The Gospel of God

Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle and set apart for the gospel of God- the gospel he promised beforehand through his prophets in the Holy Scriptures regarding his Son, who as to his human nature was a descendant of David, and who through the Spirit of holiness was declared with power to be the Son of God by his resurrection from the dead: Jesus Christ our Lord. Through him and for his name’s sake, we received grace and apostleship to call people from among all the Gentiles to the obedience that comes from faith. And you also are among those who are called to belong to Jesus Christ. To all in Rome who are loved by God and called to be saints: Grace and peace to you from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ. Romans 1:1-7

The Epistle to the Romans is Paul’s longest letter, written around 57 A.D. from Corinth to the believers in Rome. Luther called this book “the chief part of the New Testament, the purest gospel.”

God has used this epistle throughout church history in mighty ways. In the fourth century, Augustine of Hippo, a teacher of literature and rhetoric, was led by the Holy Spirit to read Romans 13:13-14: “Let us behave decently, as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and debauchery, not in dissention and in jealousy. Rather, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the sinful nature.” As a result, Augustine found grace, peace, and eternal salvation. In the early sixteenth century, while the Augustinian monk Martin Luther was teaching the Bible at Wittenberg University, he found salvation through the righteousness of God that justifies the ungodly, as set forth in this letter. Luther’s discovery sparked the Protestant Reformation. In 1738 John Wesley found the joy of salvation as he heard someone reading Luther’s preface to his commentary on Romans. Wesley said, “I felt my heart strangely warmed. I felt I did trust in Christ, Christ alone, for salvation; and an assurance was given me that he had taken away my sins, even mine, and saved me from the law of sin and death.” Günther Bornkamm calls Romans “the last will and testament” of the apostle Paul.¹

Born a Roman citizen, Saul of Tarsus was a highborn, highly educated, high achiever. Tradition describes him as “an ugly little [man] with beetle brows, bandy legs, a bald pate, a hooked nose, bad eyesight and no great rhetorical gifts.”² But he was God’s apostle, a great genius who gave us this amazing theology revealed in this longest of his letters, the Epistle to the Romans. Paul introduces himself in this letter to the Roman Christians and sets forth his apostolic understanding of the gospel. He discloses his plan to evangelize Spain after visiting Rome and being refreshed by the believers there. The theme of Romans is the gospel of God: God’s good news to a sinful world under God’s wrath. This letter was written down by Paul’s secretary Tertius (Rom. 16:22).

The Author

“Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle and set apart for the gospel of God” (Rom. 1:1). Paul introduces himself as a slave of Christ Jesus, just as Moses, Joshua, and David were slaves of God before him. Though Paul was a rich, famous, and brilliant Roman citizen, this highly educated super-achiever glories in the fact that he is a slave of Christ Jesus.

The Greek world considered it shameful to be a slave, but Paul considered it a great honor to serve the Lord of the universe as his slave. Wholly owned by Christ, Paul delighted to serve Jesus with all his heart. The chief of sinners became Christ’s slave to think his thoughts and do his will alone. To serve Jesus as slave was Paul’s greatest joy and honor.

Paul was also chosen by Christ to be his apostle. He was directly called and appointed by the risen Christ to be his authorized delegate, empowered to act in his behalf. “Apostle” was a title of great authority. Paul was one of the primary apostles authorized to proclaim and write the word of God. When the apostles spoke, Christ was speaking, and their writings became the Holy Scriptures (2 Pet. 3:1; 1 Thess. 2:13).

God chose Paul from all eternity and separated him from his mother’s womb (Gal. 1:15). Christ called and separated him to believe and proclaim the gospel of God in Damascus and appointed him to the gospel ministry through the church in Antioch (Acts 13:2).

Even before his conversion, Paul was a “separated one,” for that is what Pharisee means-one who is separated to observe the traditions of the elders. But Christ called him to be a Pharisee to proclaim the gospel. God separated Paul from all other loyalties to be loyal to Christ alone so that he could believe, defend, and declare the gospel of God.

The Gospel of God

This passage articulates seven aspects of the gospel of God.

