Romans is one of the greatest resources available to the Christian faith and life. Written in the mid-to late AD 50s to the congregation in Rome, Paul sent this pastoral letter to make clear the gospel, that salvation is from the Lord, that it is and has always been by his free favor alone (sola gratia), through faith alone (sola fide), in Christ alone. Jesus the Servant of God is the Savior promised to Adam and Eve, to Noah, to Abraham, to Moses, to David, and to the prophets. To make clear the centrality of Christ and the good news—the power of God for salvation of the ungodly—he lays out the greatness of our sin and misery (1:18–3:20), how we are redeemed from our sins and misery by the grace of God in Christ (3:21–11:36); and how we ought to live thankfully for such a redemption (12:1–16:27). In this episode, Chris and I begin to look at Romans 1:18–26.
Here is the episode.
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Dr. Clark,
Thank you for joining Pastor Gordon. I am grateful you presented ‘the traction’ of The Gospel in Romans with the formulating structure from the Heidelberg Catechism: Guilt, Grace, Gratitude.
You mentioned Romans 2:14-16.
How is this Greek – κατὰ τὸ εὐαγγέλιόν μου διὰ Χριστοῦ Ἰησοῦ – translated as ‘my gospel’.
Thank you for your devotion His Family in Christ.
Catherine,
The Greek says literally, “according to [the] of me gospel through Christ Jesus…”. The Good News is not, of course, about Paul but it is his message of Good News about Christ. Hence it’s translated “my gospel.”
Dr. Clark,
I’m reading Outrageous Mercy: Rediscovering The Radical Nature Of The Cross by William P. Farley. 2004. P&R Publishing. He’s the pastor of Grace Christian Fellowship in Spokane, Washington.
The power of God is in the cross, and we desperately need God’s power.
Christianity that is not cross-centered will be sympathy without decisiveness, kindness without justice, charm without backbone, and sentimentality without action. Christianity then becomes a religion for the deserving but not for sinners, a message for the upper-class but not the lower-class. Without the cross, justification by faith alone degenerates into moralism, and God’s holy wrath morphs into tolerance for the well-intentioned. A cross-less Christianity tames the terrible God enthroned between the cherubim before whom nations tremble ( Ps. 99:1). God becomes love, but nothing else. In short, when the message of the cross is removed from the center of Christianity, Christianity removes itself from the center of our thoughts and devotions. A bushel basket is placed over the lamp. It is that simple.
Most importantly, cross-centered Christians grow progressively humble. I fellowship with one church that preaches the cross. They sing it, they preach it, they read about it, and they exult in it. Therefore, they feel deeply their sinfulness and unworthiness. Humility is their outstanding quality.
Another church in my area believes in the cross, but transforming the culture is their central focus. They write about culture, sing about it, and discuss it constantly. By contrast, their outstanding quality is pride. They look down on other Christians. They are contentious and lack grace. They have taken the cross for granted.
Therefore, our attitude toward the cross is crucial. When its importance recedes in our thoughts and affections, we become cold, sterile, and lifeless. But when the message of the cross takes center stage, we burn with zeal for God and His kingdom from a deep sense of our spiritual poverty
Carmen, I agree that the cross is the centerpiece of the Christian faith, there is nothing so convicting of our sin and misery, and God’s love for us as the cross. And it’s also an emblem of Christ’s entire life of sacrifice as the suffering servant who performed all righteousness for His people as the second Adam. He is the fulfilment of the new covenant, first promised in the garden, after Adam failed to obey God under the old covenant, which brought the curse of spiritual death on humanity. The new covenant of grace for us, based on trusting in the promise God made, that God Himself would become our new representative head, in place of Adam, when he alone walked between the pieces promising to perform all the requirements of the first covenant, and taking the maladictory oath on Himself for our disobedience. And then he confirmed it with an oath,”I will be your God, and you will be my people,” and with a sacramental sign, that applied it personally and inescapably! that He really would be the God of Abraham and all Abraham’s descendants who believe with the faith of their father in the faith.
