Romans 5:1-21

 

Question #6: What change comes through the gospel now?

We might think that we have said all there is to say about the gospel.  Christ was “delivered up because of our offenses, and was raised because of our justification.”  But believe it: there is more good news!  Romans 5 begins: “Therefore.”  There is something more to say.  Then we read: “Having been justified by faith.”  “Justification” is not the end of the story.  I have a right standing before God.  But what now?  Must I continue in the miserable guilt and shame that I have had for my entire life?  That would be “bad news” indeed.

But Romans 5:1-11 presents a much different picture, one of good news. Therefore, having been justified by faith …

·       v1: We have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ …

·       v2: And rejoice in hope of the glory of God.

·       v3: And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations.

·       v9: Much more then we shall be saved from wrath.

·       v10: Much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.

 ·       v11: And not only that, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have NOW received the reconciliation.

 

The salvation God brings to believers through the gospel is not only for “then,” when we appear before Him in judgment, but is for “now.”  It is important to understand Rom. 5:20-21.  We were born into a spiritual “kingdom” where sin abounded.  Sin was king, and everyone was spiritually dead.  The chart tells us about this kingdom, where because of one man’s sin (Adam) all were born into that kingdom.  But the good news is that through the gospel of Christ we have now been transferred into the kingdom where grace is King and grace rules through righteousness so that we have eternal life.  Justification, being declared righteous in God’s sight through Christ, has brought this about.  That is truly good news!

We see something wonderful about Christ in Rom. 5:19: By one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so also by one Man’s obedience many will be made righteous.  God not only declared us to be righteous in Christ; His plan is that we will be made righteous in Christ.  How will this happen?  That is the next question, but the short answer is, “we shall be saved by His life” (Rom. 5:10).

Rom. 4:1-25

The gospel tells us what God has done so that He can “justify the ungodly” (4:5).  But there is still a problem: how can sinners, who suppress the truth about God and who break God’s law, going to qualify for this “justification?”

The Bible says that God justifies the one who has faith in Jesus.  Romans 3:27-31 tells us that there is nothing for a man to do but to believe in Jesus.  Man, who has already proven to break God’s law, cannot later be saved by keeping God’s law.  Romans 4 gives us an illustration from the Bible to help us to see this.  The illustration is Abraham!  The Bible says, Abraham believed God and it was accredited to Him as righteousness (4:3).  The story is in Genesis 15.

·       Abraham was not justified by works, 4:1-8.  We are just told, “Abraham believed God.”  He did no special work to earn this righteousness.

·       Abraham was not justified by circumcision, 4:9-12.  God, in Genesis 17, gave Abraham the religious rite of “circumcision” to be performed on all his male descendents as a sign that they were part of God’s chosen people.  This was after Abraham believed God and was counted as righteous.

·       Abraham was not justified by the law, 4:13-15.  Again, the law came through Moses several hundred years later, after Abraham was declared righteous.

·       Abraham was justified by faith, 4:16-22.  Faith is the absence of work.  Instead, it trusts God to do what He promised.  This is the only way our justification can be “freely … by His grace.”

o   Abraham trusted in God, who had created all things out of nothing, that He could also enable him to father a son in his old age.

o   God said He would give Abraham a son and Abraham believed God’s promise.

At the end of the chapter, this illustration of Abraham is applied to anyone who believes the gospel.  (“Imputed” means “counted” or “accredited.”  Abraham’s faith, and our faith, is “imputed as righteousness.”)

²³ Now it was not written for his sake alone that it was imputed to him, ²⁴ but also for us. It shall be imputed to us who believe in Him who raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead, ²⁵ who was delivered up because of our offenses, and was raised because of our justification.

Like Abraham, we give glory to God when we believe, when we put our faith in Him to do what He promised to do by grace.  If it involves my work then I can boast in myself.  But I have nothing to offer.  Either I believe in the gospel, that Jesus paid the price for my sin, or I cannot be justified in God’s sight.

Rom. 3:21-31

The gospel is the good news about Christ.  The gospel is God’s power to save people because it reveals His righteousness.  In Rom. 3:21-26 we see exactly how Jesus’ death and resurrection declare God’s righteousness.

Question #5: How does the gospel reveal God’s righteousness?  Rom. 3:21-4:25

Those who are saved are justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, ²⁵ whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood.

1.    Justification: a legal declaration that the believer is righteous.  This does not say that the believer is made righteous but that he is declared righteous by God.

a.     God does this “freely,” as a gift to the believer.

b.    God does this “by His grace,” not treating the believer according to what he deserves.

This raises an obvious question: How can a holy God declare a sinner righteous?  Would that not make God complicit with the man’s sins?

