Synod Sermon by Rev D Macdonald
Romans 1:1-6. Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated unto the gospel of God, (which He had promised afore by His prophets in the holy scriptures,) concerning His Son Jesus Christ our Lord, which was made of the seed of David according to the flesh; and declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead: by whom we have received grace and apostleship, for obedience to the faith among all nations, for His name: among whom are ye also the called of Jesus Christ.
We read in this chapter that Paul longed to come to Rome to preach the gospel of the blessed God but was prevented in His providence. He refers to this in verses 9-13, particularly verse 13, where he says, “Now I would not have you ignorant, brethren, that oftentimes I purposed to come unto you, (but was let hitherto) that I might have some fruit among you also, even as among other Gentiles” (Rom 1:13). Everything was ordered by the Head of the Church. We believe it was because he was not able to visit Rome that he wrote this wonderful letter to the Romans, not just for his own time but for all the ages of the Christian Church, as part of God’s revelation. He was indeed to come to Rome, but in a way he did not expect – as the prisoner of the Lord Jesus Christ, bound by a Roman chain. Such is the mysterious providence of God.
We read of the liberty Paul had in his own hired house, while still bound by the chain; he “received all that came in unto him, preaching the kingdom of God, and teaching those things which concern the Lord Jesus Christ, with all confidence, no man forbidding him” (Acts 28:30,31). No doubt, as he preached the things concerning the Lord Jesus Christ, he would have opened up the doctrines that he previously wrote in this wonderful letter to the Church in Rome.
The gospel of the grace of God is the great theme of the letter; in these opening verses, Paul states his own relationship to the gospel. He refers to the antiquity of the gospel in verse 2, referring to the prophets and the Holy Scriptures. He defines the gospel in verses 3-4, for Christ is the cornerstone of the Church. He speaks about his own calling: “By whom we have received grace and apostleship, for obedience to the faith among all nations, for His name” – to bring the nations into subjection to Christ.
In the Epistle, Paul opens up the great doctrine of the righteousness of God and first shows the state of the nations, which were in terrible moral decline,
1Preached by the retiring Moderator at the opening of this year’s Synod meetings.
and also man’s lost and ruined condition and his condemnation. In chapter 1 you have the state of the Gentiles, in chapter 2 the state of the Jews. But in it all there is one conclusion that applies to us: “All have sinned and come short of the glory of God” (Rom 3:23). But the other side of the righteousness of God is wonderful, as revealed in man’s salvation: Paul says, “I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek” (Rom 1:16).
We will try to take up three matters, the Lord helping us: (1) Paul’s relationship to the gospel – a servant separated unto the gospel, a servant of Jesus Christ. (2) The gospel as defined by Paul: “concerning His Son Jesus Christ our Lord, which was made of the seed of David according to the flesh; and declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead” (vv 3,4). The person of Christ is the cornerstone of the Church, the foundation stone laid in Zion. (3) The gospel sent to the nations: “By whom we have received grace and apostleship, for obedience to the faith among all nations” (v5).
1. Paul’s relationship to the gospel. He calls himself a servant, or bond slave, of Jesus Christ: “called to be an apostle, separated unto the gospel of God”. It is God’s gospel, and that tells us that it is divine; it originated in the mind of God. Paul did not receive it from man; it was by the revelation of Jesus Christ that he received the gospel. I just want to touch on a couple of places where he uses the phrase, “separated unto the gospel of God”.
In his unconverted state as a religious Pharisee, he was a separatist, one set apart, because that is what the word Pharisee means. He was tutored at the feet of Gamaliel as a student of the law, he was part of a system which was largely legal. Like so many of his countrymen he was a stranger to the grace of God revealed in the gospel; he was an open enemy of Christ and His Church, best described by himself in Philippians in speaking about his past, before the grace of God took to do with him: “I might also have confidence in the flesh . . . circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, an Hebrew of the Hebrews; as touching the law, a Pharisee; concerning zeal, persecuting the church; touching the righteousness which is in the law blameless. But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ” (Phil 3:4-7).
