THE GOSPEL OF
CHRIST
SPREADING THE SOUL-SAVING MESSAGE OF JESUs
(Chapter 1)
Introduction by narrator accompanied by a cappella singing:
THE GOSPEL OF CHRIST. Spreading the soul-saving message of Jesus. And now, Timothy Sparks and Ben Bailey
Ben Bailey:
“For I’m not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation, for everyone who believes to the Jew first and also to the Greek” (Rom. 1:16). I’m Ben Bailey.
Timothy Sparks:
And I’m Timothy Sparks. Welcome to our study of the Book
of Romans. This message is brought to you by individuals and congregations of
the churches of Christ. We hope you will visit the
The Book of Romans is considered by many to be a deep doctrinal discourse. Actually, Romans represents a very practical message on Christianity. Romans 1:16-17 is considered to be the theme and thesis of the book. Paul tells us that the Gospel is God’s saving power. He says, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation to everyone who believes, for the Jew first, and also for the Greek, for in it, the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith. As it is written, the just shall live by faith.” We learn that the Gospel is God’s mean to save human souls, and that the Gospel reveals God’s righteousness.
Ben Bailey:
The Gospel’s ability to save comes from the idea behind the word “Gospel,” which means “good news” or “glad tidings.” The good news that Paul is trying to get across to Jewish and Gentile believers is that God has made a way, a scheme, a plan whereby people may be saved. In Romans 1:3-5, Paul illustrates what the Gospel is all about. What is the good news? What makes these glad tidings something we want to hear and obey? In Romans 1:3, Paul goes back to the seed of David—all the way back to God’s scheme of redemption, to God’s plan for people. That scheme of redemption, that plan, has to do with the fact that Jesus is the Messiah who stems from the seed of David. The Jews had been looking for a Messiah (Christ, the Anointed One) for a long time. It has been prophesied in 2 Samuel 7:12-15 that God would raise up Someone to sit on the throne of David. Luke observed (1:32-33) that He would “reign forever.” This Messiah—the One Who would come and offer His people a way of salvation—is really at the heart and core of the Gospel. In Romans 1:4-5, Paul describes in greater detail what the Gospel is all about. It’s about the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus. Christ was “declared to be the Son of God, with power according to the spirit of holiness by the resurrection from the dead.” The Gospel (the good news of Jesus Christ) is that we don’t have to be lost in our sins. Sin separates people from God. As Isaiah pointed out (59:1-2), our sins are what have separated us from God. According to Romans 3:23, all of us have sinned and fallen short. Yet, through the death and resurrection of Christ, we are given hope that we can be forgiven. The Gospel, in its essence, is about teaching people to see that there is a way of salvation. If you are not a child of God, the Gospel is something to which you can have access today. You can access God’s loving power by obeying from the heart. One of the key words we’re going to see in the book of Romans is faith. Many in our world today think that faith is simply a “leap in the dark” or a mere “feeling” of some kind. But the Bible presents quite a different picture of faith when it speaks of “the obedience of faith” (Rom. 1:5; 16:20). Biblical faith is obedient trust in Who God is and what He has done. Obedient faith is the only kind of faith that will please God. We learn from James 2:14-20 that a faith that simply says, “Lord, Lord,” yet does not act through obedience, is a dead faith. Even demons have that kind of faith (Jas. 2:19). But the faith of the Gospel—a system based on faith, and one that creates faith in us—is an obedient type of faith.
Timothy Sparks:
The Book of Romans teaches us that our faith is “made alive” as a result of Jesus Christ, Who was resurrected from the dead. Romans 1:4 teaches us that Jesus “was declared to be the son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness by the resurrection from the dead.” The reason that we are able to live spiritually has to do with the fact that Christ was resurrected. We will learn later, in Romans 6:3-4, that we can be dead to sin, yet alive to God. We can share in a spiritual resurrection, and then live for Jesus Christ because of His resurrection. All of Christianity hinges on the resurrection. From 1 Corinthians 15 (the great “resurrection chapter of the New Testament), we learn that if Christ’s resurrection did not occur, then our faith is vain, and Christianity is a farce. But because Jesus was raised, we can live spiritually and inherit Heaven as our reward. The resurrection of Christ is absolutely essential to a Christian’s faith. The Book of Romans begins with (1:5) and ends with (16:26) a discussion about the “obedience of faith.” That type of faith is a faith that is based upon evidence, as we learn from 1 Thessalonians 5:21. We must “prove all things, and hold fast what is good.” The resurrection of Jesus Christ is a provable fact! We can know that Jesus is the Son of God—powerfully declared to be so as a result of His resurrection from the dead. In Romans 1:8, Paul thanks the Christians to whom he writes, because their faith was “spoken of throughout the whole world.” What a marvelous statement. Not only was their faith spoken of within their community and within their region, but it also was spoken of “throughout the whole world.” Is your faith spoken of by your neighbors, friends, and relatives? Are you known as a person of faith? If not, the Gospel of Christ can empower you to be a person who is a faithful servant of God. The Book of Romans teaches us that we must live by faith in order to be people who have an everlasting influence for good.