1. The Origin of the Gospel

God the Father is the author of the gospel. The apostles did not invent it, but God entrusted it to them (2 Pet. 1:20-21). They received, defended, and proclaimed it, but did not add to or subtract from this gospel entrusted to them. The gospel is the Father’s good news to a lost world under God’s wrath. John Murray writes, “The gospel as the power of God unto salvation is meaningless apart from sin, condemnation, misery, and death. To be subjected to the wrath of God is the epitome of human misery.”³ To deal with this misery there is now the gospel of God.

It is the gospel of God. “God” is the most important word in this letter to the Romans, appearing about 153 times. Isaiah spoke of this gospel of God: “You who bring good tidings to Zion, go up on a high mountain. You who bring good tidings to Jerusalem, lift up your voice with a shout, lift it up, do not be afraid; say to the towns of Judah, ‘Here is your God!’ . . . How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news, who proclaim peace, who bring good tidings, who proclaim salvation, who sway to Zion, ‘Your God reigns!'” (Isa. 40:9; 52:7).

The gospel speaks of God’s intervention in human affairs as a king defeating all his enemies and bringing salvation to his people. The gospel of God spells hope, life, peace, and joy to sinners who are chosen by God.

2. The Gospel Promised Before

Paul was set apart for the gospel: “[God] promised beforehand through his prophets in the Holy Scriptures” (Rom. 1:2). The gospel is not something new; it was promised long before the coming of Christ. The promise of the gospel came through the holy prophets of old, like Moses and David (Acts 2:30; 3:21-22). There is a continuity between the Old and New Testaments: the promise of a Savior coming as the seed of the woman (Gen. 3:15), the seed of Abraham (Gen. 22:18) and the seed of David (2 Sam. 7), was fulfilled in the son of Mary, Jesus Christ. As early as Genesis 3 God promised to send a Savior and God always fulfills what he promises.

God’s word can be fully trusted. Paul writes, “But as surely as God is faithful, our message to you is not ‘Yes’ and ‘No.’ For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who was preached among you by me and Silas and Timothy, was not ‘Yes’ and ‘No,’ but in him it has always been ‘Yes.’ For no matter how many promises God has made, they are ‘Yes’ in Christ. And so through him the ‘Amen’ is spoken by us to the glory of God” (2 Cor. 1:18-20). The same idea is found in Joshua: “Not one of the Lord’s good promises to the house of Israel failed; every one was fulfilled” (Josh. 21:45); “Now I am about to go the way of all the earth. You know with all your heart and soul that not one of the all the good promises the Lord your God gave you has failed. Every promise has been fulfilled; not one has failed” (Josh. 23:14). Let God be true and all men liars!

This promised gospel of God is embodied and enshrined in the Bible. Because God is holy, his word is holy and unique. Only in the Bible do we discover the good news of God. The author of the Holy Scriptures is the Holy Spirit, so the Scriptures are holy, infallible, and inerrant.

Both the Old and New Testaments are holy. The New Testament Scriptures are written by the apostles, Christ’s delegates, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. When the apostles speak, God speaks; the word of the apostles of Christ is the word of God (2 Pet. 1:19-20; 3:16; 2 Tim. 3:16).

If you want to hear the good news of God, go to the Scriptures. Read, believe, and be saved. Paul writes, “Now to him who is able to establish you by my gospel and the proclamation of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery hidden for long ages past, but now revealed and made known through the prophetic writings by the command of the eternal God, so that all nations might believe and obey him-to the only wise God be glory forever through Jesus Christ! Amen” (Rom. 16:25-27).

3. Concerning His Son

Paul says this gospel of God is “regarding his Son, who as to his human nature was a descendant of David, and who through the Spirit of holiness was declared with power to be the Son of God by his resurrection from the dead: Jesus Christ our Lord” (Rom. 1:3-4). The substance of the gospel is God’s eternal Son, so the key to understanding Scripture is Jesus Christ. John Calvin said, “The whole gospel is contained in Christ. . . . to move even a step from Christ means to withdraw oneself from the gospel.”⁴

Jesus declared that the whole Bible speaks of him (Luke 24:25-27; 45-47). Paul told the Corinthians, “When I came to you, brothers, I did not come with eloquence or superior wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God. For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. I came to you in weakness and fear, and with much trembling. My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power, so that your faith might not rest on men’s wisdom, but on God’s power” (1 Cor. 2:1-5). A minister who refuses to preach Jesus Christ and him crucified is a fraud, a deceiver, and under God’s severe judgment.

