Christian Education and Nurture Sunday

 

SUNDAY SERMON

The Whole Gospel in One Letter

A Sermon on the Doctrine of Romans, following Martin Luther’s Preface

Romans 1–16   •   Justification by Faith   •   ~30 minutes

 

INTRODUCTION

The Most Precious Letter Ever Written

Martin Luther — the great Reformer who shook the world — once said of the letter we call Romans: “The more thoroughly it is treated, the more precious it becomes, and the better it tastes.” He was not a man given to idle flattery. He meant it.

This morning we are going to do something unusual. Rather than preach from one verse, we are going to survey the entire Letter to the Romans — not in a hurry, but as a traveller walking through a great cathedral, pausing at each window to see what the light reveals. We will follow the roadmap that Luther himself drew for ordinary Christians in his famous Preface — because the gospel contained in Romans is not a puzzle for scholars. It is the good news for every soul sitting in this room.

"I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes."

— Romans 1:16

That is Paul’s thesis. Everything he writes is the unpacking of that one sentence. Let us walk through it together.

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PART ONE — THE PROBLEM

Chapters 1–3: Every Person Stands Accused

Paul begins where every honest diagnosis must begin — with the bad news. And the bad news, he argues, is universal.

In chapter one, he turns his gaze on the pagan world — on people who look at creation, see a Creator, and then turn away from Him to worship themselves and their own desires. This is not merely ancient history. We live in that world. We are those people.

In chapter two, he turns on the religious and the moral — on people who congratulate themselves for not being as bad as their neighbours, who judge others while quietly doing the same things in their hearts. Luther is blunt about this: the Law of God demands not merely outward compliance, but the inmost heart. God is not impressed by a tidy exterior wrapped around a rebellious soul.

"All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God."

— Romans 3:23

Chapter three is where Paul levels the verdict: Jew and Gentile, religious and irreligious, moral and immoral — all stand under the same judgement. Not because God is harsh, but because all of us, if we look honestly into our own hearts, will find there a coldness toward God, a preference for ourselves, a resistance to what is truly good.

FOR THE CONGREGATION TO HEAR

The question the first three chapters press upon us is not “Am I as bad as that person?” It is: “Does my heart, in its very depths, love God freely and fully?” If we answer honestly, we already know why we need a Saviour.

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PART TWO — THE SOLUTION

Chapters 3–5: A Righteousness Not Our Own

But then — and this is the hinge on which the whole letter turns — Paul writes two of the most life-changing words in scripture: But now.

"But now a righteousness from God, apart from the law, has been made known… This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe."

— Romans 3:21–22

This is justification by faith — the doctrine that Luther rediscovered and that transformed the world. It means this: God does not wait for us to become righteous before He accepts us. He declares us righteous, as a gift, on account of what Christ has done — His perfect life, His atoning death, His resurrection. And He gives this to all who believe.

In chapter four, Paul calls Abraham as a witness. Abraham was justified before he was circumcised, before the Law of Moses existed — justified by nothing but trusting God’s promise. Faith, not works, has always been the way.

Chapter five overflows with the consequences: peace with God, joy in suffering, hope that does not disappoint, love poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit. These are not rewards we earn. They are fruits that grow from a life rooted in grace.

FOR THE CONGREGATION TO HEAR

Luther said faith is not a vague feeling or a quiet opinion. It is “a living, daring confidence in the grace of God, of such assurance that it would risk a thousand deaths.” Is that the faith you carry? If yours feels smaller than that today, then hear the promise: God gives this faith. Ask Him for it.

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PART THREE — THE NEW LIFE

Chapters 6–8: Dead to Sin, Alive to God

Some will ask: if we are saved by grace and not by works, does it matter how we live? Paul anticipates the question and refuses it. By no means!

Chapter six teaches that those united to Christ by faith are united to His death and resurrection. We are not merely forgiven people still enslaved to sin — we are new people, with a new nature, called to live accordingly. Sin still tempts. But it no longer has dominion over us.

