Welcome to EBible Fellowship’s Bible study in the book of Romans. Tonight is study 8 of Romans, chapter 1, and we are continuing to read Romans 1:1-4:

Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated unto the gospel of God, (Which he had promised afore by his prophets in the holy scriptures,) Concerning his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, which was made of the seed of David according to the flesh; And declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead:

In our last study, we looked, once again, at “the gospel of God,” because verse 3 was a continuation from the statement in verse 1 where the Apostle Paul was moved to write in Romans 1:1. So it is saying, “Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated unto the gospel of God…concerning his Son Jesus Christ.” Of course, it did (and does) concern Christ. So it is a very important topic for us to understand what the Gospel is, and when we look at everything the Bible says, the conclusion we must come to is that the Gospel is the whole Bible, as we saw in Matthew 24 regarding the two disciples that were on the road to Emmaus. They were cast down after witnessing what had happened at the cross, even though they had heard reports that His body was not present in the tomb. And, yet, they were still cast down. Then Christ came alongside them and began to expound to them, beginning at Moses and all the prophets, all things concerning Himself in the Scriptures. So the entire Bible has to inform and “fill out” what it means that Christ was crucified. Why was He crucified? It was for sin. Who is the sinner, and to what degree are we sinners? What does sin bring, but the wrath of God? Then there is the information about the substitute and the sacrificial system God put in place throughout the Old Testament. All Scripture has to be consulted. It must be included in the definition of “Gospel.”

We also discussed that the Gospel is the entire Bible and its teaching in their proper “times and seasons.” We went over a few examples about the Old Testament sacrifices or the command that the Jews go to Jerusalem three times a year, or the seventh day sabbath, and so forth. We know there is a time and a season for everything under the sun, and you are not being faithful or obedient if you are reading about a particular doctrine in the Bible, and then you seek to keep it and, yet, it is “out of season” or “out of order.” You are not in the proper time for the keeping of that particular command, so you are not being faithful at all. It is contrary to that which is faithful, and it is rebellion against God.

Again, it says in Romans 1:3:

Concerning his Son Jesus Christ our Lord…

We are going to look at the word “Son” much more closely when we get to verse 4 where it says that He was declared to be “the Son of God with power.” We are going to look at that as much as we can. But the name “Jesus” comes from the word “Joshua,” the Old Testament saint that led Israel into the Promised Land. The Old Testament word translated as “Joshua” is a compound word that means “JEHOVAH saves.” So it is very fitting that He is given the name “Jesus,” or “JEHOVAH saves.” He has saved, and Christ is the Saviour. We are not going to look too deeply at the name “Jesus” right now, but we want to look a little bit at what some people think of as Jesus’ last name, but it is not. It is really a title: “Concerning his Son Jesus Christ our Lord.” This title of “Christ” is the word “khris-tos” in the Greek. It is Strong’s #5547, and it is found five hundred sixty-nine times in the New Testament. It is all over in the New Testament. I am not sure if it is in every book, but I would not be surprised if it were. It comes from another Greek Word, Strong’s #5548, which is “khree-o,” and we can see the relationship between “khree-o” and “khris-tos.” And “khree-o” means “to anoint.” It is the word that is used in Luke 4:16-19:

And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up: and, as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the sabbath day, and stood up for to read. And there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet Esaias. And when he had opened the book, he found the place where it was written, The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, To preach the acceptable year of the Lord.

The word “khree-o” is the word translated as “anointed.” “…because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor.” That is the word that “khris-tos” or Christ comes from. Jesus is this anointed one to preach the gospel, as the Bible says, “How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace; that bringeth good tidings of good, that publisheth salvation…” And the preaching of the Gospel involves being sent to heal the brokenhearted; to preach deliverance to the captives; the recovering of sight to the blind; and to set at liberty them that are bruised. It is the deliverance of the sinner from the dungeon of sin and from captivity to sin and to Satan. It is the glorious, magnificent salvation program of God that saved sinners. Jesus was the anointed one, the one that God sent in order to accomplish this for His people.

Remember that Jesus said that He was not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel, a very specific group of people that God chose out of the whole of mankind. So Christ is this anointed one.

This same word, “khree-o” is found in Acts 4:27-28:

For of a truth against thy holy child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed, both Herod, and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles, and the people of Israel, were gathered together, For to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined before to be done.

So, again, it is really a reference back to God: “thy holy child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed.” God anointed Jesus. God is the One, as it were, that poured the oil upon Christ, anointing Him Preacher, Prophet, King and Priest – all these things. He was anointed to preach the Gospel and to bring the truth of the Word of God and shine the light into the darkness to save the sinner from destruction.

Also, it says in Acts 10:36-38:

The word which God sent unto the children of Israel, preaching peace by Jesus Christ: (he is Lord of all:) That word, I say, ye know, which was published throughout all Judaea, and began from Galilee, after the baptism which John preached; How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power: who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with him.

Those are good descriptions of the work of Christ as He was demonstrating the atoning work performed at the foundation of the world through the physical healings of giving sight to the blind, ears to the deaf, legs to the lame, and life to the dead. These things typified the work of Christ that the Gospel would accomplish as it was being sent into the world.

And notice that God anointed Jesus, and then He tells us in what way He was anointed: “with the Holy Ghost and with power.” God anointed Christ; that is, the Holy Ghost came down upon Him. We see that, for example, in Luke 3:21-22:

Now when all the people were baptized, it came to pass, that Jesus also being baptized, and praying, the heaven was opened, And the Holy Ghost descended in a bodily shape like a dove upon him, and a voice came from heaven, which said, Thou art my beloved Son; in thee I am well pleased.