The gospel concerns God’s Son-the pre-existent, second Person of the Trinity. Paul says, “For if, when we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life!” (Rom. 5:10). He also says, “For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in sinful man. . . . He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all-how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?” (Rom. 8:3, 32). Elsewhere Paul declares that Jesus is God himself: “Theirs are the patriarchs, and from them is traced the human ancestry of Christ, who is God over all, forever praised! Amen . . . For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form” (Rom. 9:5; Col. 2:9). The Son is God, co-equal with the Father.

This gospel speaks of the eternal Son becoming man, taking upon himself human nature, thereby entering into a state of humiliation. The name “Jesus” speaks of the one who is the Savior of the world, the promised King of David’s line. The Son became incarnate that he might die for our sins and be raised for our justification. The gospel of God is about the Son’s incarnation, life, death, burial, resurrection, ascension, session, and sovereign rule of the entire cosmos. It is about Jesus as our substitute, representative, and only mediator between God and man. The gospel speaks of the person and work of Christ.

The gospel of God speaks not only of the Son’s pre-resurrection incarnational life of humiliation, but also of Christ’s post-resurrection incarnational life of exaltation. Jesus was the Son of God incarnate in weakness, but God appointed him to be the Son of God incarnate in power. He did so by raising him from the dead. Paul writes: “[Christ Jesus], who being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death-even death on a cross! Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Phil. 2:6-11). The incarnational life of Jesus consists of two stages: humiliation and power.

By saying he has been given a name above every name, Paul is saying that the Lord Jesus has conquered all his enemies and now rules and governs with power. He is mighty to both save and judge. After resurrecting Christ by the Spirit (Rom. 8:11), God the Father installed his Son as King of the universe. So Peter says, “Therefore let all Israel be assured of this: God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ” (Acts 2:36). Jesus himself said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age” (Matt. 28:18-20). John writes in Revelation that he is the King of the universe. The gospel of God proclaims, “Surrender and submit to Jesus and be saved; or resist him, and be condemned.”

Peter had said, “God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ” (Acts 2:36). Jesus earlier had told his disciples, “I tell you the truth, some who are standing here will not taste death before they see the kingdom of God come with power” (Mark 9:1). Christ was crucified in weakness, yet he lives by God’s power. Paul speaks of these two stages in the incarnational life of the Son: “For to be sure, he was crucified in weakness, yet he lives by God’s power. Likewise, we are weak in him, yet by God’s power we will live with him to serve you” (2 Cor. 13:4). He writes to the Ephesian church about the lordship of Christ: “That power is like the working of his mighty strength, which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every title that can be given, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way” (Eph. 1:20-23).

Jesus Christ is Lord of the universe, including all humans and angels. The psalmist declares,

The One enthroned in heaven laughs; the Lord scoffs at them. Then he rebukes them in his anger and terrifies them in his wrath, saying, “I have installed my King on Zion, my holy hill.” I will proclaim the decree of the Lord: He said to me, “You are my Son; today I have become your Father. Ask of me, and I will make the nations your inheritance, the ends of the earth your possession. You will rule them with an iron scepter; you will dash them to pieces like pottery.” Therefore, you kings, be wise; be warned, you rulers of the earth. Serve the Lord with fear and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the Son, lest he be angry and you be destroyed in your way, for his wrath can flare up in a moment. Blessed are all who take refuge in him.” (Ps. 2:6-12)

Paul writes, “For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death” (1 Cor. 15:25-26). God has installed his Son as the powerful King to whom we must surrender.

This One is the eternal Son of God. He is Jesus, the Savior of the world. He is Christ, anointed and fully qualified. He is Lord and Conqueror of the universe, mighty to save and judge. He has emerged victoriously from the state of humiliation to the state of exaltation and power.

