The Gospel Balance

Romans 1:14
– 5 Through him we received grace and apostleship to call all the Gentiles to the obedience that comes from faith for his name’s sake. 6 And you also are among those Gentiles who are called to belong to Jesus Christ.
– 17 For in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed—a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: “The righteous will live by faith.”

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This first part of Romans 1 and the quote below from Oswald Chambers reminded me of this chorus.  “He paid a debt He did not owe. I owed a debt I could not pay. I needed someone to wash my sins away. And now I sing a brand new song. Amazing Grace, the whole day long, Christ Jesus paid the debt that I could never pay.”  The last part of Romans 1 reminded me of something entirely different.  It clearly states how critical it was that the debt I owed was paid and lists the results I avoided because of that.  

We were not only released from that debt.  In fact our debt was overpaid and we were given a balance of forgiveness and faith that could be replenished – the Gospel.   The Gospel balance is something we’re free to draw on daily for God’s own purposes – our righteousness going forward and for the salvation of others.  “And you also are among those Gentiles who are called to belong to Jesus Christ… For in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed—a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: “The righteous will live by faith.” Remember the gratitude you felt because you’d admitted your sins to Jesus and you could finally be free of their control over you?  That’s gratitude worth sharing.  Pay-it-forward.

“Do I feel that sense of indebtedness to Christ in regard to every unsaved soul? The spiritual honour of my life as a saint is to fulfil my debt to Christ in relation to them.” Oswald Chambers