The Riddle of the Old Testament

In Exodus 34:6-7, the Lord reveals Himself to Moses, saying, “The LORD, the LORD, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty...” (ESV).

Here is the great riddle of the Old Testament. The Lord forgives sin; yet He by no means clears the guilty. How can this be? The answer is seen in the cross of Christ. Christ took our sin and guilt upon Himself, and suffered there for our sins. In this way God has forgiven us who believe in Christ. We are no longer guilty, for Christ took our guilt and suffered its penalty! The Lord says He is “abounding” in steadfast love and faithfulness. Because Christ died for us and
has been raised for us, God is abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness to you who believe! Satan doesn’t want the Christian to see this or believe this. He wants us to look at the trials we are going through and conclude that God doesn't love us. We must fight against Satan’s lies every day! We must fight to treasure God’s abounding love toward us. Nothing can separate us from it!

Purposes of Romans and the Gospel

Romans is a fuller revelation of the gospel than any other book in the Bible. 1:18-8:39 is pure gospel. And Paul continues to cover gospel-related issues all the way through the end of chapter 11. The purpose of this gospel revelation is not primarily to evangelize the readers of Romans, for the epistle is addressed to believers (1:7). I see three main purposes of this gospel revelation.

One purpose is that believers would be spurred on to serve their Savior and would be transformed into the image of Christ. Paul's transition from gospel to Christian living is 12:1-2 "I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect" (ESV).

A second purpose of the gospel revelation is that believers would praise and glorify God. The conclusion to Paul's presentation of the gospel is 11:33-36 "Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways! 'For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counselor? Or who has given a gift to him that he might be repaid?' For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen" (ESV).

A third purpose of the gospel revelation is to strengthen believers to evangelize the world. In Paul's introduction, he says that he and the other apostles "have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith for the sake of his name among all the nations" (1:5 ESV). "The obedience of faith" is the obedience to Christ that is produced by faith in Christ and the gospel. God had commissioned the apostles and graciously empowered them to lead the lost throughout the nations to faith in Christ and the resulting obedience to Christ. Paul speaks in chapter 15 of how he has been bringing about the obedience of faith among all the nations. "For I will not venture to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me to bring the Gentiles to obedience--by word and deed, by the power of signs and wonders, by the power of the Spirit of God--so that from Jerusalem and all the way around to Illyricum I have fulfilled the ministry of the gospel of Christ; and thus I make it my ambition to preach the gospel, not where Christ has already been named, lest I build on someone else's foundation" (15:18-20 ESV).

Then Paul's last words are a doxology in which he praises God for the strength He supplies to all believers for the task of bringing about the obedience of faith among all the nations. "Now to him who is able to strengthen you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery that was kept secret for long ages but has now been disclosed and through the prophetic writings has been made known to all nations, according to the command of the eternal God, to bring about the obedience of faith--to the only wise God be glory forevermore through Jesus Christ! Amen" (16:25-27 ESV).

This is a complex sentence. Let's break it down. The main thought is this, "Now to him who is able to strengthen you to bring about the obedience of faith, be glory." Paul says this is "according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ." In other words, the gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ compel and equip us to bring about the obedience of faith among all the nations. Paul also says this is "according to the revelation of the mystery that was kept secret for long ages but has now been disclosed and through the prophetic writings has been made known to all nations." This is a reference to the gospel just mentioned. Now that Jesus Christ has come, the gospel has been revealed. Our task of bringing about the obedience of faith among all the nations is of epic proportions, for God spent long ages preparing for this world-wide endeavor. Paul also says that this is "according to the command of the eternal God." In other words, our glorious God doesn't ask us to bring about the obedience of faith among all the nations, He commands it! Paul's words are in the form of a doxology, thus giving God the praise and glory for the work He is doing through us among the nations.

So the purposes of the gospel revelation in Romans include our service & sanctification, God's praise & glory, and evangelism & missions.

Love, Grace, and the Gospel

I was meditating upon Ephesians 2:1-10, which emphasizes that we are saved by God's grace. His grace is God's motive in saving us, which means that His motive has nothing to do with anything attractive or appealing in us. A parallel idea is found in verses 4-5, "God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ." Based on this passage, we could define God's grace as the great undeserved love (or favor) God freely gives to people who only deserve wrath from Him (2:3 “by nature children of wrath”).

Now let’s compare the reason we love God, to the reason He loves us so much to save us.

Our reasons are very different, in a sense. We love Him because of how attractive and appealing He is to us. But His saving love has nothing to do with anything attractive or appealing in us. We were in no way attractive or appealing to Him.

Yet there is a sense in which our reasons for loving each other are very similar. We love Him because of how attractive and appealing His grace is to us. And He savingly loves us because of how attractive and appealing His grace is to Him. Because we are attracted to His grace, we receive it, which is loving God. Because He is attracted to His grace, He gives it, which is loving us.

Praise God for the saving grace which He lavishes on His people!