John describes this exalted Lord in all his brilliance and glory:

I turned around to see the voice that was speaking to me. And when I turned I saw seven golden lampstands, and among the lampstands was someone “like a son of man,” dressed in a robe reaching down to his feet and with a golden sash around his chest. His head and hair were white like wool, as white as snow, and his eyes were like blazing fire. His feet were like bronze glowing in a furnace, and his voice was like the sound of rushing waters. In his right hand he held seven stars, and out of his mouth came a sharp double-edged sword. His face was like the sun shining in all its brilliance. When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. Then he placed his right hand on me and said: “Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last. I am the Living One; I was dead, and behold I am alive for ever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades.” (Rev. 1:12-18)

I saw heaven standing open and there before me was a white horse, whose rider is called Faithful and true. With justice he judges and makes war. His eyes are like blazing fire, and on his head are many crowns. He has a name written on him that no one knows but he himself. He is dressed in a robe dipped in blood, and his name is the Word of God. The armies of heaven were following him, riding on white horses and dressed in fine linen, white and clean. Out of his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations. “He will rule them with an iron scepter.” He treads the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God almighty. On his robe and on his thigh he has this name written: King of kings and Lord of lords. (Rev. 19:11-16)

4. The Scope of the Apostle’s Ministry

“Through him and for his name’s sake, we received grace and apostleship to call people from among all the Gentiles to the obedience that comes from faith” (Rom. 1:5). The apostle’s ministry reaches the whole world because Jesus is Lord of all. He received all authority in heaven and earth (Matt. 28:18). The scope of Paul’s ministry especially included the world of Gentiles. (PGM) Yet he also ministered to Jews: “I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile” (Rom. 1:16).

The church is to be engaged in world missions. We must love the world so that we can proclaim to the world the good news. We must rule out all pride of race, caste, nationality, knowing that all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. God loves the world, so all must hear the gospel. We must proclaim that our God reigns, and he is mighty to save all who surrender to his dominion.

The scope of Paul’s ministry even reaches us. This letter of Paul to the Romans is the authoritative presentation of the gospel in which he also proclaims to us the gospel of God concerning his Son, the crucified, risen, and reigning Lord Jesus.

5. The Purpose of the Gospel Proclamation

“We received grace and apostleship to call people . . . to the obedience that comes from faith” (Rom. 1:5). As King of kings and Lord of Lords, Christ demands that all trust and obey him. The purpose of the gospel proclamation to all nations is that all may do just that: “How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written, ‘How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!'” (Rom. 10:14-15).

When Jesus is proclaimed as the only Savior, Christ, and Lord, we must respond, as Paul told the Athenians, “In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent” (Acts 17:30). The gospel proclamation demands the obedience of faith, meaning saving faith in Christ that issues in total obedience to Christ the King.

Paul writes, “If you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved” (Rom. 10:9). When we confess Jesus as Lord, we are saying we are his slaves. What a glorious title, to be a slave of the King of kings and Lord of lords! We are his property. He owns, guides, and protects us. This is not the dead faith of the devil that refuses to repent and obey; it is the faith of Abraham: “By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going” (Heb. 11:8). Paul explains this faith: “But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you wholeheartedly obeyed the form of teaching to which you were entrusted” (Rom. 6:17); “Since they did not know the righteousness that comes from God and sought to establish their own, they did not submit to God’s righteousness. . . . But not all the Israelites accepted the good news. For Isaiah says, ‘Lord, who has believed our message?'” (Rom. 10:3, 16); “Therefore I glory in Christ Jesus in my service to God. I will not venture to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me in leading the Gentiles to obey God by what I have said and done” (Rom. 15:17-18).

We must respond to the gospel in faith and obedience. Trust and obey-there is no other way. Our lives must be characterized by self-denial and Christ-dependence. Not to trust and obey Jesus is to dishonor God and his Son. Paul writes, “For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again” (2 Cor. 5:14-15).

6. The Goal of the Gospel

“Through him and for his name’s sake, we received grace and apostleship to call people” (Rom. 1:5). The ultimate purpose of the gospel proclamation is not our salvation, but, as stated here, “for his name’s sake,” meaning for the glory of the name of the Son.

The Father is zealous for his Son’s honor. When we do not believe in God or obey him, we are refusing to honor the Lord Jesus Christ. He who refuses to believe in God’s Son and confess him as Lord dishonors Christ and his Father.

