Paul approach to the Gospel of Messiah in the book of Romans
Roman Chapter 1
Through Christ, God has given us the privilege and authority as apostles to tell Gentiles everywhere what God has done for them, so that they will believe and obey him, bringing glory to his name.
Romans 1:5 • New Living Translation Study Bible (NLTSB)
Yeshua started a revolution, a revolution of faith, a revolution that started with the Jews, but in the 1st century, was brought to us the Gentiles, which has been grafted into the nation of Yahweh, the nation that was birth out of His love through Abraham, a covenant made with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
In his letter to the Romans, Paul introduces himself as one of the apostles; and not only as an apostle, but as an apostle to the Gentiles (non-Jews).
It is very interesting to me how Paul introduces his letter. You see, for many centuries we have been taught that Paul was reluctant to teach Torah, and that Acts 15 was the start of a new Lawless covenant. But neither Acts 15– the account of the Jerusalem’s Council–, neither Paul, taught such thing. And it is very clear that Paul follows the ordinance of the council to preach the Gospel to the Gentiles without imposing Torah all at once, but gradually. In love and discipling new believers until a full understanding of Torah was reached.
so that they believe and obey him
Why the doctrines of today always point to: “You don’t have to do anything” when is exactly opposite to what the whole storyline of the Bible stipulates. Yes, we cannot do anything to earn our salvation, when we are engulfed by our sinful nature, there’s nothing we can do, from our sinful point of view, we are doing what’s right, blinded by our sins.
Salvation through the Bible can be explained in this way: A man drowning cannot, in his own power, rescue himself. His senses are all clouded by the fight-or-flight response. At some point, no matter how hard this man fights against the waters, the waters will prevail. This man needs a savior, outside himself, either a lifeguard or a floating device he can hold on to. Let’s say the man is rescued, does that guaranteed that man will not run into the same situation? No. Unless the person receive training to stay afloat, in other words, being trained to swim.
Yeshua did this for us, taking our place, He jumped into the sinful chaos, resemblance of the waters at the beginning of the age, and He pushed us safely to the shore, to the solid foundation, the land. Rose from the dead as a confirmation of a debt, paid in full, as the High Priest coming out of Holies of Holies. And not only that, but He also gave us the Holy Spirit to teach us how to stay afloat in case we fall on the waters of sin, we can swim back to the shore.
But if we intentionally swim too far deep into sin again, there’s no savior that will come to our rescue. Yeshua jumped into sin for us once and for all, giving us His Spirit to stay in the firm foundation. This is what the author of Hebrew refers to in chapter 6:
4 For in the case of those once having been enlightened and having tasted of the heavenly gift and having become partakers of the Holy Spirit, 5 and having tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, 6 and having fallen away, it is impossible to renew them again to repentance, since they again crucify to themselves the Son of God and put Him to open shame.
Hebrews 6:4-6 • Legacy Standard Bible (LSB)
And this is also laid out to us by Yeshua Himself at the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 7, verses 21 to 24, saying:
21 “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter. 22 Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, in Your name did we not prophesy, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name do many miracles?’ 23 And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; DEPART FROM ME, YOU WHO PRACTICE LAWLESSNESS.’
Matthew 7:21-23 • Legacy Standard Bible (LSB)
As you can see, neither of those scriptures refers to a person that needs salvation, these people, both has already being enlightened and tasted the heavenly gift of salvation. These are individuals that has walk the walk of discipleship, that have started ministering to others, casting out demons, prophesy and even have done miracles, and at some points departed from a life that walks in obedience to Yahweh’s word. What the apostles constantly refer to, LAWLESSNESS, which means without LAW, or simply put, an OUTLAW.
You see, once we have been set free from all our sins, we are made free from bondage of sin as well. Meaning, that we are no longer ignorant of what sin is. True, for a while, we can come back to Yahweh in repentance, turning around from our sinful behavior and Yahweh will take us back. But it is clear by scripture that there is a point of no return. Read Matthew 25:1-13. You can play the game of salvation, always needing a savior, Yahweh loves you that much, but the day of judgment will come, in the blink of an eye, and sin will be punished (Revelation 20:12-15), only those who overcome will tabernacle with Yahweh, and the Son.
12 Here is the perseverance of the kedoshim—those who keep the commandments of God and the faith of Yeshua.
13 Then I heard a voice from heaven saying,
“Write: How fortunate are the dead—those who die in the Lord from now on!”
“Yes,” says the Ruach, “that they may rest from their labors, for their deeds follow them.”
