Please
turn to Romans chapter 1.
I
have come to feel that, if we want to feed the sheep, we can hardly
do better than a big dose of Paul’s letter to the Romans. This
is the best it gets. The best explanation of the gospel ever written.
And the Christian gospel is the message from God for those persons
who have done their best and failed! It takes us to the only place
left: to Christ, God’s Son, Who is for us everything we need. Romans
declares and announces these truths more fully than anywhere else.
And so it’s going to be a pleasure to declare it all from Romans.
The reason God ordained that there be preaching in His church is,
the gospel is not something to discuss or debate. It is to be announced.
When you’re in
a gold mine, you know it, when you start seeing the streaks of
gold starting to show in the rock. And that’s what I’ve been finding
in Romans. Every aspiration I have to cover a few verses in this
letter shrinks as the week goes on. It’s like trying to show a
slide show, and each picture you show is so overpowering, you can
hardly move to the next. Everybody just wants to stare awhile.
So, I have to trim back each week to fewer verses, and fewer. Because
of the multiple facets of the jewel, it takes more time to describe
its beauty.
So, two weeks
ago, when we started into Romans, we saw Paul say these things:
1) I Serve the Gospel – v 1
2) God Promised the Gospel – v 2
3) His Son is the Gospel – vv 3-4
4) Recapitulation: So, as I was Saying, I (we) Serve the Gospel! –
v 5
And in that first
message, I just touched on the points of vv 3-4, because we were
only getting a running start into the letter, introducing it, and
so I said we’d come back to vv 3-4, because it’s Paul’s first comments
about the crux of what he’s going to write: that the gospel is
a message “concerning His Son”. Not Paul’s son; but God’s Son.
And so he’s telling us for openers that, the gospel which he serves
and which God promised, revolves primarily around His Son. Anytime
someone teaches the Bible in a way that does not result in people
seeing that it all comes back to a primary emphasis on Christ as
the heart and soul of the whole thing, they have missed the point.
Col 1 tells us
that the Father desired that “He Himself (the Son) might come to
have first place in everything. For it was the Father's good pleasure
for all the fulness to dwell in Him.” He desires to give His Son
all the glory. And everything in the message we have to take to
the world all starts and ends with the Son of God, Jesus Christ.
Your whole Christian life has to be a quest to know Him better
and understand how completely He provides for you everything you
need.
So Paul will
have much to say about the Lord Jesus in this letter. And here’s
what he chooses to start with, just to introduce his topic of the
gospel concerning God’s Son. He starts with 2 contrasting points
about Him to give us a well-rounded picture of Who He is: His Human
Identification, v 3, and His Divine Identification, v 4:
1) His Human
Identification
“born of a descendant of David according to the flesh” – v 3
2) His Divine Identification
“declared the Son of God with power by the resurrection from the dead”
– v 4
Did you notice
what Paul skips? What he leaves out? He strikingly leaps right
over any mention of the death of Jesus. Between that birth and
resurrection was the death. But in the way the Apostles write,
you see, when they mention the resurrection, they are simply treating
Jesus’ death as a given. We know He died. Obviously one has to
die to experience a resurrection. But the resurrection is always
the point which is more prominently mentioned in their preaching
and in their gospel, because that’s what truly changed everything.
Had Jesus only died, and not been raised again, there would be
no reason to have any confidence that His death meant any more
than anyone else’s death.
We could all
claim that we liked the idea that His death was for the purpose
of paying the price for our sins. But without His resurrection,
an idea is all it would be. We could never be sure that it accomplished
that. If God the Father did not restore the substitute’s life and
reward Him by giving it back to Him, what reason would we really
have to believe that His death was accepted as payment for our
sins? Surely, you would have no grounds to believe that the Father
was pleased with Jesus and what He did, if the Son of God was just
left dead forever! What kind of sense does that make?
But the fact
that He was raised proved that the curse of sin was only upon Him
for as long as He suffered and died; and the curse of sin was completely
defeated and no longer upon Him or us – since He has been raised.
Now, I’ll warn
you up front, Paul does open his letter to the Romans with some
material that you may find to be theologically heavy, especially
if you’ve not thought through some of this stuff before. But remember:
bedrock is heavy stuff. Foundations are not made of fluffy, light
material, and foundations are not laid down in a casual way. Foundations
are thick, and heavy, and painstakingly laid, because everything
else is built upon them. And in the next 30 minutes or so, we’re
going to be looking at some of the bedrock, foundational truths
about the Person of our Lord Jesus Christ, because He is the Foundation
of our faith! So be prepared, put on a thinking cap, this isn’t
all that hard but it will take your concentration to follow, alright?
