Listen in to our Romans 1:8-17 Podcast
Romans 1:8-17 Podcast Commentary: The Righteousness of God Comes By Faith
In our Romans 1:8-17 podcast and commentary, we dive into a foundational passage that unveils the profound message of the gospel. The phrase “For in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed—a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: ‘The righteous will live by faith.’” (Romans 1:17) serves as the cornerstone for understanding salvation in Christ. It reveals that righteousness is not earned by works but is granted by faith, a righteousness that applies equally to both Jews and Gentiles. This passage offers essential insight into God’s plan for salvation, demonstrating how faith is central to the Christian life.
Exploring Romans
In Romans 1:17, Paul introduces a radical shift in understanding righteousness. The righteousness of God is not based on the law, but is revealed through faith in the gospel. This marks a pivotal moment in salvation history: God’s righteousness is made available to all who believe, regardless of ethnicity or background. “The righteous will live by faith” echoes the Old Testament prophet Habakkuk (2:4) and becomes a key theme in Paul’s writings. This declaration emphasizes that salvation is a gift to be received by faith, not through human effort or adherence to the law. It is a righteousness that transcends cultural and religious boundaries and is offered to all who place their trust in Jesus Christ.
Key Themes in Romans
The key themes in this passage include the global spread of the gospel, the revelation of God’s righteousness, and the central role of faith in salvation. Paul celebrates the new faith of Gentile believers, which is spreading throughout the world, showing that the gospel is no longer confined to the Jews. This was a revolutionary concept, as it demonstrated the inclusivity of God’s salvation plan.
Romans 1:8-17: Commentary Insights
Engaging with Romans 1:8-17 through study guides, sermons, and commentaries can be immensely rewarding. These resources help believers understand the implications of a faith-based righteousness and how it transforms the believer’s life. By examining these verses, Christians are encouraged to embrace faith as the foundation of their salvation and to recognize that God’s righteousness is a gift freely given to all who believe in Christ.
Website and Books We Like
- BobGeorge.net
- Classic Christianity Book by Bob George
- Simple Gospel – Simple Grace by Bob Christopher
Live Bible Coaching
Podcast Transcript
Transcript of Romans 1:8-17 Podcast
Want to discover your freedom in Christ? Then listen in as Mike Stone and Kevin Smith talk about it today on Grace Coach. Hello, this is Mike with Grace Coach. It is good to be here and I'm with Kevin Smith. What's up, Mike? Yeah, I am excited about this podcast. I've been Looking at chapter 1, verses 8 to 17, and there's a lot here, Kevin.
Well, I'm kind of surprised we're not going to get through chapter 1 in two weeks. I mean, it's going to take us three weeks to get through it, maybe not even three weeks. But, uh, you know what? God's timing is perfect, I guess. Hell yeah. So I just want to review the first seven verses. You know, in chapter one, uh, we read that Paul set was set apart by God to be an apostle, you know, that God met him on the road to Damascus while he was crucifying Christians and murdering them, take them to jail.
And also talked about how God promised this gospel in the old covenant. So everything about Jesus was. prophesized in the old covenant. We read that Jesus was a descendant of David and that he was declared to be God by the resurrection of the dead. Amen. And uh, we talked a little bit that he wasn't declared with power when he died on the cross, which is the main message of of Christendom today.
But he was declared to be God by the resurrection of himself, which was very cool to go into Romans 1 verses 8 to 17, Kevin, to get the full picture and the impact of what Paul is saying, because really, just before I did this. and to say, you know, what is going on here? Why is he, why is he writing what he's writing?
I really had to dig deep into some verses to find out what is he talking about in verses 8 to 17. Jesus, this, this is crazy. You know, when you read this, even when I typed it out and read it in Matthew 10, 5 and 6, Jesus said to the disciples, he says, Do not go to the Gentiles or any town of the Samaritans, but rather go to the lost sheep of Israel.
Yep. This was his command. This is God himself commanding the disciples. Don't go to the Gentiles. The Jew first, then the Gentiles. Yeah. Only go to the Jews. And in Acts 12 and, 212 and Acts 2. 22, after the Holy Spirit came on the disciples who became apostles at Pentecost, Peter addresses all these people and he says, fellow Jews, and all of you who live in Jerusalem, and he said, fellow Israelites.
