Resource of gospel

Romans 1:1-3; 8/11/2024; BCBC/IOUC; Rev. Paul Wang

 Introduction

Last week we finished with the Book of Acts, and today we begin with the Book of Romans.  There is no doubt that Romans is a great book.  Paul, who wrote the book of Romans, was also an apostle who was highly used by God, which is admirable!  However, my attitude is to look at every book of the Bible, including Romans, with a pious and normal heart.  This core value will help us think about the Bible and the people who wrote it.  Let’s look at the first point:

Apostolic preaching

Paul’s identity as an apostle was controversial at the time.  However, when the letters written by Paul were chosen by God to be included in the Bible, Paul’s status as an apostle was confirmed.  First, the nature of an apostle is that of a servant.  From an ecclesiological perspective, the apostles began with the twelve apostles appointed by Jesus.  Whether it was Matthias who replaced Judas, or later Paul, Barnabas, James, Silas, Andronicus and Junia, it was all because of the church’s mission of the gospel, their coordination and service, and their Servant leadership is motivational.  Simply put, it is to imitate the pattern of a servant of the Lord Jesus Christ.  The identity authentication of the apostles was the screening principle for the operation of the early church and had historical significance.  However, apostleship, as a gift to serve the church, demonstrates or expresses the nature of an apostolic servant.

 Secondly, the origin of apostles is calling.  The word apostle sounds very authoritative and majestic.  Therefore, the name of the apostle has been full of temptation since ancient times, causing many people to flock to it.  In fact, the identity of an apostle is only related to God’s calling and relationship.  Therefore, when the early church set the qualification standards for apostles, the first thing that they needed to bear the brunt of was that the people called apostles must have seen the resurrected Lord Jesus with their own eyes.  As it is written, “So one of the men who have accompanied us during all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, beginning from the baptism of John until the day when he was taken up from us—one of these men must become with us a witness to his resurrection. (Acts 1:21-22)”

 Lastly, the mission of the apostles is the gospel.  The reason why Paul was questioned was that he did not seem to spend much time with the apostles.  However, Paul did meet the resurrected Lord on the Damascus road, and it was with a gospel mission.  The Bible says: “But the Lord said to him, “Go, for he is a chosen instrument of mine to carry my name before the Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel. (Acts 9:15)”  Because Paul had persecuted the church in the past, people still doubted his apostleship.  So Paul himself had to defend himself, saying: “Paul, an apostle—not from men nor through man, but through Jesus Christ and God the Father, who raised him from the dead. (Galatians 1:1)” Paul’s life of preaching the gospel after he was called confirmed his identity as an apostle, there is no doubt about it!  Let’s look at the second point:

 Prophetic promise

What Paul is saying is that the gospel did not appear suddenly, nor is it unique to the New Testament.  It is just as God chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless before Him.  First, the Law and the Prophets.  The Law refers to Pentateuch, known as the Torah.  The prophets refer to the seventeen books of the major and minor prophets,    and the rest are books of history and wisdom.  What Jews usually refer to as the Law and the Prophets refers to the entire Old Testament.  For example, Genesis 3:15 says: “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel. (Gen. 3:15)”  How do you know this verse points to the gospel?  This is the incarnation of Christ Jesus, the sacrifice of his life on the cross,   and his resurrection from the dead.  In this way, the Old and New Testaments corroborate each other and are integrated.

Secondly, it is recorded in the Bible.  Whether it was Moses or Paul, when they wrote the Pentateuch and Paul’s letters, they did not know that what they wrote would be chosen by God to be included in the Bible.  Once selected into the Bible, it means that these words were spoken by God Himself.  We know that:  “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work. (2 Timothy 3:16-17)”  This is why people should not falsely claim to be prophets!  Why?  Because of one who has prophetic status,   what they said will be recorded in the Bible, so watch and pray lest you take the name of the Lord in vain. 

Finally, faithfulness lies in the promise.  The standard for distinguishing true and false prophets is whether what they say is true and whether their prophecies are fulfilled afterwards and are true and reliable.  Especially regarding Jesus Christ, He is true and reliable as prophesied in the Old Testament and fulfilled in the New Testament.  The identity and mission of the Messiah cannot be defined by humans.  Most importantly, the gospel cannot be invented by humans and must be inspired by God.  Why?  Because it took God about 1,650 years to complete the Old and New Testaments with the gospel as the theme, and it took more than two thousand years of church history to verify the authenticity of the Bible.  It can be said that God’s faithfulness lies entirely in His true and reliable promises.  Let’s look at the third point:

 Descendants of David

How could David be pulled out? Paul said: “concerning his Son, who was descended from David according to the flesh.”  What does it mean?  First, Christ Jesus is our Lord.  Christ is the Messiah, the one who has been prophesied and prepared in the Old Testament and will be incarnate.  He is called the Son of God in the Bible and is called the Lord by us.  Christ becoming Jesus is the highest wisdom designed by God in His creation, that is, God becoming human.  God Himself walked into human history and came among us.  John testified to this, saying:  “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.”  This is our core value: Jesus is the Christ, the Lord, and the King who created heaven and earth!

Secondly, the two natures of God and man are expressed.  Jesus is the Christ and the Lord, expressing the absolute authority of Christ Jesus.  But what kind of God is He?  The New Testament mentions Jesus Christ as the son of David many times.  What does the Bible mean?  From the genealogy in Matthew Chapter 1 and Luke Chapter 3, we can see that Jesus is a descendant of David, whether on the paternal or maternal line.  In fact, the Bible tries its best to explain a simple fact: Christ Jesus is not only the Son of God, but also the Son of man.  He has human life and nature.  The conclusion drawn from the two natures of God and man is that He is the most qualified to stand in the position of man, accept God’s judgment on behalf of man, and die on the cross to achieve God’s salvation.

Finally, the genealogy of David serves as background.  The last little point I want to express is the vastness of God’s faithfulness!  In order to prepare the divine and human nature of Christ Jesus, God even entered history and maintained continuous observation and control over the genealogical history of Mary and Joseph until they both became contemporaries in the same era.  Not only that, God also caused the two of them to be engaged, and the engagement was almost broken because of Mary’s conception of the Holy Spirit.  In the end, Joseph was called a righteous man and took Mary home by faith, completing a wonderful story about God becoming a human being.  It’s amazing to think about it.  God made King David the common ancestor of a couple a thousand years later.  In fact, God even used a king to become a landscape and a background for “the divine and human natures of Christ.”  I can hardly help but say: Oh God, You are so great!

Conclusion

The opening word of Romans is the source of the gospel: first preached by the apostles,   and what was preached was the faithfulness of the prophets’ promises through the Scriptures.  Not only that, God even made King David’s genealogy a landscape of “the divine and human natures of Christ.”

Let us pray……

Romans 1:1-3

1 Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God, 

2 which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy Scriptures, 

3 concerning his Son, who was descended from David according to the flesh.