– as we talk about His Human Identification and His Divine Identification.
It’s because
of Who He is, and how the Word of God assures us of Who He is,
that He has power and authority to change us from what we were
into what we are – and we’ll be covering that, too: what we are,
what He’s changed us into – look ahead to vv 6-7: because of Who
the Son of God is, we have been taken from our former status of
condemned, sinful persons and we’ve been made “the called of Jesus
Christ”, “the beloved of God”, and maybe the best name of all for
us, “saints.” I know you don’t feel much like a “saint” most of
the time. Neither do I. We won’t feel like saints, because it’s
a status that we didn’t earn for ourselves and a condition we didn’t
make for ourselves. But it’s what He has made us. All that later.
For now:
1) His Human
Identification – v 3
“born of a descendant of David according to the flesh” – v 3
Christ is a direct descendant of King David, which is someone He had
to be related to, in the line of, to be the Savior. And it was demonstrable
from Hebrew genealogies that both Mary, his mother, and Joseph, his
legal father, were descendants in the line of David. Matt 1 and Luke
3 make that very clear.
So He was born
a real man. A supernatural birth to a virgin, but still a real
man and not some sort of phantom. Because the mission that He was
sent by the Father to accomplish required that He take on a human
nature. And get it in the right order: God did not choose a man
and make that man His Son. He chose to send His one and only, eternal
Son, and make Him a man. Always be sure you have that right. Jesus
did not become the Son of God. He always was the Son of God. And
He is The Unique and Only Son of God, in ways that we are not,
even though now we can be called “sons and daughters” of God, ours
is an earned privilege of adoption. For Him, it was not adoptive
– it was His nature – forever.
But then, when
He was born down the line as a descendant from King David of the
OT, it was not as though that gave Him any present glory. Because
Israel had long since ceased to have their own kings. So, in the
flesh, He didn’t come from an impressive family and He wasn’t an
impressive man Himself, in appearance, in features, or in status.
His glory was concealed. Those who loved Him recognized Who He
was. Those who were willing to do God’s will and loved salvation
from sin, they knew Who He was, by His teaching.
And this shows
that God was more than capable of fulfilling His promises. Totally
faithful to all His promises. He had assured that a Messiah would
come in that line, and He did send Him. We may not spend a lot
of time thinking about Jesus as the Son of David. It’s been a given,
that that’s Who He is, how He came, and He has done so much since
then, we scarcely think much about the beginnings. But just keep
in mind that, sometimes the truths which are foundations, are hidden,
like foundations – but they are what makes the whole building secure.
Everything Jesus did since His birth: all His teachings – all His
righteousness – even His dying – would not have qualified Him to
be the Messiah if He did not fulfill those prophecies about being
in the line of David. And He did.
There was no
title you could use which more surely said “Messiah” than this
one: “Son of David”. To a Jew, to hear that was good as saying
“Thou promised Messiah!” But now:
2) His Divine
Identification
“declared the Son of God with power by the resurrection from the dead”
– v 4
The resurrection is more important than you think. More of your faith
is based on the resurrection than you think. Have you ever thought
about this before: every enemy Jesus had, in the first century, knew
He had died. That was no big deal. Everybody dies. The fact that He
died by public execution only made matters worse. It was a given in
the mind of everyone that, the idea that a man condemned to a public
execution could be Messiah was completely out of the question. So,
seeing that happen to Jesus only raised negative questions about Him.
But, what was
a big deal was that He rose. That changed everything. That re-interpreted
everything. Once that happened, that’s when the disciples realized,
we have to completely re-think the question of: so why did He die?
What did it mean? Paul says that the resurrection declared Him
to be the Son of God with power. Let’s put it this way:
~ When He was
born, it whispered: this is the Son of God.
Why do I say “whispered”? – didn’t the angels announce it loudly? Yes,
they did make a loud announcement of it. But still, quite inconspicuously.
Loud, to a small audience. A few shepherds in a field grazing their
sheep. And when they got there to see Him, there was no evidence of
visible glory on Him. He was sleeping in a cow-stall. It all whispered,
“You know, this child is the Son of God.”