Revelation 14:12-13 • Tree of Life Version (TLV)
So, how do we stay in the solid ground of grace?
And that my friend is where the epistle to the Romans comes like a blessing to our lives.
The Bible in its entirety is an amazing peace of literature, breathed out by Yahweh Himself, but there are scrolls or books that are very special to us. Those book for me are the Scroll of Isaiah and the Epistle to the Romans.
Both are for me a quick summary of the whole Bible. Of course, now me and my family are falling in love with Torah, the Prophets, the Writings, since we have missed so much for many years. But I digress. Paul … the Epistle to the Romans … right!
First, we have to understand that the letter to the Romans is an evergreen literature, which profound wisdom that talks to our hearts dearly, because we, the nations, is which this epistle was written to. And as with most of the epistles of Paul, the letter starts with opening regards, a salute, a brief update about Paul’s ministry and a prayer for the reader. Which is of most importance to read and meditate through it, because is a witness to us about the heart of Paul to his ministry and the reason of his ministry.
Then, it goes straight to the first subject of the epistle of Romans.
Where does our faith come from?
Romans 1:16-17 LSB
16 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. 17 For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, “BUT THE RIGHTEOUS WILL LIVE BY FAITH.”
The statement of faith we found on the first chapter of the book of Romans is very encouraging. You see, when this was written, there was a great political tension between the dominating powers of the days, the Roman Empire and the schools of thoughts in Jerusalem, and then, a new “unknown” movement, mostly referred as “The Way”, that in its core challenges established traditions and cultures.
In one hand you have the political dominance of the Roman Empire, which impose the worship of false gods and human rulers as divine authorities, and in the other hand the religious establishment of traditions based on assumptions and interpretation. But then you have a new movement that introduced a true Most High God, a God that it is above any human power and above any other deity (represented by the Roman Empire), and above traditions of man (represented by the assumptions and traditions imposed by the leaders of the Sanhedrin).
Paul reminds us that we should not be ashamed of ourselves for believing in Yahweh, and the work He has done through Yeshua the Messiah. To put our sight on the goal, the faith we gain by knowing Him, what He has done in the past. All the promises He made and fulfilled throughout history. Especially the promised made to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Bringing blessings to us gentiles by the redemptive power of Mashiach Ben Joseph (The Messiah Son of Joseph), Yeshua, the suffering servant, who laid down His life for the salvation of many.
Contrary to what many religious leaders preach today, we do not have a blind faith. Our faith is based in the knowledge of a living Elohim. The Elohim that sustains Israel, is the Elohim that gave us Yeshua, the Messianic Jew, that brought the blessing of salvation to us Gentiles.
The faith of non-believers is condition to signs and wonders, for the non-believer that misses the meaning of the signs left behind by the Creator of all –who do declare the Glory of Yahweh–, to these unbelievers there will be no excuses that justify in anyway their selective ignorance.
Romans 1:18-21 LSB
18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, 19 because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them. 20 For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, both His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse. 21 For even though they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish heart was darkened.
This should answer the famous question many ask today, trying to imply that Yahweh is unjust: “What would God do with the people that never heard of Yeshua?”. Yahweh has revealed Himself to all, either by the Word of Truth (Torah, Prophets, Writings and the Gospels), or through the wonders of nature (Psalm 19:1). None is with excuse in the day of judgment.
Psalm 19:1 LSB
The heavens are telling of the glory of God; And the expanse is declaring the work of His hands.
Sadly, many today confuse the understanding of how creation works as the ground to doubt the existence of its Creator. Science can explain the mechanics and processes, but it cannot explain the origin. Knowing how an engine functions does not disprove the existence of the engineer. Yet this is the flawed logic often used to reject God: as if discovering the design, and how the design was designed, somehow erases the Designer. The truth is, the more we uncover about the intricacy of the universe, the more it points—not away from God—but directly to Him.
We know Yahweh is the Creator, the master Designer of all things. Deep in our hearts we know this to be true, and yet we selectively reject Him because of one simple fact, we love to give in into our passions. Like we are bombarded constantly through every media outlet we gaze upon saying: “Follow your heart”, “Follow your dreams”, “Your body your choice” or “Elohim will accept you just as you are, you do not need to change”. The later probably the most deceiving of all, because is preached from many pulpits around the world. That’s not what Yeshua said to those He minister to:
7 When they kept questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, “The one of you who is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her.”8 Then he bent down and wrote in the dust again. 9 On hearing this, they began to leave, one by one, the older ones first, until he was left alone, with the woman still there. 10 Standing up, Yeshua said to her, “Where are they? Has no one condemned you?” 11 She said, “No one, sir.” Yeshua said, “Neither do I condemn you. Now go, and don’t sin any more.”
