Princeton Presbyterian Church

Princeton Presbyterian Church (EPC) Sermon # 1659

November 3, 2024

Romans 1.1-6             Click here for audio worship.

Dr. Ed Pettus

(This is an extended outline, not a verbatim transcript.)

 

“Obedience of Faith”

 

“¹Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God, ²which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy Scriptures, ³concerning his Son, who was descended from David according to the flesh ⁴and was declared to be the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord, ⁵through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith for the sake of his name among all the nations, ⁶including you who are called to belong to Jesus Christ.”

 

• The Gospel of God

Paul begins this letter to the church and/or churches in Rome with an introduction of his own call as a servant of Christ and an apostle set apart for the gospel. That was Paul’s main purpose in life, to proclaim and teach the gospel to the church and to the world. This introduction includes a summary of the gospel as well, certainly something that Paul felt extremely important to open the letter. First, he speaks of the Old Testament promise of the Messiah. God promised Jesus through the prophets in the holy Scripture. That is no small matter to note in this day and age as some so-called “preachers” suggest we should distance ourselves from the Old Testament. No, no, just the opposite. We should study the Old Testament all the more because those holy texts speak of Jesus. The cross (gospel) helps us see the meaning of the Old Testament and the Old Testament informs our understanding of the gospel of Christ.

You might remember Jesus going through the Scriptures of the Old Testament in Luke’s gospel with the two disciples on the road to Emmaus and then a second time in the upper room with the other disciples. He spoke of Moses and the prophets and the Psalms as all speaking of Himself, pointing God’s people to the Savior, Jesus Christ.

Second, Paul makes clear that the Old Testament is pointing us to God’s Son, descended from David, testified by the Holy Spirit in the resurrection from the dead. Third, in Jesus we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith for the sake of Christ’s name. Now the “we” Paul speaks of here could mean Paul himself and those who shared in the ministry of the gospel, including the disciples, which I believe he would be referencing, but I also think this grace and apostleship applies to all who believe, even today. We are all called in God’s grace to be a people sent out to proclaim the good news of Jesus Christ, apostles. That is really all it means to be an apostle, one sent. The Bible testifies multiple times that all who believe are called to proclaim in words and in deeds, in life and faith, and in the particular phrase, the obedience of faith.

 

• According to the Flesh

As with all the writings of Scripture, it is important to notice certain things written that are emphasized. In this passage, while all of it is important, there are two uses of the words “according to”. The first is that Jesus descended from David according to the flesh. This would have been an important factor for any Jew to see when it came to identifying the Messiah. Jesus was a Jew, of Jewish lineage, but more important of the prophetic words that speak of the house of David producing the Messiah.

A second note of importance is that Jesus was of the flesh, a man, the God-man. This is the first of two witnesses Paul teaches, testifying to Christ in the flesh and in the spirit, human and divine. In the flesh we see the humanity of Jesus. This was part of the Chalcedonian Creed that confesses Jesus as truly human and truly God. We sometimes use the language of fully human and fully God. In the year 451, theologians and bishops gathered in Chalcedon, modern Turkey, to argue against several heresies that were circulating around the church. Some would claim that Jesus only appeared to be human or that He only had some divinity or a mixture of some sort. But the council of Chalcedon straightened out the official doctrine to say that Jesus was truly human and truly God, two natures united in one person.

One of our greatest texts for the truly human aspect is Philippians 2.5-8, ⁵Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, ⁶who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, ⁷but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. ⁸And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Of course the other major narratives for the humanity of Jesus are the birth narratives in Matthew and Luke. Born of Mary, a babe in the manger, grew up strong and filled with wisdom. He was tempted as any of us would be, but without sin. He gave His life on the cross, crucified in one of the most cruel ways a human being can die.

 

• According to the Spirit

The other aspect of the Chalcedonian Creed is Jesus who “was declared to be the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead.” According to the Spirit is the key phrase here. While this may not speak directly to the divinity of Jesus, it certainly speaks to the nature of divinity in the Spirit or according to the Spirit of God. Listen to this Creed of Chalcedon and the language of Jesus in two natures.

