Having introduced himself as ‘set apart for the gospel of God,’ Paul continues and declares this gospel is promised by God through His prophets.
This statement is curious because Paul doesn’t feel compelled to specify a particular prophet. Does he mean the man of God from Judah who spoke against Jeroboam? Does he mean Jeremiah? Isaiah?
No, it seems Paul has finally seen the sum of their message. It is not what the one said more than the other, but they all point to the same truth. No longer does he reach the wells of his father, Abraham, and thirst because they are full of dirt. Paul, having seen the risen Christ, and been regenerated by the Holy Spirit, now comes to the God the Father who opened the spiritual wells of Scripture to him. We, like him, may approach the Holy Scriptures which are illuminated by the Holy Spirit, and revisit the wells of our forefather Abraham. They are now opened and we may freely drinks from the water of life in Christ.
But what does he mean by the gospel of God? So often we discuss the gospel only in terms of the Son, but Paul here discusses the Father. It is right that we honour the Father when we consider the gospel. For it is our Heavenly Father who sent his only begotten Son, in love, to die for us. So quick we are to forget that the Father is revealed to us when we look to Christ. Although we may never express it verbally, how often we speak of the Father in a manner as though the Son twisted his arm to love us. Let it not be so! For the Father has loved us dearly, and Christ has made the Father’s love known to us.
What then is this good news? Is it only that God the Father and Son have demonstrated their love for us? By no means! For if it was only a matter of love and forgiveness then there would be little need for Christ to live a life of obedience. Why then did an angel of the Lord warn Mary and Joseph? If all that needed to happen was for Christ to die at the hand of sinners, why not as a baby? He first needed to live a life in perfect obedience to satisfy the law and justice of God. How often we neglect the goodness of God’s law and treat it as though it was evil.
The gospel is therefore this moment of unfathomable wisdom where the triune God’s love and justice embrace at the cross for the benefit of those chosen by the Father, atoned by the Son, and sanctified by the Holy Spirit.
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