Chapter seven gives us something rare and precious: Paul’s honest account of the war within. Even he — the apostle — knows the experience of wanting to do good and finding himself pulled toward what is wrong. This is not a failure of faith. It is the honest landscape of the Christian life.

"There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death."

— Romans 8:1–2

And then chapter eight — perhaps the greatest chapter in all of scripture. The Spirit dwells in us. We are children of God, heirs of glory. All of creation groans and strains toward the day of full redemption. And in the meantime — suffering, loss, uncertainty — nothing separates us from the love of God in Christ Jesus.

FOR THE CONGREGATION TO HEAR

Luther’s counsel was this: do not begin with predestination or theology’s hard questions. Begin here — with the cross, with sin, with grace, with chapter 8. Let the assurance of chapter 8 be the ground under your feet before you wrestle with the mysteries beyond it.

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PART FOUR — GOD’S SOVEREIGN PLAN

Chapters 9–11: The God Who Does Not Fail

Chapters nine through eleven are some of the most contested in scripture — the territory of predestination, of Israel’s calling, of the mystery of God’s purposes in history. Luther is honest: approach these chapters only after you have been broken and rebuilt by the earlier ones. They are not a place for the casual or the arrogant.

But their comfort, once received, is immense. Paul’s point is not that God is arbitrary, but that God is faithful. His purposes do not fail. His election is not a lottery — it is the anchor of hope for people too weak to save themselves. And His plan encompasses all of humanity, Jew and Gentile alike, in one great story of mercy.

"Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable his judgements, and his paths beyond tracing out!"

— Romans 11:33

We do not solve predestination. We worship before it.

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PART FIVE — THE LIVING RESPONSE

Chapters 12–16: What Grace Looks Like in the World

The gospel does not leave us in the clouds. Chapter twelve calls us to offer our whole selves — bodies, minds, daily choices — as living worship to God. Not as a way of earning favour, but as the natural response of a heart that has been transformed by grace.

Chapter thirteen calls us to honour our civic duties and treat even government as an instrument of God’s ordering of the world. Chapter fourteen and fifteen press us toward something demanding: bearing with those whose faith is weaker, not using our liberty to wound those God loves. The strong serve the weak. The certain make room for the uncertain. This is Christ’s own pattern.

"Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God."

— Romans 15:7

And chapter sixteen — often skipped — is a list of names. Real people. Real community. The gospel is never abstract. It lands in relationships, in households, in the daily texture of people loving one another faithfully.

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CONCLUSION

Take Up This Letter and Read It

Luther’s great desire was simple: that ordinary Christians would take up Romans and not put it down. He wrote his Preface not for the learned, but for the people — for farmers, for merchants, for mothers and fathers, for you.

Here is what this letter gives you:

1.  An honest mirror.  Chapters 1–3 show you who you really are before God — not to crush you, but to make you ready for grace.

2.  A free gift.  Chapters 3–5 show you that righteousness is not something you climb to — it is something God descends to give you in Christ.

3.  A new identity.  Chapters 6–8 show you that you are no longer defined by your worst moments — you are defined by Christ’s resurrection and the Spirit dwelling in you.

4.  An unshakeable hope.  Chapters 9–11 show you that God’s purposes hold — even when history seems dark, even when your own story seems to be going wrong.

5.  A life worth living.  Chapters 12–16 show you what it looks like to be a person of grace in the world — generous, humble, patient, and deeply in love with one another.

 

Luther wrote: “Whoever has received this epistle into his heart has without question the light and strength of the Old Testament in himself.” That is a bold claim. But Paul makes it too — this letter is the gospel in full, from first sin to final glory.

Take it up. Read it slowly. Let it undo you and remake you. And if your heart feels cold today — if faith feels distant — remember Luther’s prayer for himself and for all who read: To this end may God grant us His grace. Amen.

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Lord, let this letter be more than words on a page.

Let it be light for those who are lost,

grace for those who are guilty,

and strength for those who are weary.

All glory to the God who saves. Amen.