Gospel as Salvation Romans 1: 1-17 – 2023/7-9

 As people of faith, we struggle to name what the Gospel actually means. We struggle to name how it transforms our faith. And we struggle with words like salvation, especially in relation to the good news.

July 9, 2023

“Lessons From Paul’s Letter to the Romans”
Gospel as Salvation
Romans 1: 1-17

Rev. Dr. Heather W. McColl

Romans 1: 1-17

Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God, which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy scriptures, the gospel concerning his Son, who was descended from David according to the flesh and was declared to be Son of God with power according to the spirit of holiness by resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord, through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith among all the gentiles for the sake of his name, including you who are called to belong to Jesus Christ, To all God’s beloved in Rome, who are called to be saints:

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is proclaimed throughout the world. For God, whom I serve with my spirit by announcing the gospel of his Son, is my witness that without ceasing I remember you always in my prayers, asking that by God’s will I may somehow at last succeed in coming to you. For I long to see you so that I may share with you some spiritual gift so that you may be strengthened— or rather so that we may be mutually encouraged by each other’s faith, both yours and mine.

I do not want you to be unaware, brothers and sisters, that I have often intended to come to you (but thus far have been prevented), in order that I may reap some harvest among you, as I have among the rest of the gentiles. I am obligated both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to the wise and to the foolish, hence my eagerness to proclaim the gospel to you also who are in Rome. For I am not ashamed of the gospel; it is God’s saving power for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed through faith for faith, as it is written, “The one who is righteous will live by faith.”

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Gospel as Salvation Romans 1: 1-17

We begin a conversation with the letter to the Romans, focusing on Paul’s use of the word “Gospel” and how he saw it lived out through our faith as the people of God. I cannot take credit for this particular sermon series. It is part of the narrative lectionary which invites people in the churches to explore different parts of the Bible which we don’t get to encounter on a regular basis. This particular series caught my attention because it lays out the Gospel in terms we can understand. Oftentimes in churches, we like to use the big theological words and lots of stuff gets lost in translation. This particular series invites us to spend time with one of the main focuses of our faith as Christians…The Gospel Message and embrace it for its life changing message, no pun intended.

As people of faith, when we are asked to put the Gospel message into words, we usually fall back to the simple catch phrase often used in communities of faith…the Gospel is the good news. The follow up question to this that we always fail to answer is the good news about what.

Over the years, the wider Church has filled in this follow up question with things like…” I was lost but now I’m found. Or I was a sinner and God rescued me. Or my favorite, sarcasm intended… “I was saved by the Gospel message and now I can go to heaven.”

Over the years, the wider Church has filled in this follow up question to what is the Gospel message with I statements and what that has done is put people in control of the message. It has put the focus on the people, not on what God has done or is doing in our world.

That’s why this particular series is so fitting for a time such as this. Just like Paul had to do some two thousand years ago when he first wrote this letter, as people of faith, we are being invited to reframe, to reclaim the Gospel message, to shift our focus from us as individuals to God and what God is doing in our world so that we can see, we can experience the new life which is all around us. Just like Paul had to do some two thousand years ago, when he first wrote this letter to the Romans, we as people of faith are being invited to peel away the big fancy church words and embrace the Gospel message for what it truly is…a living, active, transforming experience which humbles us, which amazes us, which saves us, which shows us that no matter what love and light will always have the last word.

Or let me say it this way…In contemporary evangelical Christian circles, there is a lot of talk and importance placed on getting into heaven. This is the goal and purpose of faith. This world does not matter. What matters is that one makes it into heaven.

And yes Paul and his writings are to blame for that train of thought and practice. However, for the most part, Paul and his writings are taken out of context. For Paul, the reason behind his emphasis on getting into heaven was that he thought Jesus was coming back tomorrow and he didn’t want anyone to miss out on that. But even Paul realized that as time went on and Jesus wasn’t coming back as soon as he thought, Paul began to modify his way of thinking. Yes, he still was concerned about people not missing out on Jesus’ return but since Jesus’ return was delayed, Paul began to realize that he had put faith in a box. He had put perimeters on what faith looked like. Paul realized since Jesus’ return was happening on God’s time and not his, he needed to do a bit more soul searching. He realized that faith is not just about getting into heaven. It is more about being in right relationship with God, being in right relationship with one another, about being in right relationship with Creation.

Paul realized that faith was about God’s amazing grace first and foremost and the other stuff will follow. If we as follower of Jesus embrace God’s amazing grace, if we allow God’s amazing grace to transform us into the people God created and called us to be, then we will live out this grace in our relationships with God, live out this grace in our relationships with one another. If we reframe our faith narrative from simply being about ignoring this world and only worrying about getting into some heaven far away to actually caring for the least of these here on Earth, then we realize that the Kingdom of Heaven is already here in our midst.

This is the context for our Scripture this morning. This is why Paul says he is not ashamed of the Gospel message. This is why Paul says that the Gospel message is the saving power of God for everyone who believes.  Paul understands that Gospel message is so much more than us as individuals. It is so much more than being concerned about getting into heaven. At its core, the Gospel message is about God and what God is doing as God brings healing and wholeness for all of God’s people. It is about what each one of us experienced when we felt, when we experienced the humbling, healing, uplifting message that we are God’s Beloved, named and claimed and loved more than we will ever know. 

Paul understood that the Gospel message literally saves us from the brokenness, from the hurt, from the hate, from all the labels and divisions this world tries to put upon us. Paul understood that the Gospel message shifts our focus from us as individuals and puts it on God. It opens our eyes, it opens our hearts, it opens our minds, it opens our spirits to where God is moving in and among us, showing us that the Kingdom of God is already here. It invites us to come not as sinners, but as ones who are created in the image of God and who are inspired by the vision of God’s Shalom coming to fruition here on Earth, not just for a select few but for all of God’s creation.

In these few verses which are the beginning of the letter to the community of faith in Rome, Paul reframes the people’s narrative, Paul reframes our narrative as people of faith and tells us that the Gospel message is about God’s faithfulness to us. It is God’s faithfulness which brings us salvation. Paul tells the community to think of salvation not as we have to get to heaven now. But rather think of salvation  as healing, as making right. Think of it as a salve God is given to us to heal our wounds, to mend what is broken. Think of salvation as a living entity which is actively working in our world to bring about healing and wholeness, not for a select few but for all of God’s people.

All because for us as people of faith, the Gospel message comes down to just one thing….For God so loved the world that God sent God’s only Son, not to condemn the world but rather so that we might know what it means to love one another. And in doing so saved us and gave us new life.

Amen.

See also: Theology Tuesday for Sunday, July 9, 2023 – Gospel as Salvation Romans 1: 1-17. 

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