What Is Distinct About the Theology of Romans?

The Theology of Romans

Paul had never visited the church in Rome when he wrote Romans. For that reason, the theology of Romans is the most complete and comprehensive of any of his letters. A full explanation of the gospel of God was needed to enlist the support of the Christians in Rome for his gospel mission in Rome and further afield (Rom. 15:23–24), to defend that same gospel and mission from potential misunderstandings and opponents, and to build up and strengthen the Roman Christians (Rom. 1:11, 15; 16:25). Romans, then, is the ideal introduction to the Pauline corpus. The letters that follow may be read as the contextual application of Paul’s gospel, as presented in Romans, to the task of building up and strengthening churches. What, then, is this gospel?

The Gospel of God

The theology of Romans is gospel theology, given that the entire letter is “an exposition of the gospel and its many implications.”¹ Paul’s gospel (cf. “my gospel”; Rom. 2:16; 16:25) is a public announcement about Jesus Christ, and its main function is to save. Romans unpacks that gospel and shows how it saves unbelievers and strengthens those who believe the good news. It includes the need for salvation, the nature and key events of salvation, and how we are to respond to salvation.

The plight from which human beings need saving is devastatingly dire. All human beings, as descendants of Adam, both Jews and Gentiles, exist under the condemnation and power of sin and live under the reign of death. We need deliverance from God’s righteous anger and from an oppressive enslavement to sin. The gospel is the work of God; we are saved by God’s grace, mercy, kindness, and love. God the Father planned our salvation. God the Son achieved it. God the Spirit implements it, giving us new life now and forever.

The nature of salvation is amazingly complete. To be saved is to be justified, forgiven, counted as righteous, redeemed, set free, adopted into God’s family, reconciled, united to Christ, made holy, given eternal life, and granted honor and glory. The present benefits of the gospel are no less remarkable: peace with God, access to God’s grace, a sure hope, the joy of beneficial suffering, the gift of the Holy Spirit, the assurance of God’s love, and best of all, knowing and being known by God.

The identity of the rescuer boggles the mind, and he saves in unimaginable ways. Jesus is the long-awaited Messiah, the Lord, the Son of God, the Deliverer, the Stone of Stumbling, the Last Adam, the Servant to the Circumcised, and God over all. Jesus died as our substitute—as the mercy seat and sin offering, as our representative—to reveal the righteousness and love of God, and as an example of sacrificial love. Jesus rose from the dead to reveal his true identity, to confirm our justification, to inaugurate the new creation, to conquer evil, to commence his rule in the kingdom of God, and to give us new life. And Jesus ascended to make intercession for us and will return in glory. At every step the gospel accords with and is the fulfillment of the Law and the Prophets.

We are saved by the amazing grace of God, which is “huge, lavish, unceasing, [and] long-lasting.”² Romans describes God’s grace as reigning, abounding, overflowing, and multiplying. Some gifts are in response to a preceding action or gift for the giver, making the gift in some sense an act of reciprocity. The grace of God is without the prior initiative of the recipients; God is the sole initiator of the gift relationship. It is supplied “without regard to the worth of the recipient.”³ It is incongruous, indiscriminate, and unmerited. The epitome of the grace of God is the admission of Gentiles, who were without hope, to the people of God. Finally, the grace of God is efficacious in that “it infallibly accomplishes what God intends it to accomplish”⁴. It liberates and transforms, changing not only the status and destiny of believers but also our lives in the world.

Responding to the Gospel

The human response to the gospel is described from multiple angles. We are to respond in believing trust, that is, repenting of our sins, being baptized, confessing Jesus as Lord, calling on his name, giving glory to God for his promises, putting our hope in the Messiah, and receiving God’s gracious gift with thanksgiving. Israel’s disappointing failure to respond to the gospel is neither full nor final; there is hope for Israel based on God’s sovereign, faithful, and merciful character.

The holy and life-giving Spirit of God and Christ makes believers children of God and fellow heirs with Christ, supplies righteousness, peace, and joy to the people of God, assures them of God’s love, and imparts holiness to them. Living by the Spirit, union with Christ in his death and resurrection, and being conformed to the image of Christ are three ways in which the gospel enables believers to end the reign of sin in their mortal bodies.

At every step the gospel accords with and is the fulfillment of the Law and the Prophets.

Responding to the gospel mercies of God, believers are to live lives marked by genuine love and affection for each other, abhorring evil, holding fast to the good, being devoted to one another, honoring one another, being zealous and fervent in spirit, serving the Lord, rejoicing in hope, being patient in tribulation and constant in prayer, contributing to the needs of the saints, and showing hospitality. They are to walk in love, even amid sharp disagreements. They are to live peaceably with all, loving their enemies, submitting to government, supporting the spread of the gospel, and living as those who belong to the fast-approaching day of salvation.

The Power of God in the Gospel

Power and strength are key concepts in Paul’s exposition of the gospel in Romans. The gospel is about the powerful Son of God (Rom. 1:4) and God’s power to save those who believe the good news (Rom. 1:16). If human beings refuse to acknowledge God’s power (Rom. 1:20), Abraham is a model believer in being “fully convinced that God had the power to do what he had promised” (Rom. 4:21) when he “grew strong in his faith” (Rom. 4:20). The Lord has the power to make believers, both Jews and Gentiles, stand before him justified and forgiven (Rom. 14:4). God’s power liberates us from the law, the flesh, sin, death, and Satan (Rom. 6–8; 16:25). This gospel spreads “by the power of the Spirit of God” (Rom. 15:19). There are no “powers” capable of separating those who believe from God’s love (Rom. 8:28–30). Even if many Israelites have rejected his Messiah, “God has the power to graft them in again” (Rom. 1:23). Just as the gospel displays God’s power, God’s work in the history of salvation makes his power known (Rom. 9:17, 22).⁵

Paul also teaches that believers receive a kind of gospel power to exercise their gifts, build others up, love their enemies, and so on. And they “abound in hope . . . by the power of the Spirit” (Rom. 15:13). It is important to note that, when exercised in social contexts, divine power is “not power ‘over’ others but power ‘on behalf of [others].”⁶ Believers overcome evil [not by force, but] by doing good (Rom. 12:21). The power of God is most clearly seen in God sending his Son “in the likeness of sinful flesh” as a sin offering (Rom. 8:3). The cross shows that power is not to be exercised selfishly or oppressively but in love and the service of others.

The good news is that the gospel has the power in our day to fill us with all joy and peace in believing, causing us, by the power of the Holy Spirit, to abound in hope (Rom. 15:13).

Brian S. Rosner is the author of Strengthened by the Gospel: A Theology of Romans.

---

---

Related Articles

---

Crossway is a not-for-profit Christian ministry that exists solely for the purpose of proclaiming the gospel through publishing gospel-centered, Bible-centered content. Learn more or donate today at crossway.org/about.