Romans 1:1 – 7, A Meditation (3)

  

Paul, a bond-servant of Christ Jesus, called as an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God, which He promised beforehand through His prophets in the holy Scriptures, concerning His Son, who was born of a descendant of David according to the flesh, who was declared the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness by the resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord, through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith among all the Gentiles in behalf of His name, among whom you also are the called of Jesus Christ; to all who are beloved of God in Rome, called as saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

 

Now let’s look at the idea that Paul was “set apart for the gospel of God.” Here again, just as with the idea of “apostle” in the previous post, while Paul was set apart for the Gospel in an Apostolic calling (with an upper-case “A”), we are all set apart for the Gospel in our lower-case apostolic callings; that is our lives no longer belong to ourselves but to Jesus Christ who has redeemed us and we have been dedicated, set apart, to Jesus Christ.

 

Consider a passage familiar to many of us:

 

“Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual [or logical/rational] service of worship. And do not be conformed to this world [the present age], but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.” (Romans 12:1-2).

 

This encompasses our lives with family, friends, neighbors, school, work, recreation, entertainment – it encompasses all of life; there is no area of life in which we are not to live as those who belong to Jesus Christ, who are offering ourselves to Jesus Christ, who are living as those sent by Jesus Christ. We are to be living sacrifices on the altar of God, on the Cross of Jesus Christ. We are to live as those who consider themselves “dead to sin, but alive to God in Jesus Christ” (Romans 6:11).

 

We, as Paul, have been “set apart for the Gospel of God, which He promised beforehand through His prophets in the holy Scriptures.” If we are all set apart for the Gospel, then we ought to all know the Gospel so that we may live the Gospel and share the Gospel. This, my friends, takes a lifetime for the depths of the Gospel are unfathomable, and the heights of the Gospel defy human words.

 

Note that God promised the Gospel “through His prophets in the holy Scriptures.” These Scriptures are what we call the Old Testament, but which are more properly termed the Law, the Prophets, and the Writings – for strictly speaking the Old Covenant isn’t found throughout all of these 39 books, but the Gospel is, Jesus Christ is – whether we can see this or not. It is through these 39 books that the Resurrected Christ revealed Himself in Luke Chapter 24; first on the road to Emmaus and then in the Upper Room. When we dismiss Leviticus, we dismiss Jesus Christ. When we fail to ponder Hosea, we fail to ponder Jesus Christ. When we do not meditate on the Psalms, we do not meditate on Jesus Christ.

 

Run far away from anyone who teaches that the Old Testament is not for God’s People. Run, run, run from anyone who suggests that you don’t need to live in the entire Bible. As for the Old Covenant itself, while the Law does indeed bring death and condemnation (see 2 Cor. 4 – 18; Rom. 3:19 – 20), there is another dimension of the Law in which we behold our Lord Jesus Christ (see 1 Cor. 5:7; 10:11; Col. 2:17; Heb. Chapters 8 – 10). So when we teach Leviticus we do not teach Leviticus as the Law, but we teach Leviticus as Christ, when we teach Deuteronomy we do not teach Deuteronomy as the Law but as Christ. Learning, under the tutelage of the Holy Spirit, to see Christ in the Law, the Prophets, and the Writings is part of our pilgrimage, our adventure, in our fellowship with the Trinity.

 

The Gospel is very much the whole Bible, the whole counsel of God, and we make a grave error when we think the Gospel is about an initial salvation experience, when we think it is only about entering into a relationship with Jesus Christ, or when we think it is about saying some words or praying a prayer – when we stop at Romans 3, or even at Romans 5:11 – we present a truncated Gospel and we end up, more likely than not, living in that abbreviated Gospel, which is really a gospel and not the Gospel. No wonder we live in defeat when we fail to proclaim and live in the fulness of the Gospel, of God’s Word in Jesus Christ.

 

Note that we are commissioned by Jesus Christ to “make disciples” and teach others to “observe [obey] all that I commanded you.” Following Jesus Christ is certainly more than an isolated experience, no matter how wonderful that experience may be; it is certainly more than saying a prayer, it is more than the Romans Road, it is entering into a New Way of Life in Christ and the Cross and living in that Life (Mark 8:34ff; John 15:1ff Galatians 2:20).

 

Well now, am I living as a man set apart for the Gospel? Are we and our congregations living as those set apart for the Gospel of God?

 

What about you?