As important as the cross is, it is sad that there are many people who look only to Christ’s suffering on the cross as the way to make them acceptable to God. They look to Christ as the sacrifice to atone for sin but not as the one who also performed all righteousness on their behalf, and so they think they also have to do their part for final acceptance with God. In doing so they actually reject Christ’s righteousness, and depend on their own. They only have half a Savior. They do not understand that the purpose of the law, under the new covenant, is not that we should obey it in order to cooperate in our salvation in response to the cross, but that we strive to obey God out of love and gratitude, because Christ has done it all. He both died for our sin and obeyed the law perfectly on our behalf, so that we strive to obey, albeit imperfectly in this life, through love, the most powerful motive of all.
Angela, the book is published by Presbyterian and Reformed Publishing. “When Christian culture, church government, Calvinism become our message, we suffer. I speak from experience. Many of these things have distracted me. Of course these doctrines have a place at the table. And they are helpful…if their place is secondary. But when they become central in our focus, they turn out thoughts to this world. By contrast, the cross turns out thoughts to heaven.” He adds as a footnote: The writings of John Calvin and his successors seem to me to be the best summarization of biblical teaching available.”
Carmen, I appreciate the concern that secondary issues can become a distraction from the gospel. My concern is that we do not lose sight of the fact that in order to be justified before God we not only need our sins to be forgiven, but we also need perfect obedience of God’s holy law. We cannot reduce the gospel to the message that our sins are forgiven by Christ’s death on the cross. We also need Christ’s 32 years of perfect obedience, as our representative, to provide the perfect obedience that our perfectly holy God requires of us to be acceptable in His sight. The good news is that Christ not only died for our forgiveness, but that He also lived so that His perfect righteousness might be imputed to those who trust in Him as their righteousness. Matt 5: 17-20
Angela,
Thank you for the following distinction in response to Carmen:
‘As important as the cross is, it is sad that there are many people who look only to Christ’s suffering on the cross as the way to make them acceptable to God. They look to Christ as the sacrifice to atone for sin but not as the one who also performed all righteousness on their behalf, and so they think they also have to do their part for final acceptance with God. In doing so they actually reject Christ’s righteousness, and depend on their own. They only have half a Savior. They do not understand that the purpose of the law, under the new covenant, is not that we should obey it in order to cooperate in our salvation in response to the cross, but that we strive to obey God out of love and gratitude, because Christ has done it all. He both died for our sin and obeyed the law perfectly on our behalf, so that we strive to obey, albeit imperfectly in this life, through love, the most powerful motive of all.‘
I am grateful our LORD continues daily to open the eyes of our hearts and the ears of our minds to the Truth that He is Cause in and of our lives. Through His Gospel and the Sacraments administered to us in His Church, He opens our eyes to to our condition, He gives us understanding of His Grace in His Son’s Righteousness, and He instructs and guides us in our sincere worship of Him, God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit. Thank you for tirelessly expressing His Gospel.
Angela,
I’m Orthodox Presbyterian, holding to the Westminster Confession of Faith. I hope that settles your concerns.
Great, then I assume you agree, “the principle acts of saving faith are accepting, receiving, and resting upon Christ alone for justification, sanctification, and eternal life, by virtue of the covenant of grace.” The covenant of grace is the good news that we’re right with God because of the sacrifice and righteous obedience of Christ credited to us when we trust in Him alone. WCF XIV 2, XI, and VIII 5 Our right standing with God is through our trusting in Christ alone, so that both His death for our atonement, and His perfect righteousness are credited to us.
Angela, I will leave you with this. 1 Corinthians 1:18 “For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.”
Yes, and Paul goes on, in that same chapter, “But of Him are you in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption.” 1 Cor. 1: 30 “I count all things but loss…that I may win Christ, and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is of faith in Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith.” Phil. 3: 8-9 “those who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the one, Jesus Christ.” Rom. 5: 17 We not only need to be cleansed of our sin through Christ’s sacrifice on the cross, we also need the perfect righteousness we
have in Him, by trusting in Him alone. It is all that Jesus did for us that makes Him our Savior. It is not just the Cross, it is that we trust in Christ alone.