Latest / Reformed Thinking / God’s Righteousness Revealed in the Gospel | Richard Watson

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God’s Righteousness Revealed in the Gospel | Richard Watson · Reformed Thinking

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  Hello and welcome to Reformed Thinking.
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  It is great to have you with us again as we open up our library
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  and see what we can find. I'm here with my Co host and we
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  are ready to get to work. It's good to be here and we have
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  quite a text in front of us today, a big one.
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  We certainly do. Today we are focusing on one
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  specific text, but calling it big really feels like an
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  understatement. We're looking at the
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  Introduction to the Epistle to the Romans from Richard Watson's
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  A Biblical and Theological Dictionary.
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  Now I know what you might be thinking, a dictionary entry
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  that sounds like maybe the driest thing imaginable.
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  But this source gives us just a fantastic framework to
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  understand what is, I think you'd agree, arguably the most
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  significant letter ever written. Oh, it's the peak.
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  There's really no question when you look at the history of the
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  church, the Epistle to the Romans, just it stands alone.
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  You can't really get your head around the Protestant
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  Reformation or the Westminster Confession, which we hold to
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  without grappling with Paul's letter to Rome.
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  It's not just a piece of mail. It is the systematic explanation
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  of the Christian faith. It's the architecture of
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  everything we believe. It's where the logic of the
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  gospel is laid out piece by piece.
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  So let's set the scene. Before we dive into the really
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  heavy theology, Watson gives us some very specific details about
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  when and where this all happened.
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  We're looking at the year AD 58. That's right, AD 58, and Watson
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  makes a point of noting that this is the fourth year of the
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  Emperor Nero. Right.
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  And that name, Nero. It usually sends a bit of a
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  shiver down the spine of anyone who knows their church history.
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  We think of the fire, the persecution, the the madness.
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  We do, and for good reason. But it is worth noting here that
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  in the fourth year of his reign, the situation hadn't quite
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  deteriorated into the absolute horror show that we see later.
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  Historians often call the first five years of Nero's reign the
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  golden years. If you can believe that he was,
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  He was still under the influence of his tutor, Seneca.
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  The administration was still functioning.
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  However, the shadow is there. You know, the empire is the
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  backdrop. And Paul is writing this from
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  Corinth. Corinth.
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  That's an interesting place for this kind of document to come
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  from. We know from Paul's other
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  letters that the church in Corinth was, well, incredibly
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  messy. Messy is a polite way to put it.
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  It really was. Corinth was this chaotic,
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  cosmopolitan port city. It was known for its immorality,
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  its commercialism, a very transient population.
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  And yet, in the middle of all that noise, you have the Apostle
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  Paul sitting down to compose this, this incredibly
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  structured, logical masterpiece of theology.
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  He's not planning on staying long.
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  Watson points out that Paul is just about to leave.
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  He's heading to Jerusalem. Yes.
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  And this isn't just a casual trip.
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  This is the mission that's mentioned in Acts 20, and he
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  references it in Romans 15. He's not just going for a
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  visitor, A pilgrimage. He is carrying contributions.
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  Money, right? Yeah, money collected from the
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  Christians in Macedonia and IKEA.
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  And this is specifically for the relief of the poor brethren in
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  Judea. This is such a critical piece of
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  context because Paul is acting as a bridge builder here.
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  He's taking money from Gentile churches, Macedonia and Ikaya,
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  and bringing it to the Jewish Christians in Jerusalem.
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  It's a physical demonstration of the unity of the church before
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  he even writes the theological argument for the unity of the
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  church in this letter. Wow.
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  So he's living this sermon before he preaches it, in a way.
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  Exactly. He's in Corinth, packing his
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  bags for Jerusalem, but his mind, his focus, is on Rome.
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  OK, so let's talk about the logistics of this, because
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  Watson highlights something that I think we often just gloss
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  over. Paul, didn't you know, pick up a
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  pen and write this letter himself?