Listen to this. He is not talking to the Gentiles. He's only talking about the Jews. He's following Jesus's command of going to the Jews and not going to the Gentiles. And you really got to scratch your head. What verse was that? What verse was that? You know that's Acts 2 14? Where Peter says, fellow Jews in Acts 2.
22, and he says, fellow Israelites. I'm just following what Jesus said in Matthew 10, 5 and 6. That he said, do not go to the Gentiles or any town of the Samaritans, but rather go to the lost sheep of Israel. And you see that happening. You see Paul and Peter following that command. Until Peter goes up to the roof in Acts 10.
And Peter went up to the roof and he prayed and he fell into a trance. And he saw heaven open like a large sheet being let down to earth by its four corners. It contained all kinds of four footed animals, as well as reptiles and birds. Then a voice told him, Peter, get up, kill, and eat. Surely not, Lord, Peter said, I have never eaten anything impure or unclean.
The voice spoke to him a second time, do not call anything impure that God has made clean. And so Peter's like, what, are we talking about food here? You know, they, these were Orthodox Jews who followed, uh, their, their schedule for eating foods and types of foods perfectly. And God is telling Peter to eat what is not clean, what is not kosher.
And so he didn't know what to make of it until he understood that when they were with Cornelius in Cornelius's house. And Cornelius had a vision from an angel, and the angel told him, go get Peter. And Peter came with the centurion soldiers, and they were in a home, and something happened. The Holy Spirit came on Cornelius and all of the Gentiles that were with him.
And it says that they were astonished. Why were they astonished? Because the Gentiles did not pursue righteousness. Only the Jews pursued it. And it says that in Romans 9 30, the Gentiles who did not pursue righteousness have obtained a righteousness that is by faith. But the people of Israel who pursued the law as a way of righteousness have not obtained it.
Isn't this crazy? It's a huge slap in the face for, uh, Jewish people to, that are like hyper legalistic. with the law to read that huge slap in the face. Yeah, because, you know, Jews consider themselves the chosen people. Well, yeah, and they are. Well, they were just chosen first. And that's what we'll read in Romans 6 and 16 and 17.
First for the Jew and then the Gentile. Jews were chosen. Well, also the Gentiles were chosen. They were chosen second. Yes. Yes. That's all that means that anyone who believes and has chose to put their faith in Christ are the chosen. That's right. That's right. It's not, I mean, as much as God dealt with the nation of Israel, and I know that they're, you know, close to his heart.
He gave him the land, he gave him the book, you know, uh, and he gave him the law. He gave him the law. Gave him the law, but I do agree that there's, uh, you know, when you look at salvation, They're no better than we are because it's, it's all about Christ. It's all about being in Christ. You know, it's just that they had the first, they were the first ones to hear about God's plan.
They rejected it. Gentiles came in by faith, not by the law. And that's where we find ourselves today. Absolutely. And you know, that, that's what happened in Acts 28. Where it says in Acts 28, go to this people and say, you will be ever hearing, but never understanding. This is about the Jews. You will be ever seeing, but never perceiving.
For this people's heart, the Jews, have been calloused. They hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes. Otherwise, they may see with their eyes and hear with their ears, and I would heal them. Therefore, I want you to know that God's salvation has been sent to the Gentiles. And they will listen the good news man that I just when you were reading out thinking of the term stiff necked People well, the problem was is that they thought Kevin that their righteousness Came about by the law which God gave them But they made it a law of righteousness and the Gentiles as we read in Romans 9 30 did not pursue a law of righteousness, but have become righteous by faith.
Yes. Not by works, not by the law. And this is stunning to most people to even hear this today. Yeah. A lot of people don't really understand that huge aspect of God's plan. You know, God had a plan all along to the Jew first, they rejected it. Even in the Old Testament, it even goes back that far, you know, they, you know, God wanted them to go to all the nations and tell them, but, and they wouldn't, they kept it to themselves.
And you know, God was like, okay, you stiff neck people. Yeah. And they considered the Gentiles unclean. Yeah. You know, it says one of the laws of the 613 law. Is that in Acts 10 28, you could read this and Peter says to Cornelius when he's in the house with these Gentiles, he says, Are you aware it's against our law to associate or even visit a Gentile?
Right? Yeah, but God has shown me through the vision of the four corners with the unclean animals. That I shall not call anyone impure or unclean. Yeah, wasn't it Peter that got called out? Uh, because he was hanging out with the Gentiles, you know, but then when Paul came, he didn't hang out with them, and Paul called him out on it.
