For a reporter, the lede is a critical part of your story. It is in those first few sentences that you give your readers the most important information. You state the facts upfront and they decide if they want to keep reading. The beginning of Romans reads like the beginning of an important news story. Paul was sent by God with some incredible news, and he is essentially saying to his readers, “First things first. This is what it’s all about.”
This letter is from Paul, a slave of Christ Jesus, chosen by God to be an apostle and sent out to preach His Good News. God promised this Good News long ago through His prophets in the Holy Scriptures. The Good news is about His Son. In His earthly life, He was born into King David’s family line, and He was shown to be the Son of God when He was raised from the dead by the power of the Holy Spirit. He is Jesus Christ our Lord. – Romans 1:1-4 NLT
The gospel is God’s Good News.
Good news is so much sweeter on the heels of bad news. That’s just as true for the gospel. The bad news: We are all sinners with no hope of saving ourselves and the consequence of that is eternal separation from God. If there were no good news, that would be devastatingly bad news. BUT … the good news, God’s Good News, is so very good!
He promised it long ago through all the prophets.
God promised His people throughout the ages that one day He would send redemption. He promised that one day a Savior would come. An eternal King who would cure the curse of sin once and for all.
The Good News is all about Jesus Christ.
The good news that Paul was proclaiming, God’s Good News, is this: Jesus, the promised Messiah and God with us, came to rescue us. He was born as a baby, lived as a man, died as a sacrifice, and was revealed as Lord when He rose from the grave. And one day He will return as the Everlasting King. Jesus is God’s Good News!
Before we can dig deeper into the book of Romans, we must be clear on the first things first. We need to understand the bad news and grab onto the Good News. We were hopeless sinners headed for destruction before Jesus showed up. The Apostle Paul understood this better than anyone after his life-changing encounter with Jesus.
Never let your Christian walk become so mundane that you forget the incredibly good news that you’re living out. That’s what it’s all about. Keep the first things first and make sure every part of your life is all about Jesus.
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