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  No, he didn't. Watson clarifies that it was
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  transcribed. Paul dictated it to a man named
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  Tertius. I find this fascinating to just
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  try and visualize. You know, we had this image of
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  Paul hunched over a desk by candlelight, writing in silence,
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  but that's not it at all. He is speaking.
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  He is probably pacing around the room.
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  It completely changes how you hear the letter, doesn't it?
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  When you read Romans aloud, it has a cadence to it.
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  It has a rhythm. You can hear it.
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  What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that
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  grace may abound? God forbid you can hear a man
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  making an argument, speaking with passion, and tertious is
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  there just frantically trying to get it all down on parchment.
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  It adds such a human element to the inspiration of Scripture.
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  God uses the personality and the voice of Paul and you know, the
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  hand of Tertius. It's not some mechanical
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  dictation where Paul goes into a trance.
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  It's his mind and his voice, fully engaged in the process.
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  Absolutely. But then there's the delivery.
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  I mean, it's one thing to write it, it's a whole other thing to
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  get it to the capital of the Empire.
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  And this is where we meet Phoebe.
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  Yes. Phoebe, I love that Watson
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  brings her up. She often gets overlooked in the
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  grand scheme of the theology, but really without her we might
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  not have the theology to discuss.
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  That's right. Phoebe is described as the
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  deaconess of the Church of Sangria.
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  Now, Sangria was the eastern port of Corinth.
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  If you know your geography, Corinth is on an isthmus with
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  two ports. Sangria is the one facing toward
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  Asia and the east. So Phoebe is the Courier.
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  Stop and think about that for a second.
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  The single most dense, heavy, valuable theological document in
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  the history of the world. The document that defines
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  justification by faith, the depravity of man, the
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  sovereignty of God, was entrusted to one woman to
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  transport to Rome. It is a staggering amount of
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  trust. Paul just hands the scroll to
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  her. If she drops it, if it gets wet
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  on the boat, if she gets robbed along the way, we don't have the
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  Book of Romans. It says so much about her
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  character, her standing in the early church.
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  She wasn't just a mail carrier, she was a deaconess, A servant
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  leader who was trusted with the heavy lifting.
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  Watson points to Roman 16 to verify this.
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  She was clearly a pillar of that community.
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  So Phoebe is on her way to Rome with this precious cargo.
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  But here's the mystery that Watson points out, and it's a
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  bit of a puzzle. Paul had never actually been to
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  Rome. That's right.
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  In Romans chapter 1 and then again in chapter 15, Paul says
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  explicitly he has been hindered from coming to them.
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  He has never set foot in the city.
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  So how does he know so much about them?
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  I mean, as you read the letter and as Watson analyzes it, Paul
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  seems to know exactly what is going on in that church.
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  He knows their problems. He knows their specific
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  theological arguments. He's not just writing generic
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  advice. No, it's very targeted and the
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  answer is good old fashioned intelligence gathering.
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  Watson points to two people, Akilah and Priscilla.
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  The famous couple, they pop up everywhere and acts in the
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  epistles. A real power couple of the early
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  church. They were.
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  They were Jewish Christians who originally lived in Rome, but
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  the Emperor Claudius issued an edict banishing Jews from Rome.
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  This was a mass of a people, so they got kicked out.
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  And where do they end up? They end up in Corinth.
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  And who do they stay with? The Apostle Paul.
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  And they were tent makers, right?
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  Same trait as. Yes.
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  So you have to imagine them. They're sitting in the workshop
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  stitching canvas, and they're talking.
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  Akilah and Priscilla are telling Paul everything about the church
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  back in Rome. They're telling him about the
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  tensions between the Jews and the Gentiles, the specific
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  theological questions they were wrestling with.
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  So he's getting a full debriefing.
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  That's how Paul gets his information.