Exactly. I mean, wow. Yeah. So, that's where I wanted to give that back story, because when we read in Romans 8, And verses 8 and 9 and 10. You want to read that, Kevin? Romans 1, 8 through 10. First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you because your faith is being reported all over the world. God whom I serve with my whole heart in preaching the gospel of his son is my witness.
How constantly I remember you in my prayers at all times, and I pray that now at the last, by God's will, the way may be opened for me to come to you. All right, so what is he saying? That your faith is reported all over the world. He's talking about the Gentiles faith. It's being reported all over the world because.
They weren't, they were excluded. This is what, they were on the outs. It says in Ephesians, at one time, you were excluded from the promises and of God. The commonwealth of Israel. Yes, you, and this is Ephesians 2. 12. And you were excluded from the promises without hope and without God in the world. Chapter two, verse 13 in Ephesians, But now, In Christ, you were, who were once far away, talking about the Gentiles, have been brought near by the blood of Christ.
Beautiful. This, that's, that's a summary of, of Peter's vision, that this gospel was going to go to people who are excluded from the promises of God. God was going to also go to the Gentile as he had gone to the Jew. Yes, that's why their faith is being reported all over the world because it's like wow who would believe this Huge news That's right.
I'm gonna get it big big news. It depresses All right, so 11 to 13 I long to see you that that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to make you strong. That is that you and I may be mutually encouraged by each other's faith. You know, that's what's, what happens when you get together with a believer or you go to a conference with other believers and you see all these other people believing what you're believing and you're really mutually encouraged by each other.
Amen. Just when I do a podcast with you. I get very encouraged by your faith and knowing who you are. Absolutely. Feelings mutual. And it says, verse 13, I don't want you to be unaware, brothers and sisters, that I plan many times to come to you, but have been prevented from doing so until now, in order that I might I have a harvest among you, just as I have had among the other Gentiles.
So definitely you can see the direction of his message going to the Gentiles here. Mm hmm. And in verse 14 and 15, he says, but I am obligated to both Greeks and non Greeks, both to the wise and the foolish. And there, Kevin, I think, you know, he's mentioning Greeks and non Greeks. I really think he's referring to Gentiles and Jews here.
He just calls it, calls them something different, Greeks and non Greeks.
And then verse 15, it says, that is why I am so eager to preach the gospel also to you who are in Rome. So he preached to Gentiles. and other parts of the world. And now he's preaching the gospel to the Gentiles here who are in Rome. Again, it's, if we remember in Acts 28, he says the Jews would not listen and he's now.
the salvation. His message is now going to the Gentiles and they will listen. Absolutely. And we're off and running 2000 years ago. Yeah.
So here is the, what I think is the meat of the first chapter in verse 16 and 17. Mm hmm. Do you want to read that? I am not ashamed of the gospel because it is the power of God for salvation of everyone who believes, first for the Jew, then for the Gentile. For in the gospel, a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written, the righteous will live by faith.
All right, those are powerful words that are just really have real deep meaning. You know, Paul says, I'm not ashamed of the gospel. And don't forget, he was the head Pharisee. So if he thought back that I was once the head Pharisee, and if he ever thought that I was going to be preaching this gospel message of Jesus Christ, he would be embarrassed.
He would be ashamed. Oh yeah he would. But he's saying I'm not ashamed even though this is what I was doing, you know, in my past life. But it says that the power of God that brings salvation for all who believe. first to the Jew and then to the Gentile. So in verse 16, it talks about the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes first to the Jew and to the Gentile.
You know, we think of John 3, 16, John 3, 36, John 5, 24. That anyone who believes is born again has eternal life. And that, that's because, you know, the Spirit of God comes to live inside of you. That's the power of God. Amen. Power of God is Him living inside of us. Yep. Not around us, not behind us, not among us, but inside of us.
Yes. Yes. Absolutely. The living God. And again, first to the Jew and then to the Gentile. And that's how God planned it again. Jesus said, don't go to the Gentiles, go to the Jews only. That all switched in Acts 10. With the, with the Spirit of God coming on the Gentiles, the Jews wanted in Acts 15 to put the Gentiles back under the law.