He speaks here of his separation unto the gospel. That was the consequence of being apprehended by Christ, the risen Lord, on the way to Damascus; Paul was in a path of enmity and persecution when he met the Saviour in that wonderful way. What happened on that unique occasion in Paul’s experience? God’s eternal purpose was being put into effect in the calling and conversion of Saul of Tarsus. That work originated in the eternal purpose, not
because of any merit in Paul. It was all of grace, free grace, God’s gracious purpose. It was not dissimilar to Jeremiah’s situation; the Lord said to him: “Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations” (Jer 1:5). Paul was completely severed from his former life, from his former religious life.
The separation now is the fruit of divine grace; he was separated from that past and became a servant of Jesus Christ. Not all who believe are called to office or usefulness in the Church, but a separation takes place in the experience of all that are effectually called by grace; they are called out of darkness into the kingdom of God’s dear Son, into the kingdom of marvellous light. They were once the servants of sin, which is true of every man in his unconverted past; but such is the change through the effectual working of grace that they become the servants of righteousness; they obey from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered unto them and they become the servants of righteousness. That is the effectual work of the Holy Spirit, by His Word, in the hearts of sinners.
Paul, as a bond slave of Jesus Christ, reflects that humble position that he now has; yet “called to be an apostle” suggests the dignity of the position to which he was called. But he is not his own; he is a servant of the Saviour. He says elsewhere: “When it pleased God, who separated me from my mother’s womb, and called me by His grace, to reveal His Son in me, that I might preach Him among the heathen; immediately I conferred not with flesh and blood” (Gal 1:15,16).
Now he began to glory in something else. He was a new man. What a change! It was a marvellous change from darkness to light in a moment. From that day forward he began to rejoice that his eyes had been opened and that he had received remission of sins. He began to glory in the cross of Christ, no more glorying in the flesh, or in a ceremonial and legal system, or in circumcision. As he said to the Galatian Church: “God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world” (6:14). In the synagogues he began to preach that Christ is the Son of God.
2. The gospel defined. Paul says concerning God’s Son: “Jesus Christ our Lord, which was made of the seed of David according to the flesh; and declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead”. God’s gospel concerns His Son Jesus Christ. Mark’s Gospel begins with that short statement, “The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God” (Mark 1:1). He is the centre and the circumference of the whole revelation of God.
The first point here is that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. This tells us that He is divine, a divine Saviour. His existence was from eternity, before ever the world was. “His goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting” (Mic 5:2). We could gather together numerous Old Testament scriptures that speak about the divine personality of the blessed Redeemer. Proverbs 8 speaks of the eternity of Divine Wisdom: “I was set up from everlasting, from the beginning, or ever the earth was” (v 23). This Person is from everlasting to everlasting: Jehovah, without beginning and without end.
Paul mentions the prophets in verse 2: “Which He had promised afore by His prophets in the holy scriptures”. The gospel of the grace of God was not only revealed when the Saviour became incarnate; He was promised through the prophets, and even in the first promise in Eden. The Old Testament Scriptures speak of the faith of Abel and of Abraham, the rise of the Jewish nation, the ceremonial law – all pointing to His coming in the flesh and to His sacrificial work. Moses and the prophets preached the coming of Christ. “Lo, I come: in the volume of the book it is written of Me” (Ps 40:7) was the foundation of faith in the Old Testament Church.
What a high view Paul had of the Old Testament when he called it the holy Scriptures, and so should we. We should have such high regard, such high views of the Person of Christ in our hearts, in our lives and in the work of the gospel. So many today have such low views of the person of the Saviour; that is why, we believe, there is so much shallowness in religion. We should have a high view of the Holy Scriptures because this is where everything is revealed, they are called “the unsearchable riches of Christ”. The Holy Scriptures reveal what God is: His nature and divine perfections – in the holiness of the divine being.
Let us remember that it is for the defence of the gospel and the Holy Scriptures that we exist as a denomination, despite how small we are, in an age of abounding error, an age of much theological confusion. May we be enabled by divine grace to appreciate that!
I want to move on to Paul’s definition of the gospel, when he says, “Which was made of the seed of David according to the flesh” (Rom 1:3). There we have Christ assuming our nature into union with His Divine Person. For He is God manifest in the flesh. The Eternal Word became flesh. As John says, “The Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth” (Jn 1:14). He became man with a particular end in view: to do the will of God and give Himself for His people as a vicarious sacrifice.
