Paul’s Ministry and the Gospel: Romans 1.1-7 (Part 2)

2. The Gospel of God explained

The Gospel was Promised Beforehand

After Paul’s claim to be an apostle set apart for the gospel of God, he is quick to tell us several things about this good news. First, Paul says this gospel has been promised beforehand through his prophets in the Holy Scriptures. The Scriptures that Paul is referring to is the OT. The OT has consistently foretold of Jesus and the good news about him. There are key passages throughout the OT and it would behoove us to look at a few of them.[1]

The first that we will look at is Genesis 3:15. Adam and Eve are cursed for their transgressions and in the curse God foreshadows his saving work in Christ: “[Eve's offspring] will bruise [the serpent's] head, but [the serpent] will bruise his heel.” This is what we refer to as the protoevangelium or ‘first gospel.’ Sin has entered the world through Adam and Eve and their deception by the devil, but the defeat of the adversary has been promised since the days of our first parents.

Another key passage that we should examine is 2 Samuel 7. God is making his covenant with David and in this covenant God promises to set the line of David on the throne forever and ever.

12 When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. 13 He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. 14 I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son. When he commits iniquity, I will discipline him with the rod of men, with the stripes of the sons of men, 15 but my steadfast love will not depart from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I put away from before you. 16 And your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me. Your throne shall be established forever.

This is immediately fulfilled in his son Solomon, but the continuation of the Davidic covenant is fulfilled in Jesus Christ as Matthew’s gospel makes clear: “The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham” (1.1).

Jesus is seen again and again in the book of Isaiah. This can be seen in chapter 11:

1 There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse,
and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit.
2 And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him,
the Spirit of wisdom and understanding,
the Spirit of counsel and might,
the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord.
3 And his delight shall be in the fear of the Lord.
He shall not judge by what his eyes see,
or decide disputes by what his ears hear,
4 but with righteousness he shall judge the poor,
and decide with equity for the meek of the earth;
and he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth,
and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked.
5 Righteousness shall be the belt of his waist,
and faithfulness the belt of his loins.

6 The wolf shall dwell with the lamb,
and the leopard shall lie down with the young goat,
and the calf and the lion and the fattened calf together;
and a little child shall lead them.
7 The cow and the bear shall graze;
their young shall lie down together;
and the lion shall eat straw like the ox.
8 The nursing child shall play over the hole of the cobra,
and the weaned child shall put his hand on the adder’s den.
9 They shall not hurt or destroy
in all my holy mountain;
for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord
as the waters cover the sea.

10 In that day the root of Jesse, who shall stand as a signal for the peoples-of him shall the nations inquire, and his resting place shall be glorious.

This shoot from Jesse is Jesus Christ, son of David. He is the one who will bring restoration and peace to the world. The rest of this chapter explains that this peace will be brought about in the destruction of the Lord’s enemies and in so doing, Israel’s enemies as well.

But how will this be brought about? Surely it would be by some military force, right? He is going to destroy his enemies, right? He will have all his enemies under his feet (1 Kings 5:3, cf. 1 Corinthians 15:25), but it will come through a sacrificial death. This is also prophesied in Isaiah, chapter 53:

53:1 Who has believed what he has heard from us?
And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?
2 For he grew up before him like a young plant,
and like a root out of dry ground;
he had no form or majesty that we should look at him,
and no beauty that we should desire him.
3 He was despised and rejected by men;
a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief;
and as one from whom men hide their faces
he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

4 Surely he has borne our griefs
and carried our sorrows;
yet we esteemed him stricken,
smitten by God, and afflicted.
5 But he was wounded for our transgressions;
he was crushed for our iniquities;
upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace,
and with his stripes we are healed.
6 All we like sheep have gone astray;
we have turned-every one-to his own way;
and the Lord has laid on him
the iniquity of us all.

7 He was oppressed, and he was afflicted,
yet he opened not his mouth;
like a lamb that is led to the slaughter,
and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent,
so he opened not his mouth.
8 By oppression and judgment he was taken away;
and as for his generation, who considered
that he was cut off out of the land of the living,
stricken for the transgression of my people?
9 And they made his grave with the wicked
and with a rich man in his death,
although he had done no violence,
and there was no deceit in his mouth.

10 Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him;
he has put him to grief;
when his soul makes an offering for guilt,
he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days;
the will of the Lord shall prosper in his hand.
11 Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied;
by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant,
make many to be accounted righteous,
and he shall bear their iniquities.
12 Therefore I will divide him a portion with the many,
and he shall divide the spoil with the strong,
because he poured out his soul to death
and was numbered with the transgressors;
yet he bore the sin of many,
and makes intercession for the transgressors.

The restoration, peace, and deliverance promised to Israel will come through the form of a suffering Jesus, not a triumphant war hero like David.

In conclusion, there must be a re-education of the fact that the Bible is a continuing story from Adam and Eve to the Apocalypse. There is not a disunity between the NT and OT, but it is connected by the one God who has given his one Church his one gospel.

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[1] There are too many passages for us to look as the OT is full of messianic expectation.

Paul’s Ministry and The Gospel: Romans 1.1-7 (Part 1)

1. Paul’s Identification (1)

We have already seen that Paul is the author of Romans and the first verse of the letter confirms that at least someone named Paul wrote the letter. If you have any other experience with Paul’s writings you will often be reminded of his other letters throughout this letter and will be able to make the connection that this is indeed the Paul of Acts.

Paul, as in Philippians and Titus, names and identifies himself as a slave of Christ Jesus. Already in his letter we begin to have an understanding of his view of God and Christ that will affect the way we interpret his doctrine. The word slave is not a popular term to use for the Greek word that we are translating (doulos), but I do think that it makes a stronger impact on our worldview. Those who are converted to faith in Christ have become his slaves. The word slave in this context removes ideas of oppression; instead we are to think of love and grace and mercy. Jesus is a beautiful and glorious master who deals rightly in all things. As a slave of Christ we are able to do his work here on earth. We as Christ followers are giving our lives unto the service of the true King, Jesus of Nazareth.

Paul also identifies himself as an apostle. This is a title that he claims for himself in all of his letters. Paul is an apostle through his commissioning for service unto the Gentiles. In Acts 9 we see Paul, then known as the zealot named Saul, attacking the Christian church because of their distortion of the Jewish faith. Jesus then appears to him, blinds his eyes, and commissions him through a prophet to reach the gentiles, rival kings, and Jews with the gospel. This miraculous conversion shows that Paul is not a false prophet, but has been commissioned by the Lord Jesus to do ministry. This apostolic ministry comes with the power and authority of Christ (1:8) and Paul is giving his title to the church at Rome, giving them a reason to listen to his teachings and commands.

This apostolic office and ministry was not merited by Paul but was given by Christ according to God’s calling. The word call usually refers to God’s effective work.[i] In this calling to be an apostle, Paul says he is set apart for the gospel of God. There is one thing that Paul is interested in and that is the gospel. The churches Paul planted and the content of his message were evidence of his apostleship (2 Corinthians 3:1-3). This can be seen in his other letters, especially 1 Corinthians 2:2: “For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.” Paul has no other business than to proclaim Christ. Paul’s mission and message were to be characterized by the gospel message of Jesus Christ.

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[i] Thomas Schreiner, Romans (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic), 1998, 32.