Peter and Paul says, no, we couldn't obey the law. Why would we think the Gentiles could obey the law? And finally, again, in chapter, uh, 28 in Acts, Paul says, I'm going to the Gentiles, and they will listen. I love how it says, I know it's somewhere in there, it says, uh, you couldn't even obey the law yourself, and you want to put the Gentiles under the law, come on!
Now, that's real hypocrisy. Exactly. I mean, that goes on today. Right when somebody puts you back under the law and says, are you doing this? Are you going here? Are you did you get baptized? Are you given to the poor? You know, what's your service tithing? Yeah tithing and it's hypocritical Yes, you know, I as I was been reading this Chapter this week and just preparation for this.
I think one of my Realizations is how Paul is basically of course setting up the whole book of Romans in this first chapter He's just setting up the whole book and he's making this righteous Versus unrighteous and and this is kind of the beginning of it and You know, he goes on and we'll read this next week, but you know talking about you know, the unrighteousness This is the righteous up to now And how you can become righteous, then he's going to come into the unrighteous, and he just goes on and he can just continues to build the case, but it's like building blocks.
And, you know, as we go through the whole book of Romans, he just builds this. Absolutely rock solid case, uh, for salvation in Christ through faith and through belief. Yeah. You know, and that word righteousness that gets thrown around a lot and usually gets associated with self righteousness. Cause it makes people nervous when they hear righteousness.
Righteousness of God is the imputed right standing. Jesus is the only righteous one. He's the only right one. He's perfect and holy and blameless. And when he comes live inside of us by association, he makes us righteous. He makes us holy. He makes us blameless. He makes us perfect in God's sight. I'm so glad you said that because people listening to this may take that upon themselves to become righteous in their own strength.
And that is absolutely not what we're saying, but it's the imputed righteousness of Christ. It's a gift. It's a free gift as we read on in chapter three. Yeah, and that says in chapter 321, we'll get there probably in a month or so, but it says, but now apart from the law of righteousness of God has been made known, which the law and the prophets testified, you know, Abraham testified.
to this righteousness by faith because he believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness. Yes, absolutely, absolutely. He was the first one. Yeah, verse 22 chapter 3 says this righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. Yes. There's no difference between Jew and Gentile.
Anymore. None. The wall has been broken down. The wall of hostility has been broken down and Kevin, read Romans 4 24 there. Sure. God will credit righteousness for us who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead. Man, that's, that's the whole enchilada right there, man. Yeah, if we believe that God rose Jesus from the dead, and that's so crucial, we're not just talking about Jesus dying on the cross.
As good as that is, as important as that is for us, that our sins are taken away, we're talking about faith in the resurrection, believing that a dead man named Jesus is now alive and wants to come live inside of you. Yeah. Now you're saved from your condition, which was spiritual death. You know, we have a bigger problem than being a sinner in need of forgiveness.
That's a big problem. But our bigger problem is that we're spiritually dead and we need life. And the only way to get that. is through faith in Jesus, where we become righteous or right with God. You know, uh, there's another cool, I just, uh, well, I don't hate because I love The Chosen, but I'm making all these references to The Chosen.
People, please watch that, uh, series. It is awesome, but there is a really cool scene in it. Often they will, at the very beginning of the show, they will kind of do a story of the Old Testament. And remember when the nation of Israel, I don't want to get into the whole story, but they were getting, they were dying because they were being, uh, eaten by snakes.
And Moses puts, uh, a snake on a pole. Okay, and Aaron's like, you know, they're dying. They're left and right. I can't even bear fast enough What are you doing putting a stake on the pole? And he's and and he says I'm just doing what God told me What you know, I can't question it. We just got through with the Red Sea, you know I'm not questioning God anymore.
He says do something. I'm gonna do it But he says whoever looks at this snake as I walk through the camp All you have to do is look up and look at the snake and then you will be saved You know saved in life. You're you know, you're physically saved. Okay, and Uh, that's a, that's a foreshadowing to our faith.
All we have to do is look up and believe in Christ. There's no, no, like, do 10 things to become righteous. It's just look up, believe, and receive. And then once you're righteous, there's nothing we have to do to stay righteous. I mean, that's sometimes is a bigger stumbling stone for people once they are saved is thinking they need to stay saved or they go, you know, when they sin, they go out of fellowship with God and they ask God to forgive them.
And he comes back and it's like a, like a big roller coaster. It's a terrible life. It's a roller coaster. You're saved. You're not saved. You're in the fellowship. You're not in the fellowship. No, this is imputed righteousness, and that's when verse 17 says, For in the gospel, the righteousness of God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it has been written, the righteous will live by faith.
