Romans 1:16-20
“For in the Gospel…”, the good news of God’s love expressed by mercy, through grace, and is by faith - IS the power of God that brings salvation - God’s power is exerted, miraculously, in the hearts of people to make them righteous, right with Him! This is the power that brings peace - and this is all grace, a gift!
The Righteousness of God (Romans 3:21-22)
Romans 10:2-4 “...they are zealous for God, but their zeal is not based on knowledge. 3Since they did not know the righteousness of God and sought to establish their own, they did not submit to God’s righteousness. 4Christ is the culmination of the law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes.”
“A Righteousness that is by faith”
“The righteous will live by faith” (Rom 4:11-13; 8:10; Col 1:21-22)
His, divine power…
This gloriously divine power, (that God) exerted in the raising of Jesus from the dead, has now, at our adoption, become our comforter and advocate, our prompter and director - the One who is close to us, who knows us, whispers in our ears and produces in us the good fruit of Jesus and His goodness - His righteousness.
Job 38:18 “18Have you comprehended the vast expanses of the earth? Tell me, if you know all this.”
It is a matter of perspective, a right perspective, a true perspective…
So when we measure the divine, we can utterly underestimate the power of the living God who “holds all things together by his mighty word“, because much like how we too often see and read the Scriptures, we read a story like that of Noah in 15 minutes, that took 100 years to be told - and think “why doesn’t God do… now!?”. In like spirit, we believe because we have seen the globe on a screen, a picture taken from a distance in space, that we comprehend the expanse of the earth, the depth of the seas, the height of the skies - the expanse of the universe.
Making God, small…
In doing so, we lull ourselves into thinking we know, that we have seen, and that we understand. But in doing so, we shrink the glory of God in our minds and hearts, our souls and spirits stand haughtily before the living God who has made and created, who holds and nourishes the earth and all that live on it. The universe and all that that sings to him.
When in fact… He, and His ways, are unsearchable by the finite human mind - and we shrink His glory, we put is a small box the Divine, we tame His fury, we utterly underestimate the Spirit’s power - at all - let alone in us and through us!
Glimpses of God’s divine majesty...
Genesis 1:11, 29; 2:9; Job 38:27; 40:20; Ps 36:6; 136:25; 145:15-16; 147:8-9;
Colossians 1:15-20
Hebrews 1:1-4 (Phil 2:5-11)
Revelation 4
