Part 1 was the introduction. Part 3 uses Romans 1:8 to address the history of the Roman church.

Today, we will look at Romans 1:-4-5. I am going to put off Romans 1:8 till the next post. It will be an overview of Christian history before the Roman emperors got involved with a special emphasis on the church in Rome. In the fourth part we will cover Romans 1:16-17, and in part 5 we will finally make speedy progress by covering Romans 1:18 through at  least Romans 2:9 in one (not) fell swoop. (In the phrase “one fell swoop,” fell originally meant “fierce, cruel, ruthless; terrible, destructive.”)

There are “surveys” or “introductions” of New Testament books that try to cover all the details of history, context, and authorship. I read those surveys and introductions to learn as well. I cannot and am not trying to replace those. I am trying to explain Romans for what it says apart from the influence of Reformation theology.

Reformation theology leads to disbelieving more verses than you probably realize. As we go through Romans, you will see that because we will focus on verses that you have probably never heard in a sermon.

Romans 1:4-5: The Gospel and the Resurrection

Many, many American Christians believe that a quick summation of the Gospel would be that Jesus died for our sins. In the mind of most American Christians, that would mean that Jesus died so that God could forgive our sins.

Jesus did die so that sins could be forgiven, but that is only a small part of Jesus’ atonement. Paul will explore this deeply in Romans 5-8, but for now he gives us a hint in Romans 1:4-5:

… who was declared to be the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord, through whom we received grace and apostleship for obedience of faith among all the nations for his name’s sake.

*Again, I always quote the World English Bible because it is not copyrighted. You should be able to hover over the Scripture references and read them in any version you want.

“Obedience of faith” is puzzling wording when you think the Gospel is that Jesus died primarily for the forgiveness of sins. When you know  that the central proclamation in the Gospel is that Jesus was declared to be the Son of God by the resurrection from the dead, however, there is nothing puzzling about the obedience of faith. Jesus is the Son of God, do what he says.

In our Bibles, Acts is right before Romans. I wrote a booklet, “The Apostles’ Gospel,” that outlines the apostles’ preaching to the lost. You can get my booklet and see that the apostles sermons to the lost focused on the resurrection as proof that Jesus is Christ, Lord, Son of God, and Judge of all the earth. Even better, you can read Acts and determine for yourself whether the apostles focused more on Jesus’ death in their preaching to unbelievers or on his resurrection.

It is not just in Romans 1:1-5 that Paul makes the resurrection of Jesus the central point of the Gospel rather than his death, but he does it again in Romans 10:9-10:

… if you will confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes resulting in righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made resulting in salvation.

Many believe that we are saved by confessing that Jesus is Lord and believing that he died for our sins. Again, go through the book of Acts, and you will see that the apostles constantly forgot to mention that Jesus died for our sins when they preached to the lost.  Let me address just Acts 2.

Men of Israel, hear these words! Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved by God to you by mighty works and wonders and signs which God did by him among you, even as you yourselves know, him, being delivered up by the determined counsel and foreknowledge of God, you have taken by the hand of lawless men, crucified and killed; whom God raised up … (Acts 2:22-24)

Peter brings up Jesus’ death in this sermon for only two reasons: 1.) to convict the Jews of their crime towards God in killing their own Messiah; and 2.) to introduce the resurrection. In fact, Peter spends the rest of his sermon proving that the death and resurrection of the Messiah was prophesied, then concludes with:

Let all the house of Israel therefore know certainly that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified. (Acts 2:36)

This cut the Jews to the heart, and they cried out, “What must we do” (Acts 2:37). Peter answered:

Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is to you and to your children, and to all who are far off, even as many as the Lord our God will call to himself.” With many other words he testified and exhorted them, saying, “Save yourselves from this crooked generation!” (Acts 2:38-40)

As you might guess from my approach to Romans, I just believe what this passage says. Only after honestly evaluating a passage do I compare it with other passages. If another passage seems to contradict, I search for an explanation that allows me to understand both passages for what they say. I have written about my 6-year long search to find the truth that allows both Romans 3:28 and James 2:24 to mean just what they say. I had to do the same with baptism, but we will leave that discussion for another day.

*By the way, my boast is that by reading the Bible with this method, I found out that I had happened upon very close to exactly the same beliefs once held by all the churches in the second century. They corrected me only on some details of the Trinity and on participating in war. They also helped me resolve the seeming contradiction between Romans 3:28 and James 2:24 (and between Ephesians 2:8-10 and Ephesians 5:3-7).

Back to the topic at hand, you will find the same throughout Acts. Though Jesus death for sins (and “sin”) is important in the letters to Christians, including this one, Romans, Jesus’ death is simply a springboard to talk about the resurrection in all their preaching to the lost.

You can see this in the Gospels as well. Although the Gospels thoroughly cover Jesus’ death for sins, when it boils down to what they want us to believe, we are saved not by believing that Jesus died but by believing that he is the Son of God.

… but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in his name. (Jn. 20:31)

The beginning of the Good News of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. (Mark 1:1)

One more important fact: We all know that Jesus’ sent his apostles into the world as his “witnesses” (Acts 1:8), but witnesses to what? Once in each of the first 5 chapters of Acts, they are reported to be witnesses in the resurrection (Acts 1:22; 2:32; 3:15; 4:33; 5:32).

This faith, that God raised up Jesus to prove that he is Lord, Christ, Judge, and the Son of God, is a faith that can be obeyed. It is the faith that Paul preached to the Gentiles bringing about “the obedience of faith.”

*Again, I remind you that I know and teach that Jesus’ death for sin and sins is a central subject in the apostles’ letters to Christians, and Paul takes a deep dive into just what was accomplished by Jesus’ death in Romans 3-8. We will dive deep with him as we cover those chapters.