16for
I am not being ashamed of the Gospel, for it is [the] power of God into
salvation to all the ones believing – to both Jew first and to Greek, 17for
[the] righteousness of God is being revealed in it out of faith and into faith,
just as it is written, “But the righteous will live out of faith.”
These two little verses are so profound, every time I
come back to study them or even to ponder on them as I bustle about my day, I
feel like Moses, that I “should take off my shoes, for the ground whereon thou
standest is holy ground.” These two verses are essentially the thesis statement
for the entire book of Romans. And what is the book of Romans, but the grand
summary of everything the Gospel means, from the awful fall of man and his
total self-destruction, to the amazing Cross of Jesus who crushed the head of
the serpent and won for us all that is love, and joy, and peace, and hope.
These two little verses summarize for us the only true hope for us, our world,
and all eternity.
Alexander McClaren said of these two verses: “Here is, in the briefest possible words,
his summary-the universality of sin, the awful burden of guilt, the tremendous
outlook of penalty, the impossibility of man rescuing himself or living
righteously, the Incarnation, and Life, and Death of Jesus Christ as a
sacrifice for the sins of the world, the hand of faith grasping the offered
blessing, the indwelling in believing souls of the Divine Spirit, and the
consequent admission of man into a life of sonship, power, peace, victory,
glory, the child’s place in the love of the Father from which nothing can
separate. These are the teachings which make the staple of this Epistle. These
are the explanations of the weighty phrases of my text. These are at least the
essential elements of the Gospel…”
The Gospel. Could not
those who truly know it speak of it and write for hours – of the miracle it has
meant to us, of life from the dead, of peace in the present, of hope in the
future, of the warm glow in our hearts of the love of our Savior God Jesus?
Entire libraries could probably be filled with the books
which have been written on these two little verses. I could comment myself on
its various phrases but my inclination is simply to marvel in the wonder of
this Gospel of which they speak, summarizing as they do the entirety of this
book of Romans, and of the Bible itself.
Where do we begin?
Paul says he’s not ashamed. As I’ve read those words over
and over, of course I have to keep asking the Lord, “Am I?” Even as I ask that
probing question, I feel an amazing metamorphosis well in my heart. As a
younger man, enslaved in my awful legalism, I would have felt surely I need to
run out and do something, to somehow “do better,” to somehow prove my mettle,
that “not being ashamed” meant running out to some street corner and telling
the world! That would make me “not ashamed.” But having cast aside that
legalism and chosen rather to sit at His feet, to live all day every day
basking the sunshine of His love, something wonderful has happened. I can
honestly say, “I am not ashamed,” but it isn’t because I have somehow resolved
to “do better,” but rather because the wonder of who Jesus is has filled my
heart.
What do I mean? I mean that, as I live my life, I live in
the wonder of how one day He opened my eyes, how He suddenly made me want to know Him, how He has carried me
through it all, always giving me hope, how He takes the morass of my mixed up,
confused mind and actually helps me to understand life, how He and He alone has
enabled me to marry and stay happily married for almost 37 years, how He has
given me everything my heart could have ever hoped for, and how at nearly 62,
He causes me to live in hope. When I think of that, no, I’m not the least bit
ashamed. I would happily tell anyone anywhere about this wonderful salvation
that I enjoy. The nice thing for me is that it now isn’t a matter of “not being
ashamed,” but simply of enjoying myself His amazing salvation. I of course am
still the same bungling coward I ever was and there’s probably about a 99%
chance I will fail completely at any opportunity He provides me to speak for
Him, but, somehow that is okay. He knows me. He loves me. And that love makes
me brave, makes me confident He can use me, that somehow He’ll carry me even then,
just like He always has, that I could actually say the right things at the
right time to the right person – but it won’t be because I was amazing. It will
be because He is.
I want to say too, while I’m pondering these two verses, I
love how it is “from faith to faith,” and “The just shall live by faith.” The “righteousness”
God offers is of course His grace righteousness. It is what Paul speaks of in
3:21,22: “But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known…[one
which] comes through faith…” It is the same righteousness Paul speaks of in
9:30-32: “What then shall we say? That the Gentiles, who did not pursue
righteousness have obtained it, a righteousness that is by faith; but Israel,
who pursued a law of righteousness, has not obtained it. Why not? Because they
pursued it not by faith but as if it were by works.”
What is righteousness but to be right? That is our problem. We aren’t. It’s like the doctor who
asked the people in an asylum, “Do you all know why you’re here?” One patient
replied, “Yes, doctor. We know why we’re here. It’s because we’re not all
there.” The plain simple fact is we’re
not all there. We’re not right. We don’t think right, don’t act right, don’t
even want right, with the result that
to live without God dooms us to what is in the end living death. As God warned
Adam, “In dying you shall die.” But what could possibly save you and me from
our awful living death? Surely the answer is to try harder. Right?
Wrong. “Trying harder” will never make you and me “right.”
God alone has the power to fix us. And therein is the treasure of the Gospel, “because
it is the power God for the salvation of everyone who believes.” “The power of
God to save us!” The Gospel is the same power that created an entire universe!
And Jesus said, “He who believes in Me has
everlasting life” (John 6:47). It is for “everyone who believes.” It is by
faith. And it is “from faith to faith.” The Gospel tells us of God’s amazing
grace – faith is the hand of the heart that accepts that gift.
And, as our text says, “The just shall live by faith.” Our
physical hearts keep our bodies alive. Faith is the heart that keeps our
spirits alive. To truly know God and live with Him all day every day, is a
business “from faith to faith.” Faith saves us to begin with, then faith enables
us to live the life God gives us here on earth. It is faith that makes us “right,”
not our efforts. It isn’t “trying to be right” that fixes us – it is climbing
into the wonderful lap of our Savior God, nuzzling our faces into His big
chest, looking up into His loving eyes, then without even knowing it, finding
we did do something right after all – not because we were “trying” but because
He carried us.
It is “from faith to faith,” and “The just shall live by
faith.”
What an amazing jewel this Gospel Jesus purchased for us.
What an amazing gift to actually be “right.” But what an amazing jewel to
realize it all leads back to Him. “From
faith to faith” – living a life of reckless confidence in this God who is
there.
I could write on and on, but, once again, these two verses
are, as it were, Paul’s thesis statement for the whole book of Romans. How much
better to just study on and let him explain to us what it all means?
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