Series: The Letter of Paul to The Romans

Of all the writings of Paul that the Christian church has to thank the Lord for, the letter to the Romans stands above them all as a colossus of faith, intellect, philosophy, and realism. It sets man lower and calls us higher than we would ever dare imagine. It is given to us by God that in the light of Christ we may learn what it means to come and do business with Him, to receive from Him life everlasting.

Over the course of sixteen chapters Paul carries us from the depths of our souls to the heights of the Lord's very throne, from children of wrath to sons and daughters of the Most High God, and from the vanity and vapor of this passing world to the eternal heart of the Father.

In the following writings I will by no means be arguing the finer points of dogmatics (although they would likely prove profitable). I won't be exegeting. I won't be creating a commentary. I will merely note what speaks to me through the text and seek to submit that to Him appropriately. Let us come like children to hear the gospel for ourselves.

the low burning flame
now rises without warning.
let us blaze for You.

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.

Out of the gates Paul's heart is set on the vast scope of the gospel and its center, Christ Jesus the God Man. He provides just enough repertoire for the Roman's assurance of the dependability of his writings before racing on to the God who commissioned him to attend to these churches. Before we follow him, I've always found it encouraging to remember who it is we're listening to.

The hands which wrote these letters were the same hands which dragged off God-fearing men and women and committed them to prison. The mouth of this preacher had at one time dedicated itself to breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord. It was this man who approved of the stoning of the saints, persecuted Christ, and fought with all his soul against the Lord's will, and yet this same man now writes earnestly to the church concerning the love of God in Christ towards them. When the prophets spoke of the lion which would lay down with the lamb, they spoke of the likes of Paul. It seems almost as though they didn't go far enough, seeing as the persecutor has not just been pacified but rather lifted as the herald of grace. Not in a million years would I expect Goliath to lead the Israelites to newness of life, but here we are studying the words of the chief of sinners.

Paul is for us a glimpse of the staggering magnitude of the calling and power of the gospel. The God of all grace has not emptied Himself in the form of man and humbled Himself in the form of a slave only to make us nicer but in fact to make us new. The remembrance of the life of the man who wrote this letter ought to be a source of great courage to the doubting saint. Paul stands before the Romans not as Saul of Tarsus but as "Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God" on the sole basis (please take note here) of "Jesus Christ our Lord, through whom we have received grace and apostleship."

Many of us are happy to claim the title "chief of sinners" in an honest endeavor to honor Christ. I would remind you that you are not. Paul has already claimed that title and he has done so rightly. We must remember that Jesus did not have mercy on Saint Paul - He reached down and redeemed a murderous blasphemer, Saul of Tarsus, whose every deed was as filthy rags, and Christ heralded him as His apostle. It is for our solace that Paul calls himself Christ's servant, so that even in recognition of all our unworthiness before God we may yet have comfort knowing that Christ who saved to the uttermost will surely have mercy on you as well. If God will not receive you on the sole basis of the blood of the cross, then all the more He ought not to have received Paul. But He has received Paul, and so we may with confidence enter the holy place by the blood of Jesus.

In looking back to Romans, we find that this sinner-made-saint immediately comes to us singing that the gospel is more than we could ask or imagine. Stepping into this letter we receive soberly ecstatic sketches of the gospel. It can be easy for us to look at his introduction to Romans and think that it's absurd and over the top. Paul doesn't come with the gospel packaged into a neat and tidy box. Rather, we find that this gospel is that good news which encompasses the prophets and kings, the Son of God and Son of Man, His death and resurrection, the power of the Father and the Spirit of Holiness, our grace and peace, our Savior and Lord, and our status as the called and loved saints of God.