Ben Bailey:
As we look at
Romans 1:16, and as we think about the Gospel being God’s power to save, we
realize that the Gospel is powerful by its very nature. It’s God’s dunamis. Dunamis” is the
Greek word from which we get our English word “dynamite.” The Gospel has the dynamic
power to blast sin out of our lives. James observed that we are to “receive
with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save our souls” (Jas. 1:21).
The Bible is not a dead book. It’s not a book that was written 2,000 years ago,
and thus is no longer useful. It’s a powerful book for us today. The writer of
the Book of Hebrews put it this way: “For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper
than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and
of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the
heart” (Heb. 4:12). The Word of God is a discerner of the thoughts and intents
of the heart. The Gospel is powerful because it tells us of the life and the example
that Jesus lived. Jeremiah asked, “‘Is
not My word like a fire?’ says the Lord, ‘and like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces?”
(Jer. 23:29). The Gospel has the power to change us from a sinner to a saint.
The Gospel has the power to take the black and the ugly—those things that are
not pleasing to God—out of our lives, and wash us with the blood of Jesus to
make us clean. So, “the Gospel of Christ” is really the theme of the Book of Romans.
Paul is very likely writing to people who are of a Jewish background. These
people, therefore, were looking to the Old Law for their salvation. They
thought that because they were descendants of Abraham, they were automatically going
to be saved. Later, in Romans 4, Paul is going to deal with this fallacy in
their way of thinking, and show them that it’s not through Abraham, but through Christ,
that their salvation would come. That’s basically the message of this book. Even
if the people had been able to keep
the Old Law perfectly, there still is not a sacrifice in the Old Law that could
actually take away their sins. It’s only through Jesus Christ and His sacrifice
that we can be saved. In Romans 1:18, Paul explained why we so desperately need
the Gospel. “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness
and unrighteousness of men.” Those who proclaim to live the truth, yet live
ungodly lives, need to beware of God’s wrath.
We often think of God as being loving and kind. And, yes, 1 John
4:8 does say that God is the epitome of what love is. He’s the very nature of love.
Yes, God is a God of love. And, yes, He loves us deeply. Yet God also is a God
of wrath. We must realize that, at times, God can be filled with wrath against
sin. The writer of Hebrews observed that “God is a consuming fire,” and that “it
is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God” (Heb. 10:29,31). By
His very nature, God is angry about sin. And He is angry with those who are
wicked because of their sin. The Bible promises that those who live ungodly,
sinful lives will be lost for all eternity. God promises to punish those kinds
of people with eternal destruction. This is why we need the Gospel in our lives.
Are you living a life that is ungodly? Are you living a life of sin and worldliness?
If so, you desperately need the Gospel. God’s wrath is not something that you
would ever want to incur. Think of
several Old Testament examples. In Leviticus 10:1-2, two priests, Nadab and
Abihu, offered profane (i.e., unauthorized) fire to God. They were servants of
God, and were worshiping Him. Yet they did something God had not authorized,
and the Bible tells us that fire rained down from Heaven and killed them. The
global flood of Genesis 6-8 is another example of God’s wrath. Noah and his family
(eight people in all) were the only ones who were saved when the whole world
perished during that flood. There is a day appointed in the future when God’s
wrath will come to a climax in this world. The Bible says in 2 Peter 3:10-12 that God will one day destroy
the world and everything in it. He’s going to rain down His wrath on the
ungodly one last time. Are you ready for that day? Are you prepared—as a result
of having had your sins forgiven through the blood of Jesus—so that you won’t
have to incur God’s wrath on that fateful day?
