Right Standing with God: The Place of Salvation

The burden to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ accompanies the call to minister God’s Word to sinners and saints. The Apostle Paul received a stewardship from the Lord Himself, to go to the Gentiles (Rom 1:5; 11:13; 1 Cor 9:17; Gal 2:8; Eph 3:2; Col 1:25; 1 Tim 2:7). He preached Christ and Him crucified without shame (Rom 1:16–17; 1 Cor 1:18, 23; 2:2, 4); for He was entrusted with what he knew was the power of God unto salvation.

The Apostle Paul was an eyewitness to the risen Messiah (Acts 9). His own conversion was a potent and instantaneous juxtaposition from being a prime persecutor of Christ’s church, to being an ardent advocate. That moment on the road to Damascus resulted in a life-long sacrifice of self for the sake of God’s elect (2 Tim 2:10).

Every human preacher, the man of God, is filled with Holy Spirit to proclaim Christ, who was and is the Word of God, enfleshed (Jn 1:14). We know Christ from the written Word of God, the Holy Bible, which testifies of the Person and work of the eternal Son of God, who became a man for a purpose (Jn 5:39).

The eternal purpose of God is to bring glory to Himself. He alone is worthy of glory because He is the Creator, Owner, and Sustainer of all things in heaven and upon the earth (Col 1:16–17; Heb 1:2–3). God is especially glorified in the salvation of His chosen people; elect from every nation (Rev 5:9; 7:9), who are called of Jesus Christ to be saints, set apart to be holy even as God is holy (1 Pet 1:15–16).

The Apostle Paul confessed his eagerness to come to the capitol city of the empire. His desire was a to share that which God had given to him. Other saints, carrying the Gospel of God, had reached Rome in earlier years, after the Day of Pentecost at Jerusalem (Acts 2). They had planted a church, whose strong reputation, like that of the Thessalonians (1 Thess 1:8), was known in many places (Rom 1:8). As Christ builds His church (Mt 16:18), He moves His people, according to His sovereign will and purpose.

God’s Spirit-filled people pray for one another. They also desire to share their faith in Christ, by bearing witness of Him (Acts 1:8; Col 1:28), in the wisdom and power of the Spirit. We are led by the Spirit to be together for mutual benefit. This includes both Jews and Gentile — elect, redeemed, and regenerated to possess one faith, in one Lord, who baptizes us into one body, by one Spirit of holiness.

As the Apostle Paul wrote the epistle to the Romans, the theme of right-standing before God, that is, righteousness, was central. The reader of the book of Romans is privy to understand that he or she cannot obtain this status by works performed by him (Rom 4:5). The main point is that the righteous are justified by the work of another…and only one other…our Lord Jesus Christ (Rom 3:24; 5:9; Titus 3:7; 1 Pet 3:18).

Right standing with God is the work of God. The justifier of the ungodly is Jesus Christ, the righteous, the Son of God, who is the Son of man, and notably, the Son of David (1 Jn 2:1).

The Apostle Paul explained to the Ephesians that it is God’s grace to His elect that saves us (Eph 2:8–9). His salvation of His beloved is manifest to us and others by the faith we have in our God and Savior, Jesus Christ, who has become our salvation (Ps 118:14, 21; Is 12:2). He saved us (Titus 3:5), not we ourselves. It was His will, not ours (Jn 1:12–13); for He always does His holy will and good pleasure (Eph 1:11), doing that which is pleasing in His sight (Phil 2:13).

Not all have this faith granted to them by God’s grace (Phil 1:29; 2 Thess 3:2). Faith is a gift of God, who receives our thanksgiving, as we boast in Him and His work…not ourselves (1 Cor 1:31; Gal 6:14). The born again never take credit for doing anything in this work of salvation, so to avoid stealing glory from God. We are slaves of Christ (Eph 6:6), deserving no honor; for what do we have that we did not receive from God (1 Cor 4:7)?

The obedience of faith is not a work performed by us; rather, it is the work of the indwelling Holy Spirit (Jn 14:17; Rom 8:9, 11), who causes us to walk in God’s statutes (Ezek 36:27). We walk by the Spirit (Gal 5:16, 25), walking in faith because we have been re-positioned into Christ (Col 1:13). We are “in Him;” and He is in us (1 Cor 1:30; Col 1:27). This mystical union with Christ is our new life (Rom 6:4; 2 Cor 5:17)

Christ lives in the Christian, and the abundant life now lived is by faith in the Son of God (Jn 10:10; Gal 2:20). We trust in the Lord, not in ourselves or other people (Ps 118:8; Prv 3:5–6). Our faith increases as we learn Christ, the wisdom of God and power of God (1 Cor 1:24).

Our objective in studying the book of Romans, along with the rest of Holy Scripture, is to grow in grace and in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ (2 Pet 3:18). The Apostle Paul did eventually reach the city and Christ’s church at Rome. God answered Paul’s prayers for this fellowship. God blessed the believers at Rome with the presence and the ministry of the apostle to the Gentiles. In like manner, the church at Rome cared for Paul and his material needs for some two years as he awaited trial before Caesar.

God’s ways are higher than man’s ways (Is 55:9); and as we humbly walk with the Lord (Mic 6:8), we learn His grace and His peace toward His chosen people in every place. As one studies the book of Romans, he is blessed to know the Gospel of God. In knowing God, we know we have eternal life, which is the life of God in the soul of man (Jn 17:2–3).

My dear reader, behold the salvation of God, extended to us by His mercy and grace (Rom 9:15–16), according to His unchanging purpose (Eph 3:11; Heb 6:17). Let us together rejoice in so great a salvation that is Christ Jesus our Lord. He who died, was buried and raised from the dead, is, today, at the right hand of the Father in majestic glory (Heb 1:3; 8:1). This is right standing with God…good news for those of us who are “in Him,” who alone is righteous.

David Norczyk

Spokane Valley, Washington

October 31, 2024

Romans 1:1–17