ROMANS: THE POWER TO CHANGE
We are beginning a series today on the first five chapters of Paul’s letter to the Romans. Many things could be said about Romans. I remember when I first began to read Romans as a teenager and my mother said, “Oh, that’s a difficult book.” Her experience with it was that it was deep and somewhat hard to understand.
Yet it is a familiar book as well. When asked to share memorable or favorite verses from Romans, our ministerial poured out a number of quotes that were meaningful to them. It is a deep book; it is difficult in some aspects; it is a powerful book; it is a book we cannot ignore.
It has been said that Romans is probably the most powerful human document that has ever been penned.[i] I have to agree. I don’t believe any other book explains our salvation through Jesus Christ better than Romans. For this reason it is one of the books that every believer ought to be familiar with. If you find it difficult then read it again, and again, and again, until the light of this truth begins to dawn on you. For the words of this book have the power to change you like nothing else you have ever read. These words are the gospel truth.
Some of the greatest leaders of the church were transformed by reading Romans. Let me share two of these stories of transformation with you to emphasize this power.
A. Augustine of Hippo
St. Augustine, destined to become the greatest Latin Father of the Early Church, was born on a small farm in what is now Algeria, North Africa.
During his turbulent youth he was both a slave of his sexual passions and the object of his mother Monica’s prayers.
As a teacher of literature and rhetoric he moved successively to Carthage, Rome, and then Milan, where he came under the sound of Bishop Ambrose’s preaching.
It was there during the summer of 386 AD, when he was thirty-two years old, that he went out into the garden of his home to seek peace and quiet.
He wrote later in his Confessions, “The tumult of my heart took me out into the garden where no-one could interfere with the burning struggle with myself in which I was engaged. . . . I was twisting and turning my chains. . . . I threw myself down somehow under a certain fig tree, and let my tears flow freely.”
Continuing, he wrote: "Suddenly I heard a voice from the nearby house chanting as if it might be a boy or a girl. . . saying and repeating over and over again, ’Pick up and read, pick up and read.’ . . . I interpreted it solely as a divine command to me to open the book and read the first chapter I might find. . . . So I hurried back to the place where. . . I had put down the book of the apostle [Paul to the Romans] when I got up. I seized it, opened it and in silence read the first passage on which my eye lit: ’Let us behave decently, as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and debauchery, not in dissension and jealousy. Rather, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the sinful nature’ (Romans 13:13-14). I neither wished nor needed to read further. At once, with the last words of this sentence, it was as if a light of relief from all anxiety flooded into my heart. All the shadows of doubt were dispelled."
Upon reading that short text from Romans, Augustine was converted, and went on to become one of the Church’s most outstanding leaders and theologians.[ii]
B. Martin Luther
Over a thousand years later, in 1515, another professor was overtaken by a similar spiritual crisis.
Like everybody else in medieval Christendom, Martin Luther had been brought up to fear of God, death, judgment and hell. And because it was thought that the surest way to gain heaven was to become a monk, in 1505 at the age of twenty-one, he entered the Augustinian cloister at Erfuhrt, where he prayed and fasted, sometimes for days on end, and adopted other extreme austerities.
“I was a good monk,” he wrote later. “If ever a monk got to heaven by his monkery, it was I.”
One biographer wrote that “Luther probed every resource of contemporary Catholicism for assuaging the anguish of a spirit alienated from God.” But nothing pacified his tormented conscience until, having been appointed Professor of Bible at Wittenberg University, he studied and expounded first the Psalms (1513-1515) and then Romans (1515-1516).
At first he was angry with God, he later confessed, because God seemed to him more a terrifying judge than a merciful savior. Where might he find a gracious God?
