Paul’s Gospel in Romans
This biblical paradigm is the pattern of the first five books of the Bible leading into the book of Joshua. It is the story of human history and His intervention in the fallen creation. The natural human progression goes from bad to worse. Even after coming to know God’s existence, even His goodness, there is a pattern of doubting God and trying to accomplish human will rather than trust Him and enjoy the blessings that accompany His involvement in our lives. Look at Paul’s use of this paradigm in the book of Romans to see the pattern unfold. It is all there through Creation – Fall – Decline – Redemption – Exodus – Law – Promise.
Creation
Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle and set apart for the gospel of God— the gospel he promised beforehand through his prophets in the Holy Scriptures regarding his Son, who as to his earthly life was a descendant of David, and who through the Spirit of holiness was appointed the Son of God in power by his resurrection from the dead: Jesus Christ our Lord. Through him we received grace and apostleship to call all the Gentiles to the obedience that comes from faith for his name’s sake. And you also are among those Gentiles who are called to belong to Jesus Christ.”
Paul used the word “gospel” several times to open his letter to the Roman believers. The gospel means, “Good News!” See how Paul points to Jesus, then the OT to point forward to Jesus? There might be something to that! As you can see, Paul starts by addressing those who have received new life in Jesus Christ through the gospel. We are off to a good start, Paul!
Fall
The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.
Whoa, Paul! Whoa! What happened? We went from good to bad quickly, just like the first three chapters of Genesis. Interesting. What happened to the Good News that the prophets and apostles wrote about that led us to belong to Christ? That is the narrative flow of Scripture because it is the reality of human history and human experience.
Decline
They exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen…
They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed, and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, and malice. They are gossips, slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant, and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; they have no understanding, no fidelity, no love, no mercy. Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them.
Now we are spiraling downward as we examine the human condition. People are evil! It is not looking good. Let those sinners have it, Paul! Oh, wait, what’s that? Paul is not talking to all the unbelieving, disgusting sinners out there who hate God? Keep reading:
You, therefore, have no excuse, you who pass judgment on someone else, for at whatever point you judge another, you are condemning yourself, because you who pass judgment do the same things. Now we know that God’s judgment against those who do such things is based on truth. So, when you, a mere human being, pass judgment on them and yet do the same things, do you think you will escape God’s judgment? Or do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness, forbearance, and patience, not realizing that God’s kindness is intended to lead you to repentance?
Do you mean Paul was writing to believers in this sad tone? Yes! So, you and I had better stop acting like we figured out how to live a worthy life of holiness while all those sinners out there deserve God’s wrath because we are liars if we believe that. I am guilty! You are guilty! Time to sober up! Pride does not look good on anyone.
But because of your stubbornness and your unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath against yourself for the day of God’s wrath, when his righteous judgment will be revealed. God “will repay each person according to what they have done.” To those who by persistence in doing good seek glory, honor, and immortality, he will give eternal life. But for those who are self-seeking and who reject the truth and follow evil, there will be wrath and anger. There will be trouble and distress for every human being who does evil: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile.
Have you considered that to establish a message of “Good News,” God had to show the reality that there is bad news to make the point? Paul does exactly this to unpack the gospel in Romans.
Redemption
But now apart from the law the righteousness of God has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.
To clarify, God is responsible for our justification, our righteousness, and our faith! He intervenes to save us from eternal separation from Himself. Everyone who is justified by faith in Christ is justified freely by God.
The Law and Prophets testify of Jesus and the righteousness that comes to those who “believe.” Moses was chosen and tried to avoid his calling, although unsuccessfully. Jonah was chosen and tried to avoid his calling, and God humbled him. So, what are we to conclude about how someone is saved? After every person in history up to the resurrection was chosen by God, but since that time, His will to call and chose people to be His chosen people depends on a human being’s efforts to get saved by believing God? That is the example of Abraham. But was Abraham looking for God and believing Him before God initiated a relationship with him? Paul was chosen and had a calling. You have been selected and have a calling in Jesus Christ if you are reading this. I believe that.