2.    Redemption: payment of a dept.  In this case, payment of the believer’s debt.  Redemption includes three concepts:

a.     Slavery: indebtedness beyond what a person can pay, from which the person is bought.  God told Adam, concerning the forbidden fruit in the Garden of Eden, that “in the day that you eat thereof you shall surely die.”  Death is the penalty for truth-suppressing law-breaking sinners.

b.    Ransom: the price that is paid.  The price of redemption is the “blood of Christ.”  He gave His life that people might be redeemed.  He could do this because His life was perfect; He did not have to pay for His own sin.

c.     Freedom: the liberty into which we enter.  The debt incurred by sin has been paid.  The sin is forgiven.  Thus, the redeemed person is free to live a life that is pleasing to his Creator.

3.    Propitiation: satisfaction of God’s wrath by an offering.  Not only must man’s guilt-inflicted sin be forgiven; the Creator must satisfy is righteous wrath.  He cannot remain righteous if He does not deal justly with the sin in His creation.

What God did is not like the pagan ideas of “the wrath of God.”  God himself has provided the offering for sin.  That is why Jesus, the Son of God, is called “the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:19).  God has been offended but He has provided the ransom for our redemption and provided the Lamb that satisfies His righteous wrath.  Jesus is the ransom and the Lamb.  We see that God, by doing this, has demonstrated His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.

Rom. 3:9-20

B. Those who break God’s law need to hear, 2:1-3:20.

1.    Rom. 2:1-13: It makes sense that humans, God’s “creatures” who have a freedom whether or not to worship Him, will give an account to Him.  His judgment will be:

a.     According to truth.  The truth evident in creation.

b.    According to works.  The works done by these creatures.

c.     Without partiality.  All will have the same standard.

2.    Rom. 2:14-16: All have access to these “standards.”  Gentiles refer to all the people in the world who are not the people of Israel.  Gentiles did not receive the Law of Moses, but they did receive God’s law in their consciences.  This is a function of men’s minds that tells them when they are now glorifying the Creator and living thankfully before Him.

3.    Rom. 2:17-3:8: With respect to the people of Israel, they will also appear before the Creator.  They had clear access to God’s Law through Moses, and were intended to tell the non-Jews of God’s truth.  Even though they were “teachers of the law” they are not excused from judgment.  They had greater knowledge of God and His laws.  Their judgment will be more severe because their privilege was greater.

4.    Rom. 3:9-20: The verdict is in!  God knows the hearts of everyone.  Mercifully, He has informed mankind that all of them are guilty and without excuse.  3:9: “They are all under sin.”  People are sinful in their character (3:10-12), their communication (3:13-14) and their conduct (3:15-18).  3:19-20 is God’s verdict.

Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God. ²⁰ Therefore by the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified in His sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin.

Whether your knowledge of the standards of the Creator is by your conscience or by the Law of Moses, the conclusion is that God’s law reveals that you are a sinner, guilty before God.  You cannot become pleasing to the Creator by keeping His law because you have already disobeyed it.  His law shows that we are sinners. 

Let us return now to question #3: What does the gospel do?  The answer is that the gospel is the Creator’s power of God to save disobedient men.  It reveals what the Creator Himself has done to enable sinful men to stand before Him in righteousness.  That is the good news truth-suppressors and law-breakers need to hear.

Psalm 119:65-80

 

Psalm 119:65-72 Teth: Affirm God’s goodness in your trial.

Affliction reveals what we are like and how we view God.  It is most common to complain about our trials, or to exalt our pain by constant reference to it.  But these reactions reveal self-centeredness and call into question God’s goodness to us. 

When Adam and Eve disobeyed God in the garden (Gen. 3) they did so because they doubted God’s goodness.  God had given them all they needed, and had at the same time denied them access to one tree in the garden.  By eating the forbidden fruit they showed they could not trust God’s goodness.

In your response to affliction are you trusting God’s goodness?  That is what this stanza is about.  There is no question the Psalmist is in a difficult situation.  And yet his opening words are, “You have dealt well with Your servant (v65).”  He proclaims without holding back that God is good and does good (v68).  (This stanza is a great illustration of the oft-quoted promise of Rom. 8:28.)

These are not just pious words without content.  He means it!

·       67: his affliction has increased his obedience.

·       71: he has learned God’s word in a whole new and deeper way.

·       72: even though his trial has been expensive, he doesn’t feel the loss, because God’s word has become more precious to him.

Most people don’t share the priorities of the Psalmist, that insight into God’s word and obedience to it should be more valuable than “gold and silver.”  Rather, they are among the proud whose hearts are “as fat as grease” (v69-70).  The picture is of those who are hell-bent on a life of ease or luxury.  At best their relationship with God is bound up in constant requests to be free of sickness or poverty or persecution.  They would never pray, in their trials, “Teach me good judgment and knowledge” (v66). 

Let us not miss a key to this belief in God’s goodness during the days of darkness.  The Psalmist has a view of himself which is perfect: he is God’s servant (v65).  He acknowledges two things by that title.  First, God is the Sovereign Lord who has absolute power over His creation.  Second, God is a gracious and loving Lord.  Thus, he trusts God’s lordship over him. 

How has God’s goodness been evident in your trial?  Are you growing deeper in His word?

