First and foremost is the good news from God, the “Gospel of God,” which he describes as follows:

“the gospel of God … concerning his Son … Jesus Christ our Lord.”
Rom 1:1-4

The good news from God concerns His Son. The Gospel is not about dogma, it is not about the Church, it is not about ethics or about social justice. All of this may be important, but it is not the first priority. God speaks of His Son in the first place. One person stands centrally.

More precisely, it is about his son, because the son stands for a special task. In the Son it becomes recognizable what the Father intends. It is a gospel, a good news. Accordingly, the Gospel is not a list of requirements or expectations for us. It is not we who have to fulfill something, but God Himself who has done something. That is what the Gospel is about.

God works through His Son. The son has shared the father’s outlook. The son carried out the will of the father. Through His Son, God is building His house.

God is for us. This is what the Gospel speaks of. When Paul goes out, he does so with really good news. He has good things to say! The apostle calls it “the gospel of the grace of God” in Acts 20:24.

Luther and Erasmus

The Bible reports good news out of God’s grace. The background for this is the human experience. This grounds the message, because God’s Word speaks from God into our world and experience. It is never about thoughts and ideas alone, but about solutions for the world we live in. The proclamation of God’s grace is an impulse. What can such an impulse trigger in us? And how does that work? There are very different views on this. Paul himself recognizes that it is God who ultimately wills and works in us Himself (Phil 2:13). God is above everything.

Faith is not an achievement that I have to accomplish. Everything is from God. This radicality belongs to the Gospel. However, it is often toned down. Even in Luther’s day, there were burning questions about how God’s grace works. It was about questions like: What can I myself contribute to faith? Is it necessary for man to confirm the grace of God? And if that were so, is everything really still of God alone? To this day, these questions are answered sometimes one way and sometimes another. For our understanding of the Letter to the Romans, it can be helpful if we consciously fade in these questions.

As a result of his insights and experiences, Luther spoke of “sola gratia” (Latin for grace alone). This is one of the pillars of the Reformation. For him, this means that everything is from God, everything is a gift. Against this thesis, his contemporary Erasmus of Rotterdam wrote a polemic with the title “De libero arbitrio” (Latin: On Free Will. 1524). Erasmus took the position that man has a choice, and before God can both make a choice and must make that choice. In this way, he was more in line with the Catholic Church, which saw a task and cooperation in God’s work of salvation for man. For Luther, that was not an option. He realized that this position does not work. Through his own efforts, he could not become righteous before God.

In his search for a gracious God, Luther exhausted everything that was possible by his own efforts. He was not successful in doing so. Only the reading of the Epistle to the Romans brought about a radical and liberating change in him. In Romans, he found a gracious God. This realization and a renewal of thinking triggered the Reformation.

Luther then wrote his own pamphlet entitled “De servo arbitrio” (Latin: On the Unfree/Subjugated Will). Luther took the position that God acts sovereignly and is not dependent on man’s cooperation. On the contrary, it would be downright presumptuous if man still had to contribute something to an almighty God. For the Reformer, it was first about the limited possibilities we have as human beings and that we depend on God alone. In this he found confidence.

It is easy to see from these two positions that a doctrine of heaven and hell, for example, is more along the lines of Erasmus, where man is ultimately responsible and decides on heaven or hell. Such teachings are in direct contradiction with the grace of God as Luther understood it on the basis of the Epistle to the Romans. Here we can also ask personal questions. For example: How does God relate to me? What is the good news of God’s grace? Is he a demanding God whom I must satisfy, or a bountiful God who gifts me with love and grace through Christ? It is about fundamental questions that can have a lasting impact on our relationship to God, to life and to faith.

It is precisely because of these questions that the Letter to the Romans is of great importance. Paul often moves in the area of tension between human error and divine encouragement. Why is this “gospel of God” about?

Previously promised

“The Gospel of God (which He promised beforehand through His prophets in holy scriptures).”
Rom 1:2

The Gospel of God, we read here, was “promised beforehand” (Gr. proepangello). The apostle is thinking here of the Old Testament (Tenach). After that, the mentioned prophets and holy scriptures refer. Righteousness by faith, for example, was promised there – and it is now proclaimed by Paul here in Romans. Paul picks up at the Old Testament, but not at the part for Israel. That is why Paul does not speak of the kingdom of heaven or the messianic kingdom. That is why Paul does not have circumcision and sacrifices, which were still followed by the Twelve Apostles. It seems justified, therefore, that Paul speaks of “his gospel” in several places (Rom 2:16, Rom 16:25).

While the Twelve Apostles set their expectation on “the kingdom for Israel” (Acts 1:6, Acts 2:36), Paul opens the door to the “nations,” the non-Israel peoples (Rom 1:5). Both the Twelve Apostles and Paul refer to the promises from the Old Testament – however, Paul picks up from other circumstances so that he can address the nations. The apostle discusses the differences in detail in the Epistle to the Romans (chapters 3-4, 9-11).

The Son of God

“About His Son”
Rom 1:3

God’s good news concerns His Son. The word for son has a very strong meaning in the Hebrew language of the Old Testament. It’s about much more than lineage.

Therefore, let us listen to what God says about His Son:

“You are my son, today I have begotten you”
Ps 2:8 (cf. Acts 13:33, Heb 1:5, Heb 5:5).

“And when Jesus was baptized, immediately he came up out of the water; and behold, the heavens were opened to him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming upon him. And, behold, a voice cometh out of heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”
Mt 3:16-17 (cf. Mk 1:11, Lk 3:22)

“While he was still speaking, behold, a light cloud overshadowed them, and behold, a voice came out of the cloud, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Him hear!”
Mt 17:5 (cf. Mk 9:7, Lk 9:35, 2Pet 1:17).

When we speak of the Son of God, we speak of Him who builds the Father’s house. And the Father has given everything into His hand:

“The Father loves the Son and has given everything into His hand.”
John 3:35

“For the Father loveth the Son, and showeth him all things that he himself doeth: and he will shew him greater works than these, that ye may marvel.”
John 5:20

“All things have been delivered unto me of my Father; and no man knoweth the Son but the Father, neither knoweth any man the Father but the Son, and he to whom the Son will reveal him.”
Mt 11,27

“Jesus – knowing that the Father had given everything into his hands and that he had come from God and was going to God.”
Jn 13:3 (cf. Jn 16:15)

God the Father has given everything into the hand of His Son to win everyone. This is the core of God’s gospel about His Son.

The Son fulfills what the Father has given Him: This is the way of obedience and the cross, which is then confirmed by His Father with resurrection and righteousness (Rom 4:25). Let us also compare Peter’s knowledge (Matt 16:16) and how Paul began to preach soon after His calling (Acts 9:20, Gal 1:16).

The knowledge that Jesus is the Son of God includes the certainty that it is Jesus through whom God accomplishes His plan. He is the Son of whom the Gospel of God speaks. Through Him, the house of God is built and His Father is glorified.