Sunday, July 29, 2018

Romans is Like a Great Commission Sandwich



The book of Romans is glorious. It contains an in-depth explanation of God’s great plan for salvation. Romans is rightly known as a book containing deep, sometimes difficult to fathom, theology. However, it would be a tragic mistake to think that Romans is merely intended to feed our academic interests (although it does do that). The book of Romans is written by a man whose life in consumed by the Great Commission. Our Lord’s Great Commission drives all the content of the book from the opening chapter to the last chapter.

The Great Commission call us to preach the gospel (Mark 6:15, Luke 24:47). In Romans 1-8, Paul is inspired to explain this great gospel so that we can preach it accurately.

Great Commission ministry does not end when people hear the gospel, believe, and are baptized. In the Great Commission, Jesus also calls us to teach them “to obey everything I have commanded” (Matthew 28:20). In Romans 12-16, Paul models exactly that. He is teaching us to obey all that Jesus commanded. Of course, all that Jesus commanded cannot be contained in the last five chapters of Romans, but these chapters contain practical instructions applied to a number of areas based on the commands of Christ.

And what about those challenging middle chapters, Romans 9-11? Here, Paul is dealing with a question which was very painful to him personally. Why were most of the Jews rejecting Christ? Paul’s answer is bound up tightly with God’s Great Commission plan to send the gospel to all the nations.

Romans is not theology in a vacuum. Romans is theology born out of an intense struggle to carry out the great work Jesus has given us to do. It is intended to equip, strengthen, and motivate us to continue this task. Don’t miss this!

Let’s look a little more closely at the Great Commission in Romans.

The Calling and Obligation of the Great Commission (Romans 1)

Paul begins his letter by declaring his own calling to serve our Lord in the Great Commission work of sharing and teaching the gospel (Romans 1:1-5). Notice how closely the language in Romans 1:5 reflects the language of the Great Commission as given by Jesus in Matthew 28:18-20. Take some time to study the image below. I’ve color coded parts of the two passages which are similar:




The similarity between the two passages is slightly obscured in English translations because the same three Greek words translated “all nations” in Matthew 28:19 is translated “all the Gentiles” in Romans 1:5. Also, it is not obvious to English readers that the word “apostleship” in Romans 1:5 initially literally meant “a sending away”, thus linking it conceptually to the command to “Go”. Yet, even in English, the similarities between the passages are striking.

Paul goes on to explain that he has an obligation to preach the gospel to all people (Romans 1:14). It’s not the type of obligation that comes from someone giving you something so that you are obligated to pay them back. Rather, it is the type of obligation that comes from receiving something from someone that you are supposed to pass on to another. Paul has received the wonderful good news of salvation by faith in Christ Jesus. He has an obligation to pass it on. So do we!

Before Paul transitions to explaining why we need to be saved, and why we cannot save ourselves, he addresses a potential hinderance to Great Commission ministry. Namely, a feeling of shame which may come from the opposition and persecution the world directs at gospel ministry. Paul writes:

For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, first to the Jew, and also to the Greek. (Rom. 1:16 CSB17)

May God also make us “not ashamed of the gospel”!

The Logic of the Great Commission (Romans 10)




In Romans 10 we find Paul’s relentless, Holy Spirit inspired, logic for the necessity of Great Commission ministry. The goal is for people to be saved. Earlier in Romans, Paul has carefully explained how this salvation works. But it won’t work at all unless people hear it, and that requires Great Commission sending and preaching.

It’s Teamwork! (Romans 12)

Because some of the Great Commission passages mentioned so far focus on preaching, it might lead some to believe that if they aren’t called to preach, or at least to do a lot of personal evangelism, then they don’t have a role to play. Nothing could be further from the truth! Paul understands that it takes a big team consisting of people with many different types of gifts to grow God’s Church:

Now as we have many parts in one body, and all the parts do not have the same function, in the same way we who are many are one body in Christ and individually members of one another. According to the grace given to us, we have different gifts: If prophecy, use it according to the proportion of one's faith; if service, use it in service; if teaching, in teaching; if exhorting, in exhortation; giving, with generosity; leading, with diligence; showing mercy, with cheerfulness. (Rom. 12:4-8 CSB17)

We know from similar passages that the above list of gifts is not a complete list of gifts. Paul is just giving examples. Whatever your good at it, do it with all the strength God gives you. Use your God-given gifts to build up His Church, both locally and around the world (1 Corinthians 14:12). There is a special focus on reaching “all nations”. God’s mission does require some to cross oceans, but don’t forget that He also often asks us to cross the street. Neighbors near and far need the love and truth of Christ.

The Passion to Complete the Great Commission




The last two chapters of Romans are saturated with Great Commission thinking.

As Romans comes to a close Paul shares his plans and his heart. His goal was to continue to go to places where the gospel of Christ was not known.

To get the full impact of Great Commission thinking in Romans 15 and 16, remember these two facts about the word ethne, translated “Gentiles” twelve times (Romans 15:9, 2x; Romans 15:10; Romans 15:11; Romans 15:12, 2x; Romans 15:16, 2x; Romans 15:18; Romans 15:27; Romans 16:4; Romans 16:26).

1. As mentioned above, the Greek word ethne also means “nations” and is the same word used in the Great Commission where we are commanded to make disciples of “all nations”.

2. The word ethne in Greek did not refer to a political nation as much as it referred to what missiologists call a people group. A people group is a group of people usually with their own language and with their own culture and identity which are different enough from other people groups to require cross cultural mission work to reach them. Some political nations have many hundreds of different people groups living in them. Today, many people groups are still unreached. You may explore the map shown above and find information on the people groups represented by each dot at this web site. You can zoom in enough to see individual dots, click on a dot, and then click on the people group profile for that dot.

Paul closes Romans with a burst of praise. The ultimate goal is to bring God glory. The penultimate goal, the means through which God is glorified, is reaching all nations with the gospel so that many saved people learn to obey our Lord because they trust Him. This is called “the obedience of faith”. It is the fulfillment of the Great Commission.

Now to him who is able to strengthen you
according to my gospel and the proclamation about Jesus Christ,
according to the revelation of the mystery kept silent for long ages
but now revealed and made known through the prophetic Scriptures,
 according to the command of the eternal God
 to advance the obedience of faith among all the Gentiles--
to the only wise God, through Jesus Christ-- to him be the glory forever! Amen.
(Rom. 16:25-27 CSB17)


Hebrews 13:16 And do not forget to do good and to share with others . . .


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1 comment:

  1. "For it is not those who hear the law who are righteous in God's sight, but it is those who obey the law who will be declared righteous." Rom. 2:13 NIV If there is any soteriological statement that should not have been made by Paul relative to the contemporaneous soteriological interpretations; I think you along with the rest of contemporary Christendom have a serious problem friend. What do you think?

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