Bible Study Romans Part 33-The Same Old Story

The Gospel doesn’t need a makeover, and it doesn’t need your help to be powerful. We open Romans 1:16-17 and sit with Paul’s blunt claim: the Gospel of Christ is the power of God unto Salvation, and God’s Righteousness is revealed “from faith to faith.” That pushes us straight into the heart of the Christian message: Salvation by faith alone, not spiritual effort, family background, or religious rule-keeping.

We dig into Paul’s word choice for “revealed,” the Greek apocalypto, and why it matters for understanding Biblical Christianity. The Gospel is not a brand-new idea that arrived in the New Testament, but an unveiling of God’s plan that has been there all along. From Habakkuk’s “the just shall live by faith” to Abraham’s righteousness being imputed through belief, Scripture keeps telling the same story, even when people miss it or cover it up with expectations.

We also talk honestly about why this message created friction, especially for Jews who expected a conquering Messiah, and why Paul keeps quoting the Old Testament to make his case. Along the way we connect the dots to unity in Christ, where Jew and Gentile are made one, and we explain why the Law cannot save, even though it is holy and good.

Finally, we land on assurance. Faith is not popular, earning feels natural, and doubt spreads fast, so Paul works to build rock-solid confidence in God’s consistent word. If this study helps you, subscribe, share it with a friend, and leave a review so more people can find it.

Transcript

Why Scripture Matters Most

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Welcome to the program Study in the Chapel. God's Word is supreme in chapel ministries. We consider it absolutely essential to a proper relationship with God. We study it, we love it, we rely on it every minute of every day. The following program is an edited recording of the regular Bible studies we host, and we decided to share these with you in the hope that you too will be able to find inspiration, encouragement, and ultimately salvation through discovering Christ in Scripture. Our intention is to travel all the way through the Bible. It will be a challenging journey, but one that will undoubtedly bring you to a decision. Through this study, you will be faced with either believing or rejecting what God has said to us. It is our intention to provide you with enough knowledge to make an informed decision about God and his word. We strongly encourage you to listen intently and diligently, because though at the moment you may not realize it, these things are truly a matter of life and death. In fact, these are matters of eternal life and eternal death. Never treat what God has said lightly. There is truly nothing more important to you. Now join us as we seek God's will through his inspired word.

Two Studies A Week Rhythm

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We here do this twice a week, so we post twice a week these Bible studies. One part of the week it's the Old Testament, frankly, the book of Genesis. And then the other part of the week, we post Romans or something from the New Testament. We've been doing that for a while. It seems to be a good balance, and it also helps to remind all of us that the gospel has been the same. This is what Paul has been talking about in this letter to the Romans. He will continue to talk about this in the letter to the Romans that the gospel is not new. It sounded new to the Jews that had heard it. It definitely sounded new to the pagans who heard it, but it was not new. It was something that God had been talking about literally since the beginning, and that has been the message so far. It will continue to be the message all the way throughout this letter and throughout the New Testament.

Not Ashamed Of The Gospel

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We are up to the 17th verse, which is my favorite verse in the entire Bible. Catherine earlier told me you can't say that about all the verses in the Bible. And I said, I can't help it. But this is really my favorite verse of all. Let me read 16 and 17 together. This is Romans chapter 1, the letter, Paul's letter to the Romans chapter 1, I read out of the King James. Please follow along with the Bible in front of you. Romans 1 16, for I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth, to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. Verse 17. For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith, as it is written, the just shall live by faith. First, let me give the sort of overall theme. I'm sure you've picked up on it, but I want to use this as a jumping-off point for all of this doctrine. As you remember, the theme of verse 16 was salvation. And in verse 17, Paul takes that theme one step further and tells us that salvation comes to us by faith. Salvation is by faith only, sola fide, by faith alone. And Paul is going to talk about this throughout his teaching, but especially so here in Romans. For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth, to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. For therein is the righteousness, or therein is a righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith, as it is written, the just shall live by faith. So let's look at this word

