The Promised Gospel
If I promised to cook you a meal, it doesn’t tell you anything about how I will make it, the details of the dish, and how each part of the dish will nourish your body.
The same situation appears in the opening verses of Romans concerning the gospel of God:
“[1] Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated unto the gospel of God, [2] (Which he had promised afore by his prophets in the holy scriptures,) [3] Concerning his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, which was made of the seed of David according to the flesh; [4] And declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead:” – Rom 1:1-4
If the promise of the gospel is like the dinner I promise to cook for you, then the details and delivery of the gospel is like when I’ve handed you a piping hot plate of delicious food. While the promise of a meal is great, its more glorious to receive the meal, taste it, and have it nourish your body.
While aspects of the gospel were promised previously in the scriptures, the details of the gospel of Christ were revealed first to Paul, which he explains in fantastic depth in the first 8 chapters of the book of Romans. The gospel of God was promised in the OT, but the nitty gritty details were never given, they were a mystery (1Ti 1:11-16, Rom 16:25-26, Col 1:24-26).
Christ, His death, His resurrection, covered sin, righteousness, life, and salvation are all things that God promises to offer in the prophets (Ps 32:1-2, Jer 23:5-6, Isa 1:18, Isa 53), but how all of those pieces fit together is where the mystery of Christ comes in. It was kept secret since the world began in order for God to fulfill His purpose through Christ (1Co 2:7-9).
God promised a way of salvation through Christ, and the mystery of Christ concerns how God could justify sinners (Jew and Gentile without distinction), through his death, burial, and resurrection in order to establish the Body of Christ by grace through faith without works (Eph 3:1-10, Col 1:24-26, 1Co 15:1-4, Eph 2:8-9).
As we begin Romans this week, I pray we would all consider and be grateful that God’s manifold wisdom has been revealed (Eph 3:10) and rejoice that we can be saved freely by God’s grace today through Jesus Christ’s propitiatory sacrifice on our behalf (Rom 3:21-16).