Yes, that's, uh. Romans 1 17. Yeah, so it's an amazing thing. Um, most people as Hebrews 5 13 talks about are not acquainted with these teachings about righteousness. Hebrews 5 13 says anyone who lives on milk still being an infinite is not equated with acquainted. With the teaching about righteousness, it's a stumbling stone to the, but really, if we soften our hearts and realize that once we're saved, we're saved, completely can't lose our salvation.
We don't become unrighteous once we are right with God. It is always and forever. Then really peace can begin and contentment in your life could, you know, it can actually take root in your life. And we could talk more and more about that, but, uh, friends, please just listen in and we'll unpack. this awesome truth more and more as we dig deeper into Romans and learn more about God's lavishing his love on every one of us who just look up to Christ and believe.
Thank you for listening to Grace Coach. If you want to connect with us, we would love to engage with you. Email us at thegracecoach at gmail. com Visit our Facebook page or visit our website gracecoach. org
Transcript of Romans 1:8-17 Podcast
Want to discover your freedom in Christ? Then listen in as Mike Stone and Kevin Smith talk about it today on Grace Coach. Hello, this is Mike with Grace Coach. It is good to be here and I'm with Kevin Smith. What's up, Mike? Yeah, I am excited about this podcast. I've been Looking at chapter 1, verses 8 to 17, and there's a lot here, Kevin.
Well, I'm kind of surprised we're not going to get through chapter 1 in two weeks. I mean, it's going to take us three weeks to get through it, maybe not even three weeks. But, uh, you know what? God's timing is perfect, I guess. Hell yeah. So I just want to review the first seven verses. You know, in chapter one, uh, we read that Paul set was set apart by God to be an apostle, you know, that God met him on the road to Damascus while he was crucifying Christians and murdering them, take them to jail.
And also talked about how God promised this gospel in the old covenant. So everything about Jesus was. prophesized in the old covenant. We read that Jesus was a descendant of David and that he was declared to be God by the resurrection of the dead. Amen. And uh, we talked a little bit that he wasn't declared with power when he died on the cross, which is the main message of of Christendom today.
But he was declared to be God by the resurrection of himself, which was very cool to go into Romans 1 verses 8 to 17, Kevin, to get the full picture and the impact of what Paul is saying, because really, just before I did this. and to say, you know, what is going on here? Why is he, why is he writing what he's writing?
I really had to dig deep into some verses to find out what is he talking about in verses 8 to 17. Jesus, this, this is crazy. You know, when you read this, even when I typed it out and read it in Matthew 10, 5 and 6, Jesus said to the disciples, he says, Do not go to the Gentiles or any town of the Samaritans, but rather go to the lost sheep of Israel.
Yep. This was his command. This is God himself commanding the disciples. Don't go to the Gentiles. The Jew first, then the Gentiles. Yeah. Only go to the Jews. And in Acts 12 and, 212 and Acts 2. 22, after the Holy Spirit came on the disciples who became apostles at Pentecost, Peter addresses all these people and he says, fellow Jews, and all of you who live in Jerusalem, and he said, fellow Israelites.
Listen to this. He is not talking to the Gentiles. He's only talking about the Jews. He's following Jesus's command of going to the Jews and not going to the Gentiles. And you really got to scratch your head. What verse was that? What verse was that? You know that's Acts 2 14? Where Peter says, fellow Jews in Acts 2.
22, and he says, fellow Israelites. I'm just following what Jesus said in Matthew 10, 5 and 6. That he said, do not go to the Gentiles or any town of the Samaritans, but rather go to the lost sheep of Israel. And you see that happening. You see Paul and Peter following that command. Until Peter goes up to the roof in Acts 10.
And Peter went up to the roof and he prayed and he fell into a trance. And he saw heaven open like a large sheet being let down to earth by its four corners. It contained all kinds of four footed animals, as well as reptiles and birds. Then a voice told him, Peter, get up, kill, and eat. Surely not, Lord, Peter said, I have never eaten anything impure or unclean.
The voice spoke to him a second time, do not call anything impure that God has made clean. And so Peter's like, what, are we talking about food here? You know, they, these were Orthodox Jews who followed, uh, their, their schedule for eating foods and types of foods perfectly. And God is telling Peter to eat what is not clean, what is not kosher.