While studying Romans, Luther pondered the meaning of Romans 1:17 where it says that “in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed.” Luther tells us how his dilemma was resolved:
"I had greatly longed to understand Paul’s letter to the Romans, and nothing stood in the way but that one expression, ’the righteousness of God,’ because I took it to mean that righteousness whereby God is righteous and acts righteously in punishing the unrighteous. . . . Night and day I pondered until. . . I grasped the truth that the righteousness of God is that righteousness whereby, through grace and sheer mercy, he justifies us by faith. Thereupon I felt myself to be reborn and to have gone through open doors into paradise. The whole of Scripture took on a new meaning, and whereas before ’the righteousness of God’ had filled me with hate, now it became to me inexpressibly sweet in greater love. This passage of Paul became to me a gateway into heaven."
God again used the letter to the Romans to convert Luther who became the lightening rod for the Protestant Reformation. [iii]
St. Augustine, destined to become the greatest Latin Father of the Early Church, was born on a small farm in what is now Algeria, North Africa.
During his turbulent youth he was both a slave of his sexual passions and the object of his mother Monica’s prayers.
As a teacher of literature and rhetoric he moved successively to Carthage, Rome, and then Milan, where he came under the sound of Bishop Ambrose’s preaching.
It was there during the summer of 386 AD, when he was thirty-two years old, that he went out into the garden of his home to seek peace and quiet.
He wrote later in his Confessions, “The tumult of my heart took me out into the garden where no-one could interfere with the burning struggle with myself in which I was engaged. . . . I was twisting and turning my chains. . . . I threw myself down somehow under a certain fig tree, and let my tears flow freely.”
Continuing, he wrote: "Suddenly I heard a voice from the nearby house chanting as if it might be a boy or a girl. . . saying and repeating over and over again, ’Pick up and read, pick up and read.’ . . . I interpreted it solely as a divine command to me to open the book and read the first chapter I might find. . . . So I hurried back to the place where. . . I had put down the book of the apostle [Paul to the Romans] when I got up. I seized it, opened it and in silence read the first passage on which my eye lit: ’Let us behave decently, as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and debauchery, not in dissension and jealousy. Rather, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the sinful nature’ (Romans 13:13-14). I neither wished nor needed to read further. At once, with the last words of this sentence, it was as if a light of relief from all anxiety flooded into my heart. All the shadows of doubt were dispelled."
Upon reading that short text from Romans, Augustine was converted, and went on to become one of the Church’s most outstanding leaders and theologians.[ii]
B. Martin Luther
Over a thousand years later, in 1515, another professor was overtaken by a similar spiritual crisis.
Like everybody else in medieval Christendom, Martin Luther had been brought up to fear of God, death, judgment and hell. And because it was thought that the surest way to gain heaven was to become a monk, in 1505 at the age of twenty-one, he entered the Augustinian cloister at Erfuhrt, where he prayed and fasted, sometimes for days on end, and adopted other extreme austerities.
“I was a good monk,” he wrote later. “If ever a monk got to heaven by his monkery, it was I.”
One biographer wrote that “Luther probed every resource of contemporary Catholicism for assuaging the anguish of a spirit alienated from God.” But nothing pacified his tormented conscience until, having been appointed Professor of Bible at Wittenberg University, he studied and expounded first the Psalms (1513-1515) and then Romans (1515-1516).
At first he was angry with God, he later confessed, because God seemed to him more a terrifying judge than a merciful savior. Where might he find a gracious God?
While studying Romans, Luther pondered the meaning of Romans 1:17 where it says that “in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed.” Luther tells us how his dilemma was resolved:
"I had greatly longed to understand Paul’s letter to the Romans, and nothing stood in the way but that one expression, ’the righteousness of God,’ because I took it to mean that righteousness whereby God is righteous and acts righteously in punishing the unrighteous. . . . Night and day I pondered until. . . I grasped the truth that the righteousness of God is that righteousness whereby, through grace and sheer mercy, he justifies us by faith. Thereupon I felt myself to be reborn and to have gone through open doors into paradise. The whole of Scripture took on a new meaning, and whereas before ’the righteousness of God’ had filled me with hate, now it became to me inexpressibly sweet in greater love. This passage of Paul became to me a gateway into heaven."