The descent from David is, of course, confined to His human nature, and I want to mention something I read in Calvin’s Commentary on Romans:
when Christ came in our nature, of the seed of David, He brought with Him from heaven something He could not receive from David – the glory of the Divine nature. The Divine nature never came so close to man as it did when the blessed Saviour became incarnate and appeared amongst men in the likeness of sinful flesh. He who is of the seed of David is a Divine Person. Not only did others speak of this, it was revealed. And it was the Holy Spirit that unfolded this great and glorious mystery: that He is indeed divine. “Great is the mystery of godliness; God was manifest in the flesh” (1 Tim 3:16).
He made these claims and He had every right to do so, although men were blind to them. Despite all the miracles and the evidence of His Divinity, men were indeed blind. In a state of humiliation He spoke about His relationship to the Father on so many occasions: “I came forth from the Father, and am come unto the world; again I leave the world and go to the Father”. Time and time again He makes Himself equal with God, because He possessed the divine nature. He took His human nature into union with the Divine in His state of humiliation. This reference to being “made of the Seed of David according to the flesh; and declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness” refers to the two states: one of humiliation and the other of exaltation after the resurrection of the dead. The resurrection is the beginning of that process of exaltation.
In the state of humiliation, from the moment of conception; even before He was conceived in the womb, “that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God” (Lk 1:35). When He appeared as a 12-year-old in the temple, He asked Mary His mother: “Wist ye not that I must be about My Father’s business?” (Lk 2:49). At His baptism, the declaration from heaven was: “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased” (Mt 3:17). In the whole course of His ministry on earth, even at the cross and at His burial, He was the Son of God. We are not to think that, because He was declared to be the Son of God with power after His resurrection from the dead, He was only then the Son of God; He was the Son of God in His humiliation.
This is the final evidence, the final proof, of the claim which He made for Himself. And it is according to the Spirit of Holiness that power is given to Him by the Father so that He is Lord of all in His exaltation, for the resurrection is the beginning of that process; so Paul brings out the contrast of the two conditions: “made of the seed of David according to the flesh” and “declared to be the Son of God with power according to the spirit of holiness”. As I said, He was Son of God in His humiliation; from His conception, at His baptism, in the whole course of His ministry on earth, till the cross and His burial, He was a divine Person. At His resurrection from the dead, He entered into a glorious inheritance, with the fullness of divine life which He received
for the Church – as Head over all things to the Church – that He may give gifts to men. “Thou hast ascended on high, Thou hast led captivity captive: Thou hast received gifts for men; yea, for the rebellious also, that the Lord God might dwell among them” (Ps 68:18).
It is for His sake and for His glory that Paul received grace and apostleship for the obedience of faith to all nations. So it is with ourselves if we know the grace of God in truth and all who are called into the fellowship of His Son, whether Jew or Gentile – who were dead in trespasses and sins but were drawn from darkness to light and from the power of sin and Satan to God. The power that brought the Son of God from the grave is the same as what quickens a dead soul.
Christ is the cornerstone of the Church, and when Paul began to preach the gospel in a synagogue of the Jews, he preached that Christ is indeed the Son of God (Acts 9:20). Look at the conversion of Nathanael, who declared to Jesus: “Thou art the Son of God; Thou art the King of Israel” (Jn 1:49). Look at Peter’s confession when Jesus asked, “Whom do men say that I the Son of man am?” (Mt 16:13). He answered in that noble confession: “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God”. Then Jesus said to him: “Flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but My Father which is in heaven. And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build My Church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it” (Mt 16:13-18).
Every true believer has received that testimony concerning Jesus Christ, by the Spirit of holiness. It is the same grace and the same Spirit that quickens everyone that is brought to life, Jew and Gentile, and they are built upon the same foundation as the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone, upon “whom all the building fitly framed together groweth into an holy temple in the Lord” (Eph 2:21). What a wonderful union is the union of the two natures in the one Person of Christ! The resurrection by the Spirit of holiness is the great proof of who Jesus is – raised in power, exalted at the Father’s right hand.
Paul further defines the gospel by referring to historical facts in 1 Corinthians 15, a chapter on the resurrection. He says, “Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand; by which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain. For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures; and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures” (vv 1-4).
3. The gospel to the nations. Paul says, “By whom we have received grace and apostleship, for obedience to the faith among all nations, for His name”.
After the resurrection, Christ commanded to disciple all nations: “Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature” (Mk 16:15), or, in Matthew’s account, “to disciple all nations” (Mt 28:19). He gave that command to the Apostles.