And so he didn't know what to make of it until he understood that when they were with Cornelius in Cornelius's house. And Cornelius had a vision from an angel, and the angel told him, go get Peter. And Peter came with the centurion soldiers, and they were in a home, and something happened. The Holy Spirit came on Cornelius and all of the Gentiles that were with him.
And it says that they were astonished. Why were they astonished? Because the Gentiles did not pursue righteousness. Only the Jews pursued it. And it says that in Romans 9 30, the Gentiles who did not pursue righteousness have obtained a righteousness that is by faith. But the people of Israel who pursued the law as a way of righteousness have not obtained it.
Isn't this crazy? It's a huge slap in the face for, uh, Jewish people to, that are like hyper legalistic. with the law to read that huge slap in the face. Yeah, because, you know, Jews consider themselves the chosen people. Well, yeah, and they are. Well, they were just chosen first. And that's what we'll read in Romans 6 and 16 and 17.
First for the Jew and then the Gentile. Jews were chosen. Well, also the Gentiles were chosen. They were chosen second. Yes. Yes. That's all that means that anyone who believes and has chose to put their faith in Christ are the chosen. That's right. That's right. It's not, I mean, as much as God dealt with the nation of Israel, and I know that they're, you know, close to his heart.
He gave him the land, he gave him the book, you know, uh, and he gave him the law. He gave him the law. Gave him the law, but I do agree that there's, uh, you know, when you look at salvation, They're no better than we are because it's, it's all about Christ. It's all about being in Christ. You know, it's just that they had the first, they were the first ones to hear about God's plan.
They rejected it. Gentiles came in by faith, not by the law. And that's where we find ourselves today. Absolutely. And you know, that, that's what happened in Acts 28. Where it says in Acts 28, go to this people and say, you will be ever hearing, but never understanding. This is about the Jews. You will be ever seeing, but never perceiving.
For this people's heart, the Jews, have been calloused. They hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes. Otherwise, they may see with their eyes and hear with their ears, and I would heal them. Therefore, I want you to know that God's salvation has been sent to the Gentiles. And they will listen the good news man that I just when you were reading out thinking of the term stiff necked People well, the problem was is that they thought Kevin that their righteousness Came about by the law which God gave them But they made it a law of righteousness and the Gentiles as we read in Romans 9 30 did not pursue a law of righteousness, but have become righteous by faith.
Yes. Not by works, not by the law. And this is stunning to most people to even hear this today. Yeah. A lot of people don't really understand that huge aspect of God's plan. You know, God had a plan all along to the Jew first, they rejected it. Even in the Old Testament, it even goes back that far, you know, they, you know, God wanted them to go to all the nations and tell them, but, and they wouldn't, they kept it to themselves.
And you know, God was like, okay, you stiff neck people. Yeah. And they considered the Gentiles unclean. Yeah. You know, it says one of the laws of the 613 law. Is that in Acts 10 28, you could read this and Peter says to Cornelius when he's in the house with these Gentiles, he says, Are you aware it's against our law to associate or even visit a Gentile?
Right? Yeah, but God has shown me through the vision of the four corners with the unclean animals. That I shall not call anyone impure or unclean. Yeah, wasn't it Peter that got called out? Uh, because he was hanging out with the Gentiles, you know, but then when Paul came, he didn't hang out with them, and Paul called him out on it.
Exactly. I mean, wow. Yeah. So, that's where I wanted to give that back story, because when we read in Romans 8, And verses 8 and 9 and 10. You want to read that, Kevin? Romans 1, 8 through 10. First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you because your faith is being reported all over the world. God whom I serve with my whole heart in preaching the gospel of his son is my witness.
How constantly I remember you in my prayers at all times, and I pray that now at the last, by God's will, the way may be opened for me to come to you. All right, so what is he saying? That your faith is reported all over the world. He's talking about the Gentiles faith. It's being reported all over the world because.
They weren't, they were excluded. This is what, they were on the outs. It says in Ephesians, at one time, you were excluded from the promises and of God. The commonwealth of Israel. Yes, you, and this is Ephesians 2. 12. And you were excluded from the promises without hope and without God in the world. Chapter two, verse 13 in Ephesians, But now, In Christ, you were, who were once far away, talking about the Gentiles, have been brought near by the blood of Christ.