John 8: 7-11 •The Complete Jewish Bible (CJB)
Yeshua main reason to come and die for us is to make us free from the dominion of sin, He did not come to give us free pass to sin, or to give in to our passions and corrupted desires. You see in Jewish Biblical tradition it is known that we are not without sin, even when they have been covered by the blood of the lamb in Passover. Still, it is important to pinpoint, during the fall festival of Yom Kippur (the day of atonement), the High priest needed to sacrifice a bull for the unintentional sins of the entire nation of Israel.
This idea that we are no longer sinners is a false interpretation of the Gospel. The correct interpretation is this, we are DECLARED sinless by the blood of our Lamb of Redemption, Yeshua the Messiah. But we are still living in a corrupted world full of chaos and death, having to choose to live either by the laws of Yahweh’s Kingdom, under the guidance of Yeshua, or succumbing to the desires of our flesh. This is why we have to guard ourselves of not falling into the trap of boasting in our salvation, because our hearts are always being tempted to surrender to the passions of our sinful flesh.
Romans 1:22-27 LSB
22 Professing to be wise, they became fools, 23 and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the likeness of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures. 24 Therefore God gave them over in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, so that their bodies would be dishonored among them. 25 For they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen. 26 For this reason God gave them over to dishonorable passions; for their females exchanged the natural function for that which is unnatural, 27 and in the same way also the males abandoned the natural function of the female and burned in their desire toward one another, males with males committing indecent acts and receiving in their own persons the due penalty of their error.
Our flesh is deceptive, while we are under this environment of sin, we are in a constant state of being tested about the state of our faith. We are carried by the currents of Sheol, a storm of chaos and death, and the only thing that keeps us afloat is the vessel of Yeshua’s Redemption, our Passover Lamb, which does not only cover us from the righteous judgement of Yahweh but also keep us from drowning back into our sinful desires.
We were made foreign to this sinful nature, we no longer belong to the powers of the air, as we mentioned earlier, and still we are constantly reminded to stay in Yeshua’s vessel. Not to allow ourselves to be distracted by our wants and desires. We have been grafted in into the covenant Yahweh made with Abraham, no longer in need of bulls, goats and lambs for the atonement of our sins, instead the blood of our Passover Lamb covers us and gain us access to His Redemption, the vessel. We are commanded to abide in Him.
How to Abide in Yeshua?
Let the Bible interprete itself, shall we?
John 15:5-6,10 LSB
5 I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing. 6 If anyone does not abide in Me, he is thrown away as a branch and dries up; and they gather them, and cast them into the fire and they are burned…
10 If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love; just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love.
We abide in Yeshua by living under the guidance of the Father, the Most High Yahweh, who gave His instructions from the beginning, and revealed them again to Noah, and to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, then to Moses in Mount Sinai. With each new covenant drafted by Yahweh with mankind, the calling has always been the same: “Return to me, obey my instructions, and follow me. If you do this, you’ll do well in the land that I’m giving you” — Paraphrasing of course.
This has not changed in the “New Covenant” which truly should be called “The Covenant of the Lamb of God”. This covenant does not bring a new set of rules from ground zero. The truth of the matter, that the new instructions given by Yeshua, are not new, but the same Torah given to Moses, from a new –or better stated–, the right perspective. Removing traditions and misinterpretations from men.
Like rebooting a computer. Did you noticed that much of your computer problems are resolved by rebooting the device? Well, the same needs to happen with mankind, and it is the same concept. We need to be rebooted so any corrupted file or process can be reset to its original design. And a big reboot –covenant– needs to happen with Yahweh’s nation today, a reset that removes all the traditions that Evangelicals, Orthodox & Judaism, and Messianic have brought to the code of Scripture. We need a reset back to the original programming of Yahweh.
Why we need a reset as a nation of Yahweh?
The way that our religious leaders are leading us to, causes division, bitterness and anger. No different than those days where Yeshua walked the street of Yerushalayim (Jerusalem), our current leaders are promoting division, denying the authority of Yeshua, rewriting the word of Yahweh to fit political agendas, and the passion of our desires. We no longer see any difference between the so called “Church” and the world drowned in sin.
Romans 1:28-32 LSB
28 And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them over to an unfit mind, to do those things which are not proper, 29 having been filled with all unrighteousness, wickedness, greed, evil; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, malice; they are gossips, 30 slanderers, haters of God, violent, arrogant, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, 31 without understanding, untrustworthy, unloving, unmerciful; 32 and although they know the righteous requirement of God, that those who practice such things are worthy of death, they not only do the same, but also give hearty approval to those who practice them.
