Sermon for the Third Sunday after the Epiphany - Rom 1:8-17

 

          Epiphany 3

                                                                                                Rom 1:8-17

                                                                                                1/26/25

 

            The second half of the Book of Acts focuses upon the work of St. Paul.  After the risen Lord Jesus confronted Paul on the road to Damascus and called him to faith, we learn of how Paul went on three missionary journeys.  He preached the Gospel in Asia Minor – what is today Turkey – and in Greece.  He founded churches in Asia Minor such as at Galatia.  He founded churches in Greece such as at Philippi, Thessalonica, and Corinth.

            Of course, when Luke wrote Acts, he didn’t tell us about everything that Paul did.  That simply wasn’t possible.  Any writer must be selective in the material he is going to include.  So, while Acts tells us about the shipwreck that Paul experienced as he was being taken as a prisoner to Rome, the apostle shares with the Corinthians that in fact he experienced shipwreck on three occasions in his missionary work.

            Luke focuses on Paul and his missionary efforts.  But certainly, Paul was not the only apostle doing this.  They too engaged in mission work as they proclaimed the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.  And the apostles were not the only witnesses of the resurrection who went forth to preach Christ.  For example, while James remained in Jerusalem and helped lead the church there, we learn in 1 Corinthians that the other brothers of Jesus went forth as missionaries.

            We do not know how the Gospel reached Rome.  It’s hardly surprising that it did.  Rome was the capital of the Roman Empire. There was immense sea trade that supplied this largest and most important city.  The Gospel had been proclaimed, and the church had been founded there as well.

            Paul had not founded the church at Rome. In fact, he had never been there.  But the apostle hoped to change that. He says in our text, “For God is my witness, whom I serve with my spirit in the gospel of his Son, that without ceasing I mention you always in my prayers, asking that somehow by God's will I may now at last succeed in coming to you.”

            Paul was planning on coming to Rome.  He says in our text that he wants to preach the Gospel in Rome.  But the apostle’s planned visit was about more than seeing the Roman Christians.  Paul was hoping that they would support him as he pursued mission work in Spain.

            In his letter to the Romans, Paul provides his understanding of the Gospel.  He writes with the authority of an apostle of Jesus Christ. Paul begins the letter by saying, “Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God.”

            In our text, Paul sets forth his central statement about the Gospel.  It is the truth that he will spend the rest of the letter unpacking.  He says, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.”

            Why might someone be ashamed of the Gospel?  Because it was the proclamation of a man who had been crucified.  As Paul told the Corinthians, “And I, when I came to you, brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom. For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.”

            The Gospel was centered on Jesus who had been executed by crucifixion.  He was a Jew who had died as a criminal.  He had died in the most humiliating and shameful way possible.  But the message of the Gospel was that this Jesus is Lord.  Paul freely admitted to the Corinthians that the word of the cross was folly to those who were perishing – it was moronic.  It appeared to be absolutely absurd.

            However, Paul says that he is not ashamed of the Gospel because it is the power of God for salvation to all who believe.  The Gospel might appear to be folly.  But instead, Paul says that is the power that comes from God to bring salvation to all who believe in Jesus Christ.  It is a power that brings salvation to all people – to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.

            Why is this so?  The apostle says: “For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, ‘The righteous shall live by faith.’”  The righteousness of God is God’s saving work to put all things right.  Paul declares that God’s saving work has been revealed in the Gospel.  It has burst into this world bringing salvation to all who believe.  It is a revelation that his received “from faith for faith” – by faith from beginning to end.  It is received by faith, just as God had said through the prophet Habakkuk: “The righteous shall live by faith.”

            Paul says that the righteousness of God has been revealed in the Gospel – the Gospel that provides salvation.  This is needed because God’s righteousness is not the only thing that is revealed.  Immediately after our text Paul plays off the word “reveal” as he says, “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth.”

            God is the holy God.  He is the just God.  He is the God who “will render to each one according to his works.”  We were created for life in fellowship with God. We were created to live in holy ways according to his will – life in thought, word, and deed. But the entrance of sin into the world through Adam has brought sin to us.  We are conceived as sinners, and then we daily live in sin.

            This sin was a power that controlled us.  Paul says in this letter that “all, both Jews and Greeks, are under sin.”  And sin can only result in one outcome.  It leads to God’s eternal judgment on the Last Day.  Paul says of sinners, “But because of your hard and impenitent heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God's righteous judgment will be revealed.”

            We know God’s will.  It has been revealed in God’s Law. The work of the law has even been written on our heart.  But knowing God’s will could not help us.  Paul says, “For it is not the hearers of the law who are righteous before God, but the doers of the law who will be justified.”  To be justified – to be declared innocent and just by God on the Last Day – one must do the law.  But we can’t and we don’t.  Instead, we sin in what we think, do, and say. Our doing can never provide us with a righteous standing before God.  Instead, Paul tells us, “For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin.”

            Yet Paul declares to the Romans – and to you – that God has done something dramatic in response to this.  He says in our text that the righteousness of God – the saving work of God to put all things right – has been revealed in the Gospel.  A little later he adds, “But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it--the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe.” 

            All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.  But Paul tells us that we “justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith.”  Jesus Christ died on the cross to free us from sin. He was sacrifice offered to win forgiveness. God justly judged our sin in Christ.

            Paul says in our text: “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.” Paul was not ashamed of the Gospel.  He confessed that it is the power of God for salvation because the cross was not the end of God’s saving work in Christ.  On the third day, God raised Jesus from the dead.  Paul began this letter by saying that Jesus was, “declared to be the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead.”

            We now receive salvation through faith in Jesus Christ, the crucified and risen Lord.  We believe and trust in Jesus and what God had done through him. Paul says later to the Romans, “if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” 

            God has joined you to the saving death of Jesus through baptism.  Paul tells the Romans, “Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.”  You receive the forgiveness that Christ has won through your baptism.

            Your baptism also provides the assurance that you will share in Jesus’ resurrection.  You were baptized into Jesus’ death.  But Jesus did not remain dead.  Instead, God raised him up on Easter.  And so Paul says about baptism: “For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his.”

            Paul says about the Gospel in our text: “For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, ‘The righteous shall live by faith.’”  The apostle tells us that God’s saving work in Christ is a matter of faith from beginning to end.  Faith in Christ receives the justification that he has won for us.  This occurs apart from anything we do.  But this faith worked by the Spirit – this life in Christ – now seeks to do as it shares Christ’s love with others.

            Paul says in this letter, “Owe no one anything, except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. For the commandments, You shall not commit adultery, You shall not murder, You shall not steal, You shall not covet,’ and any other commandment, are summed up in this word: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’”

            This is what Paul tells the Romans – and us to do – in the latter portion of this letter.  He says, “Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor.”  So seek to love and support those in your family and in this congregation.  Show them respect and honor in your actions.

The apostle says, “Live in harmony with one another. Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly.” Seek to be at peace with those around you.  Christ humbled himself in order to save you.  So in humility, seek to lift others up – especially those the world considers to be beneath you.

Paul says, “Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them.” He tells us, “Repay no one evil for evil.”  God has forgiven you in Jesus Christ.  And so now forgive others.  Do not hold grudges, but instead forgive those who have wronged you.  Living in the love and forgiveness of Christ, means sharing it with others.

Paul says this morning, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.” The message of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ is the power of God that provides salvation to all who believe.  It does because in Christ the saving work of God to put all things right – the righteousness of God – has been revealed in the world. Through faith in Jesus we have peace with God and are justified.  We are reckoned as righteous now, and we will be on the Last Day.