Yesterday we examined three of Paul’s characteristics of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Today I want to finish with the final three characteristics.
4. The scope of the gospel is all nations. Romans 1:5 reads, “We have received grace and apostleship through Him to bring about the obedience of faith among all nations” (HCSB).
In Paul’s understanding, to be committed to the nations is to be blind to race, gender, status, title, etc. The gospel is for everyone without exception and without distinction. (cf. Romans 1:14-16)
5. The purpose of the gospel is the obedience of the faith. As you just read in verse 5 above, the obedience of the faith is the response the gospel demands. Paul is not referring to obedience to a creed or a set of doctrines. He is talking about full commitment to the Lordship of Jesus Christ, which is the believer’s appropriate response to the gospel of God.
6. Finally, the goal of the gospel is to honor Christ’s name. Verse five concludes that all of this effort is “on behalf of His name.” Paul wanted to preach the gospel to the nations to bring glory to Christ’s name. The highest missionary motive is passionate zeal for the glory of Jesus Christ.
So what do we do with this tidy analysis of the gospel? Paul wrote in verse 5 that “we have received grace and apostleship.” That sounds like fancy preacher talk, but when you break it down, it is important. Grace speaks of unmerited favor, of receiving something undeserved. Apostleship in its generic form speaks of being “a sent one.” If you mash that up, we have received the undeserved privilege of being sent to share God’s good news about Jesus Christ. That was true of Paul, and its true of you as well.
Showing posts with label Romans. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Romans. Show all posts
Thursday, June 3, 2010
Wednesday, June 2, 2010
How to Introduce Yourself (part 2)
When we moved to Waukee five years ago, I introduced myself to one of my son’s football coaches. Realizing we were new to the community, the coach asked what I did for a living. I told him that I was Pastor of Ashworth Road Baptist Church. His next question started me. He asked, “So what kind of Baptist are you? Are you a ‘better than me’ Baptist, a chicken swingin’ Baptist, or a regular guy Baptist?” I had a pretty good handle on two of those, but my curiosity bested me and I replied, “What’s a chicken swingin’ Baptist?” He laughed and said, “Those are the kind that dance around waving their hand in circles over their head like they’re swingin’ a chicken by the head!” True story!
In the first century, the landscape was littered with itinerant preachers and teachers who were promoting “the gospel.” Audiences who were unsuspecting failed to ask the question, “What kind of gospel are you teaching?” The savvy, on the other hand, wanted to know up front the brand of gospel being delivered to them. Paul is no dummy. Having dispensed with the credentials in short order, he gets to the main concern, his brand of the gospel.
In Romans 1:1-5, Paul provides six characteristics of the gospel he has been sent to proclaim.
1. The origin of the gospel is God. Romans 1:1 reads, “Paul, a slave of Christ Jesus, called as an apostle and singled out for God’s good news…” (HCSB). The good news is God’s good news. The apostles didn’t invent it. Much of liberal theology today is consumed with distancing Jesus from the development of the gospel and the church. They hypothesize that Jesus was a good, moral teacher who never intended to develop his words and works into a movement that would span two millennia. They suggest that Paul and other apostles got together after the death of Jesus and developed the ground work for what we know as the church today. Paul would have no tolerance for that kind of opinion. He is crystal clear from the beginning that the gospel was revealed and entrusted to the apostles by God. It is God’s good news for a lost and broken world.
2. The gospel is rooted in Scripture. Romans 1:2 continues, “which He promised long ago through His prophets in the Holy Scriptures concerning his son…” (HCSB). Although God revealed the gospel to the apostles, it was not new. In fact, Paul would declare that the gospel was rooted deep in the story of the Old Testament. There is a continuity between the Old Testament and the New Testament that Jesus affirmed. The prophets of the Old and the apostles of the New spoke of the same person and the same thing, one in future tense and the other in past tense.
3. The substance of the gospel is Jesus. Moving forward, Romans 1:2 states, “Concerning his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, who was a descendant of David according to the flesh and was established as the powerful Son of God by the resurrection from the dead according to the Spirit of holiness” (HCSB). God’s gospel is good news about Jesus Christ. In this portion, Paul clarifies four significant elements of Jesus’ life: his incarnation, his death (as supposed by the resurrection), the resurrection, and his reign as Lord.
Tomorrow I’ll finish this post by sharing the final three characteristics of the gospel in Paul’s introduction to the Book of Romans.
In the first century, the landscape was littered with itinerant preachers and teachers who were promoting “the gospel.” Audiences who were unsuspecting failed to ask the question, “What kind of gospel are you teaching?” The savvy, on the other hand, wanted to know up front the brand of gospel being delivered to them. Paul is no dummy. Having dispensed with the credentials in short order, he gets to the main concern, his brand of the gospel.
In Romans 1:1-5, Paul provides six characteristics of the gospel he has been sent to proclaim.
1. The origin of the gospel is God. Romans 1:1 reads, “Paul, a slave of Christ Jesus, called as an apostle and singled out for God’s good news…” (HCSB). The good news is God’s good news. The apostles didn’t invent it. Much of liberal theology today is consumed with distancing Jesus from the development of the gospel and the church. They hypothesize that Jesus was a good, moral teacher who never intended to develop his words and works into a movement that would span two millennia. They suggest that Paul and other apostles got together after the death of Jesus and developed the ground work for what we know as the church today. Paul would have no tolerance for that kind of opinion. He is crystal clear from the beginning that the gospel was revealed and entrusted to the apostles by God. It is God’s good news for a lost and broken world.
