THE GOSPEL, THE POWER OF GOD

Romans 1:8-32

Key Verse: 16

“I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then, for the Gentile.”

Today’s passage shows us St. Paul’s earnest desire to visit Rome. The reason why he wants to visit Rome was to strengthen the Christians in Rome and to preach the gospel to Romans and Gentiles. Today’s passage has two parts: first, Paul’s strong sense of obligation toward all people in the world (8-17); and second, the evils of the world without God (18-32). As we study Paul’s shepherd heart for the Romans through today’s passage, let us restore our shepherd heart for Post-modern intellectuals. Let us also know what the gospel truly is and preach the gospel with clear conviction like Apostle Paul.

I.  I am obligated both to Greeks and non-Greeks (8-17).

Verses 8-10 describe Apostle Paul’s thanksgiving and prayer topics for the Christians in Rome. First of all, Paul thanked God for the faith of Christians in Rome. The Christians in Rome kept their faith in Jesus and established the Roman church which secured the foothold of the gospel work for the whole world. So Paul was very thankful, although Paul had never met most of them before.

What was Paul’s prayer topic for them? Look at verses 9-10. “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 last by God’s will the way may be opened for me to come to you.” Paul earnestly prayed to go to Rome as a missionary. God was his witness who could prove how much Paul prayed at all times for the Christians in Rome. He prayed, prayed and prayed for God’s people in Rome and God’s work to pioneer Rome.

Verses 11-15 show us that Paul was obligated both to Romans who lived in the developed Greek culture and to people who lived in the underdeveloped non-Greek culture. Wow! Paul had a mission vision for the whole world. Actually, Paul began to have a vision to pioneer Rome after his third mission journey. Particularly in Ephesus, Paul had daily discussions with those who came to Bible study in the Tyrannus lecture hall for two years. Through the Tyrannus hall ministry, all the Jews and Greeks living in the province of Asia heard the word of the Lord, and God did extraordinary miracles through Paul. Experiencing this great work of God, Paul began to have a burning desire and great vision to serve God’s world mission work. He said, “I must visit Rome also” (Ac 19:21). What then was Paul’s purpose to visit Rome?

In verses 11-12, Paul wanted to impart to them some spiritual gift to make them strong and to have mural encouragement. And he also wanted to have the harvest of the gospel work just as he had had among the other gentiles (14). In verses 14-15, Paul confessed that he was obligated to all people on earth, and that is why he was eager to preach the gospel to people in Rome.

Let’s read verses 14-15. “I am obligated both to Greeks and non-Greeks, both to the wise and the foolish. That is why I am so eager to preach the gospel also to you who are at Rome.” Here the word “obligated” in Greek is “opheiletes” which means “indebted.” So KJV translates the phrase “I am obligated…” as “I am debtor…” Paul felt indebted to God who forgave his sins. He felt that he was a debtor. Matthew 18:24-35 is Jesus’ parable. A man owed ten thousand talents to his king. It is about 20 billion dollars in our currency. There was no way for him to pay back the king even if he would sell all his property and family members as slaves. So he fell on his knees before the king and said, “Be patient with me and I will pay back everything.” But in reality, it was impossible for him to pay back the king. Then the king took pity on him and canceled all the debt. Receiving the king’s grace, the man must have felt that he was obligated to offer his life to the king and king’s mission. Like this man, Paul was the worst sinner who persecuted the early Christians mercilessly. However, Jesus canceled all his sins unconditionally. Moreover, Jesus raised him his messenger and apostle. He received such amazing grace from Jesus. So he had a deep sense of obligation to Jesus. He felt obligated to preach the gospel to all Gentiles.

We have a great debt to God for his saving grace. We know our sins in the past and in the present. However, we know that God canceled our debt of sin through Jesus’ suffering and death. Our God never asks us to pay back our debt. He only wants us to help others to know his amazing grace. He wants us to take care of campus students. He wants us to preach this amazing gospel to post-modern intellectuals. A hymn writer sang, “Lord Jesus, we owe you beyond our description. How can we repay you?” The grace of Jesus on the cross who shed his precious blood for us, is far greater than one can ever tell. Even if we sell all our property and lives, we cannot repay. We received God’s grace freely. We also received the privilege of serving God’s precious soul saving work freely. As we received it freely, we must give it freely. Jesus also says in Matthew 10:8, “Freely you have received, freely give.”

As a great debtor to Christ, Paul was so eager to preach the gospel in Rome (15). However, it was not easy for the Jewish Christians to preach the gospel to Roman citizens. It was a shameful thing to do. But look at verse 16. “I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile.” Paul was full of confidence, not because of his Bible knowledge or human background, but because of the gospel. Humanly speaking, Paul was nobody. He was a Jewish Christian. His country Israel was a small colonial country. Moreover, the Christians’ Messiah was known as a criminal who was crucified by the Roman law. On the other hand, the Roman Empire was the most powerful and glamorous Empire that had conquered the entire known world. Rome had all kinds of exotic and precious treasures from all over the world. Numerous slaves from the conquered nations were brought to Rome. They served wealthy Roman citizens who had luxurious houses and enjoyed parties and gladiator fights in the Colosseum. Romans looked gorgeous and happy. So Paul, a poor Jewish Christian, could have ashamed of preaching the gospel of Jesus to Romans. But he said, “I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of god for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile.’ Why was Paul not ashamed of the gospel?

