Romans
1:14 I am a debtor both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to wise and to
unwise. 15 So, as much as is in me, I am ready to preach the gospel to you who
are in Rome also. 16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is
the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and
also for the Greek. 17 For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from
faith to faith; as it is written, "The just shall live by faith."
Flow of thought with the three I am statements
I am a debtor v14
So, because I am a debtor, I am eager v 15
Romans
1:14 I am a debtor both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to wise and to
unwise. 15 So, as much as is in me, I am ready to preach the gospel to you who
are in Rome also. 16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is
the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and
also for the Greek. 17 For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from
faith to faith; as it is written, "The just shall live by faith."
Flow of thought with the three I am statements
I am a debtor v14
So, because I am a debtor, I am eager v 15
I am eager, For or Because I am not ashamed v 16
Because I am not ashamed, why, it is the power of God v
16
Negatively I am not ashamed, Positively, I am eager to
share the gospel
It is a debt to humanity he needed to repay and
obligation, (he had been given a stewardship) and it is the Power of God to
everyone who believes (He had a sense of conviction because he knew if the
Gospel could change him it could change anyone.
1.
He was not ashamed of Christ, the person of
the Gospel – even though Jesus was a Jew
- Jews were a
despised minority and Rome was a mighty and proud city
2.
The
nature of the gospel is that it is the power of God ........without that power
it is but a dead letter
3. The aim of the gospel is salvation, not
ashamed because of the plan of the Gospel
4.
The gospel is for everyone who believes...
Believes means an ongoing condition not a one-time event of belief. True faith
is a way of life.
5.
Saving faith consists of three elements:
·
Mental - The mind understands the gospel and
truth about Christ
·
Emotional - one embraces the truthfulness of
those facts with sorrow over sin and joyfulness over God's mercy and Grace
·
A volitional or voluntary submission of the
sinners will to Christ and trusts in Christ alone as the only hope of
salvation.
V17 the
revelation of God's righteousness - Better
translated the Righteousness from God
·
The gospel is the revelation of God's
righteousness through faith that He is just and holy and we are guilty sinners
·
Justification of believers means God
absolves or removes the consequences of our sin which is accomplished by
Propitiation
·
The gospel is the Propitiation or legal
payment for our sins which is why Jesus had to die on the cross. The legal side
had to be paid. There is no remission of sins without the shedding of blood.
Salvation is of God's appointing, of God's
approving and God's accepting
To cut off all claims to a
righteousness resulting from the merit of our own works
Now Paul quotes Habakkuk
2:4 The just shall live by faith
This verse summarizes the Gospel
The Law was given to Moses
in 613 precepts or rules of conduct
In the 15th
Psalm they are reduced to 11
In Isaiah 6 ........Micah
to 3 ........then again Isaiah reduces them to 2 and finally Habakkuk condenses
them into 1 rule
The words " The just
shall live by faith" are found 4 times in the Bible, Habakkuk 2:4, Romans 1:17,
Galatians 3:11, and Hebrews 10:38
God established Abraham as
the pattern of faith in the OT and thus calls him the father of all who believe
OT faith was in a Christ to come and NT faith is in the
fact that Christ has already come
