"1 Paul a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle and set apart for the gospel of God—2 the gospel he promised beforehand through his prophets in the Holy Scriptures 3 regarding his Son, who as to his earthly life was a descendant of David, 4 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."
In the introduction of Paul’s letter to the Romans, he calls himself a servant and an apostle. He is sent to give the message of good news. When Paul says that the gospel of God concerns His Son, he means it has to do with the divine, pre-existent Son. The gospel of God is not about God arranging human affairs in a better way. It is about God penetrating human affairs in the person of His Son who is the perfect image of the Father.
In Colossians 2:9 Paul says, "In Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form." Jesus was born. The work He had to do - the mission He was on required that He take on human nature, along with His divine nature. God did not choose a man and make Him His son, He chose to make His eternal, one-and-only Son a man. Jeremiah 23:5, "'The days are coming,' declares the LORD, 'when I will raise up to David a righteous Branch, a King who will reign wisely and do what is just and right in the land.'" and in Isaiah 11:10, "In that day the Root of Jesse [i.e., the Son of David], Jesse's offspring will stand as a banner for the peoples; the nations will rally to him, and his place of rest will be glorious. Jesus is more than a prophet or a good man; He is God come in the flesh and is the center of worship. The gospel has as the central character Jesus Christ.
John R. W. Stott, wrote. “The person and work of Christ are the rock upon which the Christian religion is built. If he is not who he said he was, and if he did not do what he said he had come to do, the foundation is undermined and the whole superstructure will collapse. Take Christ from Christianity, and you disembowel it; there is practically nothing left. Christ is the center of Christianity; all else is circumference.”
Jesus came to do the works of God. Our work is to believe in Him. The works of Jesus were to walk in obedience to God the Father, perform miracles to show His sonship and to die on the cross. He was to be the sacrifice by which we are forgiven. He came to sacrifice Himself to meet the requirements. Instead of animal sacrifices to cover the sins of mankind, He was the prefect lamb of God sacrificed to pay for the sins of mankind. He died, was buried and was raised from the dead, not just to perform the miracle of miracles, but to give us hope of life after death and give us our resurrection. Just as He lived and died, so we too will live and die and rise again to newness of life.
Most of the Jewish people in Paul's day expected the Messiah would come with power and political dominance, would defeat the oppressive rulers of the world, and establish an earthly kingdom in Jerusalem. Then He would rise and live forever triumphant with His people, the Jews, but what Paul says in verse 4 implies that He died! Those who thought He was the Messiah were devastated. Messiahs don't die. They live and conquer and rule. They don't get arrested and beat up and mocked and crucified and leave their people destitute. This was absolutely devastating. (Luke 24:21, "But we were hoping that it was He who was going to redeem Israel").
The resurrection from the dead was "according to the Spirit of holiness." What does that mean? I take it to mean at least two things. God's Holy Spirit raised Jesus from the dead. I take my cue from Romans 8:11 where Paul says, "If the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you." This teaches that we will be raised by the Spirit of God who dwells in us just as the way He was involved in raising Jesus from the dead. Why does Paul use this unusual expression, "Spirit of holiness" (found nowhere else in the New Testament)? To declare Jesus Holy is also to declare Him divine. I think this is what Paul is implying.
A third element is faith. Faith is believing in Jesus. Faith is taking God’s gospel at His word. It is trusting Him for salvation. Without faith it is impossible to please God. Therefore, grace is always received through faith, not earned by works. Here we also find faith leads to obedience. Paul didn’t tell irreligious people to get religious. He didn’t call immoral people to clean up their act, but he called irreligious people to place their faith in Christ. Faith and faith alone is the proper response to God’s grace. But faith must also have obedience, or it is not faith. How can he make that clear in the letter? Works is not what saves us; God saves us by placing our faith in His works. Don’t tell me what you believe, show me. I will know more about what you believe by what you do than what you say you believe. If you love someone it will show. If I put my faith in a doctor I will obey my doctor. If I put faith in my auto mechanic, I will give him my car to work on.
Application: Our commitment of faith is revealed by our obedience to the Lord and His word.
Prayer: Lord God, You have taken care of everything. You are even the one who places the faith in our hearts that saves us as we put our faith in Your works and rest in You.
Dale