Revealed Means The Cover Comes Off

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revealed. It is the perfect choice. It's genius, actually, because it ties together this whole first part of the first chapter. And it, I believe, is a statement. This statement about righteousness being revealed is pointed directly at the Jews in the Roman congregation, but as usual, it applies to the rest of us as well. The English word revealed does so many things. It communicates so many important points. In the Greek, the word is apocalypto. And big surprise, it's a compound word, meaning, of course, it's a word made up of various other words. There is apo, which means off, and the word calupto, which is simply a cover. Apocalypto literally means to take the cover off something. The book of Revelation is the apocalypse, it is the revelation using the same Greek words. So clearly, this means that whatever this is, whatever is being revealed wasn't just dreamed up. When Paul used the word apocalypto, he was communicating that this is something that has existed. It's just that for some reason it was covered. The gospel, which is the power of God, is taking the cover off a righteousness, a righteousness that has been existing, a righteousness that belongs to God, has always belonged to God, but one that He can now give to us, one that God can now give to us for faith, for believing. It is the gospel is revealing a righteousness given to us by faith. Paul has gone to a lot of careful trouble to frame these statements in order to communicate this important message. But why? Well, I think the primary reason is that he anticipates resistance from the Jews. You see, to many of them, this feels new. Well, yes, Paul, we know about the Messiah, of course. We've been waiting for him for so long, but now there's this idea that all along it's been about righteousness and salvation. I mean, I thought the Messiah was just going to be another King David character, you know, powerful and regal, and that he'll be sent to us to restore our people to prominence. Wasn't that the Messiah going to be just another conqueror who would revive and expand our emperor empire? Remember what John the Baptist said? Repent, change your mind. John the Baptist said, stop thinking the Messiah that way. That is not who the Messiah, that's not how he's been characterized in our scriptures. Shake off the errors that have built up. Isn't this also what Jesus tried to get the Jews to do, right? Wasn't that the first thing he said in his first sermon? Repent. The kingdom of heaven is at hand. You were wrong to think it was just the kingdom of the Jews that the Messiah would bring. Well, Paul was just carrying that message on. He too is trying to convince the Jews, and of course the rest of us, that this has been God's plan all along. That plan wasn't aimed at elevating a people to a worldly status. He was trying to elevate all of mankind to heavenly status, back to heavenly status, as a matter of fact. This has always been God's plan, and the gospel has revealed how that's going to happen. It will be activated by faith and become established by a righteousness of God.

Why The Law Cannot Save

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But why righteousness? Why is that so important? Because we lack it and God requires it. We are not allowed to be in God's presence without righteousness. And since we can't produce our own, God must provide it to us. And that's been his goal literally since the beginning: to lift us out of the banishment to the world and put us back by his side. Ah, yes, the Jew might say, quite right. We need righteousness to make that happen. And that's why God gave us the law. If we follow the law, when we follow the law, we get our own righteousness and thereby be saved. Repent. The purpose of the law was not to save you, but rather to show you how desperately you need to be saved by somebody else. As Paul put it over in Galatians, the law was our schoolmaster. Not a great translation, but it'll do. The law is here to teach us about Christ, teach us about faith in Christ. Now, to me, this is the most important point about this uncovering business. And here is where I said we'd tie this chapter together. Now I know I'm going to sound like I'm repeating myself, but this is too important to worry about that. Apocalypto means to uncover, to remove a veil, expose something that was not hidden so much as obscured. Paul chose this word apocalypto to demonstrate to these Romans that this isn't something that just came out of the blue, so to speak. Though it feels like ages ago that we discussed it, Paul made very clear that the gospel of God had already been promised in Scripture, right? He basically opened the letter this way. You remember this, don't you? Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, a called apostle, separated unto what? The gospel of God. What about it? Which he had promised before by his prophets in the holy scriptures or in holy scriptures. This salvation by faith, which is a righteousness of God, is not new. By the way, Paul will be repeating that and expanding on it throughout this letter. Salvation by faith may not have been very obvious to the nation Israel in ancient times, but that is what the point of this revealing is all about. This gospel, which is the power of God unto salvation, it's the power of God to save. It's a righteousness of God uncovered from faith to faith, just like it was written before. His message hasn't changed. The righteousness of God was just waiting for the right moment to be fully uncovered. That right moment having been chosen and set up by God. But there were hints all along, as Paul just quoted from Habakkuk 2.4. In fact, let me read the whole passage. It's only three verses. Habakkuk 2.2. And the Lord answered me. That's the prophet Habakkuk speaking. And the Lord answered me and said, Write the vision and make it plain upon tables that he may run that readeth it. For the vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak and not lie, though it tarry, wait for it, because it will surely come, it will not tarry. Behold, his soul which is lifted up is not upright in him, but the just shall live by his faith. That's Habakkuk. That's a very old book of the Bible. It's something that God has been saying since ancient

