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The Power Of The Message - Romans 1:16
The Power Of The Message - Romans 1:16
Our relationship with God is based upon our understanding and attitude towards God our creator. This will be shown in the following chapters as Paul shows how the Gentiles refused to honor God as God and thus lived lives of sin. Then, the Jews, although having a revelation of God on how they were to conduct themselves, they too refused to honor God in living by such revelation. Thus, both Gentiles and Jews were under condemnation for their sins.
God’s response to man’s sin can be summarized: Jesus.
This message is what we understand and call ‘the gospel’ – the ‘good news’. It is both the offer of forgiveness and the instruction on holiness. It is the message that pricks the heart of sinners and turns their hearts/minds back to God. The message calls us back to God in displaying God’s love for us even though we were rebellious enemies (in particular, we will return to this in chapter 5:1-12). As such it also is the call to repentance and the changing of our very allegiance back to loving God with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength (see Romans 6 – we are now ‘slaves of righteousness’).
People have problems balancing our understanding concerning the love of God and the holiness of God. Some, centering on the holiness of God, concentrate almost completely on the wrath of God against all sin. Others, focusing on the broadness and depth of the love of God, basically eliminate the need of the response of trust and obedience to this new revelation.
This message was first a message of forgiveness, and then a call to a life of holiness. The call to forgiveness required trusting in God as God, and in Jesus as our Lord and Savior. This is more than a mental assent to His resurrection and glory, but is to be seen our response to Him and His message. He demands that sinners repent, that we confess Him before the world, that we are baptized into His name. These are all revealed in this message as being connected to our being forgiven.
Having been forgiven and made alive (returned to a right relationship with God), we are instructed on how to live as saints – as God’s holy people. We will yet fail at times, yet he continues to offer forgiveness thru our repentance of such sins, our confession of such sin, and our prayers for such forgiveness.
No wonder Paul would write: “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek” (Romans 1:16). Have you and are you obeying the gospel?
Hugh DeLong
