“For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile. For in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed—a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: “The righteous will live by faith.”

‭‭Romans‬ ‭1‬:‭16‬-‭17‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Righteousness! The righteousness of God. Why God’s righteousness? 

Put yourself to the shoes of these Roman converts. Their background was paganism…they had worshiped a plethora of gods who were evil, capricious, controlling, and demanding…originated in the imagination of those who created them….

“Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like a mortal human being and birds and animals and reptiles.”

‭‭Romans‬ ‭1‬:‭22‬-‭23‬

Against this background, there were people in Rome who had emerged from the darkness of idolatry to believe in Jesus and to be made new creatures in Christ.

Where was Paul to begin? What had happened to them that had caused a radical change deep inside them. Despite the way they had thought and behaved, they were different now…viewing God, themselves, and the world from a different perspective. They knew they had changed inside but on what did they base their faith?

However, they still had to contend with minds and lives shaped by an evil belief system that had infiltrated their thinking and shaped their lives. This belief system had to be dismantled thought by thought. 

There were so many things Paul could tell them but…he must start at the beginning…with God. 

Paul’s readers had heard the gospel…the good news…and believed it. Something amazing had happened to them. They were different people…but how… why?

It was God, God who had stepped in with a way so daring that it takes one’s breath away. He d done something for them and in them that needed explanation…a solid foundation that would not shake when troubles came. 

Righteous by faith? What did that mean? In the following pages, Paul would give them a thorough explanation of God’s righteousness…how they could approach a holy God and be accepted, and how, by faith, they could live in fellowship with this holy God. 

God’s story was, first, good news. All their lives, the Romans had lived sin, apart from God, and had within them the sentence of death. No peace…always fearful and aware of guilt even if they tried to deny what their conscience was telling them. 

So, what Paul had presented to them was indeed good news. When they received Jesus, they knew that something radical had happened to them. They had peace inside… the burden of guilt, fear, and shame was gone. They felt free. 

They had experience salvation…a wholeness in which their whole world had turned right side up. Apart from the peace that had replaced their dis-ease, even their desires had changed.  They no longer lusted after the desires of their old selves. They felt comfortable with God. Jesus was real to them. They enjoyed being with God ‘s people. 

All these changes happened to them when they gave themselves to Jesus as a choice based on what they heard about Him…as Paul later explained. 

“Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word about Christ.”

‭‭Romans‬ ‭10‬:‭17‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Righteousness by faith…the gospel…God’s power… big subjects that Paul was about to unpack, one step at a time…

To be continued