Tag Archives: The gospel

ROMANS…PAUL’S THEME – 5

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“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

ROMANS…PAUL’S GOSPEL – 3

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“…the gospel he promised beforehand through his prophets in the Holy Scriptures regarding his Son, who as to his earthly life was a descendant of David, and who through the Spirit of holiness was appointed the Son of God in power by his resurrection from the dead: Jesus Christ our Lord.”

‭‭Romans‬ ‭1‬:‭2‬-‭4‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Paul had only one message to share with the world…a message that had many facets but one heart…Jesus…the crucified, risen, Lord. His story was embedded in a book…the Holy Scriptures…a story older than time itself. God had first written this story in eternity, then shared it with His prophets, and finally confirmed it in history by doing He said He would do.  He didn’t write it as it happened. He wrote it before it happened so that no one could accuse Him of making it up as He went along. All He did was to confirm in history what He had written in eternity. No one but God could do that! 

By the stroke of a pen, Paul married the two truths that cannot, in human terms, like oil and water, mix. Humans like to turn humans into God, like some have done to Mary…but, can God become human?

This is unthinkable unless God Himself, not we humans, did it…and Paul declared that God did. 

How did it happen?

Jesus…”to his earthly life was a descendant of David, and who through the Spirit of holiness was appointed the Son of God”…the son of David and the Son of God in one person. The whole Bible is the story of how it happened. 

Man fell into sin and was punished by death. Everyone dies. No one but another man could rescue humans from their fate. There is no man innocent of sin that can take the punishment for man. So God Himself became a man. He never sinned. He was qualified to die for man but…He is God and God cannot die. So…Jesus died as a man and conquered death by rising again and…He was proven to be God and perfect, sinless man by the rising from the dead. 

This is the gospel…the good news! 

As Charles Wesley, the great hymn writer wrote:

“Let earth and heav’n combineangels and men agree,

to praise in songs divine

th’incarnate Deity;

Our God contracted to a span,

our God contracted to a span,

incomprehensibly made man.”

He captured the story of God’s plan in his beautiful hymn…

  1. And can it be that I should gain

An int’rest in the Savior’s blood?

Died He for me, who caused His pain?

For me, who Him to death pursued?

Amazing love! how can it be

That Thou, my God, should die for me?

Refrain:

Amazing love! how can it be

That Thou, my God, should die for me!

2. ‘Tis mystery all! Th’Immortal dies!

Who can explore His strange design?

In vain the firstborn seraph tries

To sound the depths of love divine!

‘Tis mercy all! let earth adore,

Let angel minds inquire no more. [Refrain]He left His Father’s throne above,

3. He left His Father’s throne above

So free, so infinite His grace;

Emptied Himself of all but love,

And bled for Adam’s helpless race;

‘Tis mercy all, immense and free;

For, O my God, it found out me. [Refrain]

4. Long my imprisoned spirit lay

Fast bound in sin and nature’s night;

Thine eye diffused a quick’ning ray,

I woke, the dungeon flamed with light;

My chains fell off, my heart was free;

I rose, went forth and followed Thee. [Refrain]

5.No condemnation now I dread;

Jesus, and all in Him is mine!

Alive in Him, my living Head,

And clothed in righteousness divine,

Bold I approach th’eternal throne,

And claim the crown, through Christ my own. [Refrain]

Amen.

Author: Charles Wesley

Source: hymnary.org

Love did what no human mind could imagine…God came to us and, through His death as a man, He took us back to Himself. 

To be continued

THE GOSPEL IN HEBREWS – 1

Bible Study, ,

One of the truths I learned in Bible school is contained in this statement…

“The New is in the Old concealed, the Old is in the New revealed.”

This declaration of the unity of the Bible puts paid to the idea that the Old Testament is irrelevant. For example, why would we start reading a novel on the middle of the book? The story would make no sense if we ignored the first half.

So, too, with God’s Word. The record of Jesus and His work of salvation would be a puzzle if we didn’t start at the beginning. God’s story begins in Genesis and ends in Revelation. We can only grasp its message when we read the Bible from cover to cover.

However, there is a book in part two, in the New Testament, that throws light on the meaning of much of the Old Testament’s religious system. The book of Hebrews helps us understand the truth of God’s salvation which is hidden in the Old Testament.

