The Revelation of Righteousness
I. The Revelation of Righteousness:
1. Paul’s relationship to Jesus in the first few verses of the book Romans Paul relates himself to his master, his gift, and his work.
His master. In relating
himself to Jesus as his master Paul uses the expression, “a servant of
Jesus Christ.” This is the Hebrew Old Testament expression “servant of
the LORD [Yahweh],”1
the highest title that anyone could have. Paul makes a powerful
statement by substituting “Jesus” for “Yahweh.” This would be heresy to
an unconverted Jew; but Paul has the deity and dignity of Jesus in mind.
The point is that everyone who has
been redeemed belongs to him; they
are no longer slaves to sin, but slaves to him, their LORD and Master.
His gift. Paul was an apostle, or as the term “called” shows, he was an apostle by calling, or, his gift originated in divine calling.2
The term “apostle” refers to his spiritual gift more than an office—he
was sent on a mission to represent the risen Christ. This kind of term
is not used in the New Testament for an “office” in the strict sense.
Verse 5 shows the concept behind the gift: there was never the idea of
the right to stand above or over someone else, but rather the privilege
of serving. Nevertheless. The right to be called apostles in the New
Testament leadership sense included seeing the risen Christ and being
commissioned by him.
His work. Paul was
“separated unto the Gospel.” On the road to Damascus God transformed him
into a spiritual Pharisee. From then on he would proclaim the “good
news.” The term we know as “gospel” is here called “the gospel of
God—the Gospel He promised beforehand through His prophets in the Holy
Scriptures.” The “gospel” is the Old Testament term for good news about
the Messiah’s coming, who, according to Isaiah 40:9, is both God and Messiah. This good news had now become Paul’s life.
The Gospel is about Jesus Christ. But while it is
good news, it is not completely new news, for it was promised before
(Galatians says preached before). Any such news not found rooted in the
Old Testament is considered a false gospel. What is new is the complete
revelation of the gospel in Jesus of Nazareth, that is, exactly how the
revelation of God in the Old Testament would work out in the New.
So then Paul’s identification of himself is that of a
servant under the authority of Christ, a messenger called to a new life
work, and a devoted minister of the Gospel. Clearly, the person of
Jesus Christ was to Paul an unparalleled authority.
2. The subject matter of Romans: the divine Son (3,4). The subject matter of the book is expressed in the words, “concerning His Son.” This is what the Book of Romans is all about. The full title is given at the end of verse 4: “Jesus Christ our Lord.”
Two things are now said of this “Son”: He was born
the seed of David according to the flesh, but through the Spirit of
holiness He was declared with power to be the Son of God by his
resurrection from the dead.
The “Son” was born of the seed of David “in the
sphere of” (a more precise translation than “according to”) the flesh.
The Son of God moved in the realm of the flesh, i.e., among humanity, as
a physical descendant of David. There was a birth to be sure; but that
birth in Bethlehem did not mark His beginning. He entered the world
through the family of David that He might be the promised Davidic King.
He was also “appointed” (a more specific translation
than “declared”) to be the Son of God by the resurrection out of the
dead. This was not in the sphere of the flesh, in weakness, but in
power, in the realm of the spiritual, through the Spirit of holiness (or
as some translate it, the Holy Spirit3_ftn7).
What this means is that Jesus’ resurrection from the dead demonstrated
that He was not just another physical descendant of David who passed off
the scene. He is the resurrected Lord. With His exaltation in glory,
Jesus for the first time possessed a glorified, resurrected body,
perfectly human and fully divine. Peter in his sermon in Acts 2 announced that through the resurrection God made this Jesus both Lord and Christ.
To be appointed to be the Son of God refers to his
assuming (or resuming) his sovereign and divine authority. At the
resurrection and exaltation Jesus is said to have been completely
“begotten”—he was appointed to the position where He could carry out all
that is involved with divine Sonship. The Book of Hebrews draws on the
imagery of the coronation Psalm 2
to stress this point: “You are my Son, this day have I begotten You.”
This image of “the Son” certainly has to do with authority, and the idea
of being begotten to rule refers to his coronation; but the description
of Jesus as the “Son of God” takes the language beyond Davidic
coronation liturgy and speaks of a nature shared with the Father. John
describes Jesus as the “only begotten Son” in the latter sense of a
shared nature. So these images of “son” reveal that Jesus has the same
nature as the Father who is divine—the Son of God is equally eternal and
divine.4
A son of David?—yes, to be sure, for the child was born of Mary. The
eternal Son of God?— most certainly, because of the declaration of the
resurrection. So Paul uses both descriptions of Jesus. The prophet
Isaiah had this same balance correct: “Unto us a child was born, unto us
a Son was given (Isa. 9:6).
The child was born, according to the flesh, in Behtlehem; but the Son
was not born, but given or sent to the world. So the creed presents it
simply but profoundly: “We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the only
Son of God, eternally begotten of the Father, God from God, Light from
Light, true God from true God, begotten, not made, being of one
substance with the Father. Through him all things were made. For us and
for our salvation he came down from heaven: by the power of the Holy
Spirit he became incarnate from the virgin Mary, and was made man.” In
short, Jesus was very God and very Man. And now in glory there is a
God-Man, Jesus Christ our Lord.
The two descriptions of the Son also reveal the two
stages of the Lord’s coming (in the historical process), the incarnation
as the Son of David (humiliation) and the glorification as the Son of
God (exaltation).
3. The effects of the authority of the Son (5-7). Paul
has a ministry of the risen Christ (“through whom” links the section
with Jesus in his risen stage); or, to put it another way, it is the ministry of the risen Christ that flows through Paul to the Romans. The Book of Romans comes from the risen Christ.
The apostleship that Paul received from Jesus was to
call people to the obedience of faith. I think that “faith” is
appositional to “obedience here”—the obedience which is faith (see
10:14-16,17). Those who obeyed the Gospel are those who believed. And
those who believed were also called to belong to Jesus Christ—they were
loved by God and called to be saints.5
Paul’s salutation to the churches is “Grace and
peace to you from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ.” The
Christian is a recipient of grace (holy love on the move) and is at
peace with God. This has all come about because the divine Son died for
our sins and then rose again, showing that he has the authority to take
away sins. The salutation, “Grace to you and peace” is far more than a
polite greeting or a good wish; it is drawn from the High Priestly
benediction in the Old Testament. After the High Priest had been into
the Holy of Holies and made atonement through the sprinkling of blood,
he would come out and announce this oracle: “Yahweh bless you and keep
you; Yahweh make his face shine upon you and be gracious unto you;
Yahweh lift up his face toward you and give you peace” (Num. 6:24-26).6_ftn10
Because Jesus Christ, our High Priest, has made atonement for us
through his blood, and has entered the heavenly sanctuary to intercede
for us, Paul with confidence can declare that “grace and peace” belongs
to us. And so that became his salutation.
So in this little introduction we have words like
“servant,” “apostle,” “grace,” “obedience” “called” and “Lord,” all
stressing the authority of the risen Son of God. The clear affirmation
in verse 4 is that the message is about “Jesus Christ our Lord.” And verse 7 reiterates that grace and peace comes from “the Lord Jesus Christ.” It should now be clear from Paul’s introduction what it means to call Jesus “Lord.