Fear No Fear

(All scripture from Lexham English Bible, Copyright 2012 Logos Bible Software)

“For this night an angel of the God whose I am and whom I serve came to me, saying, ‘Do not be afraid, Paul! It is necessary for you to stand before Caesar, and behold, God has graciously granted you all who are sailing with you.’” (Acts 27:23-24)

In chapter twenty-seven, Paul is beginning his journey to Rome. He was put on a prison ship in the charge of a centurion of the Augustan Regiment named Julius. Julius favoured Paul and gave him a long leash, since he knew Paul wasn’t going to be trouble or run off. They made several stops and ended in a city called Lycia. There they found a ship bound for Italy. They continued along, through some difficult waters, and stopped in Fair Havens which was near the city of Lasea. Paul warned them not to continue. He warned them of injuries and much loss, not only of the ship and cargo, but also of their lives. However, the centurion was persuaded by the captain and owners of the ship that since the harbour wasn’t ideal for wintering in, they should try for Phoenix in Crete and winter there.

It did not go well. They were caught in a storm. They were forced to let the ship drift. They threw cargo overboard. They threw the tackle overboard. They were violently tossed about. Paul got up and spoke to everyone. An angel had appeared to him telling him that he was to appear before Caesar in Rome. They would all survive because he had to survive – but the ship would be lost. He encouraged them and urged them to take hope. Eventually, they spotted land nearby and tried to run the ship aground. They hit rocks and abandoned ship. They lost the ship, but not one life was lost.

Chapter twenty-eight has them discovering that they had arrived on Malta. The natives there helped them and cared for them. Paul prayed for the father of the head man of the island and God healed him. They had a wonderful three months and had all their needs provided for. After three months, an Alexandrian ship which had wintered there left port and everyone went along. They journeyed for about two weeks, making several stops, and finally arrived in Rome. The centurion handed Paul over to the captain of the guard. Paul was allowed to stay by himself in a house with a soldier who guarded him.

After three days, Paul called the leaders of the Jews together and gave them a rundown of why he was a prisoner and appearing in Rome. They had heard nothing about him, but had heard of the Way and wanted to know more. They arranged for a day to hear from him about it. When the day came, he spend all day from morning to evening explaining the gospel message and the person of Jesus. He told them that the salvation of God had been sent to the Jews and had ALSO been sent to the Gentiles. They left Paul in great dispute among themselves about the whole thing. Paul remained under house arrest (in a house he rented) for two years. During that time, he preached and taught everyone who came to him about Jesus.

“For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For the righteousness of God is revealed in it from faith to faith, just as it is written, “But the one who is righteous by faith will live.”” (Romans 1:16-17).

The letter to the Romans was written when Paul was in Corinth around AD 57. Paul is addressing the relationship between the Jews and the Gentiles. The Jews were not to be arrogant because the message came to them first. The Gentiles were not to be arrogant because they were replacing the Jews. Jew and Gentile were joining together to become the Body of Messiah Jesus. Paul also describes what that means and what was and wasn’t acceptable to the objective morality of God that God has always clearly expressed in the Word. While humanity might decide something is good based on how it feels, God calls ALL believers in Jesus to embrace what HE says is good based on His character and nature. More than anything, Paul makes it clear that it is JESUS who takes away Sin (Sin itself and individual sins/iniquities) and it is only in Jesus that we become righteous before God.

Jesus was a servant of the Jewish people and so were His Roman followers meant to be as well. The Jews always have been and always will be God’s beloved people. And being in Jesus means that Gentiles are ALSO forever attached to Israel. We are ONE body in hope and in glory in Jesus. The book can be broken into eight sections: introduction, need for righteousness, gift of righteousness, defense of Grace (without permission for abuse of Grace), ministry of Holy Spirit, God’s purposes in Israel’s history, right conduct for believers, and final messages and greetings. [Grace is not unmerited favour, but favour against merit – for all have sinned and DESERVED the opposite of Grace.] This was the first major letter Paul wrote and it was brought/sent to Rome by Phoebe, a deaconess of the assembly at Cenchrea. As it says in the Ironside Commentary, Romans was ‘written to people who are already saved to show them the secure foundation upon which their salvation rests: namely, the righteousness of God. When faith apprehends this, doubts and fears are gone and the soul enters into settled peace.’