In all honesty, any view of the gospel that doesn't hold it as remarkable simply isn't a good view of the gospel. The book of Romans among many things leaves no room for the gospel to be anything short of 'news, and good news at that; though we are likely to forget that the word *Gospel* ever meant anything so sensational.' (D. Sayers)

With that said, the gospel is more than just good news. This news is good news strictly because it is true news. Paul has not set himself to write this exhausting letter because it is a nice sentiment (we will find in these first few chapters that Romans is anything but that). Paul writes because the gospel is true. It is real enough (that is, entirely real) that all of humankind stands accountable to it. (I'm struggling to put this into words here!)

This Christian faith is so remarkable that it blows straight past the realm of believability and yet at the same time insists that it is not in word or tongue but deed and truth. It is frighteningly easy to study theology and memorize scripture while at the same time not entirely trusting ourselves to what these things testify of. I speak from experience. It's as though you had met someone online and texted and talked and learned a great deal about each other but then the day comes to see them face to face and the most unshakeable thing about it all is that the one you're now talking to doesn't sound like the voice in your head. They don't look like you had imagined, not because you had imagined wrongly, but because you had imagined in two dimensions and they stand before you in at least five (or so). Whoever this person is, they're not who you think they are - they are simply who they are. They're real, and distinct from yourself, and they can't be imagined any other way than the way they stand before you presently. All this to say that the gospel is not a philosophy or way of life so much as it is something so substantial that you could bet everything you had on it and it would be the wisest decision in all the world. The gospel is not so much a thing to have thoughts on but the thing by which your thoughts will be judged.

In sum, the gospel that we find brought to us in this introduction to the Romans is two things: wondrously vast and dreadfully true. To lose either side is to lose the glory of the gospel. How so?

A wondrous and vast hope that isn't true is glorious right up until it isn't. Like Micah's gods which needed protection and his priest that could be removed, to depend upon false hopes will get you only so far as reality and stubborn pride allow you. "You take my gods that I made and the priest, and go away, and what have I left?" "And when Micah saw that they were too strong for him, he turned and went back to his home." It is never our intention to build upon false foundations for the simple reason that there is no glory in a house that can't weather storms.

In response to this fear, many people insist on clinging to 'reality' (by which they mean only that which can be subjected to their scrutiny). A 'safe' worldview which trusts only what can be tested really only leaves you where you started. "O earth, earth, earth, hear the word of the LORD!" cries Jeremiah. 'That is, earth by creation, earth by continuance, earth by resolution. Thou camest earth, thou remainest earth, and to earth thou must return.' (John King) To rely upon only that which you can fathom leaves you trusting only in things smaller than yourself. It really doesn't take much examination to realize that this sort of worldview leads only to the grave. Just as the Christian is not called to pursue what is merely imagined, so also are they called to relinquish that which isn't worth imagining.

I wonder if one of the reasons for finding an abundance of believers who are just plain struggling their way through life is that they aren't willing to bank everything on these two points being true (that the gospel is both good and true). In other words, they are scared that if they put Yahweh God to the test they will find that He either isn't there or He isn't capable. To this we receive from the prophet Malachi what are to me some of the most startling and amazing words in the minor prophets: "Bring the full tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. And thereby put me to the test, says the LORD of hosts, if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you a blessing until there is no more need ... then all nations will call you blessed, for you will be a land of delight, says the LORD of hosts."

Here is the striking key of the gospel. It is as credible as it is incredible, and nowhere else in all the world will such a thing be found. Jesus Christ holds the monopoly on that which is both eternal and abundant with life, and He gives freely to all who will receive of Him. "Lord, to whom else would we go? You alone have the words of eternal life!" Take Him at His word and love Him for it. It's at this sort of place that the gospel starts to reveal itself as something worth hoping in, and the God who gave it as someone worth living worthy of. That at least is what seems apparent to me from the wonderfully eclectic introduction we find in the book of Romans.

When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead.
Then he placed his right hand on me and said: “Do not be afraid.
I am the First and the Last. I am the Living One;
I was dead, and now look, I am alive for ever and ever!
And I hold the keys of death and Hades.

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