~ When He lived
and walked, it spoke: this is the Son of God.
In Jn 14, He said you should believe that I’m the Son of God, and if
you don’t believe it from Me, then believe it on account of the works
I do. How do you explain this sinless, holy life and abundance of miraculous
works? They suggest that I’m not just an ordinary man, but the Son
of God sent from above.
But again, that
was only visible to a small number of people, in an obscure nation
– even if we’re talking about a few thousand people who heard and
saw these things, during His lifetime. And most of them did not
even really get to walk with Him; they would see Him do a miraculous
work, or some deed of righteousness, and then back into private
times with His disciples He would go. His manner of life and His
teaching declared that He was the Son of God, but to a small audience.
~ When He died,
it quietly declared: this is the Son of God.
To a few, who observed in a thinking way, like that one Roman soldier
who commented, it says, watching the way He died and the way He dealt
with everyone around Him as He died, “Surely this was the Son of God!”
– but as I said before, there were also some huge apparent contradictions
and problems. While one man said that, everyone else was saying to
themselves and mockingly to Him, “If you’re the Son of God, then why
doesn’t God send angels to rescue you? Why would He let His Son get
into this spot?” According to their OT Law, being executed more loudly
preached the idea that this was a man cursed by everyone! – cursed
on earth and cursed in heaven. And both were true – temporarily.
So follow where
I’m going:
When He was
born, it whispered: this is the Son of God.
When He lived and walked righteously, that life spoke: this is the
Son of God.
When He died, it quietly declared: this is the Son of God. But then:
~ When He rose,
it shouted: this is the Son of God. Loud and clear. Everything
about it. Now there was no mixed message – all evidence pointed
in only one direction – this is the Son of God!
If you ask: but
how did that convincingly declare Him to be the Son of God? Others
were raised from the dead before Him: does that prove that they
were the Son of God? Lazarus? Jairus’ daughter? Two differences:
they never claimed to be the Son of God to begin with. He had always
claimed it, and if His dying seemed to say, “That was a lie!”,
His resurrection verified His claim and proved that all He had
said was true. 2nd, He had regularly predicted His resurrection,
which neither Lazarus nor Jairus’ daughter had done.
He was the Son
of God when He came. He was the Son of God before He came. He had
forever been the Son of God. But the resurrection declared that
fact like it had never been declared before! – this really is God’s
Son. The word Pal uses, which we translate “declared”, actually
says that the resurrection marked Him as the Son of God. Marking
Him so, with the most striking of all signs possible: coming back
to life from the dead, just as He had said He would. This phrase
in v 4 is an especially important phrase to understand:
“who was declared the Son of God with power”
When Paul says
that Christ was “declared the Son of God”, it is interesting that
all the translations choose the word “declared”, but it’s not a
term for a declaration, like preaching or a statement. It’s a word
for a defining line or mark. If it has any relation to preaching
or declaring, it might be like saying: Mark my words! The Greek
word is horizo – we even get our word for horizon from it – a line
of demarcation. A line that separates sky from land. The resurrection
was the act that “marked” Him.
So Paul is saying,
even though He was the Son of God before the resurrection, at that
moment, Christ, Who had been the Son of God in meekness and lowliness
and with human weakness, became visible as the Son of God with
power. The key phrase is “with power.” He didn’t become the Son
of God. He became the Son of God invested with power.
It’s very similar
to when Peter said in Acts 2 that, even though you murdered Him,
guess what? When God raised Him up, v 36: “Therefore let all the
house of Israel know for certain that God has made Him both Lord
and Christ -- this Jesus whom you crucified.” Now you know who
you’re dealing with! He’s the Lord! And He’s Christ! – your Messiah!
God has now marked Him out as that, distinguishing Him from every
man who ever walked the earth. Even from His other messengers and
prophets. God had sent many men who were messengers from heaven.
But only one did He raise from the dead.
And so we have
a powerful demonstration that He is the Son of God. It showed that
He is the one in a ruling position of sovereign power now. The
resurrection finally showed Him for Who He really was.
