The Gospel Hope for Humanity
The Actual Gospel Message
One of the aspects of Des Ford’s writings - and more recently, those of Eleizer Gonzalez - was that they focused on what the Gospel was really saying: it is a message of hope for humanity. This is where most Christian denominations fail miserably: too much focus on us and what we’re doing or meant to be doing, not nearly enough on Christ, and what he has done. There is a reason for Christ’s last words on the cross: “It is finished…” – it was all done, right there, on the cross. Nothing subsequently happened to ensure our salvation: He completed the task by dying for us.
The debt was paid.
I respectfully submit these brilliant observations on passages from Romans where Dr Gonzalez gives insight into Paul’s writings. May they give as much hope to others as they did to me.
Standing in Grace
…through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand… Romans 5:2a
Paul here describes being justified through faith as “this grace in which we now stand.” Being justified through faith isn’t like playing with a yo-yo, in which your salvation is up and down, or where you can have it one moment and you can have lost it the next by one mistake. Justification is a “standing” before God.
Through Christ we have “gained access” into the status of the righteous. It is faith in Christ that unlocks the door of salvation.
Paul describes being justified through faith as “this grace in which we now stand.”
Harry Ironside distinguished between your “standing” and your “state”, writing that he does:
never have a fear about the standing of the children of God. That is eternally settled.
Standing refers to the new place in which I am put by grace as justified before the throne of God and risen in Christ forever beyond the reach of judgment. State is condition of soul. It is experience. Standing never varies. State is fluctuating, and depends on the measure in which I walk with God. My standing is always perfect because it is measured by Christ’s acceptance. I am accepted in Him…. But my state will be good or bad as I walk in the Spirit or walk after the flesh… My standing gives me title to enter… into the holiest and to boldly approach the throne of grace in prayer.
Never Be Put To Shame
And hope does not put us to shame. Romans 5:5a
Mediterranean societies in the first century were “shame-honour” cultures. This meant that the concept of shame was absolutely central to a person’s identity and community. Everything a person did in Paul’s culture either brought them honour or shame. People would do all that they could to attract honour, and they would go to extraordinary lengths to avoid being shamed in their communities. Paul’s appeal to avoid shame was a powerful one in his culture.
However, shame, though not necessarily in a formal sense, is still a power force in the lives of many people today. There are countless millions of people today whose thoughts and actions are shaped by the guilt and shame that they feel for what they have done, or what was done to them, in the past. But when you hope in Jesus, you will never be put to shame.
The first believers in Jesus understood in the most practical sense what this meant. They had put all their hopes in Jesus. But when he died on a Roman cross, for a time all their hopes had died, and they thought that they would be put to shame. But when Jesus rose from the dead, all their hopes were fully vindicated. So it will be for all who trust in him today.
For the world, “hope” is a vague concept. Things might or might not work out the way you hope they will. But for a Christian, “hope” is always one-hundred percent certain. Just think about that for a while!
The Benefits of Suffering
…because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. Romans 5:3b–4
Paul is describing the benefits that a child of God receives. He has just told us that we are to glory in our sufferings. That’s very counter-intuitive; after all, who likes suffering? So, why is suffering so good for us in the end?
Paul’s answer is that suffering, although its source is evil, can be productive for the one who has understood and accepted the Gospel. He isn’t saying that suffering is either easy or pleasant. Instead, Paul is telling us that suffering is part of a process that produces good in us.
The apostle has told us that those who stand in grace rejoice in their sufferings. How do we come to the point at which we can rejoice in our sufferings? Only when we can see that it has a purpose. Only when we can see the prize. The process is that suffering produces perseverance. The more that we persevere, the more firmly our character is formed. The more that our character develops, the more that hope will grow within us. It is hope that seizes the prize and keeps us encouraged until the end.
Professionals in the field of sport apply it to earthly prizes such as records, prizes, and medals. How much more should we value suffering for the cause for which Christ has called us!
God’s Love Poured Out
…because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit. Romans 5:5b
When we hope in God, our hope will be fully realised, because of the love of God, received through the Holy Spirit.
The image of God’s love being poured out into our hearts is a powerful one. It evokes the image of an empty, thirsty heart just longing to be filled with love, and of God liberally pouring out his love, like a refreshing stream of water into our hearts.
This is the first mention of the Holy Spirit in Paul’s epistle to the Roman church. Paul introduces the Holy Spirit in his essential work. What is this work? As he presents it here, it isn’t to give us some extraordinary, miraculous gift; instead, it is to connect us with the greatest gift of all: the love of God. As Jesus said,
…the Father himself loves you because you have loved me and have believed that I came from God… John 16:27
The Holy Spirit continually pouring the love of God into our hearts buoys us with the assurance of salvation. The enemy of our souls has many deadly stratagems to attempt to convince us that we are alone and unloved. It is the assurance of God’s love for us and our acceptance in Christ that keeps us going. That is the wonderful work of the Holy Spirit.