God again used the letter to the Romans to convert Luther who became the lightening rod for the Protestant Reformation. [iii]
I don’t have time to tell you about John Bunyan (the author of Pilgrim’s Progress), John Wesley, Karl Barth, or even myself, and how in reading Romans these lives were forever changed for the glory of God. But I do want to tell you about this gospel that Paul wrote about and introduces us to in the first five verses.
What is the essence of this gospel we will be studying in the next several weeks?
1. This Gospel comes from God
The introduction is very revealing as we begin to read Romans. “Paul,” as he introduces himself right off, “a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle…” (1:1). Paul had never been to Rome, even though he was a Jew with Roman citizenship, but he desired intensely to visit the city. By way of introduction to the believers in Rome he writes this letter.
The first two things he says about himself are closely linked. He says that he is a servant in the NIV but the true meaning is bond-slave. To Greeks and Romans this would be insulting for no one wanted this title. But in the OT certain figures stand out in a place of honor as being slaves of God: Moses, Joshua and David to name a few. Paul is not ashamed to say he is a slave of Christ and consequently called to be an apostle, those who laid a foundation for the church in those early years.
Most importantly, Paul coins a phrase here that begs our attention: “…set apart for the gospel of God” (1:1b). God is the source of this gospel. God is the most important word in this letter. Romans is a book about God.[iv] Whatever we read in this letter relates to God. He is the main subject of this incredible book. So when we talk about the gospel it is God’s gospel. It is God’s good news for a lost world.
2. This Gospel was promised in the Old Testament
When you read Romans one thing you should note is how many times Paul quotes the OT. The gospel is not an invention of Paul or the other apostles; the gospel was promised long ago through the prophets. “…the gospel he promised beforehand through his prophets in the Holy Scriptures” (1:2).
Calling the OT “old” is a stumbling block for many today. There is a perception out there that we don’t need to read the OT because it is old, some saying it is part of the old covenant and no longer valid. But for Paul and the early church it was the Bible. Note that Paul calls the OT (as we know it) “the Holy Scriptures.” In it we find Jesus.
Jesus himself was quite clear that those old Scriptures bore witness to him, that he was the Son of Man in Daniel 7 and the suffering servant in Isaiah 53. After the resurrection, Jesus caught up to two disciples walking to Emmaus who were bewildered by the events of the crucifixion of Jesus and the rumors of his resurrection. What did Jesus do? Beginning with Moses and all the prophets he taught them “what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself” (Lk 24:27).
All the prophets speak of him, all the sacrifices point toward him, all the longings and dreams and yearnings of men hoping for someone to come to solve the problems of man point to Jesus. Later in the letter Paul will declare no one is righteous and can save themselves through good works. Then comes the all important “But” as he writes “But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify” (3:21). It is Jesus that the OT points to and promises.
The reason this is so important is that it verifies this gospel. It is not Paul’s; it is not made up. It is the fulfillment of ancient prophecy. It is true.
3. This Gospel is about Jesus
That is plain to see already. Still, Paul is emphatic in showing that Jesus is the content of this gospel of God. What this does is provides a lens through which we read all Scripture. Jesus is that lens. Whatever you read in the OT or the NT is now understood in relation to Christ. The promises, the instructions, the whole Bible can be read now with a view to seeing Jesus. He is the gospel, the good news of God. “Jesus” is what God wanted to say to the world. “Jesus” is what God wanted to do for the world.
Paul points out two things about Jesus in v. 3-4. One verifies that Jesus was a descendant of David. When I read this in Greek I noticed a different word used than the NIV. Jesus is the “seed” of David; he is the flesh of David. His humanity is underscored here. More than that, Jesus is of the line that God promised a deliverer would come, the Messiah.
The other thing seems more troubling as we read “… and who through the Spirit of holiness was appointed the Son of God in power by his resurrection from the dead” (1:4). The wording is a bit difficult here as we tend to read in this that Jesus became the Son of God at his resurrection. That is not what Paul is saying. What we should read is that Jesus became the powerful Son of God at his resurrection. That means that the turning point of the existence of the Son of God was the resurrection. Before the resurrection, Jesus was the Son of God in weakness and lowliness. After the resurrection he was appointed the Son of God in power. But he always was the Son of God.
