Romans 1:1 – 7, A Meditation (4)

  

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.

 

“…concerning His Son…” We are to be about Jesus Christ, our message is Jesus Christ, our lives are to be lived in Jesus Christ, Jesus Christ lives in those He has redeemed. We are to beware of “Christless Christianity.” We are to beware of the many actual and potential “Nehushtans” in our lives (John 3:14; Numbers 21:9; 2 Kings 18:4). So many of our messages, our teachings, our writings, are about bronze serpents which God once gave us for our good but which we have turned into idols – for now we place them front and center instead of the Person of Jesus Christ; we can control bronze serpents and merchandise them, but we must bow and surrender to Jesus Christ.

 

“…who was born of a descendant of David according to the flesh…”

 

How important is the knowledge that Jesus was a descendant of King David of the tribe of Judah? Consider how Matthew begins his Gospel, “The book of the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah [Christ], the son of David, the son of Abraham…” (Matthew 1:1). If we don’t know the Old Testament we can’t see the import of this, we can’t appreciate the continuity and faithfulness of God’s working in and through His People from generation to generation. Nor can we appreciate that Jesus Christ is heir to the promises and covenant that God gave to David – in fact, as God was making His covenant with David, He was, in effect, speaking of Himself coming to fulfill that covenant (for example, see Psalm 110:1 and Matthew 22:44).

 

The word order in Matthew, “the son of David, the son of Abraham,” is important – Matthew wants us to “see” David first, then Abraham; Matthew wants us to also see that David is descended from Abraham. Again, if we don’t know the Old Testament, if the record of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob – Israel is not embedded within us, we can’t “see” that David is a measure of the fulfillment of God’s covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob – Israel; nor can we “see” that in Jesus Christ and His Body God’s covenants with Abraham and David are fulfilled (Acts 2:22 – 32; Galatians 3:6 – 29). Also note that in Romans Chapter 4, one of the great justification by faith chapters in the Bible, Paul links the faith and lives of Abraham and David together.

 

Of course Jesus Christ was not only “born a descendant [of the seed] of David according to the flesh,” He was also born “as a man,” He was “made like His brethren,” and this means not only His natural brethren from the tribe of Judah, but He was made like all of us who He has called from humanity (Philippians 2:5 – 11; Hebrews 2:5 – 18). The message of the Gospel is that He became as we were so that we might become as He is – this is an element of the Great Mystery of the Incarnation. How we sell short the glory and mystery of the Incarnation (John 1:14 – 18) when we confine it to the 33 years of the life of Jesus Christ on earth, for when Jesus says, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?...I am Jesus whom you are persecuting” (Acts 9:4 – 5); Jesus Christ is not only declaring His continuing Incarnation in His Body, His People – but He is also giving Saul a revelation of Saul’s calling – to articulate the Body of Christ, the Bride, the Temple; as a wise master builder Paul will proclaim the Oneness of Christ and His Body!

 

In the Incarnation we have the union of God and Man in Jesus Christ. This union is perpetuated in those who come to know Jesus Christ. “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit” (John 12:24). Jesus Christ died that we might live, and we learn to die in Christ so that others might live (2 Cor. 4:7 – 5:8; John 17:18; 20:21; 1 John 3:16).

 

A new humanity comes out of the grave in Jesus Christ, we are taken out of Adam and placed in Jesus Christ (Romans 5:12 – 21; 1 Cor. 15:20 – 22; 45 – 49). Jesus is the “last Adam” in 1 Cor. 15:45 because in Him, on the Cross, Adam’s race is judged and put to death, we come to an end. Jesus is also the “second Man” (1 Cor. 15:47), because in Him a new race is born, a living seed comes out of the ground – hence we become, and enter, a new creation (2 Cor. 5:14 – 21).

 

A failure to preach and teach the above is to preach at best one-half a Gospel, and to preach one-half a Gospel is to preach a truncated and deficient Gospel. Little wonder that we turn to therapeutic deism in order to attempt to bring wholeness to people, little wonder that we look to programs and systems outside the Bible to bring some sense, some measure, of peace – for I suppose at best, when we fail to teach the fulness of the Gospel, we are a schizophrenic people – on the one hand we teach forgiveness and justification, but on the other hand we deny our inheritance and the core of our life in Jesus Christ.

 

The Biblical Christian life is a miracle, an ongoing miracle, a miracle of Divine Life living and pulsating in the People of God – it is the Trinity living in the Temple (Ephesians 2:19 – 22). I cannot live this life, and neither can you – but Jesus Christ can, and does, live this life in us and through us – hence we have Galatians 2:20 and John 15:1ff.

 

If we don’t find our core identity in Jesus Christ, we will find it somewhere else, hence the false identities that many of us assume, including economic, social, and political identities.

 

The Incarnation is in the world, but it is not of the world (John 17:14 – 19; 1 John 4:1 – 6).

 

Well now, are we living in Adam today, or are we living in Jesus Christ?