Central focus of Christian Theology Archives

The Central Focus of Christian Theology 2

In part one, we established that it is the book of Romans. We looked at the Gospel and Christ’s place in it – as well as our mandate to spread the Good News. The apostle Paul also revealed what darkness lies ahead for the naysayers.

Now, Paul continues by speaking about faith…

We cannot earn our salvation. It is a gift of God’s grace. And if a gift, there can be no exchange. Salvation is not something that we accomplish. Faith is the vehicle in which we receive the gift of salvation. Faith is not a doing; it is a being and a having.

Faith is not something that we produce; it is a gift that we receive when we accept Christ as the living Son of God:

(…let us run with endurance the race God has set before us. We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith. Heb. 12:1, 2. NLT)

Jesus gifts us with faith to nurture our eternal relationship with Him. God uses our acceptance and practice of our faith to ‘justify’ (from the Greek dikaioo, meaning to ‘make innocent’) us in His eyes through the Propitiate (from the Greek hilasterion, meaning ‘an atoning victim’), i.e., Christ upon the cross.

Paul begins:

For the Scriptures tell us, “Abraham believed God, and God counted him as righteous because of his faith.” Rm. 4:3 NLT

But how did this happen? Was he counted as righteous only after he was circumcised, or was it before he was circumcised?

Circumcision was a sign that Abraham already had faith and that God had already accepted him and was declared to be righteous – even before he was circumcised. So Abraham is the spiritual father of those who have faith but have not been circumcised. They are counted as righteous because of their faith. Rm. 4:10, 11. NLT

Clearly, God’s promise is to give the whole earth to Abraham and his descendants was not based upon his obedience to God’s law, but on a right relationship with God that comes by faith. Rm 4:13 NLT

Thus, Abraham’s faith in God purchased the blessing of faith for all future descendants who would embrace it by coming to Christ:

And when God counted him as righteous, it wasn’t just for Abraham’s benefit. It was recorded for our benefit, too, assuring us that God will also count us as righteous if we believe in him, the one who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead. He was handed over to die because of our sins, and he was raised to life to make us right with God. Rm. 4:23 – 25. NLT

Faith is what unifies us as children of God. It is the centerpiece of God’s covenant promise:

Therefore, since we have been made right in God’s sight by faith, we have peace with God because of what Jesus Christ our Lord has done for us.

Because of our faith, Christ has brought us into this place of undeserved privilege where we now stand, and we confidently and joyfully look forward to sharing God’s glory.

We can rejoice too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance. And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation. And this hope will not lead to disappointment. For we know how dearly God loves us, because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love. Rm. 5:1 – 5. NLT

When we were utterly helpless, Christ came at just the right time and died for us sinners. Rm. 5:6 NLT

…God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die while we were still sinners. And since we have been made right in God’s sight by the blood of Christ, he will certainly save us from God’s condemnation.

For since our friendship with God was restored by the death of his Son while we were still his enemies, we will certainly be saved through the life of his Son. Rm. 5:8 – 10. NLT

God is love. He is merciful. Therefore, Love is merciful. Even when we were enemies of God, (enslaved to the ways of the world), He opens His arms through the arms of His Son and scoops up everyone who is willing to be the recipient of His love.

In His limitless mercy, Jehovah sacrificed His Son so that we could be transformed, cleansed of worldly enslavements by His grace, to become children of God, who are called to spend eternity in His love…

When you have a better understanding of what you are placing your faith in, it will be strengthened. The apostle dives right in to do just that, by clarifying what Jesus did, and what it meant.

First and foremost, God sent His Son so that He could undo the sin of Adam, and point you heavenward:

When Adam sinned, sin entered the world. Adam’s sin brought death, so death spread to everyone, for everyone sinned. Rm. 5:12 NLT

But there is a great difference between Adam’s sin and God’s gracious gift. For the sin of this one man, Adam, brought death to many. But even greater is God’s wonderful grace and his gift of forgiveness to many through this other man, Jesus Christ.

And the result of God’s gracious gift is very different from that one man’s sin. For Adam’s sin led to condemnation, but God’s free gift leads to our being made right with God, even though we are guilty of many sins.

For the sin of this one man, Adam, caused death to rule over many. But even greater is God’s wonderful grace and his gift of righteousness, for all who receive it will live in triumph over sin and death through this one man, Jesus Christ. Rm. 5:15 – 17. NLT

So just as sin ruled over all people and brought them to death, now God’s wonderful grace rules instead, giving us right standing with God and resulting in eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Rm. 5:21 NLT

Through Jehovah’s clemency and grace, He struck down your Adam-derived death sentence by the free gift of Jesus Christ. And the suspension of your sentence is eternal…

If Christ has done all this work and saved us, do we then have liberty to willfully sin?