We have a little better description and more information in Matthew 3:16:

And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water…

And keep in mind that the water of baptism can picture the wrath of God, and to go down into the water is a picture of being under the wrath of God. And to come up out of the water would typify the resurrection. To elaborate on that, just think of what we understand about “spiritual baptism,” and how Christ was laden with the sins of His people and He died for them at the foundation of the world, as the wrath of God was poured out upon Him in that death. The sins were purged. He was cleansed from them, and they were our sins (if we are a true elect child of God), and thus He was washed of sins and we were washed of our sins, as it were, simultaneously, and then He rose up, “baptized,” and declared to be the Son of God.

Then look what happened when He began His period of earthly ministry with “baptism.” Significantly, He was baptized, as it says in Matthew 3:16-17:

And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water: and, lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon him: And lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.

Do you notice something regarding God’s declaration of Christ, once He came up out of the water and the Spirit of God descended like a dove upon Him? God then said, “This is my beloved Son.” Keep in mind what we have learned, and I hope you are aware of it. It said back in Romans 1:4:

And declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead:

In other words, when He rose from the dead, He was the firstborn from the dead, and it was as though He was God’s firstborn Son in that way, so He is declared to be the Son. You see, this is a mini parable. This is a historical parable as Christ is being baptized. He first had to go into the water, and then He came up out of the water, baptized, and God then declaring Him the Beloved Son. He was declared to be the Son of God.

Back in Acts 10:38, it said that God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power. When did He anoint Him? Historically, it was when He began His ministry, which we just read, and John the Baptist anointed Him and then He went about His ministry. I think in the very next chapter in Matthew 4 (and, perhaps, also in Luke 4), He was led into the wilderness to be tempted. So that began Christ’s ministry on earth of three and a half years. But if we look at it more deeply and more thoroughly, we see that God is giving this historical parable of Christ rising up out of the water and the Holy Ghost descending upon Him like a dove, and when the Holy Spirit descended upon Him, it said Acts 10:38: “How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power,” that word “power” is the same word used back in Romans 1:4: “…declared to be the Son of God with power.” And we will look at that, and we will find that “power” does identify with the working of the Holy Spirit, and it identifies with Christ in that way, and with the people of God in that way.

In other words, what we can now begin to understand is that when Christ rose from the dead at the foundation of the world, it was then that the Holy Ghost, as it were, “descended upon Him,” and it was then that He was prepared to the work of God to preach the Gospel, and that is why from the very beginning of the world, the Gospel was preached. It is the Gospel that saved Abel. It was the preached Word that saved the saints of old. If you do not believe me, just go to Hebrews 4:1-2:

Let us therefore fear, lest, a promise being left us of entering into his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it. For unto us was the gospel preached, as well as unto them…

You would need to read chapter 3 in order to understand who the word “them” refers to. It is referring to Israel, especially their time in the wilderness, but it would have application to the whole history of Israel. Again, “For unto us was the gospel preached,” said the human author God used to write down these words, which was more than likely the Apostle Paul. The book of Hebrews was written after Christ went to the cross, so the Gospel would be the whole Bible and, certainly, all that was known about Christ by the time of the 1st century A. D. But the Gospel was also preached to them, despite the fact that Christ had not yet gone to the cross. But the Word of God they had at that time was the Gospel. The Old Testament Scriptures are the Gospel and it was preached to them (the Israelites). And who preached it? For one, we are told that Noah was a “preacher of righteousness.” But what does the Bible say? Yes – Noah performed the role of a preacher, but look at 1Peter 3:18:

For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit:

Now remember that Christ is the anointed One, and He was not anointed for the first time in 29 A. D. by John the Baptist or by God via the Holy Spirit. He had been the anointed One since the foundation of the world, and this verse says so because it is referring to Christ, “khris-tos,” which comes from “khree-o,” the anointed one. Then it says in 1Peter 3:19:

By which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison;

So the anointed One is preaching, just as we read in Luke 4:18:

The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel…

Again, it says in 1Peter 3:19-21:

By which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison; Which sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water. The like figure whereunto even baptism doth also now save us (not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God,) by the resurrection of Jesus Christ:

What in the world is going on? How could Christ preach to these souls who were waiting in the days of Noah while the ark was a preparing? Well, He preached through Noah. He preached the Word through His people, just like He did during the New Testament era, and just like He preaches to His people today.

But the important point should not be missed that it is referring to “the days of Noah,” and remember that the flood was over seven thousand years ago. The flood was 5,023 calendar years from the cross in 33 A. D., or about five thousand years before Jesus entered into the world and before He was baptized by John and before the Holy Spirit descended upon Him, and before He was anointed and proclaimed the Son of God. Jesus went into the synagogue and declared that He was the One anointed to preach the Gospel and, yet, five thousand years earlier before the flood in 4990 B. C., He was preaching. He was the Christ preaching to “souls in prison.” That is, He was preaching to sinners in captivity to sin and to Satan. How can that be explained?

It is only when we realize that what Christ did in time when He entered into the world, born of a Virgin, baptized of John the Baptist in 29 A. D. and going to the cross in 33 A. D. were all demonstrations. They were all a showing forth of things He had already done. He had already been the Son of God, declared long, long before at the point of the foundation of the world.