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  He writes with this intimate knowledge despite his physical
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  absence, because he has been debriefed by people who were on
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  the ground, who were there. That leads to the bigger
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  question then. If Paul didn't start the church
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  in Rome, who did? Because, you know, the Roman
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  Catholic tradition would suggest that Peter founded the church
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  there. Right.
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  And Watson is very careful here. But the timeline just it doesn't
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  support the idea that an apostle started it.
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  If Peter or another apostle had been there, Paul likely wouldn't
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  have written this kind of letter, or at the very least, he
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  would have acknowledged them differently.
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  Paul has this principle about not building on another man's
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  foundation. OK.
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  So that's out. Watson leans into a theory that
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  connects all the way back to the Day of Pentecost.
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  To Acts chapter 2. Exactly.
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  Acts 2 verse 10. You have that long list of
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  people who are present when the Holy Spirit fell, and on that
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  list is strangers of Rome, Jews and proselytes.
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  So you have these Jewish who live in Rome full time.
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  He traveled to Jerusalem for the feast of Pentecost.
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  They see the tongues of fire, they hear Peter's sermon, and
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  they get converted right there on the spot.
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  And then what happens? They go home, they go back to
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  Rome. They don't have a pastor, they
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  don't have an apostle with them. They just have the gospel
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  message they heard and the Holy Spirit.
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  And from that, a church begins to grow.
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  That's a very reformed idea, isn't it?
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  The authority is in the word itself, not necessarily in the
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  institutional hierarchy or the Apostolic personality.
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  Precisely the seed of the Gospel was planted by lay people
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  returning from a pilgrimage, and then, as Watson notes, other
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  Christians who were converted in other parts of the empire would
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  naturally move to Rome because it was the center of the world.
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  So the church grew organically. It was a collection of believers
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  gathering together around the truth they had received and.
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  It didn't just survive, Watson says.
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  It flourished, he says. Their faith was celebrated.
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  Spoken of throughout the whole world.
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  That's what Paul says in Romans one.
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  It was a Church of great purity, according to Watson.
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  But there's always a but. Purity doesn't mean they didn't
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  have problems. Exactly.
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  And that brings us to the occasion for the letter itself.
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  Why write it now? If they're doing so well, why
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  send this massive, heavy theological treatise?
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  Good question. It's because of the
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  demographics, Watson explains, that the church consisted partly
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  of Jewish converts and partly of heathen or Gentile converts.
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  And those two groups did not always see eye to eye on things.
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  That is a massive understatement.
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  You have to put yourself in the 1st century context.
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  For a Jewish person, the Law of Moses was everything.
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  It was their identity, their culture, their way of life.
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  They had centuries of tradition telling them they were the set
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  apart people of God. And then you have the Gentile
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  coming out of, you know, paganism, idol worship.
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  They've none of that background. None of it.
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  And so Watson mentioned the errors of Judaizing Christians.
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  This was the big danger of the early church.
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  This was the threat. And what exactly was that error?
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  It was the primary heresy. Paul had to fight in almost
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  every city he went to. These were people who would come
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  in and say, OK, yes, Jesus is the Messiah.
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  We believe that. But if you want to be really
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  saved, you also need to keep the law of Moses.
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  You Gentiles need to be circumcised.
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  You need to keep the dietary laws.
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  So they were adding to the gospel.
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  It was Jesus plus works. And Paul knew that Jesus plus
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  anything equals nothing. The moment you add works to
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  grace, you destroy grace. So the object of this letter, as
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  Watson puts it, is to guard them against these errors.
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  Paul has to explain the nature of the Mosaic institution, what
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  it was for, why it was given, and then explain the fundamental
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  principles of Christianity that supersede it.
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  And this leads to what Watson calls the universal admission,
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  yes. This is the radical shift.
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  The human race had been divided for centuries, Jew and Gentile,
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  clean and unclean, circumcised and uncircumcised.
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  Paul writes to say that wall is down, it's gone.
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  Watson uses the word indiscriminately.