Hebrews 1:1-2 NIV
[1] In the past God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many times and in various ways, [2] but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom also he made the universe.

https://bible.com/bible/111/heb.1.1-2.NIV

Whoever wrote the letter to the Hebrews did not reveal his identity. However, he had a thorough understanding of the connection between the Old and New Covenants so that, especially his Jewish readers would be encouraged to remain faithful to
Jesus despite the persecution that threatened their lives.

The Roman government tolerated Jews who practised their Old Testament religion. However, they persecuted those Jews who had become Christians because they believed that Christians were a threat to Rome. Christians refused to acknowledge and confess that Caesar was Lord. They worshipped only Jesus as Lord, rejecting the supreme authority of Caesar over their lives. They defied Caesar’s demands to worship him by offering sacrifice to him instead of worshiping Jesus.

Many Jewish believers were tempted to forsake their faith in Jesus and return to Judaism. Why was it important for Jewish believers never to return to Judaism to save their skin?

The letter to the Hebrews gives them and us the answer. Their return to Judaism would be a backward step from grace into law, once again requiring perfect obedience to God’s holy standards, which is impossible for any sinful human to achieve.

What does faith in Jesus do that obedience to the 613 laws of the Old Covenant can never do? Let’s unpack the writer’s explanation that ties the Old and New Covenants into one logical whole.

The Old Testament is the story of a nation, which God chose and built to be His own people and a witness to the surrounding pagan nations of who God is and the way people should live under His government.

However, since the children of Israel were locked into slavery to their old sinful natures, His people failed to fulfil His commission. They chose to follow the idolatrous ways of their neighbouring nations although God raised up numerous prophets to warn them of punishment for their rebellion.

After the reign of their third king Solomon, the nation of Israel split into two, the northern kingdom of Israel and the southern kingdom of Judah. Both kingdoms were punished for their idolatry by conquest and exile. Israel ceased to exist as a part of God’s people, being absorbed into Assyria’s foreign policy of repopulating a conquered territory with people for other conquered lands. In New Testament times, Samaria, a province of the old Israel, was made up of mixed nationalities.

Within the prophetic message to God’s people and the surrounding nations, God promised a Redeemer, one who would represent Him, would fulfil all the requirements of His law, would die for the sins of His disobedient people. He would be God’s covenant to the people and the initiator of the New Covenant promised in Jeremiah’s prophecy.

Jeremiah 31:31-34 NIV
[31] “The days are coming,” declares the Lord, “when I will make a new covenant with the people of Israel and with the people of Judah. [32] It will not be like the covenant I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt, because they broke my covenant, though I was a husband to them,” declares the Lord. [33] “This is the covenant I will make with the people of Israel after that time,” declares the Lord. “I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. [34] No longer will they teach their neighbor, or say to one another, ‘Know the Lord,’ because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest,” declares the Lord. “For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.”

In this covenant, God would take the onus upon Himself to change the hearts of His people.

Ezekiel 36:26-27 NIV
[26] “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. [27] And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws.”

The religious system of temple, priests, and sacrifice in the old covenant was to be the visual aid to teach His people what His Messiah would accomplish.

The Old Testament closes with yet another season of disobedience to God’s commands…marriage between Jews and pagan women, disdain for God’s glory by their offering of defective animals for sacrifice, neglect of required tithes, and more…

For four hundred years, there was no word from the Lord, no prophet to bring God’s will to the people. They continued to dishonour God by their pagan practices which led to occupation and oppression by nations around them who were in a power struggle for domination.

However, God although was silent, He was not inactive. Through the historical events of those times, He was preparing His people and the world for the coming of His Redeemer.

Like Israel of old, under slavery in Egypt, God heard the heart cries of His people who were in a worse situation than Israel in Egypt. They were enslaved to sin and doomed to eternal destruction.

2 Corinthians 6:2 NIV
[2] “For he says, “In the time of my favor I heard you, and in the day of salvation I helped you.” I tell you, now is the time of God’s favor, now is the day of salvation.”

Then…

Galatians 4:4-5 NIV
[4]”But when the set time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, [5] to redeem those under the law, that we might receive adoption to sonship.”

The entire Old Covenant with its demands and requirements would be completed and fulfilled in the life and death of His own Son.

The book of Hebrews, then, skillfully knits the two covenants together by explaining how the old was fulfilled and replaced by the new.

To be continued…