Chapter one opens with Paul identifying himself as a freely chosen slave to Jesus in every way (Deuteronomy 15:12-17). He also declares that the gospel message of the Kingdom isn’t new, having been given to Moses (Deuteronomy 30:11-14; Romans 10:6-8) and preached to Abraham by God Himself (Galatians 3:8). The Word is consistent from front to back on the will of God and His plan to restore us to Himself (Luke 24:44). The Law was in place to teach us about our need for a Saviour and to cover us until that Saviour came and put into place His grace. So there is no real conflict between the Law and grace unless you try to mix the two. As one man of God said, the Law is used to point out people’s need and bring them to their knees through the hopelessness of self-salvation, then the gospel of grace is used to provide salvation and relationship. You cannot rely on God’s grace as the only means of salvation (which we should) and then insist on some adherence to the Law in order to be justified (which we cannot be through our own efforts). It’s Jesus or nothing (John 14:6).

Paul speaks of his desire to visit Rome and see these believers who he has only heard about. He had desired to come to them already, but hadn’t been able to. He was now ready to come and join with them in the harvest of the people in Rome. He wasn’t ashamed to stand in one of the most infamous cities in the world and preach the gospel. And boy, did the Romans need those who stood up for truth by trusting in Jesus. All creation proclaimed the glory of God and clearly demonstrated that there WAS a God. They were invisible, but at the same clearly seen throughout Creation. But the people of the world did not glorify the God that they could see revealed to them. Instead, they went with their own counsel, their own desires, and their own practises. They turned from God’s truth and chose to worship a lie. They served the creatures of the world, instead of shepherding them. They served the lie, instead of serving the Creator Himself. They insisted on it and God gave them what they insisted on. They were filled with unrighteousness; sexual immorality; wickedness; covetousness; maliciousness; became full of envy, murder, strife, and deceit. They were gossipers, slanderers, God-haters, insolent, proud, boastful, inventors of evil things, disobedient toward parents, without understanding, covenant breakers, without natural affection, calloused, and unmerciful. And yes, although the word ‘homosexual’ didn’t exist yet, Paul chose words that meant the active sexual act between two men and between two women in his list of things that were wrong. Paul was not denouncing how they FELT, but he did choose words that meant and ONLY meant active physical sexual intercourse between same sexes. And again, if you look at the list he gives, that is only ONE of the MANY things that humanity embraced which was against God’s moral standards. No one thing was worse than any other one thing. If you go through that list with some real inward searching, it is easy to see that ALL of us have done something on that list. ALL have sinned and ALL need a Saviour. Paul also repeats what Jesus taught: it is not only those who do them, but those who give hearty approval to those who practise them who are in the wrong. It is never only about what we say and do, but also what is in our HEARTS.

Chapter two shows that while those who are totally in the flesh are in the wrong (chapter one), so are those who claim to be righteous according to their deeds. The issue is one of perspective. From a human perspective there are degrees of holiness and those who do better than others. But from God’s perspective, we are all sinners and no sinner has the right of justification of themselves OR the right of condemnation toward another sinner. We do not all break the same laws, but we all transgress the Law in some way (James 2:10). Because we are all lawbreakers, none of us qualify to be a judge. Humans DO condemn each other, but that just shows that we have a knowledge of right and wrong – so we’re not ignorant of our own guilt. All judging should be left to God because He is the ONLY one who is truly impartial and truly objective. God’s judgement is perfect, based on the objective truth, and is empty of all prejudice. How we perceive our actions and how God does is not always the same. For example, any Jew practicing the Law could claim that they did not worship idols, however covetous is also idolatry (Colossians 3:5). Adultery might not have been done physically, but lust in the heart was the same thing (Matthew 5:28). The list goes on. Only God can see into our hearts, so only God is capable of being judge. Only God was purely righteous, so only God is capable of being judge. Since God WAS and IS the only one capable of judging, it is by His standards that we are all judged. Because we ALL fail to be perfect, what we DESERVE is His judgment.

Summary

Key Players: God, Jesus, Paul, Julius, Jews, Gentiles

Key Verse(s): Acts 27:39-44; 28:17-22; Romans 1:18-32; 2:5-16