Timothy Sparks:
The apostle Paul knew the truth about the resurrection of
Jesus Christ, the saving power of the Gospel, and the wrath of God that comes upon
people who are unrighteous. This is why he wrote, “I am a debtor to preach the
gospel.” (
We learn from Romans 1 that the Gentiles were lost because of their sins. It is sin that condemns, and it is the Gospel that saves. Sometimes you hear the hypothetical situation posed: What if people are on a desert island, and they have never heard about the Gospel? Will the Gospel condemn them? No, the Gospel does not condemn them. They stand condemned because of their sin. Sin is what condemns. The Gospel is God’s only means to save. As one Gospel song puts it, “Of one the Lord has made the race, through one has come the fall; where sin has gone must go His grace, the Gospel is for all.” We learn from 2 Corinthians 4:7, “We have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us.” This treasure is the Gospel. God has placed the Gospel into our hands. We, as humans, are the fragile clay vessels into which God has placed this marvelous treasure. Usually, people do not place their valuables in something that is so very fragile. But God has given into our hands the Gospel—His means to save. It our job to distribute and disseminate that Gospel! Without the Gospel, souls will die and be lost forever. Paul said, “We have believed, therefore we have spoken. We also believe and therefore speak” (2 Cor. 4:13). You cannot be a “silent partner” of the Lord and still be a faithful follower of Jesus. You have to speak up—and stand up—for Christ. Do you remember Stephen? When Stephen, in Acts 7, took a bold stand for the Lord, the Jews stoned him to death. Yet the Lord stood up for Stephen (vs. 56)! And He will stand up for us on the Day of Judgment if we will boldly tell others about the soul-saving message of the Gospel. Paul was always trying to convince people that they should become Christians. He taught them that, in order to obey the Gospel, they had to believe in Jesus as the Son of God. They had to repent and straighten out their lives in accordance with the Word and will of God. They had to confess that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God. Then they had to be baptized into Christ, so that their sins could be forgiven and washed away by His precious blood. That is when the Christian life begins. Then, they had to live faithfully, and dedicate the rest of their years to Jesus as the Savior.
Ben Bailey:
In Romans 1:26-29
Paul deals with the sin of homosexuality—a term that people don’t use very much
today because it’s considered to be “politically incorrect.” Paul, however,
said that God’s wrath is unleashed against those people who do such unnatural
things. Women lusted after women, and men lusted after men, committing unnatural
sexual acts that God did not want them to commit. Many people today are trying
to popularize what is referred to as “the homosexual lifestyle.” We see
television shows about it. There are movies made where it’s actively promoted.
God is not at all pleased with homosexuality. The Bible clearly says that it is
not natural. Going all the way back to Leviticus 18:22, we see God explaining
to the people that a man was not to lie with a man as with a woman, because it
was an abomination to God. Romans 1:26-29 clearly condemns this as a sin that
we must not commit. Something that is unnatural is against nature itself. While
the media may promote the homosexual lifestyle, God Himself is not at all
pleased with this type of activity. We learn as early as Genesis 2 that God created
woman for man. God did not make two
men. God made woman to be a helper for man. “For this reason, a man shall leave
his father and mother and be cleaved unto his wife, cling to his wife, and the two,
they shall be as one flesh” (Gen. 2:24). God set it up in the very beginning
for man and woman to work together in the family unit, to rear children, to
make the family what God wants it to be. Men and men cannot do that. It does
not work that way in God’s scheme of things. If you are involved in a lifestyle
like that, and you’re trying to please God at the same time, you need to
understand that you cannot do both. The Gospel of Christ calls out to us, and
tells us that we must live a life that is according to God’s Word and God’s
will.
In the rest of chapter 1, Paul explains the Gospel’s power to save, and
discusses the sins of the Gentiles—all types of sins, from murder and adultery,
to being inventors of evil things and speaking ugly to parents. All kinds of
horrendous sins are discussed here. The Jews appreciated Romans 1, because it
discussed the sins of the Gentiles and all the ungodly things they had done. As
we’re going to see in Romans 2, Paul is also going to show that hypocritical
Jews are equally without excuse. In God’s sight, no one today has an excuse for
his or her disobedience. God has given us, in His Word, everything we need to
obey Him. In the Bible, God has given us His complete will so that we can know
what we need to do to be saved.
Stop and think about your own life right now. As an individual who will spend somewhere in eternity, have you made your life right with God? Have you obeyed the Gospel? Have you accessed the saving power of Jesus Christ? You can do so. Ephesians 3:4 makes it clear that when we read God’s word, we can understand it. We must set aside all bias, prejudice, or family religious traditions, and simply come to the Bible with an open mind. Are you willing to obey the Gospel? The Bible says that one must believe in Jesus as the Christ. Jesus said in John 8:24, “Unless you believe that I am He, you will surely die in your sins.” Belief is essential. I have to believe that Jesus is the Lord of my life; He is the risen Savior. I also have to be willing to repent. The idea of repentance is expressed in Luke 13:3 where Jesus said, “Unless you repent, you shall all likewise perish.” The very nature of repentance means that we must make a change. In Acts 3:19, Peter commanded those people to repent and turn again—to “be converted.” The idea is that they had to turn from a life of sin, and begin living a life for God. A person also must confess Jesus as his Savior. Romans 10:10 says, “For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.” I have to make that great confession that Jesus is the Lord of my life. Jesus Himself said in Matthew 10:32-33, “Therefore whoever confesses Me before men, him I will also confess before My Father who is in heaven. But whoever denies Me before men, him I will also deny before My Father who is in heaven.” So I believe, I repent, I confess, and then I’m baptized for the remission of my sins.
