Gospel of God- - TAMIL Christian Bible Study

Romans 1:1

Gospel of God

Romans 1:1, Paul, a bondservant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated to the gospel of God

The phrase is "the gospel of God." The theme of the entire epistle, the good news from God.

What is the teaching of the Epistle? People find it very difficult to understand the chapters 5-8. Also, they find it difficult to comprehend chapter 9.

Why? Because they look at it a piece meal not as a whole meal. Let me give a bird eye view. The first 11 chapters are doctrinal. Chapter 12 to 16 are practical. First 11 chapters lays down the doctrine and the rest show how to apply them.

When we come to first division of the doctrine, we need to be little more cautious. Some bible scholars divide it by the following. Chapters 1 to 4 – Justification Chapters 5 to 8 Sanctification. Chapters 9 to 11 Parenthetical Chapters 12 to 16 Practical But this could be very misleading. Scofield study Bible got this division.

Let me divide it differently so that you do not get into trouble in understanding this great letter. Chapter 1 verse 1 to 15 Introduction and Salutation. Here Paul introduces the Gospel of God. Chapter 1 Verses 16 to end of Chapter 4 Paul elaborate this Gospel of God in terms of justification by faith only.

The good news is this, God Himself paved the way for saving men through Lord Jesus Christ.

Romans 1:16, For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek.

God is doing something. God is doing it in Christ.

Romans 1:17, For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, “The just shall live by faith.”

God is giving to man freely the righteousness of Christ. Salvation is free gift. Not on any merit of man. So, hereafter we are not going to think of righteousness in terms of what man does but of righteousness which God gives.

A righteousness that comes from God in Jesus Christ through faith. In verses 16 and 17 we see these words.

• Power of God.
• Righteousness from God.
• Faith to faith.

Paul emphasizes the need of this salvation to everyone, the desperate need of this!

Romans 1:18-32 Paul explains how Gentiles need this. Romans Chapter ² Paul emphasizes that the Jews too need in spite having the law.

Romans chapter 3 Paul details the objection.

Romans 3:20, Therefore by the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified in His sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin. Paul shows in the first ²⁰ verses,

• The importance of the Jews
• The privilege of being a Jew and
• What God wants to do through them.

Paul end chapter 3, (Verses 21-31) doctrine of Justification by Faith only. Paul shows how God had to do it in the way He did because of His own character. Justification faith and the doctrine of atonement. Romans Chapter 4, Paul proves what he spoke in chapter 3 that justification by faith only by showing the example of Abraham.

Romans chapter 5 to 8 Paul talks about the certainty of the Christian salvation. Paul is demonstrating and asserting the certainty of full and finality of salvation. Absolute security of a Christian. There is a subsidiary theme of sanctification is in this section.

But overall, the bigger theme of this section is about the security of Christian salvation which covers the present and the future.

Romans 5:1-2, Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, ² through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. Paul sums up what he has been saying and giving us the doctrine of glorification. End of our salvation is glorification. So, from verse ³ of chapter ⁵ onwards he is going to explain the theme. Paul is dealing this security in ³ ways. 1. Christian is secure because God is doing it. 2. God does this by joining us in Christ. 3. God empowers us through the Holy Spirit. Romans chapter ⁹ to ¹¹ deals with How God did with Israel in the past Chapter 9, present chapter 10, and future chapter 11.

God did this by choosing the nation of Israel now still God is choosing through His remanent.

Bad News

A quick look at any newspaper/weekly magazine/News channel reminds us that in our world the news is bad and getting worse. What is happening on a large scale is only the multiplication of bad news. People are in the grip of a terrifying power. That power grips them deep inside their own being and it pushes them to self- destruction.

That power is sin! Sin makes for bad news.

Selfishness

The first bad news that sin brings upon an individual is selfishness. It is bad news in human existence that every one of us is bent on fulfilling our own desires at any price. The basic element of sinfulness is the dominance of the I, the ego, the self.

It all even began that way when Satan fell.

Isaiah 14:13-14, For you have said in your heart: ‘I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; I will also sit on the mount of the congregation On the farthest sides

of the north; ¹⁴ I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the Most High.’ Satan said, "I will... I will... I will... I will... I will," Five times. Man has inherited this propensity with the coming of sin.

He is utterly self-centered. He will do his own thing, if permitted. Whatever a society will permit, he will do. He will go as far as society's toleration will allow. Man will consume everything in sight on his own lust. He will consume things and he will consume people and he will consume himself.

When a friend or a spouse or a lover or a family member ceases to provide what an individual wants, they are discarded like an old pair of shoes that are useless. We live in a world where people are demanding their rights.