First, everyone, including Romans needed the gospel absolutely. Humanly, Roman citizens lived a wealthy and comfortable life. But their inner life was like that of Emperor Nero who felt dissatisfaction, meaninglessness and fruitlessness of life. To see them before God, they were idol worshipers and immoral people whose wages of sin was death (Ro 6:23). They worshiped idols, materialism and pleasure-seeking. They were full of immorality. Homosex spread wildly like Sodom and Gomorrah. To Paul’s eyes, one million Roman citizens walked on the streets of Rome as zombies. Romans needed the gospel absolutely.

Second, Paul was not ashamed of the gospel because it is the power of God that gives salvation to everyone who believes. Look at verse 16b again. “…because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes.” The fundamental problems of human beings are sin and death. Who can solve the problems of our sin and death? No one but God alone! God solves our sin and death through his Son’s unbearable suffering and death. “God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish, but have eternal life” (John 3:16). Only this gospel is God’s power that can save men from their sin and death. Only this gospel gives sinners like us eternal life. When we receive the gospel, we can be free from the chains of sin. We can have eternal life.

Paul himself experienced the power of God as he received the gospel. Before knowing the gospel, he didn’t know what he was doing. Once he breathed out murderous threats against the Lord’s disciples (Ac 9:1). But as he was on the way to Damascus to annihilate Christians, he was met by the Risen Jesus (Ac 9:15). The gospel of Jesus forgave him and transformed him completely from a persecutor to a bible teacher and missionary. In the power of God, the gospel, Paul became an apostle to the Gentiles who proclaimed the gospel to Illyricum from Antioch (Ro 15:19).

Paul experienced that in the gospel, he could be truly righteous. He realized that he could not be righteous by his own effort. He recognized that God’s righteousness would be given to those who live by faith. Look at verse 17. “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.’” The gospel reveals God’s righteousness. So those who accept the gospel will have God’s righteousness.

II.  The world without God (18-32)

In this part, Paul sharply portrays the godless world. Especially, he shows two kinds of sins that human beings commit: the sin of idol worship, and the sin of moral corruption.

First, the sin of idol worship (18-25). Look at verse 18. “The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness.” Here Paul tells us that sinful people suppress the truth. They suppress the truth in order to enjoy their sinful thoughts and activities. The sin of the Gentile world is that although they are God’s creatures, they neither glorify the Creator God nor give thanks to him. Strangely though, they make idols instead and worship them. Apostle Paul witnessed how people worshiped idols through his third mission journey. In verses 18-23, Paul explained the emptiness of those who worshiped idols and showed God’s righteous decree on them (24-25).

Why do people abandon God intentionally? And what is the cause of sin in the Gentile world? Look at verse 21. “For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened.” They know God, but they fall into their own pride. They neither glorify God nor give thanks to him. Why do they do so even though they know God? They do so because they don’t want to have any restriction and inconvenience. To them, God’s words keep them from enjoying their sinful desires. So they do not worship the Creator God. They thought that they are wise, but they are fools. In reality they became idol worshipers.

21^st century science and information technology have offered us great convenience and comfort. On the other hand, they have brought so much darkness and led people to materialism, relativism and hedonism. They are 21^st century idols. How does God deal with people’s idol worship? God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity. They exchanged the truth of God for a lie and worshiped created things rather than the Creator (24-25). In the first century, people’s sexual immorality was indescribable. When we do not worship the Creator God, we too fall into the same sins.

Second, the sin of moral corruption (26-32). Look at verses 26-27. “Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones. In the same way the men also abandon natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed indecent acts with other men and received in themselves the due penalty for their perversion.” Paul says that homosexuality is unnatural, indecent and abnormal. The Bible condemns the sin of homosexuality very clearly.

Verses 28-32 describe moral corruption of the society and how people invent evils and practice them. People do not think it is important to have a true knowledge of God. So God let them have their own worthless thinking. The result is terrible. They do what they should not do. They are filled with every kind of sin, evil, greed and hatred. They are full of jealousy, murder, strife, fighting and lying. They hate God. They are rude, proud, and brag about themselves. They do not obey their parents. They are foolish. They don’t keep their promises and show no kindness and mercy to others.

When we do not establish a right relationship with God, societies become rotten to the core. Their sins grow until they not only continue to do these evil things but also approve of those who practice them, even though they know God’s righteous decree (32; Ro 6:23).

When people do such evil things, they insist on their rights instead of repenting their sins. Many people regard an immoral life as normal, and a normal life as abnormal. 1 Corinthians 6:9-10 say, “Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.” Our society is getting worse morally like Rome in the first century. What should we do? We must preach the gospel that is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes.

Today we learned Apostle Paul’s vision for pioneering Rome with the gospel. Paul had a great shepherd heart for the Romans and people in the world. We are living in the post-modern world. Young people in this post-modern generation are just like many young ancient Romans who worshiped idols and were utterly corrupt. As we all know, in God Paul overcame the sinful reality of Rome. Later, the Roman Empire became a Christian country. Like Apostle Paul, we too must have a great shepherd heart for our postmodern intellectuals and preach the gospel of the salvation to young campus intellectuals.