This gospel is about Jesus, who was humbled and lowly like us, then exalted to give us hope. He was weak and then given power; he was a man but he was God too. This is our Jesus, our Lord, our Savior.
4. This Gospel is for all peoples
Here is an all-embracing statement: “to call all the Gentiles…” (1:5). Paul, a devout Jew, having persecuted the church until he met Christ on the road to Damascus and having given him his commission, recognized that the good news was not just for Jews but for everyone. He even calls himself an “apostle to the Gentiles.” That is good news for us since we are those Gentiles. A Gentile is anyone who is not a Jew. Though the good news came through the Jews, and Jesus was a Jew who fulfilled all the Jewish Law, it is for us as well.
The result is that you and I can read Romans and know with full assurance that these words have power for us today, even though we are removed from Paul by centuries and culture. These words are still true today, even though they are old. No one is left out, no one can say this is not for me; no one is beyond the grasp of these amazing words.
5. This Gospel produces the obedience of faith
We might say obedience is synonymous with faith. If you have faith you will obey. Why then does Paul use such an odd phrase as “the obedience that comes from faith”? Why not just say “faith”?
It is true that the gospel requires one response, faith alone. Yet it is also true that a living faith requires a submission to Jesus Christ as Lord. This means obedience. In fact, to call Jesus “Lord” as our confession is to declare ourselves his slaves. Remember that to be called “God’s slave” in the OT was an honor. To be a “slave” implies total belongingness, total allegiance, total ownership and authority under the Lordship of Jesus. This is what it means to call him “Lord.” You are saying you will obey him as though you were a slave.
A woman I had in Bible study classes in Winnipeg did not like the word slave. She preferred to be Christ’s servant. It gave her the freedom to say “yes” to Jesus in her mind. But would it give her the freedom to say “no” as well? This is a bit of a riddle we will explore in Romans, but to be a willing slave is more in line with our faith. It is not possible to call Jesus your Savior without surrendering to him as Lord. He is both Lord and Savior to those who love him. By faith we obey him believing that he has our best at heart.
6. This Gospel glorifies the Name of Jesus
What is the climax of the gospel? That it brings glory to Jesus Christ. This gospel that comes from God as promised in the OT and is about Jesus given for all peoples so that we might be obedient in faith ultimately brings glory to Jesus. For God exalted him to the highest place, giving him the name above all names, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow to Jesus and every tongue confess that he is Lord.
If this brings glory to Jesus then our desire is to help make that happen through the proclamation of this gospel. I like how John Stott put it: “We should be jealous for the honor of his name – troubled when it remains unknown, hurt when it is ignored, indignant when it is blasphemed, and all the time anxious and determined that it shall be given the honor and glory which are due to it.”[v]
Stott also said that the highest motive for our mission work is not the Great Commission, not love for sinners who are perishing, but zeal “burning and passionate zeal” for the glory of Jesus Christ.
John Piper asked whether God’s aiming for his own glory cancels out his love. An interesting question. Do we have an egomaniacal God that cares only about his own glory to the detriment of those he created? Piper answered with two verses from the book of Romans itself. The first in 10:13 says, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” God is loving in pushing his own name and his own glory, because that is the name that saves us. If God did not glorify his name how could we be saved. To not exalt his not as our only hope would be unloving of God.
Secondly, Paul says as we stand in grace by faith “we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God” (5:2b). The glory of God is our hope and our salvation and our joy. His glory is our deepest longing. His glorious name is what we need.
“…for his name’s sake…” Such insignificant words on their own. But in the context of Jesus Christ and his glory, it means everything to us.
As we study Romans together, or as you read it for yourself, I hope and pray that you will be changed immeasurably by what you hear and read. I myself long to join the long list of those forever changed by the power of the gospel, to be in the esteemed company of Augustine and Luther and the rest, who surrendered the shallowness of self-seeking pleasure for the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ.
How about you? Do you desire to be changed? If you do then this study on Romans will be like a light in the darkness to you. God’s blessings and glory on you and I as we study Romans, the book of God, together.
AMEN
