Class Notes: 10/24/2021

The book of Romans part 8 Doctrine of the Gospel

https://youtu.be/cWMU9K6OXrk

We are in a verse-by-verse study of the book of Romans and got through verse 1 with the expanded translation: "Paul, a slave of Christ Jesus, called an apostle, through having been appointed because of the Gospel from God."

In the verse we found 3 doctrines to explore: the doctrine of adjustment to God's justice that Paul had done, the doctrine of apostle that was Paul's office, and the doctrine of the Gospel that was Paul's message.

We are presently in a study of the doctrine of the Gospel and before we stopped last time we noted that the omnipotence of the Father and the omnipotence of God the Holy Spirit were the agents of His resurrection.

The same power that raised Jesus Christ from the dead is the power now available for every Church Age believer to execute God's post-salvation protocol plan for the Church Age. John 4:24;

"He was resurrected" is why Jesus Christ did not resurrect Himself. The passive voice of the Greek verb "egairo" means that Jesus Christ received the action of the verb.

He did not raise Himself with His own omnipotence even though He could have done so, as He stated that in John 10:17-18; but the passive voice says He did not, but instead He received resurrection that was confirmation of God's propitiation from Jesus' work on the cross.

Jesus Christ received the restoration of His human spirit to His body in the grave from the omnipotence of God the Father, an agent in the resurrection according to Acts 2:24; Rom 6:4; Eph 1:20; Col 2:12; 1Thes 1:10; 1Pet 1:21.

The omnipotence of the Holy Spirit who restored our Lord's human soul to His body in the grave was also an agent in His resurrection according Rom 1:4; Rom 8:11; 1Pet 3:18;

The extension of God's great power experiment of the Hypostatic Union into the Church Age, the power that raised Jesus Christ from the dead is now available to us.

The scope of the Gospel starts with the saving work of Jesus Christ and terminates with His physical resurrection so the good news message of the Gospel extends from salvation through faith in Christ to the resurrection of the believer.

The fact that we are born spiritually dead so we commit sins, though true and factual, is not the good news, so it is not a part of the Gospel.

In other words, preaching sin to sinners does not result in salvation. The Gospel is preaching God's solution to sin. 2Cor 5:18-21; Rom 8:3-4;

Gospel begins with Christ being judged for our sins for our benefit. He took our place and was judged in our place. This means that preaching sin is not preaching the Gospel. Sin is a fact, and we need to realize that we are spiritually dead from birth and that we do sin, but it is not the Gospel.

Preaching the Gospel is the explanation of salvation in terms of reconciliation, unlimited atonement, redemption, and propitiation on the basis of Jesus' work on the cross. The unbeliever cannot make a decision for eternal life until he hears that Jesus Christ took his place on the cross and became a substitute for his sins.

That is where sin is brought in. Sin is not to be emphasized independently of our Lord's saving work, but is to be related to it because it is why Jesus' work was required for God to be propitiated. 1John 2:2;

Jesus Christ was our substitute and was judged for all of our sins. Jesus "thought nothing of the shame of our sins" (Heb 12:2); because of this we have no right to have shame or guilt regarding our sins. If we do we are functioning in arrogance.

Resurrection is a part of the Gospel that is sometimes understood before salvation but more frequently it is not understood at the time of Gospel hearing.

That begs the question of what must a person know to be saved? The information that you need to know to be saved is something about the substitutionary spiritual death of Christ on the cross so that, as an unregenerate person, you can respond to the pattern of Eph 2:8-9. "For by grace are you saved by faith, and that not from yourselves; it is a gift of God, not from works lest any man should boast.

This means that most of the Gospel, including resurrection, is not understood until the person becomes a believer, possesses eternal life and learns the doctrine. The more information that is understood the better but most people are eternally saved with very little information.

This emphasizes the importance of simply believing in Jesus Christ for salvation. How much faith does it take to be saved? Just a little bit more than no faith at all because the power is not in the believing it is in the doctrinal truth contained in the Gospel message. Rom 1:16;

As always, with God, the issue is doctrinal truth. No one can be saved by faith plus anything because adding anything to faith is blasphemy against God the Holy Spirit. This includes faith plus commitment, baptism, or making Christ "Lord of all"

Christ is Lord of all because of the baptism of the Spirit. But incipient believer doesn't know that until after he is saved and learns that doctrine. Some people never learn this, and so try to make pursuing it an experiential activity that morphs into a form of salvation by works.

Instead of faith, some propose substitutes like inviting Christ into your heart. But inviting Christ into your heart is not a Biblical metaphor, so is wrong. It's based on a Revelation passage that is misinterpreted. "Behold I stand at the door and knock. If any man will open, I will come in and have fellowship with him." Rev 3:20;

That is a passage that describes rebound, for restoration to fellowship for the believer only. It has nothing to do with the unbeliever or salvation. You can't invite Christ into a sewer, and the "heart of man is deceitful above all things and incurably bad." Jer 17:9; NET and our righteous works are like a garbage dump Isa 64:6; So again that is also an arrogant attempt at salvation by works.

There are some legitimate metaphors, like eating, drinking, and following. "My sheep hear My voice and they follow Me." These are all non-meritorious functions so they are analogous to faith alone.

No works can be added, for the only issue in salvation is Christ and what He did, not what we do. Jesus Christ alone on the cross was judged for all of mankind's sins and that is the exclusive basis of God's propitiation.

Others say repentance from sin is a prerequisite to salvation. Repentance means a change of mind and indicates what happens when you understand the Gospel through the ministry of the Holy Spirit. Repentance is the ministry of the Holy Spirit in common and efficacious grace it is impossible for God to accept any repentance before salvation because it is human works.

The Bible only emphasizes believe and add nothing to it. You can't be saved by water baptism, by renouncing sins, by joining a church, by psychological gimmicks like raising your hand and walking an aisle. These cannot save you because they are things you are doing.

When anything is added to faith in Jesus Christ for salvation, that is salvation by works so there is no salvation.

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