"Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God, which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy Scriptures, concerning his Son, who was descended from David according to the flesh and was declared to be the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord, through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith for the sake of his name among all the nations, including you who are called to belong to Jesus Christ, To all those in Rome who are loved by God and called to be saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ."
This passage demonstrates the denseness of the book of Romans. In just the greeting of this letter you could do at least a couple of sermons. I, however, will quickly glean a few major thoughts. Firstly, we see, once again, the truth that the Gospel (the Good News about salvation of Christ) was not a foreign thing to the Old Testament, but was actually explicitly foretold by the Old Testament prophets. Jesus was very clear about this. One such example is Jesus on the road Emmaus, where "beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself" (Luke 24:27). Another example is where Jesus criticized the Jews for they false faith in/obedience to the Law in John 5:46, "For if you believed Moses, you would believe me; for he wrote of me." The Old Testament and the New Testament are intimately connected. The latter without the former is useless. To understand the latter, you must be familiar with the former.
Secondly, we see the purpose of Paul and his companions. It was to bring about the obedience of faith. What does that mean? Well, the NIV renders it "the obedience that comes from faith." This demonstrates the Greek dualism that so pervades our Western consciousness. Obedience and faith, to us, are two separate, though vitally connected things. They can be separated, even though they should always come together. To the Hebrew mindset, they are one. Faith is obedience. Faith is obedience to the Gospel. Faith without works is dead. That is the type of faith that the Bible calls for. I like the ESV rendering, but the NIV brings out an element that, even if not present in this passage, is present in the Bible. However, as I just said, it reveals a distinction that is unbiblical. We today believe that people who have faith need to do good works. Here's the problem with that. In the Bible, if you do not obey, you don't have faith. It's as simple as that. Your works don't earn you salvation, but they do serve to substantiate your claim to faith. They are the inevitable results of faith because faith and repentance are two sides to the same coin. Faith is how we become a part of Christ. It is obedience to the command (command...not offer...) to believe in Christ and obey Him.
Thirdly, we see that God calls us to be saints. Throughout the Bible we see the word saint and we see the concept behind that word--sanctification. It's a vital concept to Christianity. We are set apart, as a covenant body, by God. It is our constant duty and calling to personalize the Gospel. We are given the sacraments to picture the separation that is required of us. Baptism is a mark. It's like a wedding ring that reminds us of our duty to separate ourselves from other women. Christ is our husband and we are to be set apart to Him. The Lord's Supper pictures the communion that we have with our husband. By visibly partaking of His symbolical body, we are reminded of the calling that is upon us. The Old Testament had a sacrament of initiation (circumcision) and sacraments of participation (the feasts, sacrifices, sabbaths, i.e.). In the New Testament we are given just two signs to picture all the separation that the Old Testament ceremonial system pictured, only, ours is much better because it is fulfilled.
We are loved by God. What a crazy, amazing fact! We are called to be saints. What a heavy, serious responsibility. We need to love others like God hsa loved us and separate ourselves from sin, just like James said in James 1:27: "Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world."
This passage demonstrates the denseness of the book of Romans. In just the greeting of this letter you could do at least a couple of sermons. I, however, will quickly glean a few major thoughts. Firstly, we see, once again, the truth that the Gospel (the Good News about salvation of Christ) was not a foreign thing to the Old Testament, but was actually explicitly foretold by the Old Testament prophets. Jesus was very clear about this. One such example is Jesus on the road Emmaus, where "beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself" (Luke 24:27). Another example is where Jesus criticized the Jews for they false faith in/obedience to the Law in John 5:46, "For if you believed Moses, you would believe me; for he wrote of me." The Old Testament and the New Testament are intimately connected. The latter without the former is useless. To understand the latter, you must be familiar with the former.
Secondly, we see the purpose of Paul and his companions. It was to bring about the obedience of faith. What does that mean? Well, the NIV renders it "the obedience that comes from faith." This demonstrates the Greek dualism that so pervades our Western consciousness. Obedience and faith, to us, are two separate, though vitally connected things. They can be separated, even though they should always come together. To the Hebrew mindset, they are one. Faith is obedience. Faith is obedience to the Gospel. Faith without works is dead. That is the type of faith that the Bible calls for. I like the ESV rendering, but the NIV brings out an element that, even if not present in this passage, is present in the Bible. However, as I just said, it reveals a distinction that is unbiblical. We today believe that people who have faith need to do good works. Here's the problem with that. In the Bible, if you do not obey, you don't have faith. It's as simple as that. Your works don't earn you salvation, but they do serve to substantiate your claim to faith. They are the inevitable results of faith because faith and repentance are two sides to the same coin. Faith is how we become a part of Christ. It is obedience to the command (command...not offer...) to believe in Christ and obey Him.
Thirdly, we see that God calls us to be saints. Throughout the Bible we see the word saint and we see the concept behind that word--sanctification. It's a vital concept to Christianity. We are set apart, as a covenant body, by God. It is our constant duty and calling to personalize the Gospel. We are given the sacraments to picture the separation that is required of us. Baptism is a mark. It's like a wedding ring that reminds us of our duty to separate ourselves from other women. Christ is our husband and we are to be set apart to Him. The Lord's Supper pictures the communion that we have with our husband. By visibly partaking of His symbolical body, we are reminded of the calling that is upon us. The Old Testament had a sacrament of initiation (circumcision) and sacraments of participation (the feasts, sacrifices, sabbaths, i.e.). In the New Testament we are given just two signs to picture all the separation that the Old Testament ceremonial system pictured, only, ours is much better because it is fulfilled.
We are loved by God. What a crazy, amazing fact! We are called to be saints. What a heavy, serious responsibility. We need to love others like God hsa loved us and separate ourselves from sin, just like James said in James 1:27: "Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world."
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