Paul’s letter to the Romans -part 3

“The gospel God promised beforehand through his prophets in the Holy Scriptures regarding his Son, who as to his human nature was a descendant of David, and who through the Spirit of holiness was declared with power to be the Son of God by his resurrection from the dead: Jesus Christ our Lord. Romans 1:2-5

Paul makes the statement in his introductory remarks that within the scriptures Jesus is testified to in two ways; according to his human nature and his divine nature. Jesus was fully God, but in order to redeem mankind, became fully human. This in and of itself is an amazing testimony of God’s grace; that he would give up all that he was in the heavens and make himself like us on earth. It was in order to reveal just how gracious God is that Jesus became like us in our humanity, so that through him we could become like him in his divinity.

Paul was helping his reader to understand how now, through the revelation of Christ, the Scriptures themselves found their fulfilment. For before the coming of Christ it remained a mystery as to just who exactly the saviour would be; would it be a man, or would it be God himself? Scripture seemed to say both, but without the revelation of Christ, this had always been a striking contradiction.

Without the light of Christ, it seemed to the reader of the Old Testament that there were two very different saviours. Sometimes God was talking about a servant who would clearly be an earthly man. He would be the one who would suffer for the sake of all the people and he will be pieced for their transgressions. This earthly saviour was prophesied to be born through the line of David. There was clearly going to be this human saviour, and he was going to be God’s chosen man to save Israel. This was the testimony of the human saviour.

However, God also testified in other places within scripture that there was no man, not even one who was righteous, and that because there was no one capable of intervening to bring about salvation, God himself would intervene and save Israel; that no one but God alone was their Saviour. This was the testimony of the divine saviour.

So there seemed to be a continual pattern of two saviours prophesied in the Old Testament; one a man, the other God. It was a paradox that had no clear explanation; no apparent way to reconcile this obvious contradiction. That is, until the reality of Jesus was revealed to all mankind.

It is through the cross and through the revelation of Christ we see this profound reality that explodes in our hearts and fills us with joy as it reveals the heavenly revelation of God’s salvation. What no mind could have ever imagined was the very thing God had planned; that the two saviours, both the human and the divine, were actually the same saviour; our saviour Jesus Christ!

He was both the one who humbled himself and although equal with God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but humbled himself and came to earth, born of a woman, born under law to redeem those under law. The perfect Son of God who was one with God and is God and has always been with God; he came down to earth so that he could fulfil the scriptures that talked about the human saviour, according to the line of David. But he is also the divine saviour, who, when no one else could be found, worked salvation on mankind’s behalf.

So now we see in the scriptures, through the light of Christ, the reality of God’s eternal salvation plan. As we now look back into the Holy Scriptures, we can see the very person of Jesus all through the Old Testament. We can see the story of his grace; that he is both, according to the human nature, a descendant of David, and, through the spirit of holiness, the Son of God and one with God; the divine God himself. The revelation of how to human saviour and the divine Saviour can co-exist is revealed in the life of Jesus Christ. It is this reality that is testified all through the entire Old Testament.

As I stated earlier, the apostle Paul was often charged with ignoring the law and the prophets in order to preach his version of the gospel. Here, at the very beginning of his letter, he counters this charge as completely false, because, as Paul testified in the opening remarks in his letter, his whole gospel is preached through the law and the prophets. Not just in one or two places, but rather all the way through it!

As we journey through the letter to the Romans we will witness Paul taking the church on a journey all the way through the scriptures in order to see the reality of Jesus. To Paul, everything in the Scriptures was there to testify about the life of Jesus. This is in fact the very same thing that Jesus said to the Pharisees in John’s gospel:

You diligently study the Scriptures because you think that by them you possess eternal life. These are the Scriptures that testify about me, yet you refuse to come to me to have life. John 5:39-40

The truth is if we want to understand the Scriptures and we want them to impart life to us, we have to see Jesus in them. As the Church, we are now led by the Spirit and we are spiritual people. We operate and connect with God in the new way of the Spirit. God has given us the Spirit of his grace to empower us and work in us. It is for this reason that we can live a life that is obedient to God, because Christ is living in us and for us, and we are no longer trying to do it all in our own strength by attempting to obey rules and regulations in the form of a written code.

If we look into the scriptures looking for rules, or tips, or guidelines for Godly living, then the Scriptures have no value in terms of it imparting life to us. But if we look into the scriptures to see Jesus, his person, the story of his life, his sufferings, and the glories that came to us through his sufferings, then the scriptures impart life to us!
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