And then Paul
adds this phrase: “according to the Spirit of holiness” – words
which have given all teachers of Romans a little difficulty telling
what Paul means. John Murray, who spent 30 years on his commentary
on Romans, said that “Difficulties encompass every interpretation
of this expression because it occurs nowhere else in the NT.” Without
giving you a review of all the options, I will just tell you what
I settled on: look back at v 3: “born of a descendant of David
according to the flesh” – and now at v 4: “declared the Son of
God with power by the resurrection from the dead, according to
the Spirit of holiness, Jesus Christ our Lord.” Did you notice
the same word – “according to” – in both places?
I think Paul
is saying, as Christ was born a man in the flesh, in the line of
David, He was raised powerfully, by the work of the Holy Spirit.
This was part of the work of the Person of the Holy Spirit, to
give new life to His fleshly body once it had died.
It is often too
little studied an area, to consider how dependent the Lord Jesus
was upon the Holy Spirit during His years walking in this world.
Part of His living as a man in this world was, not availing Himself
of His own Divine power in full measure during His days in the
flesh, but putting that aside and walking as a man, He depended
on the Holy Spirit’s help. From the moment that the Spirit falls
upon Him in power at His baptism, we hear Him often commenting
on the Spirit at work in His life, enduring the temptation by the
help of the Spirit; casting out demons by the Spirit of God. Luke
4 contains several striking instances of this:
“And Jesus,
full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led about
by the Spirit
in the wilderness.”, v 1
“And Jesus returned
to Galilee in the power of the Spirit; and news about Him spread
through
all the surrounding district.”, v 14
“The Spirit
of the Lord is upon Me, because He anointed Me to preach the gospel
to the poor.
He has sent Me to proclaim release to the captives, and recovery of
sight to the blind, to set
free those who are downtrodden…”, v 18
He even preached
as He did because the Spirit of the Lord was upon Him.
And so, in the
crowning moment of the Holy Spirit’s work in His life, the Holy
Spirit came upon His dead body in the grave and raised Him up again.
Rom 8:11 explicitly says it, referring to “the Spirit of Him who
raised Jesus from the dead”, talking about the Holy Spirit. It’s
as if to say, when the man Jesus was dead, and could not help Himself,
the Spirit of God came upon Him and restored His life.
Here, Paul says
“the Spirit of holiness” is the author of it – the Spirit Who is
holy! – raised Him from death. You see, in their times, dealing
with the dead or dead bodies was dirty business. It was considered
something that would defile and corrupt you, to touch the dead.
So to talk about an executed man being raised from the dead must
have sounded to their ears absolutely horrible and gross and dirty
and unclean, almost like some sort of dark sorcery or black magic.
And so Paul stresses that it’s the opposite: Christ was raised
from the dead in accord with the Spirit of holiness, not a dark
spirit or an evil spirit or a defiled spirit, but the very Spirit
of God himself who is marked above all by holiness.
Well, that’s
Paul’s opening comments on Who the Son of God is and Who this letter
is going to be about. Paul adds the wording at the end of v 4,
“Jesus Christ our Lord”. The names by which the early Christians
addressed Jesus Christ was how the Jews spoke of God: as “the Lord”.
One of my favorite comments of a liberal commentator is a man who
wrote, “St. Paul, if not formally enunciating a doctrine of the
Divinity of Christ, held a view which cannot really be distinguished
from it.”
Now we get to
talk about, what He has made us – vv 6-7. And this makes a good
preface to Bryce’s baptism. For every Christian, because Jesus
died and rose again, this is what the Lord Jesus has made us! Bryce,
this is what the Lord Jesus has made you. (by the way, why did
I skip v 5? Because we covered that verse last time, since it kind
of went with v 1):
The Called of
Jesus Christ – v 6
“among whom you also are the called of Jesus Christ”
Rev 17:14 says:
“These will wage war against the Lamb, and the Lamb will overcome
them, because He is Lord of lords and King of kings, and those
who are with Him are the called and chosen and faithful.”
1 Pet 2:9 says
that we are a people who have been “called…out of darkness into
His marvelous light” – it was like a shout into us, being in a
condition of bondage to darkness and death, and the call raised
us and gave us new life and changed us. A call we heard! And which
transformed us.
Rom 8:30 – it
occurs between the predestinating and the being justified. It’s
at the time of conversion.
2 Thes 2:13-14
answers the question for us as to when we are called. We were chosen
in eternity past, v 13, but our call is distinct from when we were
chosen – that took place before the world was made – but our being
called took place when the gospel reached our ears and gave us
new life. We were yanked out of being members of this world and
into the kingdom of God, by God’s call.
