Paulβs Epistle to the Romans is the foundation book of Christian theology. It brings us face to face with facts we ought to know and must know to be saved.
In the 16th and 17th verses of the first chapter, the apostle declares that he is proud of the gospel because therein the βrighteousnessβ, or rightness of God is revealed.
God had to deal righteously with sin before He could offer salvation to sinners. Sin is not merely an affliction; it is moral wrong and kindles the wrath of a just and holy God.
The wrath of God is too little discussed by modern evangelists and preachers. They like to talk about the love and mercy of God, as though He were a Grand Old Man with a tolerant attitude toward sin. But they never fully appreciate His love and mercy because they do not understand His infinite wrath against sin.
Much evangelism today has become sort of a βtry Godβ gimmick. The pleasures of the world donβt satisfy?Β Try God.Β You canβt shake off some terrible bondage?Β Try God.Β When all else fails,Β Try God!
But this humanistic approach is foreign to Scripture. God, His holiness, His wrath against sin and His love in providing salvation β these are central in Scripture,Β not man and his condition and his needs.
We are not to look upon God as our servant, who will help us in time of need, but as the Holy One whose justice we have offended but who, in infinite grace, paid for our sins Himself so that we might be redeemed. This is why the Epistle to the Romans begins its mighty argument with almost three chapters on the subject of sin.Β ThenΒ follows the Good News of Godβs grace in settling the sin question so that we might be βjustified freely by His grace, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesusβ (Rom. 3:24).
And thus the same inspired writer declares in Ephesians 2:2-4 that we were βthe children of disobedienceβ and therefore βthe children of wrathβ, but then goes on to show βGod, who is rich in mercyβ and βgreatβ in βloveβ, savesΒ believersΒ by grace, giving them eternal life in Christ, who died for our sins. source
