romans 1 : 14

Gospel Debt

Paul’s words “I am obligated” should properly be translated “I am a debtor.” There are two possible ways of getting into debt. The first is to borrow money from someone; the second is to be given money for someone by a third party. If a friend of yours had given me money to give to you, I would be in your debt until I handed it over. Your friend had put me in your debt.

It is in this second sense that Paul is in debt. He has not borrowed anything from the Romans which he must repay. Rather, Jesus Christ has entrusted him with the gospel for them. It is Jesus Christ who has made Paul a debtor by committing the gospel to his trust.

Paul was in debt to the Romans. As apostle to the Gentiles he was particularly in debt to the Gentile world. It was because of his sense of debt to them that he could write: “That is why I am so eager to preach the gospel also to you who are at Rome.”

Similarly, we are debtors to the world, even though we are not apostles. Because the gospel has come to us, we have no liberty to keep it to ourselves. Nobody may claim a monopoly of the gospel. Good news is for sharing. We are under obligation to make it known to others. It is universally regarded as a dishonorable thing to leave a debt unpaid. We should be as eager to discharge our debt as Paul was to discharge his.

 For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek.
Romans 1:16 NKJV

The Saving Power of God

Some people are so offended by the thought that Paul could feel ashamed of the gospel that they pronounce his statement a sort of understatement for effect. But Jesus himself warned his disciples against being ashamed of him, which shows that he anticipated they might be (Mark 8:38). Paul gave Timothy a similar admonition (2 Timothy 1:8, 12). Paul knew that the message of the cross undermines self-righteousness and challenges self-indulgence. Whenever the gospel is faithfully preached, it arouses opposition, often contempt and sometimes ridicule.

How then did Paul (and how shall we) overcome the temptation to be ashamed of the gospel? By remembering that the same message which some people despise for its weakness is in fact “the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes.” We know this because we have experienced its saving power in our own lives. God has reconciled us to himself through Christ, forgiven our sins, made us his children, put his Spirit within us, begun to transform us and introduced us into his new community. How can we possibly be ashamed of the gospel?

Moreover, the gospel brings salvation to “everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile.” Saving faith is the great leveler. Everyone who is saved is saved in exactly the same way, by faith. That goes for Jews and Gentiles equally. There is no distinction between them.

Paul’s eagerness to evangelize in Rome arose from his recognition that the gospel is an unpaid debt to the world and the saving power of God. The first gave him a sense of obligation (he had been entrusted with the good news), and the second gave him a sense of conviction (if it had saved him, it could save others). Still today the gospel is both a debt to discharge and a power to experience.

God's Righteousness Revealed

The reason the gospel is God’s saving power is that in it, God’s righteousness is revealed. Moreover, this righteousness is “by faith from first to last,” in fulfillment of Habakkuk 2:4: “the righteous person will live by his faithfulness.”

Throughout Romans, Paul is at pains to defend the righteous character and behavior of God. For he is convinced that whatever God does in salvation or in judgment is absolutely consistent with his righteousness. And in Romans, God’s personal righteousness is supremely seen in the cross of Christ.

The righteousness of God revealed in the gospel is the righteous status which God requires if we are ever to stand before him, which he achieves through the atoning sacrifice of the cross, which he reveals in the gospel, and which he bestows freely on all who trust in Jesus Christ. It is God’s righteous initiative in putting sinners right with himself, by bestowing on them a righteousness not their own but his. The righteousness of God is God’s just justification of the unjust, his righteous way of pronouncing the unrighteous righteous, in which he both demonstrates his righteousness and gives righteousness to us. He has done it through Christ, the righteous one, who died for the unrighteous, as Paul will explain later. And he does it by faith when we put our trust in him and cry to him for mercy.

This righteousness of God, which is revealed in the gospel and offered to us, is literally “out of faith into faith” or “from faith to faith.” Many scholars, however, translate Paul’s quotation of Habakkuk differently: “he who through faith is righteous shall live.” Is it legitimate to translate the Habakkuk text in this way, and so to make faith the way to righteousness instead of the way to life? I think so. Whichever way the sentence is understood, both renderings affirm that “the righteous will live” and that faith is essential. The only question is whether the righteous by faith will live, or the righteous will live by faith. Are not both true? Righteousness and life are both by faith. Those who are righteous by faith also live by faith. Having begun in faith, they continue in the same path.    