Habakkuk And The Ancient Promise

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times. Now, this is a very important aspect of Paul's mission. You see, God never intended for there to be a continuation. Now I have to be careful about what I'm about to say, but God all along meant for the practice of Judaism to be temporary. Everything he established among his people, the rituals, the offerings, the feast days, all of that had the purpose of, believe it or not, preparing the way for the Messiah. And that's difficult for the Jews to believe. They thought that in themselves these were, these were aspects of their religion that would lift them closer to God when in reality every single one of them was telling them the story of their Messiah. And once he arrived, those things were to take on a different position within the worship activities of all of us. Now, I'm not going to go into any specifics because we have other things to talk about. This is only supporting material at this point. But I want to make sure that you understand that I don't mean these things will go away. They still have a purpose, a very important purpose, actually, but quite a bit different than when God presented them originally as was his plan. Now, the point I'm trying to make is that once the Messiah arrived, the practice of what we call Judaism was to involve, evolve into, well, I'll say it, Judaism was to be absorbed into what we now refer to as Christianity. And that was proving to be a very hard sell for the Jews. It shouldn't have been, because, and this is Paul's point, this isn't new. Paul is spending a great deal of time in this letter and elsewhere, of course, making the appeal to the Jews to see that God is calling on them to recognize that the gospel is not a separate, newly arrived offshoot modification of what God had been talking about since the days of Abraham. All that appears new, all that appears modified has been in the plan all along. Listen, there was never to be a group of Jews practicing Judaism and a group of Gentiles who worship the same God, but who also include Jesus of Nazareth in their pantheon.