The Beloved of
God – v 7a
“to all who are beloved of God in Rome”
Paul often calls
Christians “beloved” in his letters, speaking for himself and his
own affection for them. But even that was the work of God, for
Paul certainly did not feel that way about Christians from the
start. He hated them and wanted them put to death. It was the love
of God for His people which imparted to Paul a love for these people.
Here, Paul speaks not of God’s people as beloved to me, Paul, but
as beloved to God.
1 Jn 3:1 probably
says it as well as anywhere: “See how great a love the Father has
bestowed upon us, that we should be called children of God!” His
love for us is evident in ushering us into the status of adopted
children of God. Sharers in the entire inheritance that Christ,
His only rightful Son, has. And this enables you to re-interpret
everything! You share in all that was Christ’s – the suffering
included. So that, when you enter into hard times in life, you
need never again wonder “Why does God let this happen to me if
He loves me?” He lets it happen to you precisely because He loves
you. It’s more evidence of His love, not less. So that you can
really share in what Christ endured. So that you can imitate Him.
So that you can grow into more likeness to Him, which is far better
than a comfortable, trouble-free life, if that keeps you from experiencing
Christ-likeness.
And Paul is going
to have a lot to say about this love of God in Romans: Rom 5:5;
8:38-39. Our whole trip through Romans is going to be a deep look
at the love of God for us.
The Saints –
v 7b
“called as saints”
It’s a real shame
and disgrace that, a time came in church history when the church
decided to honor certain people and glorify their names, for special
deeds they did, and thus setting a criteria by which some would
be called “saints”. Much of the time, the Roman Catholic church
decided that a person was worthy of that honor by noting, first,
that their whole life had been marked by good works; and second,
if after their death, someone could report that a miracle had occurred
while they were praying in the name of that deceased person – like,
“Oh, Francis of Assisi, please help me” – and if a miracle followed
– then the church marked that person a “saint.”
Well, you and
I are not likely to have ever made such a list. But don’t worry
if the Roman Catholic church overlooked you. God has made you a
saint anyway!
Paul comes back
to that word “called” again – and understand Paul – he isn’t saying
“You’re called saints”, as if saying, “You’re named saints, that’s
what God calls you now.” It’s not a term for “named”. It’s a term
for picked out and, by an act of the caller, drawn in.
Picture one of
those moments when the phone rings. It’s a caller. And he starts
with that line, “You have been especially selected for a great
prize”, and you think “Yeah, right, me and everybody else in the
phone book.” And you’re about to say “no thanks” and hang up –
but the caller says something that makes you stay on the line –
he says “You’re going to want to hear this – this is not a sales
call – this is a declaration.” You’re a little more curious and
you stay on. And he begins to explain: you’re related to some very
important person who has died and left you an inheritance...(find
a way to illustrate this – he persuades you, and you realize, I
really have been personally selected for this privilege. In fact,
it’s already been done for me. I can’t resist it. (100 million
$$ put in your account, to use for missions, as you please). That
call changes your life. And you can’t deny it or ignore it – you’ve
been called, and your status is different now.
Well, the reality
for us is, it’s not just your bank account that’s been called into
service to God, but it’s you in person. Your life. You’ve been
separated from the world and have been made one of God’s “holy
ones” – saints.
Being called
a “saint” doesn’t mean that you’re a better person than most other
people. It doesn’t mean God saw you as holier and so chose you
for His service. It means that He decided to make you “holy”, in
the original meaning of what “holy” means: set apart from the rest
of the world, to be His. Think of the word “consecrated”. Set aside
as special property, or special persons. The best parallel we have
to understand it is, just as God chose the tribe of Levi in the
Jewish nation and said “These will be My priests; these men are
holy (not because they were better men), but purely from My choice
– these are the ones whom I choose.”
So Bryce, that’s
what God has made you:
Called into service to Jesus Christ
Beloved of God
Called to be a saint
And so v 7 is
also for you today: “Grace to you and peace from God our Father
and the Lord Jesus Christ.”
You have grace:
the perfect, unmerited favor of God, freely bestowed from God’s
love, completely contrary to what you deserved.
You have peace:
the result of God showing you His grace is, you are reconciled
with God. You are in a state of friendship with God rather than
enmity.