When we, as believers, decide to deny the authority of Yahweh, by creating our own rules, we are no longer believers, we are biting again the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. We are returning back to Sheol, not to Sinai, much less, we are not returning to the Garden of Eden, which is eventually where Yahweh wants us to return, to the land He did for us on the fifth day of Creation.
Instead, we are walking into the valley of the shadow of death, Sheol, back to the place without form, full of darkness and death, without compassion or mercy. We are given to a shroud of confusion, as the current political nation of Israel has, because they missed the time of their visitation (Luke 19:44).
Luke 19:44 LSB
and they will level you to the ground and your children within you, and they will not leave in you one stone upon another, because you did not recognize the time of your visitation.”
We the nations, Gentiles, are not exempt of this, but for us is even worst, because if Yeshua, who invited and grafted us in, do not see the fruit of the Spirit in us, we are at risk of being cast out and become once more “not a people” and “not a nation”.
The covenant He made with us, was made with many conditions, the first was to keep believing. Salvation is always accessible — but I digressed. We will expand on this subject later in this Epistle to the Romans, chapter 11. And of course, You will not hear this from a modern pulpit, because we are trying to apease the masses, to please political agendas, compromising the efficacy of the Gospel. The thing is, that the Bible is clear on this:
16 “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. 17 God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through Him. 18 The one who believes in Him is not condemned; but whoever does not believe has been condemned already, because he has not put his trust in the name of the one and only Ben-Elohim. 19 “Now this is the judgment, that the light has come into the world and men loved the darkness instead of the light, because their deeds were evil. 20 For everyone who does evil hates the light and does not come to the light, so that their deeds will not be exposed. 21 But whoever practices the truth comes to the light, so that it may be made known that his deeds have been accomplished in God.”
John 3:16-21 •Tree of Live Version (TLV)
We often share John 3:16 isolated, but, still, even then, it is clear there are conditions in the new covenant. We are to believe Yahweh, we either believe everything He says, or we do not. There is no middle ground here.
John 3:18 ~ The one who believes in Him is not condemned; but whoever does not believe has been condemned already, because he has not put his trust in the name of the one and only Ben-Elohim.
Our heart of stone does not like to follow orders, we do not trust in the Breath-Out Incorruptible Word of Yahweh, we love to add or remove from it. But only those who truly believe are the one who are bound into the Kingdom of God.
Conclusion
The first chapter of the Epistle to the Romans by Paul set the tone for the rest of the Epistle, but as the Bible started with a formless and void state of creation, Paul also introduced us to the chaos of our sinful nature. We are nothing without the Messiah, as Israel is nothing without Yahweh’s covenant. Neither of us, who are destined to become one nation under Yahweh, without His guidance, have anything good to offer to this world in chaos.
Yeshua is our only source of salvation, the only way to the Father of all things. Apart from Him we can do nothing. Let’s go back to the Way of Yahweh, let’s follow His lead. We do not lead the master, but it is the Master who leads us.
Stay tuned for the continuation, Romans chapter 2, the Judgement of God.
If you have never been aware of this and would like to know more, just send me a message to questions@returntosinai.org, but if you want to accept Yeshua, first as your Lord, and second as your Saviour please repeat the following statement of faith aloud:
“I, (say your name aloud), am a sinner, I recognized that I have lived my life away from the Creator. I need you as my Father, to guide me and show me the way. I believe that you Love me, and because of me, You send Your only Son, Yeshua, to pay for all my transgressions, as my Passover Lamb. And as proof that His work of Redemption of my Sin was fulfilled, Yeshua rose from the death, to give me newness of life. I want the life that You, Yahweh, offers through Your Son Yeshua. Thank you, and please anoint me with Your Holy Spirit, remove from me my heart of stone and give me a heart that wants to follow and obey all that you command me to do”.
If you made this commitment, contact me using the form in the contact page. Let me know from where you are contacting me and a way for me to contact you in return. I commit myself to look for a community of faith close to you, that not only will teach you about Yeshua, but will also guide you to the full observance of torah.
In the other hand, if you are a believer, or used to be a believer, that has gone astray, intentionally or unintentionally, declare the same statement, and do the same, contact me, I want to pray for you.
May Yahweh bless you and keep you, may Yahweh let His face shine upon you and be gracious to you, may Yahweh lift up His Presence towards you, and grant you peace.
EN 
ES
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