The Gift of the Spirit
[the Holy Spirit,] who has been given to us… Romans 5:5c
We should never forget that the Holy Spirit is given to us as a gift. There is nothing a child of God can do to receive the Holy Spirit. There is nothing we can do to receive more of the Holy Spirit. We simply accept him.
Some followers of Jesus act as if this is not the case. Just like the yogis of India who in the pursuit of enlightenment thrust spikes and hooks through their bodies, and contort themselves into impossible shapes, some Christians think that the louder they sing, the more they pray, the more they study the Bible, the more of the Holy Spirit they will receive. This is simply not the case.
Revival is a good thing to seek, and revival can only come through the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit has only ever come upon people as God’s gracious gift as a result of our having responded to the Gospel. This has always been true, from his first outpouring in Pentecost in response to the death, resurrection, and ascension of Christ. As the apostle Peter himself preached on the day of Pentecost:
Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. Acts 2:38
While We Were Still Sinners
But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Romans 5:8
Here is a truth that is worthy of being repeated again and again. God loves the unlovable. That’s why Christ died for us, not while we desired him, but while we crucified him.
Some have done their children what is perhaps an eternal injustice, when they told them things like: “Be good so God can love you.”
In this way, children have grown up believing that God’s love depends on how good they are. In this way, we unwittingly turn our children into legalists, with all of the frustration and suffering that brings into their lives. Even worse, we turn God himself, in their own minds, into a legalist as well. The false idea that God is legalistic, so that our relationship with him depends on our performance, is a key reason why so many have turned away from the Christian God today.
The truth is that God loves sinners and saints equally. Your good deeds can’t make God love you more and your failures and sins can’t make him love you less. What this verse emphasizes is God’s love for us and not our love for him. It emphasizes his grace in contrast to our sin and weaknesses. These should always be our own personal emphases in our Christian walk with Jesus.
Write out Romans 5:8 in the first person, i.e., referring to yourself. Use this as a basis for prayer. Keep it somewhere where you can take it out and remind yourself of how much you are loved.
Justified by His Blood
Since we have now been justified by his blood… Romans 5:9a
The meaning of “justify” is to “declare righteous.” It never once in the Bible means to “make righteous.” Justification has to do with God’s declaration about a sinner, and not about any change within the sinner. Justification declares a sinner to be not guilty before God, so that the person is treated as holy. Any internal change within the sinner is the result of justification, and not the pre-requisite or co-requisite of justification. Justification is always to be definitionally distinguished from any aspect of God’s work that has to do with a person’s performance.
There is even a deeper truth here that repels the unregenerate mind: we have been justified by the blood of Jesus. In the Biblical context, this means only one thing: that we have been justified through the sacrifice of Jesus. This grates with our modern sensitivities. There are actually professed followers of Jesus today who reject these ideas as the means by which they have been saved.
To deny the idea that the sacrifice of Jesus is essential to our salvation is as foreign to the thinking of Paul’s epistle to the Romans, and all of Scripture, as any teaching could be. It rips out the heart of the Gospel and leaves it powerless to save.
Paul isn’t saying that “we will be justified” at some point in the future. Notice that “we have been justified” is in the past tense. It happened at the Cross. How does that impact your understand of salvation? How does it impact how you live your life today?
Reign in Life
For if, by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God’s abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ! Romans 5:17
A key contrast that Paul is making here is that of death reigning in us versus us reigning in life.
Our secular society surrounds us with books, videos, and websites all screaming at us that they have the secret of how to be winners. We all want to rule in life. Yet this goal, that the whole world seeks, is only found by those who accept God’s provision of grace and the gift of righteousness through Jesus.
Those who receive God’s grace and righteousness will reign in life! That doesn’t mean that you’ll have more money than others, or better relationships, or even necessarily better health. In fact, in the eighth chapter, Paul lists a list of terrible things:
…trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword… v.35
None of these things will defeat us. As the apostle writes:
…in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 8:37–39
Remember, we never reign in life through ourselves. We only reign through Jesus Christ, who is himself our life.
God’s Presence is With You
Where can I go from your spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me; your right hand will hold me fast. Psalm 139:7-9
The Bible speaks of this reality throughout its pages: ‘He is not far from each one of us. For in him we live and move and have our being.’ (Acts 17:27- 28). ‘And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age’ (Matthew 28:20). Moses ‘persevered because he saw him who is invisible’ (Hebrews 11:27). Jeremiah testifies concerning God: ‘You came near when I called you, and you said, “Do not fear”‘ (Lamentations 3:57).
