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Romans 1-2
Today we kick off a year-long journey of reading through the Bible. We begin with the first two chapters in the book of Romans.
The book of Romans presents the most systematic presentation of theology found in Scripture. It explains the core doctrines of the Christian faith. Man’s sinfulness - Justification by faith - Sanctification -God’s purpose for Israel - Spiritual Gifts - Our relationship with human government.
I want to focus on two verses - Romans 1:16-17 For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek. 17 For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, “The just shall live by faith.”
These two verses give us an overview of the entire book. In the book of Romans, the apostle Paul will fully explain the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Paul declared that the Gospel is the “power of God to salvation for everyone who believes.”
One thing that the Bible makes very clear - No one is saved by good works. Religious devotion is powerless to save man’s soul. We are saved by the power of the Gospel. The Greek word for “power” is dunamis. We get our word dynamite from that word. The power of the Gospel is explosive, life-transforming power. When someone believes the Gospel and is saved, his life is transformed by the power of God through regeneration. When a person is “truly born again” - his life is forever changed (2 Corinthians 5:17).
There’s a beautiful illustration of this in nature with the butterfly. As you might know, butterflies are caterpillars before they are butterflies - THEY ARE UGLY WORMS - How does a worm turn into a butterfly? First of all, the female butterflies lay eggs on plants. The eggs hatch into caterpillars which eats and eats and eats and they grow and grow and grow. Eventually they form a chrysalis around themselves and inside the chrysalis, the caterpillar (that ugly ole worm) undergoes a metamorphosis - transforming into a beautiful butterfly. This is a good illustration of how we are transformed by the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Romans 1:17 reads, “For in it - IN THE GOSPEL - the righteousness of God is revealed.” Again, no one makes it into heaven with his own righteousness. No one will stand before God clothed in his own righteousness. The only way to be saved is to stand in the righteousness of God that is only acquired by faith in Jesus Christ.
2 Corinthians 5:21 says, “For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” When you put your faith in Jesus Christ, He takes all of your sin and nails it to the cross and, in exchange, He gives you His righteousness.
“For in the Gospel, the righteousness of God is revealed” - We are made righteous when we receive the righteousness of Jesus Christ - HOW DO WE RECEIVE IT? By faith. It’s not earned by good works; it is received by faith. It’s received when we put our faith in Jesus for salvation.
Romans 1:17 says that righteousness is revealed “from faith to faith.” In other words, it begins and ends with faith. The “just” - those who are justified - shall live by faith.
So, in this new year, we will continue to walk out what was begun “in us” when we first believed. Faith is not a one-time event, but a continual trusting in God day-by-day...
We don’t know what 2026 will bring, but we should continue to walk by faith.