“Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God, which He promised beforehand through His prophets in the holy Scriptures, concerning His Son…”
When Paul writes to the church in Rome, he begins with the gospel. Rome was the governing city of the empire, where announcements of victory, authority, and royal power were common. In that world, “good news” was not merely private advice or religious encouragement. It was an announcement that something had happened, something that changed reality.
So when Paul speaks of the gospel, he is not giving a slogan, a religious brand, or a list of steps detached from the person of Christ. He is announcing the good news of what God has done in His Son.
Paul says he was set apart for “the gospel of God.” That subtly but powerfully tells us where the gospel begins. It begins with God. It belongs to Him. It issues from Him. It announces what He has done. Before the gospel ever calls for our response, it declares God’s gracious action in Jesus Christ.
The story from creation to Christ has been moving toward this announcement. Paul says God “promised beforehand through His prophets in the holy Scriptures.” That promise reaches back to the Garden of Eden, where God first spoke of the seed who would crush the serpent’s head. It moved through Abraham and through David. The promises were going somewhere. The prophets were pointing somewhere. The story was moving toward the Son.
And Paul tells us plainly where the center of the gospel is found: it is “concerning His Son.”
That is where we must fix our attention. The gospel is not first concerning us, our tradition, our church identity, or even our obedience. Our response matters deeply, but it is not the center. The gospel is first and foremost concerning Jesus Christ our Lord.
Jesus is the promised Son of David. He is the King God promised. He descended from Abraham and David according to the flesh, was executed for our sins, and was declared to be the Son of God in power by His resurrection from the dead. The crucified One lives. The promised King reigns. As Jesus declares in Revelation, “I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades.”
This is why the gospel is such good news. God has acted faithfully, keeping His promise. God reigns as King through His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.
And because the gospel concerns Christ, it also calls for our response to Christ. Through Him grace has come, and that grace calls forth “the obedience of faith.” We do not obey to earn the gospel, because God has given it freely. We obey because the gospel has awakened faith and hope in us. Obedient faith receives Christ, entrusts itself to Christ, is immersed into Christ, and bows before Christ as Lord.
Paul writes, “I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes… For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith.”
So what is the gospel? It is God’s promised good news concerning His Son. Jesus Christ arrived. He died. He walked out of the tomb. He is Lord. In Him, the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all who respond in obedient faith.
Let us never move the center of the gospel away from where God Himself has placed it: Jesus Christ our Lord and King. He is the center of gravity around which the whole gospel holds together.