Neither was this truth news to the Psalmist. Consider the 139th Psalm, quoted above. Israel for three thousand years has sung the shepherd King’s rhetorical question, “Where can I flee from your presence?” So confident is the Psalmist of God’s omnipresence and omniscience that he declares God’s thoughts about him to be more in number than the sand grains of the earth’s mighty oceans (see v.17-18). Then he adds: “When I awake, I am still with you” (v.18).
Be assured of God’s presence. To practice the presence of God continually is to bring rest of soul, peace of mind, and happiness of spirit. It grants freedom from undue anxiety, and wisdom for the way. Satan strives to make us doubt the Divine presence (see Psalm 42:10, 6, 7, 9). But in answer, God exhausts the synonyms of language to assure us of his abiding nearness. – Des Ford (adapted)
How David Learnt Forgiveness
Have mercy on me, O God, according to your unfailing love; according to your great compassion blot out my transgressions. Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. Psalm 51:1–2
When David, the one who would become king of Israel, was young, he thought he understood about forgiveness, but he didn’t. Like so many of us, he learnt forgiveness the hard way.
David learnt his need of forgiveness when later in life he awoke one day and realised what he had become: a lustful adulterer and a vile murder.
In his great Psalm of repentance (Psalm 51) he cried out to God,
Have mercy on me, O God, according to your unfailing love; For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me.
David learnt the cost of forgiveness when even later on, his own son rebelled against him. When King David heard of Absalom’s death,
The king was overcome with emotion. He went up to the room over the gateway and burst into tears. And as he went, he cried, “O my son Absalom! My son, my son Absalom! If only I had died instead of you! O Absalom, my son, my son!” 2 Samuel 18:33
From David’s life we learn the two great lessons of forgiveness: how free it is from God, and how costly it was to God. We are forgiven only because of God’s mercy and compassion. We are forgiven because God gave us his one and only Son who died at Calvary.
There is nothing more important in life than learning your need of forgiveness, and its cost.
A Death Like His
For if we have been united with him in a death like his. Romans 6:5a
We have not been united with him because we died Christ’s death, but instead, a “death like his.” No one but Divinity himself could have taken upon himself the sins of the world:
…now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation. Colossians 1:22
See also Ephesians 2:12–17
Paul has been very clear that Christ died for all men. No one but the Son of God could have been a sacrifice sufficient for our salvation. We are not called to die his death. You are called to accept the fact that he died on your behalf so that you may never die, but instead have eternal life. That is the whole point of the Gospel.
We have not been united with him because we died Christ’s death, but instead, a “death like his.” The atonement, which occurred at Christ’s death, is not a fiction. Yet the Bible is clear that someone cannot die for the sins of another (Deut. 24:16; Ezek. 18:20.) Beyond the words, then and beyond our ability to comprehend, there is also a real sense in which on the Cross, Christ took your life into his own, so that he might give you his life.
Without question, Christ united us with him at the Cross. There, he forged a union, that if we trust in him, can never broken.
I Hate What I Do
For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. 16 And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. Romans 7:15b–16
Like the apostle Paul, I hate what I do because I do what I hate. I love kindness and goodness and honesty and fairness, but I recognise that my behaviour and my words fall far short of my desires.
Paul is explaining a fundamental truth of the human condition. Paul is speaking from his own experience. However, if they’re honest, every human being who has ever lived can identify with what Paul says here.
Paul has already made it clear in the previous chapter (6:6–7) that our old self was crucified with Christ on the Cross. Paul has made it clear that this liberation was a one-time event:
For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin— 7 because anyone who has died has been set free from sin. Romans 6:6–7
Although it no longer rules over us or defines us, our sinful nature still remains within us until glorification. Until them, our lives will be a battle between the new nature under Christ, and the defeated old nature that was ruled by sin. Our sin-nature will continually try to deceive us into thinking that our acceptance in Christ is not real.
I Keep Doing Evil
For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. 19 For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. Romans 7:18b–19
The apostle Paul here writes of his powerlessness to do good in and of himself. At the same time, he continually does the evil that he despises. This seems a strange way for a follower of Jesus to describe himself. It is so different to what we normally think, yet it is a reality for every child of God. The Amplified Bible expresses it like this:
I have the intention and urge to do what is right, but no power to carry it out. Romans 7:18
I have the desire to do what is good, but… the evil I do not want to do —- this I keep on doing.
