Verse 17 is particularly interesting. Paul says it is "In the (gospel) that the righteousness of God is revealed." The gospel is Paul's shorthand for the "good news" of Jesus Christ. Translation: God has made known who he is in Jesus Christ.
Paul is clear that you can know who God is through Jesus Christ. There is no longer any guessing. He has been revealed. The Gospel is an "Open Secret," as Lesslie Newbigin has put it. What have you ever wondered about God? What have you wanted to ask him about who he is and what he is like? Look to Jesus.
For further study...
1) If you are wanting to take this verse a bit further, look at the odd sort of wording at the end of 17a, "from faith for faith." What types of faith is Paul talking about? Is he saying that it is, "'from our faith to our faith' that the righteousness of God is revealed?"
Surely this reads a bit man-centered? As Rick Warren says, "It's not all about you." Maybe a better reading would understand that it is "from the faith-obedience of Christ" to our "faith-ing in Christ" that the righteousness of God has been revealed. Could faith be a reciprocal word here, as the context suggests? The result being, that Christ's faithfulness at the cross has revealed the righteousness of God to those who have faith in Christ. Faith is about Christ and it is about us.
2) And if you really wanted to get crazy here... Look at the place of Habakkuk 2:1-4 in Romans 1:17, Galatians 3:11, and Hebrews 10:38. Notice this verse is quoted in all of these passages, but with differing translations. Who is the righteous or "righteous one" of Habbakkuk 2:4?
Paul lets it be know that he is a servant of Jesus Christ and proclaims the resurrection of Christ is where we receive the grace of Christ. He speaks of thanking God for the Romans and constantly praying form them; this should remind us of how important prayer is. In verse 17 it is God’s righteousness and the faith is from him so we might have faith in order to live in faith. We need to remember we do not do any saving, we just give out the word of God and the Holy Spirit works in people’s lives. The Holy Spirit gives us faith so we can utilize faith to live in faith.
ReplyDeleteI think the second half of Romans 1 should be a great wake up call for all of us here in the United States. We are headed for God’s judgment as a nation. Our society values “open mindness”(which is really no standards; no absolute right & wrong); Tolerance except where God’s standards are held up (because God has definite right & wrong); God is not tolerant; He is VERY patient with us. We need to be prepared to pay a cost for upholding God’s will here in America.
ReplyDeleteI was struck by the similarity of John 1:1-5 with Genesis 1:1-5. John establishes the divinity of Christ right away. and repeatedly cites The Baptist as only a messenger. I think The Baptist, like many others, thought Jesus would lead them out of bondage from Rome. He proclaims Jesus as the messiah but from prison asks if He is really the One.
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