The Proclamation

As we come to the end of chapter 4 of Romans, Paul is coming to the end of the first major section of his letter. Not surprisingly, he uses these verses to sum up what he has been teaching. Dr. James M. Boice calls this passage “a summation of the Christian Gospel.” He adds: “In Romans 4:23–25 we have the basic Gospel in its most compact form. Martin Luther wrote, ‘In these verses the whole of Christianity is comprehended.’ ”

First of all, Paul brings the work of God in the past into the present. He has been focused on the salvation of Abraham in the Jews’ distant history, though his goal has been to show that the Romans and other contemporary believers are saved just as Abraham was. Now he makes that assertion explicit. The Biblical record of Abraham’s justification, Paul says, was made for the benefit of all the believers who have followed and will follow in Abraham’s spiritual line. It was given to show that righteousness is imputed to those who believe the Gospel. And what is the Gospel? Boice points out that scholars have identified a basic outline that the apostles typically used in their preaching in Acts and in their writings. It usually included these truths: that Jesus died for the sins of His people, that He was buried, and that He rose again (see 1 Cor. 15:3–4). This outline of the Gospel’s fundamental tenets has been called the kerygma, which is Greek for “proclamation.” It is these basic but crucial points Paul proclaims here when he states that Jesus “was delivered up because of our offenses, and was raised because of our justification,” proving that the penalty for sins was paid in full.

Abraham—and even saints who came before him, such as Seth, Enoch, Noah, and others—were justified because they believed God would do these things. We are justified because we believe He has done them. As Boice writes: “Abraham had a promise, but we have a Gospel, the Good News. Abraham looked forward to what God had said He would do. We look back to what God has already accomplished.” All believers look to the pivotal moment in history when the divine invaded the mortal to redeem the fallen. By this plan, formulated before the foundation of the world, the one God is redeeming for Himself a vast multitude of people of all nations, tribes, and tongues.