Living by Faith

 DEVOTION

THE LETTER TO THE ROMANS

LIVING BY FAITH

Rom 1:14-17

14 I am obligated both to Greeks and non-Greeks, both to the wise and the foolish. 15 That is why I am so eager to preach the gospel also to you who are at Rome. 16 I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile. 17 For in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: "The righteous will live by faith."  

NIV

Having looked at the word obligated and all that implies, and we considered being ashamed of the gospel. Now we should spend some thinking about the gospel as the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes. First, we should know that this gospel is the plan of God, and therefore it is not a scheme of man. The gospel has been the plan of God since the beginning of time. This is where it can get a little dicey if we think too much in our human capacity. Some of the thoughts that rattle around in our head are that if this gospel, that is Jesus coming to exert the means for our salvation, was God’s plan before time, then why did he wait until the time he did? Why would God allow a man to struggle through life trying to live, first without the law, then with the law, before sending Jesus at the time he did? However, because we believe in the gospel and that it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone, somehow God’s plan can be applied to everyone, which would include everyone. Therefore no one would be left out so we simply have to come to terms with the fact it is God’s plan and we are in his plan. How the rest works out is not for us to be involved with for the plan of God is up to God, but that plan includes us because we believe. We also can see that this gospel is suitable to the end. The message of the good news about the kingdom of God works until the last day when all men will be judged. We can only imagine in our humanness what that day of judgment will look like. But until then the gospel continues to be exerted by the power of God, which that power is mighty. God's power is not feeble or ineffectual as so many times our attempts at power are. The gospel demonstrates or reveals righteousness from God. There is no question whatsoever that within our own being there is not even a shred of evidence of righteousness. We have absolutely not one tiny gram of righteousness and therefore we are totally barren. However, the good news is that because the righteousness from God is revealed, who is Jesus, for he is our righteousness, and we can have righteousness by faith in Jesus. Here is where life exists, living by faith. If we do not live by faith and strive for facts, to understand everything then once we find a fact we might be tempted to live by that fact. The Jews did that with the Law, making it their standard for righteousness. They turned God's plan for their salvation into a rigid life of obedience to the facts of the law. This required no faith, just works. Just as James wrote that faith without works is dead, it would seem that works without faith is just as dead. The life that survives to the end of time is the life that is lived by faith in the righteousness that comes from God. The unrighteous will die because of their lack of faith, but the righteous will live by faith.