It is important for us to acknowledge this because it will constantly throw us upon the grace of God. As a child of God in this world, we experience the reality of the weakness of the flesh, while we live out of the reality of our identity as a redeemed child of God. We will war against sin through the power of the Holy Spirit. At the same time, the sin within us will also struggle to drag us down from the assurance of our salvation in Christ.
The key to successful living is to live out of our identity as a saved child of God. When we do that, we will experience peace and assurance as we allow the Spirit of God to do his wonderful transforming work in our lives.
During his earthly ministry, Jesus never rejected anyone who came to him in a broken state, acknowledging their powerlessness and need.
No Condemnation
Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. Romans 8:1
Paul is saying that there is no condemnation for those who are in Jesus Christ. These are those who, because of their sinful nature are still slaves to the law of sin. This seems so contradictory, yet if it were not so, grace would not be grace.
The idea of being “in Christ” is one of Paul’s most characteristic motifs. In his letter to the Romans, Paul introduced it Romans 6:11 when, after referring to the death and resurrection of Jesus, he wrote,
In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus.
When we accept Christ’s gift of righteousness it is credited to us and it is counted as if it were our own. As Paul has been explaining, we will continue to be deep in the struggle with sin for as long as we live. Our perfect righteousness will not always be visible in this world. That’s why, Paul wrote,
you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. Colossians 3:3
Our true life is hidden with God in Christ, untouchable and incorruptible by whatever may happen to us in this world. It is a life that is uncondemnable and uncondemned.
As Jesus said to Nicodemus,
“Whoever believes in him [Christ] is not condemned…” John 3:18
God Sent His Son
For what the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to be a sin offering. Romans 8:3a
This is a most powerful statement by the apostle Paul. Although, as he has said, the law is good, the law yet is powerless in our lives. We must let this sink in. The law is powerless to bring us closer to God. The law is powerless to make us righteous. The law is powerless to save us. The reason why the law is powerless in our lives is because our flesh is weak. It is impossible for us to keep the law in our weak and sinful flesh. That is the first part of this verse.
God sent his own Son into the impossible dilemma of this world. Christ dealt with the powerlessness of the law by finding another way, apart from the law, that we could be righteous, so that we might live.
God did not send his Son to inspire us with his perfect law-keeping. He did not send his Son to be an example to us of perfect law-keeping. Instead, he sent his own Son, in humanity, to be a sacrifice. Let those who wish to downplay or deny the sacrificial nature of Christ’s death think carefully about this verse. Because of this sacrifice the perfect righteousness of Christ stands in the place of ours, not as a fiction, but as a saving reality.
Christ Condemned Sin
And so he condemned sin in the flesh. Romans 8:3b
How did Christ condemn sin in the flesh? In the first part of the verse we find the context. Christ didn’t condemn sin by living a perfect life. He condemned sin by dying a perfect death, in the flesh, as a sacrifice for us.
It is true that Jesus lived a perfect life. However his victory over sin, which condemns it to defeat for all who believe, happened at the Cross.
Throughout his life, as Jesus lived out a perfect obedience to his Heavenly Father, that was his own righteousness we saw, and not our own. It could not save us, because it wasn’t ours. Our own righteousness is as filthy rags (Isa 64:6).
However, at the Cross, Christ condemned sin “in the flesh.” Why was it important that his victory over sin should happen in the flesh? Because in his role as our atoning sacrifice, Jesus was both humanity’s substitute and representative. Jesus sacrificially offered himself as the God-man, as the one who united divinity and humanity, heaven and earth.
Through his sacrificial death, sin was irrevocably condemned so that it can no longer condemn us and separate us from God. All who accept and believe in Jesus now stand perfectly righteous before God, with Christ’s own perfect righteousness credited to their account. His righteousness is now ours.
In Christ’s flesh, your sin was condemned, so that today you may be free of the shame of condemnation. I am sure that you will often need to remember this truth.
The Righteous Requirement of the Law
…in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fully met in us. Romans 8:4a
We all want to be able to present ourselves before God having fully met the righteous requirement of the law. To do this would mean that we have would be fully accepted by God, with no barrier between us, and that we possess eternal life. Everlasting love, peace and joy would be ours.
This verse tells us unequivocally the only way in which this happens for every child of God who trusts in him.
Because God sent his own son in humanity to be a sin-offering for us, the righteous requirement of the law is able to be fully met in us. As Paul has been affirming with the strongest arguments, it is impossible for us to achieve a saving righteousness through the works of the law, or to put it more simply, through any effort or performance on our part.
