The study of Romans is not just the study of a book, but of a person-the Apostle Paul.
Deeply impassioned for “the un-churched,” he is
the example we are to follow (1 Corinthians 4:16, 11:1). And as we study Romans, we’ll see how the gospel was lived out by Paul in everything he did.
The gospel gave him a new calling and passion in life; Paul was
“set apart for the gospel of God” (1:1).
Paul’s wording of this phrase, “the gospel of God,” is packed with significance. This phrase, first of all, points to the divine nature of the gospel message; it is not an idea we could’ve dreamed up if we tried. More so, it points to the divine origin of the gospel. In other words, the gospel did not come about during the time that Jesus was on earth, but rather, it had been promised long before. The gospel, which means “good news,” had been promised 700 years earlier “through His prophets in the holy scriptures” (Isaiah 52:7, for example). However, its origin was not in the mind of the prophets either. Rather, the author of the gospel is the eternal God and its origin is from before history began.
Read Romans 16:25-27. Here, Paul describes the gospel as “the revelation of the mystery which has been kept secret for long ages past.” It is the main event, the unfolding of the greatest mystery, the climax of the great drama of history. The entire world, even creation itself, has been waiting to see how a fallen race, a lost cosmos, could be restored. This is how Paul understood the gospel.
For Paul, the gospel is not just truth of the Bible, but the pinnacle of the story of God, something that has so gripped him in the core of his being that he calls it “my gospel.” The gospel gave him a new calling in life, a new passion, and a new identity- as “a bond-servant of Christ Jesus.” In that time and culture, slaves frequently earned their freedom through years of good service. A bond-servant was someone who had earned his freedom, but out of love for his master, had voluntarily returned to serve for the rest of his life. This became Paul’s living metaphor, his identity as a Christ follower; out of his love for Christ, he was ready to serve anyone and everyone.
The extent that we live as bond-servants to others is the extent that we comprehend the vastness and the power of the gospel.
2 Comments:
I was so inspired and touched by the sermon on Sunday and this blog is an excellent follow up to it. The clarity expressed in the sermon was just what I needed. The explanation of "ungodliness" and "unrighteous" was something I had never heard before. It made so much sense! This idea that we need to be as a bond-servant to truly reach the world and teach others to love by giving love is new to me. Thank you, John. Your message was a breath if fresh air!
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Anonymous, at 11:52 AM
anonymous - thanks for your post! If you want to let us know who you are next time, hit the Other button and just type in your name or nickname :-)
The message on Sunday hit me too... amazing how encouraging it was to here a message that helped me understand the nature of God's wrath. Instead of walking away feeling scared or uncomfortable, I walked away really appreciating God's holiness in a new way.
By
Scott Davis, at 9:15 PM
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