While I was studying Romans 1:11, I went to my library and picked up Dr. Donald Gray Barnhouse’s Commentary on Romans, Volume 1, and found this following statement on pages 10-141.
“The spiritual gift that Paul wished to impart to the Roman Christians was the gift of faith, knowledge, holiness and virtue. It was the gift of the grace of God that follows the original gift of the grace of salvation. If we read the whole of the Epistle, we will immediately discover that he had new truth to impart to them that he had received directly by revelation from God, and that he had set forth the truth in an orderly, logical manner so that they would not be swayed by the false arguments that Satan raises against truth. If we look at the first and last paragraphs of this Roman Epistle, there is a striking contrast that cannot be without deep meaning for us. In 1:1 Paul speaks of the Gospel of God; in 16:25 he speaks of “my gospel.” In 1:2 he sets forth that the Gospel of God had been promised by the prophets; in 16:25 he says that his gospel had come to him by “revelation.” In 1:2 it is evident that the gospel had been well known, and no wise a secret; in 16:25 he tells us that his gospel had been a mystery, kept secret. The good news in the first chapter had always been manifest; the new phases of the good news in the last chapter were “now made manifest.”
The gospel in the first chapter concerns God’s Son Jesus Christ; the gospel in the last chapter concerns the Church, which is the Body of Christ.
- In the first chapter the gospel had been committed unto the prophets of one nation, Israel; in the last chapter it is “made known unto all nations.
- In the first chapter the truth is set forth as the seed of the Old Testament prophecies; in the last chapter the truth is set forth as the seed of the New Testament Epistles.
- In the first paragraph the climax of the manifestation is the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ; in the last chapter the announcing of the “Mystery” takes us forward to our own resurrection and the resurrection of all the vast host who are believers in Jesus as the Savior, the Lord of Glory.
GOD’S HOLINESS MANIFESTED
God reveals His holiness to us in many ways, such as: (1) In His Words (Ps. 60:6; Jer. 23:9); (2) In His Works (Ps. 145:17); (3) In His hatred for sin (Eph. 5:3-10); (4) In His Love for righteousness (Ps. 146:8-9; Prov. 15:9); (5) In His separation from sinners (Heb. 7:26; Eph. 2:13). Herein God is “just”; but in grace, (6) He provided a substitute for sinners (2 Cor. 5:21; 1 Pet. 3:18), and now God is free to “justify” those who believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.
GOD’S HOLINESS APPLIED
There are at least six important things that we learn from the fact that God is holy! 1) We need to worship God with reverential fear (Ex. 3:4-5; Eccl. 5:1-3; Rev. 15:3-4). True, we are invited to come into the Throne Room with “boldness” (confidence, Heb. 4:16; 10:19; Eph. 3:12), but we are not given license to come with careless frivolity or reckless abandon. (2) He is worthy of all praise (Isa. 6:1-3). (3) We are to imitate Him (lev. 11:43-45; Deut. 23:14; 1 Pet. 1:15-16). Every thought, feeling, decision and action must be brought into captivity (2 Cor. 10:5) and our “vessels” made holy; be magnified (1 Chron. 16:10). The holiness of God is a fact, which needs to be emphasized today in view of the tendency to deny both the reality and awfulness of sin. A right view of God’s holiness leads to a right view of sin. The bright light of God’s holiness reveals the blackness of sin. If a man thinks too well of himself, he has never met God (Job. 40:3-5; Isa. 6:5-7). (5) The need of salvation through Christ (Rom. 3:23) and not through our own self-righteous effort (Titus 3:5).