July 4
I Chronicles 8-9
Psalm 78:9-16
Proverbs 17:5-6
Romans 1
The Foundation of our Faith
“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. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, ‘The just shall live by faith.’”
Romans 1:16-17
Romans is Brian’s favorite book. We joked in our college bible study that every week he referenced Romans in some way. He could even find something in Ruth and Jonah to point back to Romans. The more I study Romans, the more I realize how important this book is to our faith. God appointed Paul to spread the gospel to the Gentile world. In that day, Rome was the center of the Gentile world. There was a growing church in Rome and Paul knew the importance of giving them a solid foundation and a firm understanding of the doctrines of our faith. I think many Christians have the idea that foundational doctrines and theology are things that our pastors are supposed to learn in seminary, but they are too difficult for us to really understand. We know the basics and just trust that our preachers and teachers will tell us what we need to know. That is not a biblical idea. As Christians we believe in the priesthood of the believer. That means that we have personal access to God. We do not have to go through a priest to receive forgiveness of our sins. We can go before God personally, confessing our sin and He relates to us individually. He is not a far-off God who speaks to us only through a priest or a preacher. It also means that we have access to God’s Word. We have all the revelation that our pastors and teachers have. We have the Holy Spirit living in us to teach us, instruct us and help us understand God’s Word. And thankfully, the internet gives us access to every study tool we could possibly need to help us know what we believe and why. We are without excuse for our biblical ignorance.
Romans gives a detailed summary of our Christian faith and explains the gospel in terms that we can understand and be able to relate to others. John Calvin wrote about Romans, “When anyone gains a knowledge of this Epistle, he has an entrance opened to him to all the most hidden treasures of Scripture.” Martin Luther said, “Romans is the chief part of the New Testament and the perfect gospel, the absolute epitome of the gospel.” Samuel Coleridge, English poet and literary critic said Paul’s letter to the Romans is “The most profound work in existence.” Over the next couple of weeks, we are going to study Romans more closely. I encourage you to continue reading your daily readings through the Bible, but our devotions will focus mostly on Romans. I will do an overview of each chapter and hopefully it will spark an interest in you to study the concepts more deeply. Write down your questions and do some research to figure out the answers. Got Questions.org is an excellent source. If you can’t figure it out, ask your pastor or a trusted bible teacher. You are welcome to ask me if there is something you don’t understand. I can’t promise to have the answers, but I can do some research and get back with you. I also have several trusted pastors and teachers that I trust completely who can help.
In Romans 1, Paul gives an introduction to the letter to Rome, and he lays out clearly and thoroughly the Gentile’s need of salvation. In verse 16-17, he gives a concise overview of the gospel. He explains that there is no need to be ashamed of the gospel. We can boldly proclaim the gospel because it is true and reliable. The power of God provides salvation to everyone who believes. It is not based on anything we do but rather it is completely based on our faith in God and His ability. In verses 18-32, Paul introduces the wrath of God. It is impossible to understand the good news that the gospel provides unless we first grasp the bad news. The bad news is that we are sinful, and we stand before a holy, righteous God. His righteousness cannot overlook sin. His holiness will not tolerate our absolute depravity and we face His wrath which will result in death and hell. Modern culture does not like to talk about the wrath of God. Many churches focus on God’s love and mercy. They prefer to talk about his compassion and grace and skim over His holiness and wrath. If we do not understand our true state and the ugliness of our sin, we cannot possibly understand why we need a savior. Satan’s most insidious deception is convincing us that we really aren’t that bad, and that God loves us so much He will just overlook our sin. God loves us so much that He sent His Son to take the punishment for our sin and to provide a way for His righteousness to be imparted to us. If our sin was not that bad and He would just overlook it then there would have been no reason for His crucifixion. Jesus’ death, burial and resurrection is the foundation of our faith. If there was no need for it, then it all falls apart and our faith is pointless. God’s love and mercy cannot be separated from His righteousness and wrath. Our understanding of this is critical to our faith.
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