How? The previous verse says that they are met in us because God sent his own son in humanity to be a sin-offering for us (v.3.) The righteousness of the law cannot be fulfilled in us through our faithfulness, our obedience, our dedication to the cause of Christ, or through our good deeds. It is only through the death of the Son of God, who bore our sin in order to credit his perfect righteousness to our account. To believe and accept this is to stand perfect before God.
Set Your Minds on God
Those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on what the flesh desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. Romans 8:5
The apostle Paul has just told us that those who stand without condemnation as a result of the saving sacrifice of Jesus at Calvary will live according to the Spirit.
I used to be think that this meant that their lives would be fully controlled by the Holy Spirit, and that as a result there would always be closeness to God, and they would experience increasing and continual victory over sin in the flesh. But I was continually disappointed because I didn’t find this to be true in my own life.
I hadn’t understood what Paul explained here. If we set our minds on the flesh – on our ourselves and our own performance – we will live according to the flesh. If we set our minds on God, then his will for us will be manifested in the way we live. The Message paraphrase renders Romans 8:5 like this:
Those who think they can do it on their own end up obsessed with measuring their own moral muscle but never get around to exercising it in real life. Those who trust God’s action in them find that God’s Spirit is in them—living and breathing God! Obsession with self in these matters is a dead end; attention to God leads us out into the open, into a spacious, free life.
Impossible for the Flesh
The mind governed by the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so. Romans 8:7
Having asked the question, “Who governs your mind?” the apostle now gives us one of the only two options. You can choose for your mind to be governed by the flesh or you can choose to submit to God.
In the seventh chapter of his epistle, Paul described the life of a person whose mind is governed by the Spirit. In verses 22–25 Paul has told us that in his mind (the “inner being”) he delights in the law of God, but the flesh (the “body”) wars against it. Because Jesus has delivered him from the flesh, he is voluntarily a slave to God’s law in his mind, but in his flesh (“sinful nature”) he remains a slave to sin.
It is important to understand this. The flesh is hostile, and will always be hostile to God until glorification. It is impossible for the flesh to submit to God. That is why you must not allow yourself to be governed by the flesh.
Because it is impossible for the flesh to obey God’s law, you can be saved only through faith: a trust relationship with Jesus Christ. Once we have been saved, we can only live through the same principle. We do not live by focusing on our performance, but by focusing on our trust relationship with Jesus.
Review your last week? What words have you spoken through the flesh? What choices have you made through the flesh. What things have you done through the flesh? Face and acknowledge these things and surrender your flesh to God.
The Flesh Cannot Please God
Those who are in the realm of the flesh cannot please God. Romans 8:8
Most people, in some way or another are “people-pleasers.” Yet the secret to happiness and to life, both now and in eternity, is to please God.
Paul himself was accused of trying to please people. He defended himself in his letter to the Galatian church:
Am I now trying to win the approval of human beings, or of God? Or am I trying to please people? If I were still trying to please people, I would not be a servant of Christ (Gal 1:10).
This verse is often quoted by people who forget that the context for this statement is the Gospel, as Paul continues in the next verse,
I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that the gospel I preached is not of human origin (Gal 1:11).
If we draw our identify from the kingdom of the flesh, it is impossible for us to please God. The question is, how do we please God? If we draw our identify from the kingdom of the flesh, it is impossible for us to please God. This is the principle that the apostle establishes in Romans 8:8. False religion always follows the principles of the realm of the flesh.
The only way to please God is the way that Christ has opened up for us through the Gospel. We please God when we trust in Jesus. Then we are not in the realm of the flesh, but of the Spirit.
Stumble and Recovery
Again I ask: Did they stumble so as to fall beyond recovery? Not at all! Romans 11:11a
The apostle Paul has just quoted harsh words from Psalm 69 and applied them to Israel. You might be led to think that those Israelites who had rejected the Messiah had fallen beyond recovery.
But there is no one who can fall in their lives beyond recovery. There is no one who can fall so low that they are beyond the grace of God. Jesus taught that,
every kind of sin and slander can be forgiven…
It seems odd to me that while the main point of Jesus’ teaching here is that every sin can be forgiven, so many Christians use this verse to highlight the idea of the “unpardonable sin” (though no such expression is found in Scripture). Thus, they choose to emphasise the words:
but blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven (Matt.12:31.)
Blasphemy against the Spirit is simply the rejection of the Spirit’s offer of God’s forgiveness. It is an unwillingness to be forgiven.
Most of the Jewish people in Christ’s day had rejected him, abused, tortured, and crucified him, yet forgiveness was offered to them also (Acts 2:23–24, 37–39.) If you were to ask the apostle Paul if there is a sin that cannot be forgiven, his answer would be found in Romans 11:11.
Not at all!
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