith. This means that Abraham’s obedience to God was a confirmation that he was in covenant with God and fully accepted, even if he failed at times.
Paul then extends his explanation of God’s righteousness by showing that Jesus…whom he called “the last Adam” in 1 Corinthians, reversed what Adam, “the first Adam”, had done when he sinned. Adam’s one act of disobedience brought death to the whole human race. Jesus’ life of obedience and death for sinners undid what Adam’s disobedience had done. He, Jesus, brought righteousness and life to the many…those who received the gift by faith.
What Jesus did means that, through God’s grace…the unmerited favour He shows to those who believe…He gives us power to overcome sin so that we can now live righteous lives.
Next, Paul bumps into a foolish argument. Can’t we go on sinning, then, because God’s grace always provides forgiveness? No! You don’t understand! Grace doesn’t mean we can go on sinning because we have been forgiven. Grace means that we have no more need to sin. Why? Since we died to sin when Jesus died…and we testify to our own death when we are baptised…we are no longer under sin’s power. We don’t need to sin because we are under a new master…righteousness.
The problem is that we must constantly make choices…if we choose to sin, even if we have been freed from sin’s power, we become sin’s slaves. If we choose to do the right thing…and we can because we aren’t bound by sin any more…we are slaves of righteousness. Which is better? Righteousness, of course! Sin leads to death. Righteousness leads to life and peace.
Then there’s another problem…the law. The law triggers the old rebellious nature in us. When God says, “No!” or “Do this, not that,” our sin nature rebels. That’s how it is! Sin’s power is so strong that we get caught in its trap even if we don’t want to sin.
So, what can we do about it?
Faith in Jesus is the key! Paul dedicates a long explanation to show us how, by fully trusting in Jesus, we can live these new lives of righteousness through the presence and power of the Holy Spirit in us. Yes, we still have the old nature but…no, we are no longer under its power. We have a new “driver” at the wheel of our lives. Which way we go depends on to what we give our minds…simply…what we think.
The outcome of God’s righteousness…what He did to deal with our sin in keeping with who He is…is a life free from condemnation. Empowered by the resident Holy Spirit, gaining victory over the old sin nature, we learn to keep in step with the Spirit’s leading like soldiers marching in rank.
This new life is part of a much bigger picture. Creation, and the Spirit groan together with us in anticipation of the completion of what God has begun…restoration of everything God created as good in the beginning.
For now, we celebrate because we can live this life of trouble and suffering in the full assurance that there is nothing on, above, or under this earth that can come between God’s love and us…and us and God’s love…because of Jesus.
One more observation…although Paul obviously wrote what the Holy Spirit had revealed to him because this was his mandate as an apostle…we cannot escape the truth that Paul’s own experience was intricately woven into the theology of this revelation. He had lived every bit of what he had written. He had learned the truth of Jesus’ words…
“The Spirit alone gives eternal life. Human effort accomplishes nothing. And the very words I have spoken to you are spirit and life.”
John 6:63 NLT
So, he writes what is both theological and autobiographical.
To be continued