…should we keep on sinning so that God can show us more and more of his wonderful grace? Of course not! Since we have died to sin, how can we continue to live in it? Or have you forgotten that when we were joined with Christ Jesus in baptism, we joined him in his death? For we died and were buried with Christ by baptism. And just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glorious power of the Father, now we also may live new lives. Rm. 6:1-4. NLT

We know that our old sinful selves were crucified with Christ so that sin might lose its power in our lives. We are no longer slaves to sin. For when we died with Christ we were set free from the power of sin. Rm. 6:6, 7. NLT

When he died, he died once to break the power of sin. But now that he lives, he lives for the glory of God. So you should also consider yourselves to be dead to the power of sin and alive to God through Christ Jesus.

Do not let sin control the way you live; do not give in to sinful desires. Do not let any part of your body become an instrument of evil to serve sin. Instead, give yourselves completely to God, for you were dead, but now you have new life. So use your whole body as an instrument to do what is right for the glory of God. Sin is no longer your master, for you no longer live under the requirements of the law. Instead, you live under the freedom of God’s grace. Rm. 6:10 – 14. NLT

Jesus died for all our sins, for all time. Those who receive Him obtain the transformation of righteousness – literally becoming new men and women in Christ. In response, we are called to walk in God’s ways as best we can.

However, our flesh will not give up its cravings. There will be moments when our will is weak and we give into them. Yet we can always tap into the resurrection power of Christ to help us oppose sin and reduce our transgressions to a minimum. God promises us that He will always make a way to escape our potential sins.[1]

If we do slip, (and we will, repeatedly), we can present ourselves to God with confession and repentance for a cleaned slate…

Next time, we’ll see that even Paul wars with sin.

Goodnight and God bless.

[1] See also: 1 Co. 10:13

The Central Focus Of Christian Theology

The Book of Romans

In the winter of 57 A.D., Paul traveled to the city of Corinth, where he concluded his third missionary journey. While in Corinth, the apostle penned another letter, this one to be circulated amongst the churches in Rome. Who planted those churches is unknown. This letter is now known as the biblical book of Romans.

Paul had preached for over two decades now – whereby God continually strengthened and clarified His message through the apostle. He is now using Paul to help unify the Roman churches, some Jewish, others consisting of Gentiles. In the book of Romans, he brings a far greater depth of understanding of Jehovah’s plan, through an extremely detailed exposition of the Gospel.

Indeed, the book of Romans could be called the ‘Central Focus of Christian theology’. Paul begins by referring to the Gospel, and Jesus’ place in it:

God promised this Good News long ago through his prophets in the holy Scriptures. The Good News is about his Son. In his earthly life he was born into King David’s family line, and he was shown to be the Son of God when he was raised from the dead by the power of the Holy Spirit.

He is Jesus Christ our Lord. Through Christ, God has given us the privilege and authority as apostles to tell Gentiles everywhere what God has done for them, so that they will believe and obey him, bringing glory to his name. Rm. 1:2 – 6. NLT

The apostle is saying that Christ’s human lineage was from that of the line of King David; and that He fulfilled all the prophecies that the Holy Spirit-inspired prophets wrote – all pointing to the fact that He is the Messiah.

Also, Paul reminds us, that at the moment God resurrected Jesus through the Holy Spirit, His Son came into His kingship. Finally, we see that we, like the apostles, have been granted the grace of God, through Christ, to be like apostles ourselves – equipped to spread the Gospel over the entire planet.

The way to empower our outreach for achieving a unified body of Christ, is to persist in our awareness of the purpose and power of the Gospel and being obedient to it, so that we can stay on the right side of God’s judgment:

For I am not ashamed of this Good News about Christ. It is the power of God at work, saving everyone who believes – the Jew first and also the Gentile. This Good News tells us how God makes us right in his sight. This is accomplished from start to finish by faith. As the Scriptures say, “It is through faith that a righteous person has life.” (See Hab. 2:4); Rm. 1:16, 17. NLT

Our obedience to the Gospel allows us to take on the righteousness of Christ as our own – opening the doors to salvation. ‘…the Jew first’… refers to the salvation promise that God first made to His original children, who were then supposed to spread the Good News to all peoples (Gentiles). Alas, most of the Jews rejected Christ.

Lastly, we see that salvation requires faith in Jesus.

From the beginning, God has laid out His will for all to see. Those who are unwilling to receive the Good News are without excuse:

But God shows his anger from heaven against all sinful, wicked people who suppress the truth by their wickedness. They know the truth about God because he has made it obvious to them.

For ever since the world was created, people have seen the earth and sky. Through everything God made, they can clearly see his invisible qualities – his eternal power and divine nature. So, they have no excuse for not knowing God. Rm. 1:18 – 20. NLT

Thus, Jehovah has left identifiable and irrefutable aspects of Himself within everything that He has created. He has placed a ‘knowing’ of this truth in the hearts of everyone – whereby He calls each of us to Himself, through His Son.

Unfortunately, there will be many throughout the ages that will remain stiff-necked, with hearts of stone, who refuse to answer that call:

Yes, they knew God, but wouldn’t worship him as God or even give him thanks. And they began to think up foolish ideas of what God was like. As a result, their minds became dark and confused.

