Key Bible Verse: This Good News tells us how God makes us right in his sight. This is accomplished from start to finish by faith (Romans 1:17). Bonus Reading: Romans 1:15-17

Martin Luther had been brought up in fear of God, death, judgment, and hell. Because the surest way to gain heaven (it was then thought) was to become a monk, at 21 he entered the Augustinian cloister at Erfurt. There he prayed and fasted, sometimes for days on end. But nothing pacified his tormented conscience until he studied and expounded Romans.

God seemed to Luther more a terrifying judge than a merciful savior. What could Paul mean when he stated "in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed" (1:17, NIV).

Luther wrote: "I had greatly longed to understand Paul's letter to the Romans. Nothing stood in the way but that one expression the righteousness of God, because I took it to mean that God acts righteously in punishing the unrighteous. Night and day I pondered until I grasped the truth that the righteousness of God is that righteousness whereby through grace and sheer mercy, He justifies us by faith. The whole of Scripture took on a new meaning. This passage of Paul became to me a gateway into heaven."

—John Stott in Romans: God's Good News for the World

My Response: Have I grasped what Martin Luther discovered? Could I explain it to a friend?

Adapted from Romans: God's Good News for the World (InterVarsity, 1994) by permission.

Prayer for the Week

I admit, Lord, that I deserve Your wrath. Thank you for providing a way for me to be made right with You through faith in Your Son.

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