This is nothing but the manifestation of what is deep in the heart of man, self-destructive selfishness. Everybody wants rights. The ultimate goal of life is to achieve self-satisfaction! Whether you are in business or marriage, or love, man winds up perverting everything because of his selfish lust for gain, for

fame, for dominance, for popularity, for money, for physical fulfillment. So, sin pushes humanity into a selfish self-consumption. Somebody said we ought to use things and love people, but instead we love things and use people.

The end of it is that man is unable to sustain a meaningful relationship. He is unable to really love. He is unwilling to give, and thus, he forfeits that which is the most obvious source of true joy, selflessness. Man becomes dominated by a selfish greed that alienates him from everyone and everything.

Result of all of this is that man really comes to a place of utter loneliness and despair. He finds that all the things he consumes on his own lusts bear the law of diminishing returns in them, so that the more he gets the less it satisfies.

Sin has produced by way of bad news is that we are selfish, and it is a trap that leads us to despair.

Guilty

Man is not only selfish, but he is also guilty.

Self -consumption, using people, abusing people, doing whatever is necessary to gain your own ends, brings about guilt because God has designed man to feel something when he sins. Otherwise, man could never prevent himself from going to hell.

It is like pain. God has given you pain so you know when your body is injured, and you will get help for your body. God has given guilt to tell us that we are on the wrong road and something must change. Man is oppressed with guilt.

The bad news is that man lives in

• anxiety,
• fear,
• sleeplessness,
• psychological problems,
• ulcers, and
• myriad illnesses caused by his guilt.

Which he may try to relieve with drunkenness or suicide or something else. Some try to turn their heads away from real guilt by money, possessions, alcohol, drugs, sex, and travel.

• blaming their guilt on society,
• blaming their guilt on God,
• blaming it on Christians,
• blaming it on the church,
• blaming it on their parents,

• blaming it on some prenatal trauma.

Selfishness leads to a consumptive sin and it inevitably brings with it guilt. When you try to blame someone for it that only compounds the guilt, because now you know you are guilty not only of the sin but of trying to push it off on somebody who does not deserve it.

Meaninglessness

Selfishness leads to guilt and guilt leads to meaninglessness. Man is caught in a trap of his own selfishness. It takes him nowhere but to an over-burdening guilt. Sooner or later, he says to himself, "Is this what life is all about?

Better that I should not have been born." Life becomes an endless cycle of trying to be fulfilled when it is impossible and bearing only guilt. That kind of life there is no fulfillment. Where there is no fulfillment, all the basic questions are asked.

Is this all there is?

Where are the real answers?

What are the real questions?

Why am I alive?

What is the meaning of my life?

What is truth?

How do I find out what is truth? Man is fed a steady diet of lies by the consummate liar, Satan, who runs the world's system. The lies never really answer the question of meaning. So, he never gets an answer. We live a series of 24-hour periods without significance.

Nothing changes. All is emptiness. Hopelessness. You start out with a consumptive selfishness and finally you wake up to the fact that it has the law of diminishing returns and when it is all over and done, all you have left is guilt for all that you have done to get where you are.

Born out of this trauma and anxiety from guilt is the meaninglessness of life and born out of the meaninglessness of it all is the bad news that you have got nothing now and nothing later either. There is an utter hopelessness. There is no possible fulfillment in a selfish, self-centered, guilt-ridden, meaningless life, only the starkness of death.

Then what? No hope.

So, people mask death, but they mask it by laughing at it or mocking it or covering it somehow to alleviate the fear that it brings. But it is ultimately the worse news of all. There is nothing here and there is nothing there, either.

Bad news! Bad news!! Thousands of babies are born every day into a world filled with bad news. All along, men find themselves going deeper and deeper into the dilemma because they are pushed there by the liar, Satan, who keeps pumping the lies through the system in which they live.

Is there any good news? Really good news?

Good news about sin? Any good news it can be dealt with sin? Good news about selfishness that you do not have to live that way? Good news about guilt and anxiety that it can be relieved? Is there any good news about the meaning of life?

Is there any good news about the future, life after death?

Is there any good news? There is good news and that is the gospel! The good news of God. That is what Romans is about.

Paul begins in verse 1 with the good news of God. Paul ends in chapter 15, as he draws to an end.

Romans 15:16, that I might be a minister of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles, ministering the gospel of God, that the offering of the Gentiles might be acceptable, sanctified by the Holy Spirit. Paul also called it the blessed good news.

• He called it the good news of salvation.
• He called it the good news of Jesus Christ.
• He called it the good news of His Son.
• He called it the good news of the grace of God.

Whatever he called it; it was good news.

• Good news that sin could be forgiven.
• Good news that guilt could be removed.
• Good news that life could have meaning.
• Good news that the future had a reality that was eternally glorious.
• Good news that you would think that we were preaching the bad news, the way the world reacts. But that is how twisted they are because they are under the influence of the liar.