Exodus
Just as you used to offer yourselves as slaves to impurity and to ever-increasing wickedness, so now offer yourselves as slaves to righteousness leading to holiness. When you were slaves to sin, you were free from the control of righteousness. What benefit did you reap at that time from the things you are now ashamed of? Those things result in death! But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Paul’s use of slave language is a parallel to the Exodus out of slavery in Egypt. Once, we were in slavery to sin. Now, we are called to be in submission to God. Come out of the life you once lived. Start new. Do not turn back.
Law
Do you not know, brothers and sisters—for I am speaking to those who know the law…I would not have known what sin was had it not been for the law. For I would not have known what coveting really was if the law had not said, “You shall not covet.”
The OT Law served a purpose: to show us that we are sinners! The Law brings enlightenment that God is other-than-we-are. He is holy. We are not righteous because of sin.
So, I find this law at work: Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me. What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!
So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God’s law, but in my sinful nature a slave to the law of sin.”
The struggle is real! We come to faith in Christ, and then it is smooth sailing from there, right? It can be exhausting trying to do the right thing while trying not to do what we know we should not do. There is another way. And every follower of Jesus Christ has unlimited benefit from the truth that God has communicated to us through His promises – His eternal promises with no sin or death, no pain or suffering ever again.
Promise
Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death. For what the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to be a sin offering. And so, he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.
Freedom from sin comes from fellowship with the Holy Spirit of God. We either live according to our human desires or the desires of God living in us.
You, however, are not in the realm of the flesh but are in the realm of the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, they do not belong to Christ. But if Christ is in you, then even though your body is subject to death because of sin, the Spirit gives life because of righteousness. And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of his Spirit who lives in you.
Work out your salvation with fear and trembling! Do you have the Holy Spirit of God? If you call yourself a Christian or believe that Jesus Christ is Lord, but you are not sure, then go back to how He taught His disciples to pray. Ask, seek, knock. I know my Catholic friends are familiar with the “Our Father” prayer, but I anticipate you are less familiar with Luke’s version. The good thing that Jesus taught to ask for was His Holy Spirit! Ask, Seek, Knock, Pray for God to give you His Holy Spirit, as well as to more people. Ask for the gift of His presence in your life. Seek His forgiveness from sin. Knock until He opens the door to give good gifts of mercy and grace to others. Isn’t that the point? Did Jesus come to save sinners who needed to be rescued from eternal separation from God and be united with Him and His people eternally? Isn’t that the prayer of Jesus while being crucified regarding those who were murdering Him? Wasn’t that the prayer of Stephen while being murdered by religious people? Wow! Start praying for people to know Him.
Can you see the narrative progression with these themes from Genesis to Joshua? They are there. When you see it, the Scripture becomes less cryptic and makes more sense because this paradigm repeats throughout every page of the narrative. The OT contains this paradigm from beginning to end with God’s anticipated messenger (John the Baptist) and Deliverer (Christ Jesus).
The same is true of the NT. The Holy Spirit came at Pentecost. After that, the followers of Jesus experienced this same paradigm. Please do not take my word for it; test this. The Bible will make so much more sense because it is common to human experience for everyone called, chosen, redeemed, and continues to live in this fallen world until Jesus returns. His Promise stands. I said that the OT remained in tension until Jesus fulfilled the Law and the Prophets. However, His followers still experience tension as we wait patiently for His return to reconcile all things to Himself and to remove sin and death from our lives forever. That tension is relieved as we press into Him more and more through our suffering as we allow His Spirit within us to strengthen our resolve. We demonstrate unexplainable peace because our hope is secure in our future reality with Him.
The Promise of God is to be united with Him Eternally!
It begins now through an ongoing, intimate relationship with Jesus Christ.
