Saul, the zealous persecutor of Christians had become Paul, the zealous Christian missionary. He describes himself as a "servant (or slave) of Christ Jesus," so great was his indebtedness to the one who had stopped him in his tracks when he was on the way to Damascus many years before.
Paul was most likely writing to the Romans from Corinth. He was making a collection among the Churches for the poor Christians in Jerusalem. After that he planned a new missionary venture which would take him as far as Spain. He had never been to Rome, but had many friends there. He planned to visit and to receive encouragement and support from them. The letter was taken to Rome by Phoebe "who serves the church at Cenchreae," the eastern port of Corinth. |
As we look around, it is quite clear that people have turned away from God, are not right with him and can only deserve his wrath. Since they have given up worship of the Creator for the worship of created things, he has given them over to their sinful rebellion and its dire consequences. Many in our society not only do these evil things but approve them.
"But," you say, "I condemn those who do such things!" Yet you are a sinner too and will come under God's judgment. God is kind and patient with you, but if you do not soften and repent, you are heading for wrath on the day of judgment!
"But," I hear some of you say, "we are Jews, we are circumcised, we have the Law, we are God's people." True! And it is cause for thanks that the oracles of God have been entrusted to you. Yet the word of God shows him to be true, and all of us, whether Jews or Greeks, to be under sin.
So there can be no distinction - because everyone has sinned and fallen short of God's glorious intentions, it is only possible for anyone to be made right with God on the basis of his free gift because of the ransom paid in Christ Jesus. On the basis of this sacrificial death we see that God was consistent when he passed over the sins of those from earlier times who believed in him. We see, too, that he is consistent in the present time when he makes right with himself those who have faith in Jesus. So faith, not works of law, is the basis on which anyone, Jew or Gentile, is made right with God.
We Jews look to Abraham as our forefather. He was accepted as right with God before he was circumcised. Circumcision was given as a seal that he had been accepted by faith before he was circumcised. So he is father of all who are set right by faith.
Now that we have been set right by faith, we have peace with God, access to God's grace and the hope of the fulfilment of God's glorious intentions. God works towards this hope even in our afflictions.
Through one man, Adam, sin and death spread to all. When the Law was given in Moses' time, it had the effect of clarifying the seriousness of sin and pronouncing judgment on sinners. Through one man, Jesus, the gift of God's grace will overflow to many for eternal life.
But what about sin in my life! Is it unimportant because of God's abounding grace? No! Sin is a contradiction in our life of faith - we have died to sin, so that it can have no more claim over us. We have to accept and live on the basis of that death to sin and new life to God in Christ Jesus.
Who is your master now? Are you slaves of sin, leading to lawlessness and death, or slaves of God, leading to holiness and eternal life? The wages paid by sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Having said that, there is still a problem - continuing sin. The holy, righteous law of God shows up the reality of sin in my life and the discrepancy between what I want and what I do. I experience inner tension between God's law with which I agree and the principle of continuing sin. I need deliverance - thank God it is provided in Jesus Christ our Lord!
So then, the verdict for those whose faith is in Christ Jesus is "not guilty." The penal requirements of the law have been fulfilled in the sacrificial death of Jesus. So now God's requirement of obedience can be fulfilled as we live according to the mindset that the Spirit gives us. All who belong to Christ have received the Spirit - he bears witness with our own spirits that we are God's children.
We are now children and heirs. But we move towards a future in which God's glorious intentions will be revealed when his deliverance of us is complete. And the whole creation, weakened and corrupted by human sin, eagerly waits for that time for its own release.
And the Spirit within us pleads with unexpressed sighs, interceding for us according to the will of God. So God is at work in all things to bring about good in us who love him.
In view of this, there is no circumstance or influence that can separate us from his love - a love revealed and given in Christ Jesus our Lord.
I feel great sorrow for my fellow-Israelites, to whom belong adoption, glory, covenants, law, worship, promises - even, according to the flesh, the Christ himself! They were pursuing rightness with God on the basis of their own works, not on the basis of faith. They have a zeal for God, but do not know that God's way of making people right is Christ, not the law.
So the Gentiles have obtained God's rightness by faith - in part because of Israel's hardness of heart. So, my Gentile brothers, do not be conceited, but look forward to the riches God will give when Israel is restored!
I beg you then, brothers, on the basis of God's revealed plan of compassion, to present your bodies to be a living, holy, well-pleasing sacrifice to God. Do not have the mindset of this age, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind so that your lives will demonstrate the good, well-pleasing and perfect will of God.
This will mean that, instead of promoting ourselves, each of us will accept the gifts which God has given to us and use them for building one another up in Christ's body. It also means, in all our relationships, there is to be love, integrity, caring, sharing, rejoicing... And it means not repaying evil with evil, but conquering it with good.
Faith is to find expression in every aspect of your life. Since the existence of human authority is God's arrangement, be subject to it - giving honour, paying your taxes... Indeed, the only debt you should continue to owe is the requirement to love one another.
And do not judge others who also stand under the lordship of Christ, others whom you consider weak - be careful not to cause them to stumble. Remember that all your life is to proceed from faith, and whatever does not proceed from faith is sin. So learn to carry one another's weaknesses. May the God of patience and encouragement give you these same qualities so that with one mind and voice you may glorify him!
Receive one another, just as Christ has received us. He came, for Jews and Gentiles alike, to confirm God's promise and to declare his mercy.
He has given me a special commission to the Gentiles. I have to take a fellowship-gift from Macedonia and Achaia to God's people in Jerusalem. Then I plan to set out for Spain, coming by way of Rome - to see you, be satisfied with you and sent forward by you. So pray for my visit to Jerusalem and my coming to you.
Greetings to all of you from me and from all of Christ's churches. Watch out for those who make divisions and cause offences which are not part of the gospel, no matter how plausible their words.
I commit you to the only wise God who alone can make you firm through Jesus Christ. Amen.
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