Adapted from Reading Romans with John Stott, Volume 1. Copyright © 2017 John Stott's Literary Executors. Used by permission. For more information, please visit www.ivpress.com/reading-romans-with-john-stott-vol-1.

Romans 1

From Reading Romans with John Stott by John Stott with Dale and Sandy Larsen.

Romans 1.  Servant and Apostle.

Paul begins his letter in a very personal way. He is evidently anxious from the start to establish a close relationship with his readers. He deviates from the letter-writing convention of his day by giving a much more elaborate description of himself than usual, in relation to the gospel. The probable reason is that he did not found the church in Rome. Nor has he yet visited it. He feels the need, therefore, to establish his credentials as an apostle and to summarize his gospel.

Paul identifies himself as “a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle and set apart for the gospel of God.” Paul’s twofold designation as slave (a better translation than servant) and apostle is particularly striking when these words are contrasted with one another. 

First, slave is a title of great humility; it expressed Paul’s sense of personal insignificance, without rights of his own, having been purchased to belong to Christ. Apostle, on the other hand, was a title of great authority; it expressed his sense of official privilege and dignity by reason of his appointment by Jesus Christ. Second, slave is a general Christian word (every disciple looks to Jesus Christ as Lord), whereas apostle is a special title reserved for the Twelve and Paul and perhaps one or two others such as James.

Paul now proceeds to give an analysis of the gospel, for which he has been set apart.

The origin of the gospel is God. The apostles did not invent it; it was revealed and entrusted to them by God. This conviction underlies all authentic evangelism. Although God revealed the gospel to the apostles, it did not come to them as a complete novelty, because he had already promised it through his prophets in Old Testament Scripture. There is an essential continuity between the Old Testament and the New. Both bear witness to Jesus Christ.

The substance of the gospel is Jesus Christ. Paul makes references, direct or indirect, to the birth (descended from David), death (presupposed by his resurrection), resurrection from the dead, and reign (on David’s throne) of Jesus Christ. Here is a balanced statement of both the humiliation and the exaltation, the weakness and the power of God’s Son, his human descent traced to David, his divine sonship-in-power established by the resurrection and gift of the Spirit.

This is the Christ, weak and powerful, incarnate and exalted, who owns and rules our lives.

Grace and Peace

As Paul goes on to state the purpose of his apostleship, he discloses further aspects of the gospel.

The scope of the gospel is all the nations. Paul defines its scope as “all the Gentiles.” This seems to imply that the Christians in Rome were predominantly Gentile. Paul affirms that the gospel is for everybody; its scope is universal. Paul himself was a patriotic Jew who retained his love for his people and longed passionately for their salvation. At the same time, he had been called to be the apostle to the Gentiles. If we are to be committed to world mission, we too will have to be liberated from all pride of race, nation, tribe, caste and class, and acknowledge that God’s gospel is for everybody, without exception and without distinction. This is a major theme of Romans.

The purpose of the gospel is the obedience of faith. In Romans, Paul insists more strongly than anywhere else that justification is through faith alone. Yet here he apparently writes that it is not by faith alone, but by obedience. 

Does the apostle contradict himself? No, we must give him credit for consistency of thought. This is the obedience that comes from faith, not the obedience of law. The proper response to the gospel is faith, indeed faith alone. Yet a true and living faith in Jesus Christ includes an element of submission (especially because its object is “Jesus Christ our Lord” [v. 4] or “the Lord Jesus Christ” [v. 7]) and leads inevitably into a lifetime of obedience.

Why did Paul desire to bring the nations to the obedience of faith? It was for the sake of the glory and honor of Christ’s name. The highest of all missionary motives is neither obedience to the Great Commission (important as that is) nor love for sinners who are alienated and perishing (strong as that incentive is, especially when we contemplate the wrath of God), but burning and passionate zeal for the glory of Jesus Christ. Before this supreme goal of the Christian mission, all unworthy motives wither and die.

Roman 1: 8

Thankful for Their Faith

The apostle tells his Roman readers of his feelings toward them.

He thanks God for them all. The faith of the Romans is being reported all over the world. Wherever the church had spread, the news that there were Christians in the capital had spread also. Although Paul was not responsible for bringing the gospel to them, this does not inhibit him from giving thanks that Rome has been evangelized.

