Paul wrote to disciples living in the heart of the Romans Empire and told them:
I am obligated (1:14). Who was he obligated to? Those who were Greeks and non-Greeks (barbarians). In other words, he was obligated to those regarded as cultured and sophisticated and to those who were not. He was obligated to the wise and the foolish. In short, he was obligated to everyone.
If you’re enthusiastic about the good news (as Paul was), you feel this sense of obligation—because you want others to know the joy, peace, and love that you know through Jesus. Do we have a sense of obligation to share the good news with others? If not, why not?
What Paul says next may answer that question.
I am not ashamed (v. 16). Shame is a comparative feeling—it’s what you feel when you don’t measure up to something. We feel a healthy shame when we’ve don’t measure up to a standard of behavior, conduct, or reasonable expectation. Paul is telling us here that he felt no shame about how the gospel measured up—with anything!
This is heady stuff because in the first century when he wrote, just about everyone thought that nothing could compare with the Roman Empire. After all, Rome was the Eternal City. The emperor was lord of all and upon his death the Senate would declare him a god. They had done this with Caesar and Augustus was his adopted son, so he was fond of referring to himself as “the son of a god.” One writer lobbied to have the calendar changed so that the year would begin on Caesar Augustus’ birthday and spoke of “the birthday of [Augustus] has been for the whole world the beginning of the gospel (euangelion) concerning him.” For most people in the first century, it was about Caesar, not Christ.
All this helps us to understand how radical and revolutionary the gospel was. It should make us appreciate that God chose a man who was a Roman citizen to be the minister to the Gentiles. And Paul was absolutely convinced and convicted that the gospel of Rome was no match for the gospel of Jesus. His kingdom “would never be destroyed” (Daniel 2:44). Jesus was Lord of Lords and King of Kings—not Caesar. After Rome put Him to death on one of their crosses, He was declared the Son of God—not by the Senate, but by the Spirit through His resurrection from the dead (Romans 1:4). There was simply no comparison!
It’s not any different today. If you measure the gospel against the latest scientific understanding, anthropological model, or cultural belief system, it’s predictable how it will work out. It won’t be very long before those things will be significantly revised—but the gospel will still be standing as it was when Paul wrote these words.
He was convinced of the gospel’s power (v. 16). It is “the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes.” The gospel refers to the redemptive work that God accomplished through Jesus (1 Corinthians 15:1-4; 2 Corinthians 5:19). It is on that basis and that basis only, than we can be reconciled to God.
Rome had no such power! It tried with its Pax Romana but the peace of Rome was no match for the transcendent peace of God (Philippians 4:7). Then there was the Imperial Cult and its “gods” but no emperor on his throne could accomplish what Jesus did on the cross.
He was convicted about God’s righteousness (v. 17). “The righteousness of God” that Paul speaks of as being revealed in the gospel, is not to be understood as His plan for making man righteous (he’s just dealt with that in talking about the gospel). What he is speaking of now is something that is seen/revealed in the gospel. He is talking about the effect of seeing what God accomplished in Jesus’ redemptive work. When we look at the cross and we understand that God has been righteous in His dealings with us. He has been faithful in His promises to rescue us (Luke 24:25-27, 44-45).
His righteousness is “from faith for faith” (ESV) or “from faith to faith” (NASB). The result of understanding God’s righteousness (faithfulness) is that it leads to faith on our part. That’s why spending some time in Romans is faith-building.
This is the key to understanding Romans (“righteous” or “righteousness” occurs 45 times in the letter). Romans was not written to deal with the Reformation issues of grace, legalism, faith, works, etc. (It was 1500 years too early for that!). It was written to address the first century issue of whether, in making all things right by fulfilling His promise to Abraham through Jesus, God had been faithful since most of the Jewish people of his day were outside of Christ and unblessed (9:1ff and 10:1ff).
Now along the way Paul will certainly say some things that touch on these other areas but we need to root Romans in God’s personal righteousness and faithfulness—not ours.
After all, in the end our hope isn’t ultimately based on what we’ve done—it’s based on who God is. If He isn’t the loving, merciful God who keeps His promises, then we have no basis for hope of any kind.
A Taste of Grace with Bruce Green 