Romans 16:27 “To
the only wise God be glory forevermore through Jesus Christ! Amen.”
Jesus Christ was sent that Christmas day to save the world. I love this one commentary from a few years ago that challenged my thinking on our Savior's gospel. Paul’s concluding doxology in Romans ends with a reminder of the great wisdom of
God. After all, it is in the gospel of God presented in this epistle that the
Lord reveals
the depths of His wisdom and proves that He is the only wise God.
All other gods are fools fakes, pretenders to the throne. Even though false gods are
fools and unable to fulfill the deepest needs and longings of human beings, we
have served them anyway. We have rebelled against the most holy Creator even
though creation itself tells us we should honor Him and give Him thanks. In our
sin, we seek
gods of our own devising, and are turned over to our sin and idolatry. Jew and
Gentile alike are guilty of this great sin, and it puts us under the wrath of
God.
There
is but one solution to the unrighteousness that makes us deserving of judgment,
and
that is the righteousness of another, a sinless substitute. This righteousness is received by faith
alone apart from the works of God’s law. Nothing we can do will meet God’s
perfect standard, and only the perfect obedience of Jesus, who lived to make us
righteous and died to bear the wrath we have merited, preserving the Lord’s
justice, can give us peace with our Maker.
In
God’s great wisdom, this righteousness and peace are provided for us while we
are
still
sinners, so that we cannot boast. The legal judgment against us having been
satisfied, we receive the Holy Spirit and begin to walk truly, but imperfectly,
in the ways of the Lord. Our failures show us that only Christ can rescue us
from this body of death and redeem the created order. Thus, we return to Jesus
again and again, being reminded that His work alone can avail before the
heavenly throne and grant us a secure citizenship in His Father’s kingdom. The fact that so many Jews have rejected the gospel does not
negate these realities.
Their failure to believe is history repeating itself, and it allows Gentiles to be grafted into the people of Israel so that the Jews, too, will
one day return to Christ. Those justified by the only wise God
bear holy fruit as they love others, use their gifts to serve the church, obey
the authorities, and present themselves to God as living sacrifices. God’s wisdom is to impute to us the perfect righteousness of Christ
through faith alone so that we will be at peace with Him, receive His Spirit,
and live to please Him because we are grateful for the salvation that He alone
provides. This is the gospel and its fruit in our lives.
John 3:16-17 "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him."
Take
some time today to reflect on the gospel—the message that Christ lived and
died to cover your sins with His righteousness, cleanse you from sin by His
blood, and give you peace with God. By faith alone in Christ alone, apart from
any good works you might do, you enjoy the benefits of what Jesus has done.
This is the gospel of grace, our only hope in life and death, and it reveals the
sovereign majesty, holiness, and mercy of the Lord.
Merry Christmas
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