Beautiful. This, that's, that's a summary of, of Peter's vision, that this gospel was going to go to people who are excluded from the promises of God. God was going to also go to the Gentile as he had gone to the Jew. Yes, that's why their faith is being reported all over the world because it's like wow who would believe this Huge news That's right.
I'm gonna get it big big news. It depresses All right, so 11 to 13 I long to see you that that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to make you strong. That is that you and I may be mutually encouraged by each other's faith. You know, that's what's, what happens when you get together with a believer or you go to a conference with other believers and you see all these other people believing what you're believing and you're really mutually encouraged by each other.
Amen. Just when I do a podcast with you. I get very encouraged by your faith and knowing who you are. Absolutely. Feelings mutual. And it says, verse 13, I don't want you to be unaware, brothers and sisters, that I plan many times to come to you, but have been prevented from doing so until now, in order that I might I have a harvest among you, just as I have had among the other Gentiles.
So definitely you can see the direction of his message going to the Gentiles here. Mm hmm. And in verse 14 and 15, he says, but I am obligated to both Greeks and non Greeks, both to the wise and the foolish. And there, Kevin, I think, you know, he's mentioning Greeks and non Greeks. I really think he's referring to Gentiles and Jews here.
He just calls it, calls them something different, Greeks and non Greeks.
And then verse 15, it says, that is why I am so eager to preach the gospel also to you who are in Rome. So he preached to Gentiles. and other parts of the world. And now he's preaching the gospel to the Gentiles here who are in Rome. Again, it's, if we remember in Acts 28, he says the Jews would not listen and he's now.
the salvation. His message is now going to the Gentiles and they will listen. Absolutely. And we're off and running 2000 years ago. Yeah.
So here is the, what I think is the meat of the first chapter in verse 16 and 17. Mm hmm. Do you want to read that? I am not ashamed of the gospel because it is the power of God for salvation of everyone who believes, first for the Jew, then for the Gentile. For in the gospel, a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written, the righteous will live by faith.
All right, those are powerful words that are just really have real deep meaning. You know, Paul says, I'm not ashamed of the gospel. And don't forget, he was the head Pharisee. So if he thought back that I was once the head Pharisee, and if he ever thought that I was going to be preaching this gospel message of Jesus Christ, he would be embarrassed.
He would be ashamed. Oh yeah he would. But he's saying I'm not ashamed even though this is what I was doing, you know, in my past life. But it says that the power of God that brings salvation for all who believe. first to the Jew and then to the Gentile. So in verse 16, it talks about the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes first to the Jew and to the Gentile.
You know, we think of John 3, 16, John 3, 36, John 5, 24. That anyone who believes is born again has eternal life. And that, that's because, you know, the Spirit of God comes to live inside of you. That's the power of God. Amen. Power of God is Him living inside of us. Yep. Not around us, not behind us, not among us, but inside of us.
Yes. Yes. Absolutely. The living God. And again, first to the Jew and then to the Gentile. And that's how God planned it again. Jesus said, don't go to the Gentiles, go to the Jews only. That all switched in Acts 10. With the, with the Spirit of God coming on the Gentiles, the Jews wanted in Acts 15 to put the Gentiles back under the law.
Peter and Paul says, no, we couldn't obey the law. Why would we think the Gentiles could obey the law? And finally, again, in chapter, uh, 28 in Acts, Paul says, I'm going to the Gentiles, and they will listen. I love how it says, I know it's somewhere in there, it says, uh, you couldn't even obey the law yourself, and you want to put the Gentiles under the law, come on!
Now, that's real hypocrisy. Exactly. I mean, that goes on today. Right when somebody puts you back under the law and says, are you doing this? Are you going here? Are you did you get baptized? Are you given to the poor? You know, what's your service tithing? Yeah tithing and it's hypocritical Yes, you know, I as I was been reading this Chapter this week and just preparation for this.
I think one of my Realizations is how Paul is basically of course setting up the whole book of Romans in this first chapter He's just setting up the whole book and he's making this righteous Versus unrighteous and and this is kind of the beginning of it and You know, he goes on and we'll read this next week, but you know talking about you know, the unrighteousness This is the righteous up to now And how you can become righteous, then he's going to come into the unrighteous, and he just goes on and he can just continues to build the case, but it's like building blocks.
