This verse is a continuation of Paul's description of the conscience and how we are able to train it to go from convicting us of our actions to excusing us of our actions. Here, Paul says that there is a day coming when we will be held accountable for that. There are two things in this verse that Paul brings up that I would like to dig into a little bit: according to my gospel and God judges the secrets of men by Christ Jesus.
according to my gospel
Paul makes it clear that on that judgement day, man will be judged according to the gospel that he preached. It's very important that we understand how serious it is that we believe the true gospel.
Previously in Romans we talked about what this gospel is, and Calvin left a comment on one of those posts that completely summed up the gospel perfectly:
"The gospel is held in the significant, and purposed, nature of Christ's:
birth, life, death, resurrection, and ascension. Each is an integral
and inseparable part of the whole."
- thanks Calvin! The gospel is entirely about Jesus Christ, and Him alone.
In Galatians, there was a group of people who tried to add to the what Paul was teaching. They didn't say that the gospel that Paul taught was wrong, they just tried to add a few things to it. Paul had blunt warnings for anyone who tries to change the gospel by adding to it or taking away from it in any way:
But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed. Gal 1:8 ESV
As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed. Gal 1:9 ESV
Twice in a row, Paul condemns anyone who would try to change the gospel as it is laid out in Scripture. As Christians, we tend to make things more difficult than they really are, and that's what many of the false teachers were doing in Paul's day. They understood that if they took the truth and mixed it with a little bit of false teaching, many could be deceived. Satan was behind that, and it's his biggest weapon within the churches of today. Paul had something to say about that as well:
A little leaven leavens the whole lump. Gal 5:9 ESV
In order to ensure that what we believe is the true gospel, we must be in the word and in conversation with God constantly. Each of us has a responsibility to test everything that we hear or read to make sure that it lines up with the gospel, and if it doesn't, it is to be rejected. In 1 John 4:1 we read:
Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world.
It's important that we take this responsibility to test the spirits seriously, so that we do not become deceived by the many false prophets, who are wolves in sheeps clothing - unrecognizable apart from the lies they have woven into their teaching of the gospel. They will even proclaim the gospel in the name of Jesus Christ, and do many powerful miracles in His name - but Jesus warned us what their outcome will be:
"Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?' And then will I declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.'
False teachers hide themselves among God's children, and the only way to recognize them is for each of us to test what is being taught against the Word of God, and that alone. Paul laid out a very simple litmus test when dealing with some who tried to make him look silly with their elegant speech.
For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. 1 Cor 2:2 ESV
The gospel that Paul taught, the "gospel of God" as he described it in the first verse of the book of Romans, points to Christ alone and Him crucified for our sins. This truth leads us to the second part of today's verse in Romans.
God judges the secrets of men by Christ Jesus
We see here that Jesus Christ is the ultimate truth that we will be judged by. All of the Old Testament points to the coming of Jesus, and all of the New Testament points to Jesus, what He did, and how we are to respond. If we think it is about anything else, we are dead wrong and will pay the penalty.
We know that ALL Scripture is inspired by God, and ALL of Scripture is important:
All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work. 2 Timothy 3:16,17 ESV
knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone's own interpretation. For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit. 1 Peter 2:20,21 ESV
Since we know that Scripture cannot be wrong, does not contradict itself, and teaches us the truth about Jesus - the One that God will judge us by - we MUST discern EVERYTHING according the the perfect Word of God.
I heard an excellent sermon on how we as Christians tend to think that, once we accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior, we need to move on from there in order to serve God better or be "good" Christians. The truth is we never move past Jesus Christ - He is who it is all about, always.
My heart breaks, and I get angry and frustrated with the evil one when I see people who are passionate about serving their god, but are deceived about who the God of the bible is - even Saul, before he became Paul, was doing what he thought was right as service to God as he persecuted true believers.
My plea is that each one of us would continue to dig into the Word, take it upon ourselves to test every Spirit, and shed light on those who are falsely teaching, revealing their error for their good and for the good of those who are deceived.
Next Post: 1.19.13
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