 

We, then, following the holy Fathers, all with one consent, teach men to confess one and the same Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, the same perfect in Godhead and also perfect in manhood; truly God and truly man, of a reasonable soul and body; consubstantial with us according to the manhood; in all things like unto us, without sin; begotten before all ages of the Father according to the Godhead, and in these latter days, for us and for our salvation, born of the virgin Mary, the mother of God, according to the manhood; one and the same Christ, Son, Lord, Only-begotten, to be acknowledged in two natures, inconfusedly, unchangeably, indivisibly, inseparably; the distinction of natures being by no means taken away by the union, but rather the property of each nature being preserved, and concurring in one Person and one Subsistence, not parted or divided into two persons, but one and the same Son, and only begotten, God the Word, the Lord Jesus Christ, as the prophets from the beginning have declared concerning him, and the Lord Jesus Christ himself taught us, and the Creed of the holy Fathers has handed down to us.

There is a lot to process through all that, but to our purpose today it is to show that Jesus was truly human and truly God and in Him we trust and place our faith and it is out of that faith that we are obedient in discipleship with an obedience of faith.

 

• Obedience of Faith

This is the phrase that most interested me in preparing this sermon. Paul speaks of grace and apostleship to bring about what? The purpose of God’s grace and call to apostleship is to bring about the obedience of faith. Jesus, who is truly God and truly man, He has given grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith for the sake of his name among all the nations, ⁶including you who are called to belong to Jesus Christ.” This phrase, “obedience of faith”, is repeated at the end of the epistle as well in Romans 16.26, ²⁵Now to him who is able to strengthen you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery that was kept secret for long ages ²⁶but has now been disclosed and through the prophetic writings has been made known to all nations, according to the command of the eternal God, to bring about the obedience of faith—²⁷to the only wise God be glory forevermore through Jesus Christ! Amen.

Paul is essentially beginning and ending this letter with the same themes of gospel, revealed in Scriptures, all to bring about the obedience of faith. In the mind of the apostle Paul and in the mind of Christ, the goal for the believer is to possess the obedience of faith. This is an extremely interesting phrase, I believe, because it includes the gift of faith and the discipline of obedience. Its meaning is that of obedience that comes from faith, as one translation says it, “obedience that springs from faith”. The Complete Jewish Bible says it this way, “promoting trust-grounded obedience”.

True faith bids us to true devoted obedience. It is within the gracious call of Jesus that obedience is made possible, so that Paul’s message as an apostle was the grace of God in Jesus Christ and the gospel message of God’s only begotten Son giving His life for us, leads to the obedience of faith. Jesus showed us the ultimate obedience of faith by emptying Himself and coming in the form of a servant, obedient unto death on the cross (Philippians 2.5-8).

In one sense I would suggest that this phrase also includes the notion of Jesus as our Savior and Lord. By that I mean that faith leads to the issue of salvation while obedience leads to the issue of Lordship. Many people desire the salvation without the Lordship. Many people want to get to heaven, but they are not interested in following Jesus in obedient submission. Many want the assurance of salvation but do not care for the discipline of discipleship or even know what it means to be a disciple of Jesus Christ. This is something we might think of as cultural Christianity. Some want the benefits of going to heaven but not the duty of taking up the cross daily to follow Jesus. C. K. Barrett has said that the aim of Paul’s apostleship is here defined as to win believing obedience.”.

This phrase teaches us that faith produces obedience, never that obedience will lead us to faith. That is works righteousness, not at all what the Bible teaches. Paul is consistent in this teaching of obedience springing from faith. We could easily conclude that the stronger the faith the greater the obedience. Our goal is to become like Christ who was obedient to the will of the Father. That obedience for us is built on faith. John Piper comments that no one can see our faith, but they can see our obedience (or lack thereof). Faith can only be seen through obeying God’s Word, in speech, in action, in life, in discipleship.

As we look again at Romans 1.5, we see the end goal of obedience of faith...“to bring about the obedience of faith for the sake of his name among all the nations.” The end is to bring glory to God’s name. We see this again in Romans 16.26-27, “...to bring about the obedience of faith—²⁷to the only wise God be glory forevermore through Jesus Christ! Amen.” For the sake of His name in 1.5 and to the glory of God in 16.27. Same ultimate goal, to glorify God in the obedience of faith.

We trust in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, as truly human and truly God. In that faith, we are compelled to obedience, living faithfully by obeying all that God has commanded, being doers of the Word. The greater the faith, the greater the obedience. The greater the obedience of faith, the greater the glory given to the One who gives faith and calls us to obedience. May our trust in Jesus lead us to an ever deepening obedience to God’s call and will for life and faith. May our obedience of faith lead to others seeing, not us, but God and His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ. Amen.