Romans 1:1-4 Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus,
called to be an apostle and set apart for the gospel of God — the gospel he promised beforehand through his
prophets in the Holy Scriptures regarding his Son, who as to his human nature
was a descendant of David, and who through the Spirit of holiness was appointed
the Son of God in power by his resurrection from the dead: Jesus Christ our
Lord.
Paul does
not mess around at the beginning of his letter. He gets to his point, the
gospel regarding God’s Son, Jesus Christ. Above all other things, the gospel is
about Jesus Christ. In presenting Jesus Christ as the gospel of God, he directs
us to read and understand the rest of this letter in this context. The gospel
is speaks to the Christian and addresses the non-Christian. There are no third
parties to his message.
We have a
terrible tendency to allow many other issues in our church life and concerns in
our daily life to distract us from God’s intentions for us. When we focus on
minor things we will always lose sight of the more important issues of life.
Believers are encouraged by Paul to grow in their understanding of what Christ
has done for us. He leads us to submit and trust God to a greater degree each
day.
The Good
News is that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. In all our temporal activities and
daily concerns, there is someone who has overcome the fears, doubts and
barriers we struggle with. Jesus is declared the Son by the fact that he came
back to life by the power of God. His death and triumphal resurrection is proof
that He is both God and Man. His two natures enable him to empathize with us in
our struggles and to declare victory for us by His divine appointment as
sovereign of the universe.
May you find
the Good News of Christ to be your joy and motivation for living to His glory.
The Holy Spirit will use your obedience to make your life a reflection of the
Son of God, Jesus Christ.
