In Romans 1:5-18 the Lord’s most famous apostle provides a mini-bible using only 13 verses which, by Paul’s standard, is a double miracle relative to brevity and understandability. Paul tends to be rather wordy and rather confusing. So much so that the Apostle Peter said this: “Paul is hard to understand, which,” Peter goes on to say, causes those in the church who are ignorant and unstable to misinterpret what he says and writes, which causes their own destruction. Peter adds that such people do the same thing to the words of other apostles. In the following verse Peter warns us not to be led astray by those wicked church people. Note that the wicked and the holy are both in the church. Today, within the 2.4 billion-strong church system, the same type of heresy continues and is even more dangerous due to the use of television and the internet. Read Who are God’s People? and “My People Called By My Name.” Key words–People and Called respectively. Now back to the main focus of this series: THE DIVINE PURPOSE OF THE LORD’S APOSTOLIC MINISTRY.

In Romans 1:5 we find a very clear, very revealing statement relative to the singular focus of God’s apostles (“sent ones”). Here we find Paul saying that the early apostles, as well as their spiritual descendants today, received their apostleship and grace from God Whose purpose was, and still is, to teach salvation seekers to “OBEY THE FAITH.” He goes on to say that the same purpose would apply to all true ministry that would take place “WITHIN ALL NATIONS.” In Romans 1:17 we are told that we must live by that faith. The ultimate questions are: what is faith and from whence do true God seekers receive it? Simply put, FAITH IS TAKING GOD AT HIS WORD. His Word is His will and testament; it is His Law by which we must live in this life in order to live with Him in the future. Therefore, as Paul tells us, “Faith comes by hearing the Word of God” (Rom. 10:19). In those days only the wealthy and God’s priests could read. Therefore the masses had access to God’s Word only in their local synagogues where the priests read the Old Testament aloud each morning and evening. Because only people in the upper class were literate, the people wondered how Jesus, a lowly carpenter, could “know letters” (Jn. 7:15).

As the New Testament Church developed and spread, people began to gather on God’s Sabbath day in individual homes where the traveling apostles would teach the Words of Jesus Christ. These men, having been with Him continually for 3 1/2 years, had received the Gospel directly from Him. The people’s faith came from hearing the words of the traveling apostles who would meet with the people wherever they gathered. After home meetings became the norm and their numbers began to increase, God began to raise up local leaders who, having been taught by the apostles, would teach the people what the apostles had taught them. It was to these men and their congregations that the apostles wrote their epistles. This divinely-ordained system was explained in Ephesians 4:10-15 where we are told concerning God’s church that He places His chosen leaders in positions of authority: “For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ until we ALL COME IN THE UNITY OF THE FAITH AND OF THE KNOWLEDGE OF THE SON OF GOD, UNTO A PERFECT MAN (CHURCH), UNTO THE MEASURE OF THE STATURE OF THE FULNESS OF CHRIST.” In the follow verses Paul goes into more detail about the subject.

After the Lord opened the Gospel to the Gentiles, His emphasis on THE FAITH never wavered. The source of THE FAITH never changed. Both Old and New Testament teachings were revered as they are today in God’s church. As Gentiles came into the church in increasing numbers, churches began to rise up in areas where the majority of citizens were Gentiles. The Church of Rome was in one such area. Where Gentiles were in the majority it was necessary to remind the biological Gentiles (now spiritual Israelites) that their future salvation depended on their knowing, believing and obeying the Lord’s written Scriptures which involved both the Old Testament and the writings of the apostles. After the Apostle John codified them into a book those letters to the churches, and in some cases individuals, became known as the New Testament. That the testaments were of equal value in the eyes of the Lord is proclaimed In Ephesians 2:20 where Paul reminds the Ephesian Church that the New Testament Church was founded on the writings of both THE OLD TESTAMENT PROPHETS AND THE NEW TESTAMENT APOSTLES.

Now let us turn to Romans 1:16-18 where Paul explains why he is writing to the Gentile church in Rome. He explained that he knew that it was necessary to bring to the Gentiles the Gospel of Christ (Christ’s Gospel of the Kingdom of God–(Mk. 1:15), “FOR IT IS THE POWER OF GOD UNTO SALVATION, for the Jews first, then for the Greeks (Jews and Gentiles that had embraced the Greek culture.) Read verse 13. In Romans 3:1,2 Paul explains why he uses the Old Testament when teaching Gentiles. He does this by noting that accepting Christianity was easier for Jews than it was for Gentiles. He asks: “what advantage do Jews have (over Gentiles)? MUCH IN EVERY WAY, FOR UNTO THEM (THE JEWS) WERE GIVEN “THE ORACLES (WORDS/LAWS) OF GOD,” meaning the Old Testament. The New Testament would not come into being until after all of the apostles except John had been martyred. John codified the apostles’ writings into a book between 90 and 100 A.D. That book became known as the New Testament.

We will end this posting at this point. I want to drill down deeply into verses 17 and 18 because they determine if simply believing God’s Word and obeying church doctrine results in the believer’s salvation. Read The Process of Salvation. Key word–Process. God designed this ministry to be directed toward the wayward Institutional Church. My commission is to teach His narrow way (Mat. 7:13,14) to the Kingdom of God. Those with eyes to see and ears to hear will embrace His way and, IF they remain on that way to the end will be saved (Mat. 10:22; 24:13). Read the series on Friends of Jesus and Christ’s Brethren. Key words–Friends and Brethren respectively. Jesus said that few would embrace His Truth and enter his sheepfold/church through His strait gate (door) and walk His narrow way. Many, he warned, would enter His church through the wide door/gate and walk Satan’s wide way to destruction (Mat. 7:13,14; 22:14). Many, He warned, would be called to do so but few would answer His call. The series having the key words “People” and “Called” mentioned earlier this tragedy is explained in more detail. Also, how Satan’s false prophets enter the church/sheepfold and lead salvation seekers astray is also explained. L.J.