Bigger Than You Thought

Paul wrote his epistle to Rome primarily for the purpose of making sure they knew what the Gospel was (Rom 1:16-17). You and I don't really need that, right? We're educated. We're taught. We know what the Gospel is. "Good news! Jesus died to save us!" And it is, indeed, good news; the Gospel. But I suspect the Gospel is much bigger than we typically think of it.

The Bad News
Paul's explanation of the Gospel begins with a lengthy explanation of the problem (Rom 1:18-3:20). For 63 verses Paul waxes eloquent about the problem of our sin. We face God's wrath because we suppress the truth about God (Rom 1:18-20). We decline in our suppression of the truth to utter depravity (Rom 1:21-32). Neither Jew nor Gentile has an excuse (Rom 2). In the end, there is none righteous, none who seeks for God, none who does good; no, not even one (Rom 3:10-18). Really bad news.

The Good News (Rom 3:21-Rom 4:25)
On the tail, then, of this really bad news, Paul brings about the good news. This good news is amplified by the bad news. It's good to know that we "are justified by His grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus" (Rom 3:24), but it's so much bigger when you see it from that bottom of the barrel we found ourselves in.

The Next Big Thing (Rom 5:1-21)
The bad news started with the righteous (just) wrath of God, so it is good news to find that because of our justification on the basis of faith we have peace with God (Rom 5:1). And while we were under Adam and, therefore, tied into sin, we are now under Christ which brings eternal life.

Bigger and Bigger (Rom 6:1-23)
It only gets bigger. Starting from the sin condition and moving joyfully to justified by faith, we now are identified with Christ. That means we are identified with His death to sin (Rom 6:2 ) and, further, new life in Christ (Rom 6:4, 8-11). Better yet, we become obedient, but not just obedient -- obedient from the heart (Rom 6:16). We're talking about a life change, a new being, a new living condition, a new person. So the Gospel promises "Sin shall not master you." (Rom 6:14) That is stunningly good news! From "only able to sin" to "sin shall not master you." We are looking, on the basis of Christ's death and resurrection, at the certainty of victory over sin.

Bigger and Biggest (Rom 8:1-39)
Romans 8 represents the pinnacle of the epistle. Despite our continuing struggle with sin (Rom 7), we see, ultimately, no condemnation (Rom 8:1). How can there be? God dwells in you! (Rom 8:9-11) We were enemies of God and now we are heirs with Christ (Rom 8:12-17). We are being conformed by God into the image of His Son (Rom 8:26-29). If God is for us, who can be against us? We are more than conquerors! (Rom 8:31-39)

This has just been a sprint, a quick overview of the Gospel as it is found in Romans. Just the high points. We understand that the Gospel means we are saved, and that is indeed good news, but the good news is so much bigger than that. Christ's perfect righteousness has been imputed to us. Not merely forgiven; declared righteous. On the basis of justification by faith, we have peace with God where we originally faced His wrath. We are identified with Christ's death to sin and now enjoy new life, which includes a new heart and defeating sin. We have God living in us. God has a plan and a purpose to shape us as heirs to be the image of His Son. We have God on our side!

What concerns me, then, isn't the Gospel. That's marvelous. What concerns me is that we, the recipients of the best news ever -- much better than we can even grasp -- might take it for granted, might take it without sufficient gratitude, might take it without the joy that it should engulf us with. That would be a very sad thing.