God not only saves people for his glory, but he also judges them. Jesus himself said, “Moreover, the Father judges no one, but has entrusted all judgment to the Son, that all may honor the Son just as they honor the Father. He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father, who sent him” (John 5:22-23). Paul writes, “For the Scripture says to Pharaoh: ‘I raised you up for this very purpose, that I might display my power in you and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth'” (Rom. 9:17; see also Eph. 1:6, 12, 14). The ultimate purpose of proclaiming the gospel is to bring glory to God’s name.

It may be disappointing to think that our salvation is only God’s penultimate purpose, yet we delight in this truth. The catechism teaches that the chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy him forever. Paul writes that “at the name of Jesus every knee should bow . . . and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Phil. 2:10-11). Everyone must confess and bow their knees to the exalted Lord.

7. The Recipients of the Epistle to the Romans

“You also are among those who are called to belong to Jesus Christ. To all in Rome who are loved by God and called to be his saints: Grace and peace to you from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ” (Rom. 1: 6-7). Let us look at some characteristics of the recipients of this epistle.

Called to Be His Saints

“To all in Rome who are loved by God and called to be his saints” (Rom. 1:7). Calling speaks of an effectual, divine action. When God calls us, he also creates in us what he demands. To the stinking corpse Lazarus, Jesus commanded, “Lazarus, come forth,” and he emerged from the tomb. God opened Lydia’s heart to respond properly to the gospel and she believed (Acts 16:14).

There is a general call and an effectual call. Jesus says, “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, and I will raise him up at the last day. . . . No one can come to me unless the Father has enabled him. . . . But I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself” (John 6:44, 65; 12:32).

The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit draw us powerfully and effectually. When that happens, we will come and surrender, repent, believe, confess, obey, and worship our Lord Christ. He makes us able to do these things. God himself calls us “into fellowship with his Son Jesus Christ our Lord” (1 Cor. 1:9).

God calls us out of the world and all other loyalties to belong to him and be his saints. The Lord changes our nature and behavior. He makes bad trees into good trees so that we who are saints will live holy lives.

Beloved of God

The Father loved us from all eternity and gave us to his Son to save us. The Son also loved us and gave himself for us to cleanse us from all our sins and make us glorious. Paul speaks of this in his instruction to husbands: “Love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word” (Eph. 5:25-26). He alludes to it elsewhere: “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me” (Gal. 2:20).

The Father loves us just as he loves his Son, who said, “I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one: I in them and you in me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me” (John 17:22-23). God’s love is eternal. He never stops loving us. And because he loves us, he also chastens us to rid us of our foolishness (Heb. 12:4-11). With God’s love, we love one another.

What evidence do we have that God loves us? He called us effectually and gave us grace, which is unmerited favor. We merited wrath and death; but God gives us love and life. Grace is God’s power to save us. Grace turns our mourning into dancing forever, causing us to rejoice, not only in good times, but in tribulations also. Grace turns our death to life, our midnight to midday, our poverty to riches, and our weeping to joy.

Peace

“Grace and peace to you from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ” (Rom. 1:7). By nature we were enemies of God and under his wrath. But God reconciled us to himself through Christ and now we have peace and hope: “Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (Rom. 5:1). All enmity is gone and God is now our heavenly Father. We have fellowship with the Father and the Son in the Holy Spirit. This peace is eternal salvation. And because we have peace with God, we can experience the peace of God in our hearts that guards us from all fear and anxiety. Paul says this peace flows to us “from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.” As God, Jesus is the co-author of the grace and peace God gives us. So we worship the Father and the Son in the Holy Spirit.

Application

The gospel is the great news of God’s goodness to sinners. Found only in the Bible, the gospel concerns God’s Son: his incarnation, his sinless life, his substitutionary death, his burial, his resurrection, and his exaltation. This book of Romans is the exposition of God’s gospel, written by Christ’s apostle, to tell us how God fulfilled his promise of a Savior in Jesus Christ.

Have you heard this gospel of God’s Son and responded to it with the obedience of faith? Have you confessed him as Lord and yourself as his slave? If so, I pray that grace and peace will be with you, and may you live for his glory all the days of your life.

¹ Leon Morris, The Epistle to the Romans (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 1988), 8.

²John Stott, Romans: God’s Good News for the World (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1994), 58.

³John Murray, The Epistle to the Romans (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1997), xxiii.

⁴Stott, 49.