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  That's a strong word. It is all are admitted to the
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  religion of Jesus indiscriminately, and this is
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  key. Free from every other
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  obligation. He means the ceremonial
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  obligations of the Mosaic Law. You do not have to become a Jew
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  in order to become a Christian. That is the stake Paul drives
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  into the ground and he will not move from it.
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  But to get there, to explain why the ground is level at the foot
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  of the cross, Paul has to take them to the basement first.
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  He has to start with the bad news.
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  That's a great way to put it. This is the core of the reformed
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  understanding of the human condition, Watson says.
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  Paul takes a comprehensive view of human conduct.
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  And the verdict from that comprehensive view is not good.
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  No, the verdict is that all mankind, both Jews and Gentiles
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  alike, are equally under sin. This is what we call total
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  depravity. Correct.
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  Now, people often misunderstand that term.
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  It doesn't mean everyone is as evil as they could possibly be
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  at all times, right? It means that every part of us,
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  our mind, our will, our emotions, our desires, every
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  single part is affected and corrupted by sin.
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  And Watson emphasizes that this applies to the Jew just as much
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  as the Gentile. The Jew might have the law, but
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  he breaks it. The Gentile has the law of
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  conscience written on his heart, and he breaks that.
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  Everybody is liable to the wrath and punishment of God.
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  So it's a complete leveling of the playing field, but in a
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  terrifying way. We're all in the same sinking
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  boat. The religious person is drowning
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  just as fast as the irreligious person, and that is.
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  Absolutely necessary. You cannot understand the good
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  news until you truly accept the bad news.
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  If you think you're basically a good person who just needs a
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  little help, a little tune up the gospel will not make sense
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  to you. It will seem like an
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  overreaction. But if you realize you are under
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  sin and liable to the just wrath of God.
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  Then the next point Watson makes becomes the most beautiful thing
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  in the world. Which is propitiation.
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  A magnificent theological word, Watson speaks of the necessity
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  for a universal propitiation and redemption.
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  OK, break that down for us. What does propitiation mean in
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  this context? It means a sacrifice that
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  satisfies wrath. God is holy.
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  He is just. He cannot simply look at sin
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  with indifference and sweep it under the rug.
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  Justice must be done. Partitiation means that the
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  penalty for sin was paid in full.
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  The wrath of God that we deserved was absorbed by a
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  substitute. By Christ on the Cross.
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  Christ on the Cross and Watson notes that this is offered to
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  the whole race without preference or exception.
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  Because God is the God of the Gentiles as well as the Jews.
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  Exactly. It's a universal problem that
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  requires a universal solution. And this brings us to the how?
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  If the problem is universal sin and the solution is Christ's
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  propitiation, how do we get that solution applied to us
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  personally? Solified faith alone.
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  Watson writes that faith in Jesus Christ is the only means
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  of obtaining this salvation. And listen to this phrase he
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  uses. It's so powerful, the deeds of
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  the law were wholly incompetent to procure it.
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  Wholly incompetent. That's not a phrase you use
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  lightly. It implies a complete and total
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  lack of ability. It means the law has zero
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  ability to save you. It's not that the law is bad.
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  Paul is clear. The law is wholly and just and
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  good, but it's a mirror, not a washcloth.
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  It is perfectly designed to show you the dirt on your face, but
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  it has no power to clean it off. If you try to use the law to get
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  right with God, you are using a tool that is wholly incompetent
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  for the job you're asking it to do.
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  It creates a total inability on our part.
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  We bring absolutely nothing to the table in our salvation.
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  Nothing but the sin that makes salvation necessary in the 1st
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  place. That's all we contribute.
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  Watson then moves into a section that I think is very
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  distinctively reformed in its flavor.
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  He starts talking about the two atoms.
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  He connect the origin of sin to the origin of justification in
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  this very systematic way. Yes, this is the concept of
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  federal headship. It's the idea that humanity has
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  always had a representative acting on its behalf before God.
