Last week we started our study into the book of Romans…I said it was important as we begin that study to establish three things:
…FIRST…the credibility of the people writing the Bible…if we are going to take anything Paul writes as authoritative, we must have confidence that it is truthful and reliable.
That the people who wrote the Bible were inspired by the Holy Spirit and not just giving us their opinion.
In the opening verse Paul discloses three important things about himself regarding his ministry:
Paul, a bond-servant of Christ Jesus, called as an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God [1:1]
that validates the confidence that what he has written is truthful and reliable.
(1) His position as a servant of Christ
(2) His authority as an apostle of Christ
(3) His power in being set apart for the Gospel of Christ.
…SECOND…that the Bible is truthful…there are countless arguments regarding the inerrancy of Scripture…that there are…variations…and changes from the original text…and let me be truthful…there are.
Just read that the New Revised Standard Version Bible released digitally this month and will be in print next May…consisting of 20,000 changes.
The editors claim that the changes will bring new meanings to Biblical texts… addressing some cultural needs.
It appears that the changes are minor in nature…probable most are gender neutral changes…meaning not referring to either sex but only to people in general…or to be more politically correct.
Example…Mark 14:69 the person is referred to as the servant-girl…the new version refers to her as the female servant…removing the demeaning idea of calling a woman a girl.
But the over tens of thousands of manuscripts that have been discovered world-wide…including the changes being made in today’s modern translations…none have revealed the slightest doctrinal change from the original texts.
A book that has been around for thousands of years is still creditable and without variations…as opposed to the Book of Mormons that has only been around for less that 200 years but has experienced over 3000 changes.
…THIRD…the dual nature of Christ…that He was both man and God…both divine and human.
Concerning His Son, who was born of a descendant of David…who was declared the Son of God with power by the resurrection from the dead [Romans 1:2-3]
Without establishing Jesus as God’s Son…Jesus wouldn’t be of any more importance than any other man who ever lived…that’s what separates Christianity from every other religion in the world.
After successfully identifying his authority as Jesus’ representative to proclaim the gospel…after establishing the credibility of the Bible as given by God’s prophets…and providing Jesus’ credentials that qualify Him as the Messiah through the resurrection from the dead, Paul now states how this is all possible:
Verse 5a – “through whom we have received grace”
Either by the Holy Spirit, from whom all grace and gifts come…or by Jesus who is full of grace and truth…but regardless…without the grace of God who provides us with the necessary gifts needed to qualify us for the service that we have been called to perform…we would be powerless.
In Paul’s case…God’s grace had come through Jesus…it’s important as Christians that we understand God’s grace…the test question answer to ‘what is grace’ is…God treating me as I don’t deserve to be treated but as adults and mature Christians there’s far more to understanding God’s grace.
Without grace we are incapable of doing any Christ-exalting good…that idea is fostered by the belief that what enables us to do anything good is because of God’s grace.
There’s a universal truth that says people cannot be good without God…even those who do not believe in God could not be good without God.
Well hold on there…I know lots of people who do good things and they’re not Christians…SO…I’m not saying that you need to be a Christian to be a good person…because we all know people who do good things and they’re not Christians.
I think where the confusion comes in is when people associate ‘being a better person’ with having Christian values.
A 2011 survey put this myth to the test…Americans were evenly split 50/50 on whether it was necessary to believe in God in order to be moral and have good values…now even more…56% say believing in God is not necessary to having good morals or values. https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2017/12/26/you-good-person/967459001/
So much for the belief that people cannot be good without God…I think here’s the real difference…bad people sometimes do ‘good’ things, but they do so only to satisfy the desires of their own hearts…or to be recognized for their good deeds…it’s call self-centeredness…conceit …vanity…self-recognition.
Our desires fuel our actions…for the unbeliever it’s ‘what’s in it for me’ …for the Christian our actions are motivated by God to pull us towards Himself and His ways.
Here’s something else about grace…God’s grace is occurring in every person’s life…it is God’s grace that initiates the conversion process.
Man’s salvation is a by-product of God’s grace…when God saves us…He gives us grace…we can never come to God through our own faith…or anything we do.
It is the combination of both God’s grace and faith that results in our salvation… but it’s God’s grace that initiates that result.
Prevenient Grace
Wesley understood grace as God’s active presence in our lives. This presence is not dependent on human actions or human response…it is a gift — a gift that is always available…it is active in every person’s life…but that can be refused.
God’s grace stirs up within us a desire to know Him and empowers us to respond to God’s invitation to be in relationship with Him…God’s grace enables us to discern between good and evil and makes it possible for us to choose good.
Grace is unmerited, unearned favor, in which the believer himself does not…and cannot contribute anything of worth…Paul defines how salvation works:
Eph 2:8-9 –“You are saved by grace…not as a result of works that no one should boast”
That is why…as Christians…no believer has cause for self-congratulations because he contributes nothing at all to his salvation. Grace is a gift from God.
Paul makes a startling statement that can easily pass right by us if we’re not careful…it needs to be examined if we’re to be serious about our faith…he refers to the obedience of faith [1:5].
It’s something I’ve said before that as Christians…living a lifestyle of disobedience is an enemy of your destiny…disobedience to God prevents God from being in control of His plan and purpose for your life…to disobey God is to be disconnected from that destiny.
Paul realized the importance of obedience in the Christian life…failure to be obedient to the gospel could damage his ministry…that he might be rejected and disapproved…that he would lose his creditability and become useless as a preacher.
