The Gospel According to Paul
Romans is arguably Paul’s greatest work of theology. The letter was written by Paul to the church in Rome. It contains 11 chapters of strictly theology, explaining mainly the gospel in great detail. The last 5 chapters contain mostly application of that theology. The famous transition verses are Romans 12:1-2 which concludes that because of everything found in chapters 1-11, we should “present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice…and do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind…”. So, what is Paul teaching that we should be responding to? I want to take a little bit and discuss a very brief overview of the gospel presented in Romans. The best way to this is simply walk through the book, hitting the high points of Paul’s message.
Right off the bat, Paul hits the gospel hard in the opening of his letter. Verses 2-4 tell us:
- The gospel was set apart and promised beforehand in the Holy Scriptures (Old Testament). The gospel can be seen in the Old Testament (1:2).
- Jesus was born as a descendant of David in the flesh. Jesus was a man (1:3).
- Jesus was declared the Son of God by the resurrection from the dead (1:4). This implies that He is the Son of God. Jesus would have to be the Son of God if He was declared to be so. This also points to His resurrection.
- Jesus is in fact God. Jesus is also the one being spoken of in these verses (1:4b).
Paul begins the entire book with the punch line––Jesus, who is both man and God and can be seen in the Old Testament, died and rose from the dead according to the Spirit of holiness. Amen.
Paul, in typical Pauline fashion, continues and expands greatly on this fact. Romans 1:16 tells us that this message is “the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes…”. This is not simply a message that is cool and puts someone into a fleshly group. It’s the power of God to save someone from eternal damnation. The gospel is the greatest message anyone can tell someone. It is also important to note here that the salvation comes through beliefin this message. But why is this message that important? I jumped ahead of myself a little bit…
Romans 1:18-20 tells us that “the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness…”. A couple things to note here: 1. Those who deny that God exists are suppressing the truth for all know that God exists and 2. God rightfully reveals His wrath on men who suppress this truth. If continued, it gives the reasons why these are true.
- “because that which is known about God is evident within them” (Romans 1:19a). This speaks towards reason. Those who try and reason God away are simply suppressing the truth because God has made Himself evident within them.
- “for God made it evident to them” (Romans 1:19b). This speaks towards experience. The information man takes in from the outside points to God––more specifically, creation has revealed His invisible attributes, eternal power and divine nature.
- The conclusion? “so that they [mankind] are without excuse” (Romans 1:20b).
This wrath spoken about is justified. In fact, Paul says in 2:5, “because of your stubbornness and unrepentant heart you are storing up wrath for yourself in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God”. A day will come whenever all mankind who suppress the truth and are unrepentant will see the wrath of God and it will be justified.
Paul actually continues to give the reason why this will be justified. In Romans 3, Paul quotes Old Testament Psalms which point to the position of man without Christ. “…we have already charged that both Jews and Greeks are all under sin; as it is written, ‘There is none righteous, not even one; there is none who understands, there is none who seeks for God; all have turned aside, together they have become useless; there is none who does good, there is not even one’” (Romans 3:9b-12 [10-12 quoting Psalm 14:1-3]). All mankind has “sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). The result of this sin? Romans 6:23a tells us, “For the wages of sin is death…”.
All mankind is rightfully condemned to death because of the sin and willful ignorance to God.
This obviously isn’t the gospel, but the reason the gospel is needed. In fact, just after Paul tells the Romans that all have sinned, he tells them that they are “being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus; whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation in His blood through faith”. It is through faith in Christ Jesus that one is saved. 3:28 backs this up (as does the rest of Paul’s letter to the Romans), “For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from works of the Law”. Faith in the resurrection (which implies His death) is specifically what is needed as mentioned in Romans 4:24b-25, “…as those who believe in Him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead, He who was delivered over because of our transgressions, and was raised because of our justification”.
So, what happens to that wrath mentioned in the first couple of chapters? Well, Paul tells the Romans that because of their faith, they will avoid it! Romans 5:9b points to this clearly, “having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him [Jesus]”. Amen.
The gospel that Paul presented is clear. All man has sinned and are rightfully deserving eternal death or separation from God. Because God loved us, He sent His Son to die taking on the wrath that man rightfully deserves so that through faith/belief in His resurrection, mankind might be saved into eternal salvation. The result––“…so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life…for he who has died is freed from sin” (Romans 6:4b, 7).