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  And Watson explains that the sins of the whole world
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  originated from the disobedience of the first representative.
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  Adam. So when Adam fell, we all fell
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  in him. We were represented by him, He
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  was our federal head. He acted on our behalf and he
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  failed. That's why we are born under
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  sin. It's an inherited condition.
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  Now that seems unfair to some people.
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  They'll say I didn't eat the fruit in the garden.
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  Why am I being held responsible for what someone did thousands
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  of years ago? It's a common objection, but the
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  parallel is the only hope we have because Watson immediately
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  says just as sin and condemnation came from Adam's
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  one act of disobedience, justification in life are
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  derived from Christ's one act of obedience.
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  Christ is the second Adam, the new representative.
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  He is the new federal head. The whole system works on this
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  principle of representation. If you are in Adam, which all of
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  humanity is by natural birth, you get what Adam earned,
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  condemnation and death. If you are in Christ by faith,
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  you get what Christ earned, perfect righteousness and
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  eternal life. It's a great exchange.
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  He takes our sinful record. We get his perfect record.
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  And that is why the gospel is so secure.
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  It does not rest on my obedience, which is flaky at
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  best. It rests entirely on Christ's
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  perfect obedience, which is finished and complete.
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  So Paul establishes this huge theological bedrock.
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  Then, Watson notes, he addresses the practical outworking of
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  this, the changes in the dispensation.
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  We talked about the Jew Gentile split earlier, but Paul really
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  hammers the final nail in the coffin of the ceremonial law
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  here. Watson uses the phrase entirely
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  abrogated. Abrogated.
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  Another great theological word. Cancelled.
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  Done away with? It is fulfilled.
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  The shadows are gone because the substance who is Christ has
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  come. This means all that distinction
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  between Jew and Gentile is abolished.
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  You don't need the dietary laws because the one whom those lost
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  pointed to has arrived and declared all foods clean.
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  You don't need the sacrificial system because the final
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  sacrifice has been made. But there is a heavy warning
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  here, too, isn't there? Watson points out what he calls
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  the great reversal. The unbelieving Jews, those who
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  are ethnically God's chosen people but who reject the
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  Messiah. They're excluded from the
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  benefits of the gospel. That would have been an
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  absolutely shocking statement to a 1st century Jewish reader.
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  What do you mean excluded? We are the children of Abraham.
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  We are the chosen people. How can we be excluded?
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  Because it's no longer about your bloodline, it's about your
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  faith line. Precisely Meanwhile, the
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  believing Gentiles who were once considered outsiders and dogs,
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  are made partakers of the benefits.
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  They are grafted into the vine of God's people.
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  And Paul is so careful, and Watson highlights this to show
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  that this wasn't a mistake. This wasn't God going to Plan B
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  because the Jews rejected Jesus. Right, this was plan A all
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  along, he quotes the Old Testament prophets.
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  Hosea and Isaiah predicted this. They said God would call people
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  who were not his people and call them beloved.
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  This validates the gospel. Paul's effectively saying I am
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  not teaching something new and radical.
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  I am teaching what your own prophets said would happen all
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  along. It shows the continuity of the
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  covenant of grace. Yeah, it looks different in the
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  Old Testament, the New Testament, but it's the same
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  God, the same promise, and the same plan of salvation by faith.
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  Precisely, It is one story of redemption from Genesis to
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  Revelation. Now we can't stop there.
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  If we just stopped at theology, at the doctrine, we would miss
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  half the point of the letter, Watson says.
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  Paul moves from doctrine to duty.
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  This is absolutely crucial in Reformed theology.
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  We always say that indicatives lead to imperatives.
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  The facts of what God has done for you in Christ lead to the
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  commands of how you must now live for Him.
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  You don't do good works to get saved.
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  You do good works because you are saved.
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  They are the evidence, not the cause.
