Romans 1:8-17

Summary: Of all the attributes Paul could have said are revealed in the gospel (e.g. God’s love, grace, forgiveness, etc.), Paul says it is the attribute of God’s righteousness. For years this text frustrated and even terrified Martin Luther who understood that the righteousness of God could only mean condemnation for sinners such as we. But the fires of his Reformational passion were lit when he came to understand from Romans 1:17 that the ‘righteousness of God’ is also a gift God gives to those who have faith in Christ, and therefore it leads not to condemnation but to salvation. This is the gospel of which Paul and Luther and millions of others have been unashamed to declare regardless of the cost, because this is the gospel that has the power of God to save absolutely anyone who will trust in Christ.