Claiming to be wise, they instead became utter fools. And instead of worshiping the glorious, ever-living God, they worshiped idols made to look like mere people and birds and animals and reptiles. Rm. 1:21 – 23. NLT

And idolatry always results in severe consequences:

So God abandoned them to do whatever shameful things their hearts desired. As a result, they did vile and degrading things with each other’s bodies. Rm. 1:24 NLT

They traded the truth about God for a lie. So they worshipped and served the things God created instead of the Creator himself…That is why God abandoned them to their shameful desires. Even the women turned against the natural way to have sex and indulged in sex with each other. And the men, instead of having normal sexual relations with women, burned with lust for each other. Men did shameful things with other men, and as a result of this sin, they suffered within themselves the penalty they deserved. Rm. 1:25 – 27. NLT

Since they thought it foolish to acknowledge God, he abandoned them to their foolish thinking and let them do things that should never be done. Their lives became full of every kind of wickedness, sin, greed, hate, envy, murder, quarreling, deception, malicious behavior, and gossip. They are backstabbers, haters of God, insolent, proud, and boastful. They invent new ways of sinning, and they disobey their parents. They refuse to understand, break their promises, are heartless, and have no mercy. They know God’s justice requires that those who do these things deserve to die, yet they do them anyway. Worse yet, they encourage others to do them, too. Rm. 1:28 – 32. NLT

People are still like this today – addicted to their sin and worshiping others who do the same, sowing the seeds of their own destruction. Also, just in case people say to you that the Bible does not address homosexuality as a sin, you have just read where it does.

We must not join in with those who are hellbent, because their outcome is not a good one:

You may think you can condemn such people, but you are just as bad, and you have no excuse! When you say they are wicked and should be punished, you are condemning yourself, for you who judge others do these very same things. And we know that God, in his justice, will punish anyone who does such things. Rm. 2:1, 2. NLT

…because you are stubborn and refuse to turn from your sin, you are storing up terrible punishment for yourself. For a day of anger is coming, when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed. He will judge everyone according to what they have done.

He will give eternal life to those who keep on doing good, seeking after the glory, honor, and immortality that God offers. But he will pour out his anger and wrath on those who live for themselves, who refuse to obey the truth and instead live lives of wickedness. There will be trouble for everyone doing what is evil – for the Jew first and also for the Gentile…For God does not show favoritism. Rm. 2:5 – 9 & 11. NLT

We don’t want to rub shoulders with willful sinners. Everything that you do has consequences…

Paul continues, first addressing the Jews specifically, telling them that they must obey the Mosaic Law to prep themselves for salvation. And because God does not discriminate, He also placed the knowledge of right and wrong in the hearts of the Gentiles. They too must answer for what they do with that knowledge (see Dt. 30:14):

Even Gentiles, who do not have God’s written law, show that they know his law when they instinctively obey it, even without having heard it. They demonstrate that God’s law is written in their hearts, for their own conscience and thoughts either accuse them or tell them they are doing right. And this is the message I proclaim – that the day is coming when God, through Christ Jesus, will judge everyone’s secret life. Rm. 2:14 – 16. NLT

LISTEN UP! Paul is about to reveal the core message of the New Covenant. The ultimate consideration regarding salvation, is about what one must have to be reconciled with God. It is not the Law. (Here is where the apostle begins to try to unify the Jews and the Gentiles):

For no one can ever be made right with God by doing what the law commands. The law simply shows us how sinful we are. Rm. 3:20 NLT

But now God has shown us a way to be made right with him without keeping the requirements of the law, as was promised in the writings of Moses and the prophets long ago. We are made right with God by placing our faith in Jesus Christ. And this is true for everyone who believes, no matter who we are.

For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard. Yet God, in his grace, freely makes us right in his sight. He did this through Christ Jesus when he freed us from the penalty for our sins. For God presented Jesus as the sacrifice for sin. People are made right with God when they believe that Jesus sacrificed his life, shedding his blood.

This sacrifice shows that God was being fair when he held back and did not punish those who sinned in the past, for he was looking ahead and including them in what he would do in this present time. God did this to demonstrate his righteousness, for he himself is fair and just, and he makes sinners right in his sight when they believe in Jesus. Rm. 3:21 – 6. NLT

So we are made right with God through faith and not by obeying the law. Rm. 3:28 NLT

The Mosaic Law demonstrated what perfect holiness would look like. In so doing, it also showed the impossibility of perfectly meeting those demands, due to the fallibility of our humanity. Thus, it pointed the way to our need for a righteous Messiah to remove that burden – one in whom rested the cleanser for our sins. And that cleansing, which facilitates our unification, is given to everyone who places their faith in the blood of Jesus…

If we look again at the last Scripture, it would seem to infer that it diminishes the validity of the Mosaic Law. But is that really the case?

Well then, if we emphasize faith, does this mean that we can forget about the law? Of course not! In fact, only when we have faith do we truly fulfill the law. Rm. 3:31 NLT

The Law is valid, yet it is impossible to be in perfect obedience to every letter of it, at all times. That impossibility is what points to our need for Christ, which allows us to be perfect vicariously through His righteousness. Realize too, that Jesus only bestows that righteousness upon those who have faith in who He is and in what He’s done.

To be continued…