Paul uses the expression ‘the obedience of faith’ twice…once here and again at the end of the book [16:26]. They form bookends for the entire book regarding our Christian experience…what it means in coming to faith in Christ…as well as our commitment and obedience to God’s Word.
The gospel strengthens us in faith both at the start and in the continuation of our Christian life so that we will live obedient lives…this is called “the obedience of faith” …the gospel is the means to obedience because obedience comes from faith.
This epistle was not written to a particular church but was written to all individual believers living in the province of Rome…and throughout the known Christian world at that time…that’s why Paul addresses his letter
To all who are beloved of God in Rome, called as saints [1:7]
Paul established two things in this statement:
All people are called.
All believers ‘in Christ’ are saints.
FIRST…Paul says we are ‘called’ …that word in the Greek (klétos) is the invitation God gives to all people, so all can receive His salvation…God desires every person to call out to Him and receive His salvation (1 Tim 2:4,5) …again refuting the idea that only a few are called or chosen for salvation.
SECOND…
All who believe in Jesus carry the title of ‘saint’ [Eph 2:19] …we often hear the term ‘sainthood’ as if that title was only for a select few…or for those who are thought to be especially righteous Christians…as a result they achieve Sainthood …every believing Christian is a saint.
In verses 16 and 17 Paul makes a statement that some regard as the most important in the entire letter…these two verses state the theme of the whole epistle.
In fact…it was verse 17 that transformed Martin Luther’s life…this single verse led to Protestant Reformation and the death of 5 million people.
16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone (παντὶ) who believes: 17 For in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed—a righteousness that is revealed from faith to faith: just as it is written: “The righteous will live by faith.”
What does Paul mean by the ‘righteousness of God’ …when Paul speaks of the “righteousness of God” he’s referring to our right-standing with God… the fact that we are now in a new and right relationship with him…to denote a life that is pleasing to God.
Up to that point the teaching in the church was “infused righteousness” …one of the biggest topics debated among Catholics and Protestants is the question of whether righteousness is ‘infused’ or ‘imputed.’
Without going into a theological discussion regarding ‘infused’ versus ‘imputed’ righteousness I’ll just say – with infused righteousness…it is the responsibility of people to cooperate with God…you have to do something.
While imputed righteousness emphasizes salvation as a gift from God not dependent on anything we can or will do.
We as Southern Baptists…protestants…prefer imputed righteousness…it is a gift we receive from God at conversion…we can do nothing to achieve it.
After years of prayer, meditation, and struggle, Luther discovered the true meaning of these two verses…that humans reach salvation only by their faith and not by their deeds…he came to the conclusion that what the church had been teaching for centuries…can’t be right.
God’s revelation to Martin Luther changed the church forever…it is what we believe and how we interpret Scripture today…everything centers around faith.
We are justified by faith…sanctified by faith…saved by faith…we are called to live by faith…faith is the gift given by God to people in order that they may believe on Jesus for salvation.
AGAIN…it’s important to know that it is God’s grace that initially stirs up within us a desire to know God and empowers us to respond to God’s invitation to be in relationship with Him…then…when we respond to that invitation we are justified and saved through faith in Christ and not by works.
The strange wording in [17] ‘faith to faith’ means that we are to mature in the faith…moving from one degree of faith to another measure of faith…it’s called sanctification…as we keep on living by faith and maturing in our Christian walk.
Included in this verse is the well-known statement ‘the righteous shall live by faith’ a verse taken out of the Old Testament…Habakkuk 2:4.
This verse is quoted three times in the New Testament: Romans 1:17…Galatians 3:11…and Hebrews 10:38…how do I know if something from the Old Testament is applicable to me today?…if it’s repeated in the New Testament.
‘The righteous shall live by his faith,’ implies TWO THINGS:
FIRST…it’s more than the mere acceptance of Jesus for salvation…it implies a lifestyle that is characterized by faith and righteous living because living a lifestyle of disobedience is an enemy of your destiny…disobedience to God prevents God from being in control of His plan and purpose for your life…to disobey God is to be disconnected from that destiny.
SECOND…he was possibly echoing a timeless truth that’s goes all the way back to Abraham [Gen. 15:6] …the righteous man will not face God’s judgement; rather, in return for his faith in God, he has been given eternal life.
When we fail to understand how we are righteous in Christ, we miss out on the transforming power of the gospel…this goes back to imputed righteousness…in the Greek the words ‘of God’ are in the genitive case…it shows possession…it is righteousness that belongs to God.
It does not find its origin in man…God always deals with man on the basis of His righteousness…God puts (imputes) His righteousness in the believer when the believer trusts in Christ’s work…that is how we are able to approach the throne of grace in prayer…God doesn’t see us as the sinners we are…He sees the righteousness of His Son in us.
Do you see the immensity of those verses? …it was Martin Luther’s understanding of verse 17 that transformed his life and has had an incalculable effect on the lives of countless Christians who see this verse as an instruction to keep on living by faith.
And here’s the reward…I’m going to jump ahead a few chapters…one day when we are glorified…we will see Jesus as He is…that is the time when faith will be rewarded by sight…right now our faith is that one day we will see Jesus…that is the hope we have…the confident expectation that it will happen …on the day when we are glorified…we shall SEE Him as He is.
Until then the words of Paul ‘the righteous shall live by faith’ …should be a guiding light in our Christian walk…to do otherwise…to disobey God is to be disconnected from his destiny for you.