He assures them that, even though most of them are unknown to him personally, he intercedes for them constantly and at all times. In particular, he prays that “now at last by God’s will,” that is, if it is God’s will, “the way may be opened” for him to come to them. Paul presumes neither to impose his will on God nor to claim to know what God’s will may be. Instead, he submits his will to God’s.

Paul longs to see the Christians in Rome, and he tells them why: he wants to impart to them some spiritual gift. He can hardly claim to be able to impart any spiritual gift himself. He appears to use the term in a more general sense. The statement seems indefinite, perhaps because he does not yet know what the Romans’ main spiritual needs will be.

But no sooner has Paul dictated these words than he seems to sense their inappropriate one-sidedness, as if he has everything to give and nothing to receive. So he immediately explains (even corrects) himself: “that is, that you and I may be mutually encouraged by each other’s faith.” He knows about the reciprocal blessings of Christian fellowship, and although he is an apostle, he is not too proud to acknowledge his need of it. Happy is the missionary who goes to another country and culture in the same spirit of receptivity, anxious to receive as well as give, to learn as well as teach, to be encouraged as well as to encourage! And happy is the congregation who have a pastor of the same humble mind!

So far Paul has been prevented from visiting Rome. Why had he tried to visit them? “In order that I might have [RSV “reap”] a harvest among you.” Paul hopes to win some converts in Rome. It would be appropriate that the apostle to the Gentiles should engage in evangelistic reaping in the capital city of the Gentile world.

From Reading Romans with John Stott by John Stott with Dale and Sandy Larsen.

worship - first priority

Expect Him 

David rose early to seek God, to place his life before Him. Early in the morning, when hope is at its loudest, when newness is represented across the universe, David prayed.
Jonah waited until he was in the belly of the whale to finally cry out to God for salvation. Don’t wait until the middle or the end of a harsh season to inquire of God. Pray as David prayed: My soul thirsts, my flesh longs for you . . . even though all I see are dead branches and dry places, where everything in and around me feels like it’s taking its last breath. There is no water, but I’m looking at you, God, for your love is better than life!
For David, everything in nature looked bleak, but a great statement of faith came from within him as his spiritual hunger and thirst were satisfied, as he worshiped God: “So here I am in the place of worship, eyes open, drinking in your strength and glory” (Psalm 63:2 The Message). He worshiped, expecting God’s presence. He lifted his hands as an expression of adoration, reverence, and surrender. He lifted his hands as an outward sign of his faith: “Your unfailing love is better than life itself; how I praise You! I will praise You as long as I live, lifting up my hands to You in prayer” (vs. 3-4). Lifting up hands is the oldest gesture of prayer. We surrender ourselves. We step out in faith and stir up our souls (mind, will, and emotions).
When life's harshness invades your soul, it can feel very difficult to pull yourself out of the darkness. But this is where God’s Spirit, already alive within us, is activated by our faith. Our spirits are rekindled by being bold in our declarations of faith, by being obedient to Scriptures. Lift up your head, lift up your hands, and worship Him. This is why David could say, “Your love is better than life,” even when the world around him looked dim. Worship changes everything - even a desert wilderness becomes a place of sweet fellowship with God.
David’s confession stirred his faith as he meditated on God’s faithfulness rather than his situation. He said, “I will rejoice in the shadow of your wing, and my soul follows close behind You.”
What do you do when your soul aches and you can’t sleep or you have wakeful moments of anxiety in the night? David said that he worshiped and praised God. “I remember You upon my bed and meditate on You in the night watches” (Psalm 63:6 Amplified). As he poured out his heart in worship day and night to God, David discovered strength. His faith rose.
In the wilderness, go to the Word, meditate on the Word, and speak the Word in worship. Your hunger and thirst, your expectation that God will draw near, will be satisfied.

   O God, You are my God; Early will I seek You; My soul thirsts for You; My flesh longs for You In a dry and thirsty land Where there is no water. Because Your lovingkindness is better than life, My lips shall praise You. Thus I will bless You while I live; I will lift up my hands in Your name. When I remember You on my bed, I meditate on You in the night watches.

Psalms 63:1‭, ‬3‭-‬4‭, ‬6 NKJV