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  And Watson notes that Paul points out the superiority of
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  the Christian religion over the Jewish religion in this very
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  regard. He exhorts the Romans to abandon
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  every species of wickedness. The Christian life is not
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  lawlessness. Just because the ceremonial law
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  is gone doesn't mean we can live however we want.
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  In fact, Watson says, the duties of righteousness and holiness
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  are now enjoined upon higher sanctions.
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  What does he mean by higher sanctions?
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  A stronger motivation. A stronger and a different
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  motivation. In the old system, you might
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  obey out of fear of punishment or fear of ceremonial
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  uncleanness. Now the motivation is gratitude.
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  The motivation is love. You obey because you have been
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  bought with a price. The motive is grace.
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  We are enforced by, as he says, more powerful motives.
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  So holiness becomes a joyful response to the love you've been
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  shown, rather than a grudging duty you perform to try and earn
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  love. Exactly, if you really
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  understand the 1st 11 chapters of Romans.
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  If you grasp that you were dead in sin and God saved you solely
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  by His grace when you were His enemy, then when you get to
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  chapter 12, verse one. Therefore, I urge you, brothers,
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  in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as a living
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  sacrifice. It's the only logical response.
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  What else could you do? It's the therefore that connects
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  it all. The great therefore.
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  Watson wraps up his overview by mentioning the end of the
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  epistle. Paul gives practical
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  instructions, recommends particular virtues, and
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  concludes with a whole list of salutations and a final
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  doxology. And those practical chapters are
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  just so beautiful. They tell us how to treat each
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  other within the church, how to deal with weaker brothers who
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  have different scruples, how to submit to the governing
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  authorities. It takes this high flying
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  glorious theology and puts it right down on the pavement of
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  daily life and 1st century Rome. It really is a complete package.
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  There's nothing missing. You have the diagnosis of the
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  human problem, the execution of the divine solution, and then
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  the detailed instruction manual for the new life that results.
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  Watson sums it up very well. He says this epistle is most
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  valuable because of the arguments regarding the
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  necessity, the nature, and the universality of the gospel
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  dispensation. It really does cover it all.
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  It makes you wonder what went through Trucius's mind as he
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  wrote that final Amen. Did he have any idea?
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  Did he know he had just penned the document that would shape
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  the next 2000 years of world? History.
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  He probably he just rubbed his cramping hand and hoped the ink
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  would dry properly before it smudged.
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  But the Holy Spirit knew. And Phoebe, as she boarded that
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  ship from Centria, she was carrying the theological
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  dynamite that would eventually blow apart the Roman Empire.
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  Not with swords and rebellion, but with truth and grace.
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  It is humbling to think about a letter written by a transient
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  tent maker, dictated to a scribe we know almost nothing about,
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  carried by a deaconess, sent to a group of strangers who started
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  a church without an official leader.
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  And yet here we are discussing it today as the very basis of
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  our systematic theology. It shows that the authority is
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  not in the men or the women, the authorities in the message
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  itself. The gospel itself is the power
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  of God unto salvation. That is a great place for us to
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  land for today. We hope this deep dive into
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  Watson's introduction has given you a fresh appreciation for the
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  Epistle to the Romans. It's so much more than just a
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  book in the Bible. It really is the constitution of
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  our faith. Indeed, it's worth reading and
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  rereading and then reading again.
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  Before we go, I want to leave you with the thought to chew on.
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  We talked about those strangers of Rome from Acts 2.
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  They went home and without an apostle, without a Bishop,
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  without a seminary degree, they established a church that became
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  famous throughout the world for its purity and its faith.
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  So here's the question If they could do that with just the
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  fragments of the gospel they heard preached once in
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  Jerusalem, what does that say about the potency of the truth
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  we have in our hands today? Do we sometimes rely too much on
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  personalities and programs and leaders and not enough on the
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  simple, unadorned power of the message itself?
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  That is a question worth answer. Thank you for joining us on
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  Reformed Thinking. We will see you next time.