It is most interesting to observe how the Apostle Paul preached the gospel. It is called “the gospel of God” (Rom. 1:11Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated unto the gospel of God, (Romans 1:1)), which means that it has its source in God. It is also called “the gospel of Christ,” because it reveals Him. God’s love to man is fully revealed. The lost sinner is assured that the spring of his salvation is the heart of God — that the One whom he so fears and seeks to avoid is the Author of all his mercies and the One who meets him in the gospel, with all the blessings of His grace. What a thought! What a gospel! The God of all grace goes out in His own goodness — in the activities of His own nature, with the joyous message of salvation.
God in grace announces His righteousness in the salvation of the sinner through faith. Both the righteousness and the salvation are directly from God Himself. The Apostle tells us that he is not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, “for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth; to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith” (Rom. 1:16-1716For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. 17For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith. (Romans 1:16‑17)). Here we have salvation and righteousness revealed.
Christ, the Object for Faith
The name of Christ is now the grand object of faith and the rule of the believer’s life. The power, value and authority of the name of Jesus have also great prominence in the preaching of Peter in the early chapters of the Acts of the Apostles. There, too, the burden of the preacher is the death, resurrection and ascension of the Lord Jesus. All who had faith then and who have it now are associated with the risen Christ and are partakers of the blessings of the gospel of God. But on the other hand, it is said that the wrath of God is revealed against all who refuse obedience to the name of Jesus, whether they be ungodly Gentiles or unrighteous Jews. All is now seen to be “of God,” whether it be the gospel, salvation, righteousness or wrath. We are said to be justified by God, not merely before Him. And “who shall lay anything to the charge of God’s elect?” And again, “If God be for us, who can be against us?” This is a great feature of the Epistle to the Romans. God is seen in the foreground, and everything is spoken of as coming from Him.
Man is thus brought, by faith, into the possession of salvation, without adding anything to it. It remains wholly and entirely the salvation of God. And what a mercy it is so! We are saved according to the thoughts of God. All is of God. “Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? of works? Nay: but by the law of faith” (Rom. 3:2727Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? of works? Nay: but by the law of faith. (Romans 3:27)). How perfectly simple the demands — how eternally glorious the results — of the gospel of the grace of God!
This is the gospel of God — the righteousness of God. Christ so revealed and magnified God by His great work on the cross and in the whole of His perfect, blessed obedience up to the cross that He made Him, as it were, His debtor. Hence the fullness, freeness and delight of the Father’s heart to bless all who honor His Son. This is His grand purpose in the gospel — the honor of His Son. This is His love. But God also speaks of this as His righteousness, or His faithfulness to Christ.
A. Miller (adapted)