And, you know, as we go through the whole book of Romans, he just builds this. Absolutely rock solid case, uh, for salvation in Christ through faith and through belief. Yeah. You know, and that word righteousness that gets thrown around a lot and usually gets associated with self righteousness. Cause it makes people nervous when they hear righteousness.
Righteousness of God is the imputed right standing. Jesus is the only righteous one. He's the only right one. He's perfect and holy and blameless. And when he comes live inside of us by association, he makes us righteous. He makes us holy. He makes us blameless. He makes us perfect in God's sight. I'm so glad you said that because people listening to this may take that upon themselves to become righteous in their own strength.
And that is absolutely not what we're saying, but it's the imputed righteousness of Christ. It's a gift. It's a free gift as we read on in chapter three. Yeah, and that says in chapter 321, we'll get there probably in a month or so, but it says, but now apart from the law of righteousness of God has been made known, which the law and the prophets testified, you know, Abraham testified.
to this righteousness by faith because he believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness. Yes, absolutely, absolutely. He was the first one. Yeah, verse 22 chapter 3 says this righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. Yes. There's no difference between Jew and Gentile.
Anymore. None. The wall has been broken down. The wall of hostility has been broken down and Kevin, read Romans 4 24 there. Sure. God will credit righteousness for us who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead. Man, that's, that's the whole enchilada right there, man. Yeah, if we believe that God rose Jesus from the dead, and that's so crucial, we're not just talking about Jesus dying on the cross.
As good as that is, as important as that is for us, that our sins are taken away, we're talking about faith in the resurrection, believing that a dead man named Jesus is now alive and wants to come live inside of you. Yeah. Now you're saved from your condition, which was spiritual death. You know, we have a bigger problem than being a sinner in need of forgiveness.
That's a big problem. But our bigger problem is that we're spiritually dead and we need life. And the only way to get that. is through faith in Jesus, where we become righteous or right with God. You know, uh, there's another cool, I just, uh, well, I don't hate because I love The Chosen, but I'm making all these references to The Chosen.
People, please watch that, uh, series. It is awesome, but there is a really cool scene in it. Often they will, at the very beginning of the show, they will kind of do a story of the Old Testament. And remember when the nation of Israel, I don't want to get into the whole story, but they were getting, they were dying because they were being, uh, eaten by snakes.
And Moses puts, uh, a snake on a pole. Okay, and Aaron's like, you know, they're dying. They're left and right. I can't even bear fast enough What are you doing putting a stake on the pole? And he's and and he says I'm just doing what God told me What you know, I can't question it. We just got through with the Red Sea, you know I'm not questioning God anymore.
He says do something. I'm gonna do it But he says whoever looks at this snake as I walk through the camp All you have to do is look up and look at the snake and then you will be saved You know saved in life. You're you know, you're physically saved. Okay, and Uh, that's a, that's a foreshadowing to our faith.
All we have to do is look up and believe in Christ. There's no, no, like, do 10 things to become righteous. It's just look up, believe, and receive. And then once you're righteous, there's nothing we have to do to stay righteous. I mean, that's sometimes is a bigger stumbling stone for people once they are saved is thinking they need to stay saved or they go, you know, when they sin, they go out of fellowship with God and they ask God to forgive them.
And he comes back and it's like a, like a big roller coaster. It's a terrible life. It's a roller coaster. You're saved. You're not saved. You're in the fellowship. You're not in the fellowship. No, this is imputed righteousness, and that's when verse 17 says, For in the gospel, the righteousness of God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it has been written, the righteous will live by faith.
Yes, that's, uh. Romans 1 17. Yeah, so it's an amazing thing. Um, most people as Hebrews 5 13 talks about are not acquainted with these teachings about righteousness. Hebrews 5 13 says anyone who lives on milk still being an infinite is not equated with acquainted. With the teaching about righteousness, it's a stumbling stone to the, but really, if we soften our hearts and realize that once we're saved, we're saved, completely can't lose our salvation.
We don't become unrighteous once we are right with God. It is always and forever. Then really peace can begin and contentment in your life could, you know, it can actually take root in your life. And we could talk more and more about that, but, uh, friends, please just listen in and we'll unpack. this awesome truth more and more as we dig deeper into Romans and learn more about God's lavishing his love on every one of us who just look up to Christ and believe.
Thank you for listening to Grace Coach. If you want to connect with us, we would love to engage with you. Email us at thegracecoach at gmail. com Visit our Facebook page or visit our website gracecoach. org