We have the good news. Paul summarizes this good news in this first 7 verses of chapter 1.

Romans 1:1-7, Paul, a bondservant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated to the gospel of God ² which He promised before through His prophets in the Holy Scriptures, ³ concerning His Son Jesus Christ our Lord, who was born of the seed of David according to the flesh, ⁴ and declared to be the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead. ⁵ Through Him we have received grace and apostleship for obedience to the faith among all nations for His name, ⁶ among whom you also are the called of Jesus Christ; ⁷ To all who are in Rome, beloved of God, called to be saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Now look at verse 1 for a moment, at the phrase "the gospel of God,""the good news of God,"euaggelion, euaggelion. That term is used by Paul 60 times in his epistles. 60 times he talks about good news. No wonder Paul lived all his life hearing bad news, and once he heard the good news, he could not help but tell everybody in sight about it.

"The word euaggelion signifieth good, merry, glad and joyful tidings that makes a man's heart rejoice and makes him sing and dance and leap for joy."Tyndale

• Good news that God will deliver us from our selfish sin.
• Good news that God will forgive and free us from guilt.
• Good news that God will give meaning to life and make it abundant.
• Good news that there's hope for life to come.
• Gospel of God involves in His Son Jesus, without Him there is not good news no God either.

V 1 that it is good news from God. It is from God. It is important that Paul say that because the word euaggelion was a common Greek word.

Do you know how it was used? It was used in the cult of worshiping the emperor. It was connected to the emperor cult. In the Roman Empire, the people were required to worship the emperor as if he were a god. Whenever someone from the emperor's official party was to make a monumental announcement about some great event relative to the emperor, it was called euaggelion, good news.

For example, “Good news, today emperor birthday” Or "Good news, the emperor has given birth to an heir Or, "Good news, the heir has come to age."

Or, "Good news, we have a new emperor as he accedes to the throne." This was the euaggelion.

Paul says this to the church in Rome

I am writing to you at Rome who are used to hearing the euaggelion of the Roman Empire and I am telling you I have got good news, but it is not from Caesar, it is from God. That is good news, because frankly most of the Caesars were bad news to begin with. It is good news from God.

Paul reiterates again and again and again about the good news. He calls it the glorious, good news of the blessed God. He calls it the blessed good news. He calls it the good news of the grace of God, He calls it the good news of peace, He calls it the good news of your salvation.

Romans chapter 1 he defines it. Good news of God.

Romans 1:1, Paul, a bondservant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated to the gospel of God

Good news of His Son.

Romans 1:9, For God is my witness, whom I serve with my spirit in the gospel of His Son, that without ceasing I make mention of you always in my prayers, Good news of Christ.

Romans 1:16, For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek.

Progression

First it is the good news of God about what? About His Son.

Who's His Son? Christ. It is the good news that God's Son, Jesus Christ, has come into the world. This is the message of Romans. It begins with the good news of God and Paul comes close to his end he talks again about the good news of God.

Romans 15:16, that I might be a minister of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles, ministering the gospel of God, that the offering of the Gentiles might be acceptable, sanctified by the Holy Spirit. Paul personalizes the Gospel.

Romans 2:16, in the day when God will judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ, according to my gospel.

The Good news has come into my possession by faith in Christ and it is also mine to preach. At the end of the epistle, again he says the same thing.

Romans 16:25, Now to Him who is able to establish you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery kept secret since the world began

It is my good news about Jesus Christ that God has revealed to me. This gospel of good news in the past has been hidden and now is made manifest and is granted to me to preach, my good news. He did everything in his life for the sake of the good news, the Gospel!

1 Corinthians 9:23, Now this I do for the gospel’s sake, that I may be partaker of it with you.

Conclusion

Why should God give me good news? I do not deserve it. You are right! But that is the way He is. He brings good news to those who are undeserving.

Story

A young man in France, much loved of his mother, who pursued a wicked course that took him deeper and deeper into sin. He became smitten of an evil woman who dragged him further and further into unrighteousness. The mother, naturally, sought to draw him back to a higher plane and the other woman resented it bitterly. One night the evil woman chided the man with an accusation that he did not really love her because he allowed his mother to interfere.

He vowed that he loved her. She appealed to his drunken mind saying, "If you really love me, you will rid us of your mother and her constant pleadings."The young man rushed from the room to a nearby house in which his mother lived and dealt her death blows, tearing the heart from her body to carry it back to his lover as proof that he had taken her life. As he rushed on in his insane folly, he stumbled and fell, and from the bleeding heart there came a voice, "My son, are you hurt?"

"That's the way God loves." Utter and absolutely forgiving, so does God love. Beloved, this is good news. Aren't you glad for the good news?