Timothy Sparks:
God has made it very clear that baptism is part of His means to save our souls. Jesus Himself emphasized that unless one is born again—unless one is born of water and of the spirit—he cannot either enter into the kingdom of God (Jn. 3:3,5). We see that in Acts 2, on the Day of Pentecost, Peter boldly proclaimed the means by which people could be pardoned and have their sins forgiven. In Acts 2:37, after Peter had made it clear that the Jews had crucified Jesus Christ, those Jews asked, “Men and brethren, what shall we do?” In the context, they were asking, “What shall we do to call on the name of the Lord that we might be saved?” Peter had quoted Joel’s prophecy (Joel 2:28), in which the prophet had said, “It will come to pass that whoever calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” Once Peter made that statement, the Jews then asked, “What shall we do?” Peter told them what they had to do to call on the name of the Lord so they might be saved. He said that they had to repent and be baptized. First, they had to change their hearts and their minds. They had to turn from what they were doing, to the truth of God’s Word. Then, they had to be immersed into Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of their sins. People receive forgiveness of their sins, and come into Christ, by means of baptism into Christ. We learn from Galatians 3:27, “As many of you as have been immersed into Christ have put on Christ.” Without being baptized into Christ, people are not clothed with Christ. Some people ask, “Why would God make that part of His plan of salvation?” Because God is God, He alone can determine the means by which we access the soul-saving message of Jesus Christ. And He has decreed that we do that by being baptized.
What a marvelous book we are now
studying as we examine Romans. The text of Romans 1:16-17 reminds us that the Gospel
is God’s saving power, that the Gospel reveals God’s righteousness, and that “the
just shall live by faith.” The only way we will ever be able to hear the commendation,
“Well done, good and faithful servant, enter into the joy of your Lord,” is if
we remain faithful to God. We invite you to visit the
Narrator accompanied by a cappella singing:
THE GOSPEL OF CHRIST is brought to you by loving, caring members of the church of Christ. The McLish Avenue church of Christ in Ardmore, Oklahoma, oversees this evangelistic effort. For a free CD or DVD of today’s broadcast, please write to:
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1. What verses in the Book of Romans are considered to be the “theme and thesis” of the entire Book?
2. What is that “theme and thesis”?
3. In Romans 1:3-5, Paul refers back to a sort of “beginning” of God’s scheme of redemption. Who, specifically, does he mention? And what is the significance of this person?
4. Someone, who appears in both the Old and New Testaments, is at the core of the Gospel message. What is the name of that “someone “in the Old Testament? And what is the name of that “someone” in the New Testament?
5. What, according to this lesson, is biblical faith?
6. An Old Testament prophet said that we had done something that had “separated us from God.” Who was the prophet, and what did he say we had done? Support your answer with Scripture.
7. All of Christianity hinges on one historical event. What is that event?
8. The Book of Romans begins and ends with a discussion of faith. What type of faith is under discussion? Support your answer with specific passages.
9. The writer of the Book of Hebrews compared the Gospel to an instrument of war. What was that instrument? Support your answer with Scripture.
10. The prophet Jeremiah compared God’s Word to two things. What were those two things? Support your answer with Scripture.
11. The Jews thought they would be saved, based solely on the fact that they were descendants of Abraham. How did Paul refute that erroneous position?
12. In the Book of Leviticus, two priests were slain by God. Who were they, and why were they slain? What is the principle involved in this incident for us today?
13. According to the text of Romans 1, the Gentiles were condemned. What had condemned them? What had not condemned them?
14. How does the text of Genesis 2:24 factor into Paul’s discussion in Romans 1:26-29?
15. The Jews appreciated Paul’s discussion of the Gentiles’ sins in Romans 1. Why would they not appreciate Paul’s discussion of sins in Romans 2?
16. What is the point of Paul’s discussion in 2 Corinthians 4:7 about God having place the Gospel “in earthen vessels”?
17. In Ephesians 3:8, Paul spoke of “the unsearchable riches of Christ.” What are those?
THE GOSPEL OF CHRIST,