There are many Scriptures that explain and apply the gospel, but in this post, I want to focus specifically on Romans 1:1-4. In a subsequent post, I will look briefly at 1 Corinthians 15:1-4 and what that passage tells us about the gospel. In this passage in Romans, what I have highlighted above will be made more clear. Romans 1:1-4[1] says this: Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be 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 descended from David according to the flesh and was declared to be the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord...
Paul begins his letter to the Roman Christians by noting his own identity as an apostle. But he goes on to say that the substance of his apostolic ministry is to be "set apart for the gospel of God..." I like that last part, the "gospel of God." It is important to grasp that the gospel is God's gospel. That is what I meant above when I stated that the gospel is the "divinely sent message..." No human being came up with the gospel. It does not belong to any human being or any human organization. It was not copied from pre-existing legends, as some falsely claim. It originates with God. And it belongs to God and to God alone. God is the one who originated the gospel in his own eternal plan, and who has given it to the Church as a trust to spread it around the world. That is why keeping the message of the gospel pure is so important, and why those who tamper with it bring upon themselves eternal condemnation in hell (Galatians 1:8-9).
But Paul goes further. God did bestow the responsibility to spread the message of the gospel to Paul. But Paul was not the first to receive it. In fact, neither were those who were apostles of Jesus before Paul. According to Paul, the gospel was "promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy Scriptures..." In this context, "the holy Scriptures" refers to what Christians call the Old Testament. The gospel is not just a New Testament phenomenon. It is all over the Old Testament! I will give just a sampling of passages below:
I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel. (Genesis 3:15)
Here, God promises that the offspring of the woman (literally, the "seed," and not that of the man; prefiguring the later revelation of the Virgin Birth) will deliver a fatal blow to the serpent (the Devil) while suffering what will not be an ultimately fatal blow from the serpent.
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. (2 Samuel 7:12)
God promises to David that after his own death and burial, he will "raise up" his offspring after him (in the Greek translation of the Old Testament, completed approximately 200 years *BEFORE* Christ, this is the verb "to resurrect").
The LORD says to my Lord: "Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool"...The LORD has sworn and will not change his mind, "You are a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek." (Psalm 110:1.4)
In one of the most explicit passages in the Hebrew Bible, God himself says to David's "Lord" (someone of higher rank than David) that he should sit at his right hand, a place of equal power and prestige. This one who is greater than David is also designated a priest forever by God, but not after Aaron's priesthood, but after that of the enigmatic Melchizedek. The New Testament book of Hebrews goes into much more detail about this, but suffice it to say that the seeds of Messiah's reign in heaven at God's right hand and his priesthood are already being planted.
But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace...when his soul makes on offering for guilt, [God] shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days... (Isaiah 53:5a, 10b).
Perhaps even more explicit than the Psalm passage above is Isaiah 52:13-53:12. This tells us of the suffering, death, burial, resurrection, and exaltation of the Messiah in great specifics, and that nearly 700 years before the fact!
For Paul, this gospel about Jesus, the descendant of Israel's King David who was raised from the dead was something he was "set apart" for (Romans 1:1). His ministry, the Church's ministry, and my ministry within the Church is also to be set apart for this message, to preach it and to "bring about the obedience of faith for the sake of his name among all the nations" (Romans 1:5).
This gospel also demands a response from those who hear it. Paul said to the Greek philosophers in Athens, "[God] commands all people everywhere to repent, because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead" (Acts 17:30b-31). If you are reading this today and you do not know or follow Jesus, then I make this my plea to you. Turn from your own way and place your full faith and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ. He was crucified, died, and was raised up to bring about salvation and a supernatural, eternal life and joy from the damnation brought about by our sins and offenses against God. Anything that gets in the way of this must be pushed aside and abandoned. If you are a believer and you are reading this, then I pray you would be encouraged by the reminder about what Christ has done and that you will be inspired to share it with others who do not yet know the Lord. Amen.
[1] All Scripture Quotations are from the English Standard Version of the Bible.
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