Acts 18:1-2, the church in Rome had existed for some time, but at one point, the Roman emperor Clavdivs had expelled all of the Jewish people from Rome, and then about five years later all of those Jews, including Jesus following Jews were allowed to return, and when they did, they found a church that had become very non-Jewish in custom and practice and so this created lots of tension, so that by Paul’s day, the Roman church was divided. People disagreed about how to follow Jesus, they were debating about whether non-Jewish Christians should celebrate the Sabbath or eat kosher or be circumsized. Paul wanted this divided church to become unified, and for a practical purpose, he was hoping that the Roman church could become a staging ground for his mission to go even further west, all the way to Spain. So, these circumstances are what motivated Paul to write out his fullest explanation of the gospel, the good news, announcing about Jesus’ life, death and resurrection.
The gospel reveals God’s righteousness, and then it also creates a new humanity which fulfills God’s promise to Israel. The gospel about Jesus, how he’s the Messiah of Israel, who was raised from the dead as the son of God, King of the nations, and Jesus now calls all humanity to come under his loving rule. This good news about King Jesus is God’s power to save people who trust in him and it reveals God’s righteousness. Righteousness describes God’s character, that he always does justice, what is right and what is good, but also that he is faithful and just to fulfill his promises. The story of Jesus shows how God has done both of these things, retelling Genesis chapters three through eleven, Paul shows how all the gentile world, all the nations have become trapped in the spiral of sin and selfishness.
The human heart and mind are broken, we’ve turned away from God to embrace idolatry, finding ultimate significance in created things, and then giving ultimate allegiance to these things that are not God. This results in a distortion of our humanity and destructive behavior, what’s left is a humanity that stands guilty as charged before a just and righteous God. The people of Israel might say, God chose our people out from among the nations, saving us out of slavery in Egypt, giving us the laws of the Torah, these show us how to live as God’s holy people, but Paul recalls the storyline of the Torah and of the rest of the Old Testament, which shows that Israel was just a sinful and idolatrous and morally broken as the rest of humanity. Israel is actually more guilty then the gentiles, because they have the Torah, they should know better.
All humanity, Gentiles and Israelites are hopelessly trapped and guilty before God, the good news about Jesus is God’s response. Instead of holding humanity guilty, Jesus came as Israel’s messiah to die on behalf of all people as a sacrifice for sins. As our representative, Jesus took into himself all of the just consequences of the pain, the sin and the death that we have caused in the world, and he overcame it all by his resurrection from the dead, it’s his new resurrection life that he makes available to others. Jesus became what we are, so that we might become what he is, and all of this is how God justifies those who trust or have faith in Jesus. Now justification, it’s related to God’s righteousness, because of what Jesus did on our behalf, we are given a new status before God. Instead of finding us guilty, God declare that a person is in a right relationship with him and is forgiven. Justification results in a new family, the person who trust in Jesus is given a place among God’s covenant people. Justification also results in a new future which begins a journey of life transformation by God’s grace, all of these things about justification are God’s gift to those who through their faith are in Christ.
Paul explores the huge implications that all of this has for who can be a part of God’s covenant family, the story of Abraham, before any of the laws of the Torah were given to Israel, Abraham was justified or declared righteous before God. God promised Abraham would become a father of a large multi-ethnic family that would receive God’s blessing, but he and his wife Sarah, they were really old, and they had never been able to have children, but Abraham had radical faith and trust in God’s promise. So God declared Abraham to be righteous, now he has become the father of God’s new covenant family and it’s spreading all around the world, made up of Jews and Gentiles who have the same kind of faith and trust in the one who fulfilled God’s promise to Abraham, Jesus the Messiah. All humanity is hopelessly trapped in sin and needs to be rescued. That rescue however, is not going to happen by people trying to obey the laws of the Torah. Rather, God’s righteous character has moved him to rescue the world through Jesus’ death and resurrection, so that he could create that multi-ethnic family of Abraham based on faith as his own new covenant people.
The gospel reveals God’s righteousness, and then it also creates a new humanity which fulfills God’s promise to Israel. The gospel about Jesus, how he’s the Messiah of Israel, who was raised from the dead as the son of God, King of the nations, and Jesus now calls all humanity to come under his loving rule. This good news about King Jesus is God’s power to save people who trust in him and it reveals God’s righteousness. Righteousness describes God’s character, that he always does justice, what is right and what is good, but also that he is faithful and just to fulfill his promises. The story of Jesus shows how God has done both of these things, retelling Genesis chapters three through eleven, Paul shows how all the gentile world, all the nations have become trapped in the spiral of sin and selfishness.
The human heart and mind are broken, we’ve turned away from God to embrace idolatry, finding ultimate significance in created things, and then giving ultimate allegiance to these things that are not God. This results in a distortion of our humanity and destructive behavior, what’s left is a humanity that stands guilty as charged before a just and righteous God. The people of Israel might say, God chose our people out from among the nations, saving us out of slavery in Egypt, giving us the laws of the Torah, these show us how to live as God’s holy people, but Paul recalls the storyline of the Torah and of the rest of the Old Testament, which shows that Israel was just a sinful and idolatrous and morally broken as the rest of humanity. Israel is actually more guilty then the gentiles, because they have the Torah, they should know better.
All humanity, Gentiles and Israelites are hopelessly trapped and guilty before God, the good news about Jesus is God’s response. Instead of holding humanity guilty, Jesus came as Israel’s messiah to die on behalf of all people as a sacrifice for sins. As our representative, Jesus took into himself all of the just consequences of the pain, the sin and the death that we have caused in the world, and he overcame it all by his resurrection from the dead, it’s his new resurrection life that he makes available to others. Jesus became what we are, so that we might become what he is, and all of this is how God justifies those who trust or have faith in Jesus. Now justification, it’s related to God’s righteousness, because of what Jesus did on our behalf, we are given a new status before God. Instead of finding us guilty, God declare that a person is in a right relationship with him and is forgiven. Justification results in a new family, the person who trust in Jesus is given a place among God’s covenant people. Justification also results in a new future which begins a journey of life transformation by God’s grace, all of these things about justification are God’s gift to those who through their faith are in Christ.
Paul explores the huge implications that all of this has for who can be a part of God’s covenant family, the story of Abraham, before any of the laws of the Torah were given to Israel, Abraham was justified or declared righteous before God. God promised Abraham would become a father of a large multi-ethnic family that would receive God’s blessing, but he and his wife Sarah, they were really old, and they had never been able to have children, but Abraham had radical faith and trust in God’s promise. So God declared Abraham to be righteous, now he has become the father of God’s new covenant family and it’s spreading all around the world, made up of Jews and Gentiles who have the same kind of faith and trust in the one who fulfilled God’s promise to Abraham, Jesus the Messiah. All humanity is hopelessly trapped in sin and needs to be rescued. That rescue however, is not going to happen by people trying to obey the laws of the Torah. Rather, God’s righteous character has moved him to rescue the world through Jesus’ death and resurrection, so that he could create that multi-ethnic family of Abraham based on faith as his own new covenant people.
