We know that gospel means good news, but what does that mean?
The gospel has too often been reduced, personalized, and spiritualized so that it’s merely about acknowledging sin, accepting Christ, and securing a spot in heaven.
This is tidy; but it’s not easily found in Paul’s Letter to the Romans.
Paul addresses a different problem, where Jews and Gentiles struggle to have meaningful fellowship with one another. This is a threat to God’s purposes in the world since the good news for the world was that Gentiles could now be included in the covenant promises of God (Isa. 49:6; Mt. 28:19-20). This is God’s promise to Abraham (Gal. 3:8). What was once a limited covenant now has the capacity to reach every person who will ever walk on the planet.
But these two groups cannot come together if they have unresolved judgment to/from one another. One group feels superior to the other, who cannot let go of their ethnic and religious convictions. The other group feels superior, since they actually have convictions. Both groups feel judgment from the other and possibly shame about themselves.
What is the solution? We are tempted to insert some sort of cultural sensitivity training here. Maybe bring in an expert to remind each other of the positive things that all cultural groups offer to one another? Should we toss around a ball of yarn and affirm each other?
Paul goes in a different direction: sin. One group is sinful because they have violated God’s design for creation in the natural world (Chapter 1). Once a person worships something other than God then all standards for ethics and morality are up for grabs. The other group cannot imagine idol worship, yet they violate their own law and Scriptures (Chapter 2). God shows no partiality (2:11). All have sinned (3:23). The cost of that sin is death (6:23).
So far this doesn’t feel like very good news. In fact, it all feels bleak.
But then comes the good news of grace.
“For this reason it depends on faith, in order that the promise may rest on grace and be guaranteed to all his descendants, not only to the adherents of the law but also to those who share the faith of Abraham” (4:16).
Also.
“Therefore, since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have obtained access to this grace in which we stand; and we boast in our hope of sharing the glory of God” (5:1-2).
A person who has followed the religious rules their entire life relies on grace just like a person who never heard of Jesus until yesterday. There is no reason to judge someone who is new.
The relaxed person needs just as much grace as the person who tucks their shirt in and arrives everywhere 15 minutes early. There is no reason to boast.
Can you imagine what this news would have meant for the multiethnic assortment of 28 addressees in Chapter 16? At least 16 of them were immigrants to Rome. Maybe eight are local (with Latin names). There is a mix of slave and free, Jew and Gentile. And he gives special attention to the ten women (likely because they were the strongest believers).
This multiethnic, multicultural group of recipients had every reason to be divided. Yet in this letter they receive the best news ever. They now boast in their shared righteousness rather than in their religious rightness (4:13). This good news will help them see themselves with sober judgment (12:3) before they judge their brother or sister. And they live without shame. There is no condemnation (8:1), just celebration (8:2).
This news was good news for Jews and Gentiles then. It can be good news for us today. It’s good news for the miserable marriage. It’s good news for a fractured family. It’s good news for a divided church. It’s good news for a segregated city. It’s good news for everyone who believes (1:16-17).