One People In Christ

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Here is how Paul addresses this, addresses this over in the letter to the Ephesians. Surely you remember this. We're going to start in chapter 2, verse 13. But now in Christ Jesus, ye who sometimes were far off, that's us, that's the Gentiles, are made nigh, are made near by the blood of Christ, for he is our peace, who hath made both one and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us, having abolished in his flesh the enmity, the fighting between us, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances, for to make in himself of twain, that means two, making of himself two one, one new man, so making peace, verse 16, and that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby, verse 17, and came and preached peace to you which were afar off. Again, that's us Gentiles, and to them that were nigh, that were near, that's the Jews. For though for through him we both have access by one spirit unto the Father. Now, therefore, ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens, together citizens with the saints, he means the Jews, and the household of God. Now, clearly, there in the Ephesian letter, Paul is attempting to convince the Gentiles of this beautiful truth of unity in Christ. And frankly, I cannot see how that would have been all that tough. The descriptions that he used were wonderful and exciting and blessed. You know, made nigh, made near by the blood of Jesus Christ. In other words, brought closer to the chosen people through the sacrifice of Calvary. That's not, there's not a spirit-led Gentile on earth who would see that as anything but magnificent. He told those Ephesians that whatever wall separated the Jews and the Gentiles was now torn down. That's incredible. We are reconciled into one body with God's favorite people. That's amazing. To convince the Gentiles that the redemption of Christ and the unification with the Jews is a miracle of profound proportions was not very difficult to pull off. But that was the Gentiles. The Jews, on the other hand, were not going to be happy. They were not going to be open to sharing that top spot. And listen, I don't blame them. And to be honest, the rank and file member of the nation Israel had long been duped. Their leadership leaned on that whole chosen people thing a little too enthusiastically and didn't fully disclose God's plan. Well, that was what Paul was trying to get at here in this letter to the Romans. Now we'll cover this again when we get a little further along, but here is a glimpse into how Paul intends to pull this off. It's simple, really. He's just going to refer to Scripture. Now I've said this many times before. Say what you want to about the Jewish people, but they sure do love their scriptures. And that was especially true in Paul's day. Now you may be thinking, if they love their scriptures, how come they missed the coming of the Messiah? Well, it's a familiar story. They love their Bible, but they didn't know it completely enough. In many parts of the Christian world today, we have the same problem. The lion's share of the emphasis is on the parts of Scripture that the people would embrace, the parts that people feel good about. No different, I believe, in Paul's day, but that old apostle from Tarsus uses that to his advantage. Since they love their scriptures, then he can use them to make his point. Though the Jews may not be fully aware of what is written therein, if Paul quotes, Quotes from it, they're bound to listen. Again, we'll cover most of this stuff later in detail, but for now I'm just making a point. I'm trying to emphasize that part of Paul's mission in this letter is to show those Jews that this gospel is not new, right? We've already covered verse two of this chapter in detail. I'll read it for a second time today. Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated unto the gospel of God, which he had promised afore by his prophets in holy scriptures. Paul's point is that God has been teaching a righteousness of faith from the start. And then, of course, Paul directly quotes Habakkuk as we just read. But it doesn't end there just because he can quote Habakkuk, that's not the only place he can

Abraham And Righteousness Imputed

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go to. And he does it over and over in this letter. In fact, in chapter three, he says this. But now, this is verse 21, but now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets, even the righteousness of God, which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe, for there is no difference. And then in chapter four, he brings out the big guns. It's there that he talks about how important faith was in the life of Abraham. Talk about celebrity endorsements, talk about an influencer. Paul is making sure those Jewish converts in Rome realized that their most venerable relative, Abraham, knew about the power of the gospel. In fact, our Lord said the same thing. Remember this passage? He was addressing the Jews who sought to kill him and who tried to justify themselves by invoking their relationship to the great patriarch, John 8.56. Your father Abraham, this is Jesus speaking, your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day, and he saw it and was glad. Isn't this incredible? Jesus said that Abraham was looking forward to the gospel with joy. Abraham may not have had all the details, but what he did know made him rejoice. The good news was good news all the way back to Abraham. And that is also Paul's point in chapter four of this letter to the Romans. Let me read it real quick without comment. We'll do that when we get there. Starting in verse 18 of the fourth chapter, Paul says the following regarding Father Abraham. Verse 18, who against hope believed in hope that he might become the father of many nations according to that which was spoken, so shall thy seed be. And being not weak in faith, he considered not his own body now dead when he was about a hundred years old, neither yet the deadness of Sarah's womb. He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strong in faith, giving glory to God, and being fully persuaded, which just means faith, and being fully persuaded that what he had promised, he was also able, he was able also to perform. And therefore it was imputed to him for righteousness. Now it was not, now it was not written for his sake alone that it was imputed to him, but for us also to whom it shall be imputed if we believe on him that raised up Jesus from Jesus our Lord from the dead, who was delivered for our offenses and raised again for our justification. Paul is making the case that it was faith that caused God to impute righteousness into Abraham in exactly the same way that our faith in Jesus is going to impute righteousness into us. That is the message of the Bible. Faith leads to righteousness. So the Jews could not mount an effective scriptural defense against what Paul was saying. He was demonstrating that all of this had been planned out and witnessed since the beginning, and he demonstrated that through their beloved holy writings. Listen, this is vital to the full adoption of the gospel. You see, the Jews were the keepers of the oracle, as theologians like to call it. They were entrusted with God's word, and their rejection of the fulfillment of the gospel would have a devastating effect on the spread of it. Imagine how tough it would be to evangelize the pagan world if even the people of God would have nothing to do with the Messiah. Yes, eventually, by and large, the Jews do turn their back on Jesus, but enough of them hung on long enough for the evangelists to generate the necessary momentum to reach the hinterlands with the word. Now let me finish out this section with just one more relevant quote. This one shows how important this message is. It's obvious to me that Paul couldn't even sign off this letter without one more mention of the truth. Way over in the 16th chapter, verses 25 and 26, Paul makes one last appeal. Now to him that is of power to establish you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery, which was kept secret since the world began, but now is manifest, and by the scriptures of the prophets, according to the commandment of the everlasting God made known to all nations for the obedience of faith, to being to obeying faith.