 

 

 

Psalm 119:73-80 Yod:  Affirm Gods faithfulness in your trial.

1 Peter 4:19 says “Let those who suffer according to the will of God commit their souls to Him in doing good, as to a faithful Creator.”  That is what the Psalmist is doing in this stanza.

There are times when our response to affliction seems to question whether or not God knows what He is doing.  In fact, any time people ask, “How can a loving God do this or that”, they cast doubt that God is the Creator.  The Creator should know better than to allow wrongful treatment of those He has made (v78). 

Sometimes when people hear this charge made against God they defend God by denying He had anything to do with the affliction.  But that is not the case with the Psalmist.  He affirms: God’s judgments have been right as He has afflicted the believer (v75).

Some may think that this presents God as harsh or cruel, but such is not the case.  It is this faith in a faithful Creator that gives rise to the 5 requests prayed in vs. 76-80.

·       76: he prays that the Creator will be faithful to His word, and will thus be mercifully kind to His servant.  Unlike the gods men devise, the faithful Creator not only afflicts us; He can be counted on to comfort us so we are benefitted.

·       77: he prays that the tender mercies of the Creator will enable him to live.  He knows our need and thus afflicts us accordingly.  But He also knows our limitations and is the cause of comfort and mercy.  (1 Cor. 10:13 and 1 John 1:9 are 2 of many examples of the way God shows mercy in affliction.)

·       78: he prays that the proud, who are used by God in the affliction, will come to be ashamed of their actions.

·       79: he prays to be surrounded by those who fear God rather than by the proud.

·       80: he prays that in his trial he will not be ashamed by disobedience or failure to learn God’s statutes.

All these requests are based in the thought that God is our faithful Creator in time of trial.  In this way we are like our Lord Jesus Christ Who, when suffering on the cross, “committed Himself to Him who judged righteously” (1 Peter 2:23). 

 God made you.  He knows you.  He is faithful in your affliction!

Rom. 1:18-32

 

Question #4: Who needs to hear the gospel? Rom. 1:18-3:20

A. Those who suppress the truth in unrighteousness need to hear, 1:18-32.

1.    Everyone has access to truth about God, 1:18-20.  Everyone can see this truth in creation, in what they see around them.  For example:

a.     They can know God is real.  Anyone knows nothing exists without some ultimate Cause. 

b.    They can know about God.  The nature of what they see in creation, both on the earth and in the heavens, clearly declares truth about the God who created it all.  For example, they can know:

                                                                         i.      Rom. 1:20: His eternal power.

                                                                      ii.      Rom. 1:20: His divine nature (deity).

                                                                   iii.      Psalm 8:3-4: That God and man are different.

                                                                    iv.      Psalm 19:1: That God is glorious.

                                                                      v.      Psalm 104:24: That God had and has great wisdom.

                                                                    vi.      Psalm 148:13: That God must be praised.

2.    Everyone in some way “suppresses” this truth, 1:21-32.  This suppression follows a pattern described in Romans 1:21-32.

People see God in Creation; it is common sense.  But, realizing they should worship and serve this Creator, in pride they don’t treat Him as God, and do not thank Him for His provision in Creation.  They worship themselves and turn their hearts to vain and foolish things to satisfy their souls.  But because people are inherently spiritual, they worship (depend on, trust in) things made by the Creator.  Having made this choice, the Creator gives them over to the unrighteous logical conclusions of their choice to suppress the truth.  They need to hear the gospel!

Rom. 1:8-17

 Question #2: What characterizes the gospel preacher?

This helps us understand what Paul declares in today’s passage.  But it also fits what we need to be when, in Rom. 10, Paul notes that all people need someone to “preacher” the gospel to them.

·       He serves God, v8-9a

–       He is thankful for what God is doing in the Church.

–       He acknowledges that he is accountable to God.

–       He serves with his spirit.

·       He loves people, v9b-12

–       He prays for them.

–       He longs to be with them.

–       He submits to them.  He recognizes his own need to be encouraged and that he has the same faith as the Roman believers.

·       He devotes himself, v13-15.

–       He won’t give up.  He has tried to be with them but been hindered.  (Some of that hindrance involved time in prison for preaching the gospel.  He would eventually make it to Rome via an all-expenses paid voyage as we learn in Acts 27-28.

–       He obligates himself.  He sees that he has a debt, an obligation of love, to settle with those in Rome.

–       He remains ready.

Question #3: What does the gospel do?

·       The gospel is God’s power for salvation.

–       To be saved your friends and family must hear the gospel.

–       How does the gospel do this “saving” of those who believe?  We must know this so that we might have a right relationship with Him.

·       The gospel saves by revealing God’s righteousness.

–       It reveals how a righteous God accepts sinful men into his family!

–       God punished Christ in our place and declared us righteous in Christ!

–       THE RIGHTEOUS LIVE BY FAITH!

This concludes Paul’s introduction to Romans.  There are many details to learn about the work of Christ as revealed in the gospel.