2. The gospel is rooted in Scripture. Romans 1:2 continues, “which He promised long ago through His prophets in the Holy Scriptures concerning his son…” (HCSB). Although God revealed the gospel to the apostles, it was not new. In fact, Paul would declare that the gospel was rooted deep in the story of the Old Testament. There is a continuity between the Old Testament and the New Testament that Jesus affirmed. The prophets of the Old and the apostles of the New spoke of the same person and the same thing, one in future tense and the other in past tense.
3. The substance of the gospel is Jesus. Moving forward, Romans 1:2 states, “Concerning his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, who was a descendant of David according to the flesh and was established as the powerful Son of God by the resurrection from the dead according to the Spirit of holiness” (HCSB). God’s gospel is good news about Jesus Christ. In this portion, Paul clarifies four significant elements of Jesus’ life: his incarnation, his death (as supposed by the resurrection), the resurrection, and his reign as Lord.
Tomorrow I’ll finish this post by sharing the final three characteristics of the gospel in Paul’s introduction to the Book of Romans.
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
How to Introduce Yourself
I think it would be pretty easy to make the argument that Romans is the Apostle Paul’s most known, studied and appreciated epistle. Its influence ranges from Martin Luther and the Protestant Reformation to the everyday Bible student. In the first five verses, Paul takes a moment to introduce himself to the readers he has never met who live in a city he has yet to visit.
Maybe you’ve had the experience of being asked to introduce yourself to a group of people. Introductions are pretty uncomfortable when they come from another. They are even more difficult when you have to offer one on your own behalf. Paul’s self introduction is short on credentials and long on doctrine. First, the credentials.
“This letter is from Paul, a slave of Christ Jesus, chosen by God to be an apostle and sent out to preach the Good News” (Romans 1:1, NLT)
Paul calls himself a slave and an apostle in the same sentence. At first glance these would seem contradictory in nature. The word slave (doulos) is sometimes translated “servant,” but slave gives the full impact of what Paul is attempting to convey. Slave bears the connotation of humility, personal insignificance, and of one who bears no rights of his own.
On the other hand, Paul is an apostle. The word apostle is a distinctively Christian word. Jesus used it to designate the Twelve. An apostle was viewed as an authoritative figure among first generation believers. In order to be an apostle, one had to have been personally called by Jesus and have been eyewitness to the resurrection. Paul would claim to have experienced both.
So how does one blend the lowly self assessment of slave with the authoritative position of apostle? I think what Paul is trying to convey here is that he is servant to the gospel he has been sent to proclaim. More than the churches he plants or the communities he visits, Paul is first and foremost a servant to his calling. That is the platform on which he stands.
Brent Clark shared a blog post with me today by a mainline pastor who was bemoaning the fact that their denomination placed ineffective pastors in effective churches and vice versa. As I read the thread of unmoderated comments, it occurred to me that too much emphasis was being placed on pastors being placed to serve churches. There was no comment on whether or not pastors were serving their ultimate calling to the gospel.
I sometimes wonder if pastors and staff members in the 21st century get that there is a higher calling than the churches they serve. The calling of the minister is primarily to serve the gospel and to proclaim it boldly in churches and communities. Sheep are certainly needy, and the pastor assumes some responsibility for their feeding, leading, and equipping. But the primary calling is to the gospel. Anything else makes the pastor a chaplain.
Maybe you’ve had the experience of being asked to introduce yourself to a group of people. Introductions are pretty uncomfortable when they come from another. They are even more difficult when you have to offer one on your own behalf. Paul’s self introduction is short on credentials and long on doctrine. First, the credentials.
“This letter is from Paul, a slave of Christ Jesus, chosen by God to be an apostle and sent out to preach the Good News” (Romans 1:1, NLT)
Paul calls himself a slave and an apostle in the same sentence. At first glance these would seem contradictory in nature. The word slave (doulos) is sometimes translated “servant,” but slave gives the full impact of what Paul is attempting to convey. Slave bears the connotation of humility, personal insignificance, and of one who bears no rights of his own.
On the other hand, Paul is an apostle. The word apostle is a distinctively Christian word. Jesus used it to designate the Twelve. An apostle was viewed as an authoritative figure among first generation believers. In order to be an apostle, one had to have been personally called by Jesus and have been eyewitness to the resurrection. Paul would claim to have experienced both.
So how does one blend the lowly self assessment of slave with the authoritative position of apostle? I think what Paul is trying to convey here is that he is servant to the gospel he has been sent to proclaim. More than the churches he plants or the communities he visits, Paul is first and foremost a servant to his calling. That is the platform on which he stands.
Brent Clark shared a blog post with me today by a mainline pastor who was bemoaning the fact that their denomination placed ineffective pastors in effective churches and vice versa. As I read the thread of unmoderated comments, it occurred to me that too much emphasis was being placed on pastors being placed to serve churches. There was no comment on whether or not pastors were serving their ultimate calling to the gospel.
I sometimes wonder if pastors and staff members in the 21st century get that there is a higher calling than the churches they serve. The calling of the minister is primarily to serve the gospel and to proclaim it boldly in churches and communities. Sheep are certainly needy, and the pastor assumes some responsibility for their feeding, leading, and equipping. But the primary calling is to the gospel. Anything else makes the pastor a chaplain.
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