Assurance Against Doubt And Pressure

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Now, why should I care about all this, John? I'm not a Jew. I'm Christian born and raised. No such thing, but here's why you should care. The life of faith is neither easy nor popular. The human condition wants to do stuff. People love earning things, and the gospel says you can't do that, not as far as your salvation is concerned. It says you've got to rely on another, and that is not a well-accepted view of religion. All other forms of worship have a don't do and a do-do aspect to them. In fact, all other forms of worship look down on you if you don't have that aspect in your worship. That was especially true of the Jews, and this was a fight Paul would fight for his entire ministry. The same is true for you and me in our own day. There is a tremendous amount of pressure from all sides to reject the righteousness of God from faith to faith. And the only way to combat that pressure is, you ready? Assurance. I'll say it again. Assurance is of utmost importance in this letter. And Paul's argument toward that end is just now unfolding. He's bound and determined to give the believers in Rome unwavering confidence in the truth of the gospel because they're going to need it. He knows the forces of religion are arrayed against us all. He knows that doubt is going to be a particularly persistent and pernicious enemy in the further establishment of the church. And he especially knows how strong that enemy will be among his own people, the Jews. Paul was very keen on getting these Roman Christians to feel the rock solid foundation of their salvation. So much of this letter is dedicated to cementing in their minds and in our minds the fact that the gospel is and has always been the power of God revealed, the power to save all those who believe in it, in the gospel, in the good news. But why? Why is assurance so important? Well, it's because though the gospel is not new, it is unique and the world is not going to accept it easily. And every believer that tries to spread the gospel will fight the same battles throughout the rest of his life. The world, the flesh, and the devil will nag and nag and nag. Now, none of that can take away your salvation, but it sure can make it feel miserable. And not only that, but doubt is also extremely contagious. Paul knows God's word will immunize his people and prevent the spread of fear and skepticism and despair. Listen to me. Demonstrating the consistency of the message serves to strengthen its acceptance, strengthen its feeling of certainty, strengthen its assurance. A consistent message instills confidence like nothing else can. Okay, let's stop here for now. We've got so much more to say. Paul has so much more to say, so come back next time and we'll pick it up right there. Let's see that.

Closing Words And How To Connect

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We hope this study has blessed you. God's word is a great treasure, and it's our belief that a thorough, purposeful study of it will bring all of God's children to an understanding of his eternal plan of redemption. It is our prayer that this will be so for all of our listeners. Please join us again soon. New content is being added all the time, so make sure you check back often. For more information on Chapel Ministries, including our YouTube channel and podcasts, please visit www.chapelonthew.com. And if God has laid it upon your heart to share materially with us, we encourage you to follow the links to our secure giving page. Please note, Chapel Ministries is not an IRS registered nonprofit organization, and your donations to this program are not tax deductible. It's our hope that you do not rely on taxing authorities to decide for you who is worthy of your generosity.