I want to refer to the words, “For the obedience to the faith among all nations, for His name”. It is an honour to be allowed to preach the gospel of the blessed God. It was so for Paul and the other apostles; it should be so to us. We are ever to remember that this preaching of the gospel, this command to bring the nations under subjection to Christ, is for His name – for the glory of Christ. While the gospel of salvation proclaimed to sinners is for their advantage and spiritual benefit, and particularly their eternal benefit, we must remember that the salvation of any individual is for the glory of God. So true preaching, the true work of evangelisation and missionary endeavour is for the glory of God’s name and of the Head of the Church. We must keep that in mind: it is His glory and not the glory of men.
The gospel reveals the righteousness of God to the nations. With regard to the nations I want to touch on what I mentioned in the introduction about the gospel being sent to them. Following the salutation, Paul develops this, and there are two sides to it: verses 16-31 of this chapter and chapter 2.
(1) “The wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all unrighteousness and ungodliness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness” (Rom 1:18), or seek to suppress the truth. We have a picture there of the deplorable state of the Roman world, the deplorable state of the nations in all classes of society, the condition of the human heart everywhere, and the fearful guilt that man is under. There is condemnation and wrath because of God’s infinite hatred of sin – what is contrary to the holiness of God – and the Jewish world was no better than the Gentile world, though they had the oracles of God.
Paul goes on to prove conclusively that both Jews and Gentiles are all under sin. “There is none righteous, no, not one” (Rom 3:10). Yet it is in this hostile environment – fearful, sad and deplorable as it is – that the apostles let down their nets on the right side of the ship. By the power of God, through the Holy Spirit, they obtained much success, although they suffered much on account of it. When we read Romans 1 and look at the picture presented to our minds, we cannot but think how fitting a description it is of the Western world today and our own country, in particular. This is the same environment that is to a large extent facing the Church of Christ in the modern world.
(2) A righteousness without the law is revealed in the law and the prophets and is set before us from Romans 3:21 onwards. Paul has already described the gospel as “the power of God unto salvation . . . to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For therein is the righteousness of God revealed” (Rom 1:16,17). Paul goes on
to develop the great doctrine of justification by faith. Here is the wonder of grace: it reaches all classes of men and transforms the hearts of sinners, Jew and Gentile; God justifies the ungodly – all that believe in Jesus. That theme is opened up in this letter by the Apostle.
The desired end of the preaching of the gospel to the nations is faith, to bring sinners to the obedience of the gospel, to bring the nations of this world to become the nations of our Lord and of His Christ. That is why the Church of Christ endeavours to preach the gospel. “Thus it is written, and thus it behoved Christ to suffer, and to rise again from the dead the third day: and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem” (Lk 24:46-47).
Conclusion. From the verses of this salutation we have endeavoured, however imperfectly, to notice briefly the divine origin of the gospel and the Holy Scriptures, the Person of Christ in His two natures, in His humiliation and exaltation. We noted the efficacy of divine grace in the conversion and calling of Paul to obedience and service as an apostle, and the desire to bring the nations to the obedience of the gospel. And the same spirit should motivate us; we need the same grace, the same Spirit that converts sinners, although we live in a very poor day, a very sad day. Yet the message of the gospel is the same, whether few or many will hear. We read of the Jews in Rome: “Some believed . . . some believed not” (Acts 28:24). The message of the gospel has lost none of its power. The same gospel, the good old-fashioned gospel, is able to convert sinners still. If we know something of the grace of God in our own experience, that is what changed our lives and brought us to where we are – from darkness to light, from the power of Satan to God.
We, as a constituted court of the Church of Christ, are under the same obligations to consider Him and to be subject to Him as the Head of the Church – not only in our courts but in all the service that is due to Him. As we meet again as a Synod, may we once more, through God’s grace, remember Him; the Court belongs to Him. As the Head of the Church, He is before all things, and by Him all things consist. He is the Head over all things to the Church, which is His body. May we, through divine grace, be clothed with all humility of mind, being subject one to another, as the Apostle says in his letter to the Philippians: “Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem each other better than themselves. Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others. Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus” (Phil 2:3-5). Remember it is all for His name and His glory. In all our deliberations may we, by divine grace, seek to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace among the fathers and brethren!