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Romans
Did you ever have one of those Ahh HA moments?
Many times while I have been asleep or just driving down the road, something
will pop into my mind that is like a revelation. It may be something that I had
been thinking about looking for a clearer thought or maybe just something out
of the blue.
In
the book of Romans, I think Paul may have had many of those Ahh HA moments when
God spoke to him or as he was writing, his logical thinking, from his Greek
education, just kept linking to what God had already revealed in the Old Testament
and how it melded with the message of Jesus Christ. He brought to the world the
basis of Christianity and did it as Roman and a Jew. He had a foot in both
worlds and was able to give a message of salvation with a new covenant for all
people.
What
we find in Romans is the basis of the Reformation. Its simplicity and yet
profound connection between the depravity of man and the justification and
sanctification makes a central theme for the Good News that Jesus brought to
the world.
In
the book of Romans, Paul is writing to the many house churches that existed before
the Jews are ordered to leave Rome. There was conflict between the Jewish
Christians and Gentile Christians from a pagan background.
The Christian Gentile was seeking justification
by pleading not guilty because of a claim on morality by doing the same things
that they condemned. The Jews were trying to find justification through their legalism
and tradition believing them to be superior.
Paul
lays out an orderly and systematic discipline of what it means to be a
Christian and the good news of salvation through Jesus Christ. It was during
this time that Nero ruled the Roman Empire and turmoil was erupting in the
empire with war against Armenia, and Rome was at a point where Babylon was
under Belshazzar when the morality could not possibly get any worse.
In chapter one, Paul
begins with defining sin and how God deals with it. His audience is both
Gentile and Jew and he explains why God will judge sin. He brings forth the sexual
sins of the Old Testament and makes it part of the Gospel message of Jesus
Christ.
There are times when Paul
does not really clarify or go deeper into some things that do need further
explanation. For instance, sin is a choice. Today, Homosexuals are trying to
make their sin acceptable to society. If we are to accept that rational, then
why should we not try to make adultery and murder acceptable to society, sin is
sin. Either we accept the Bible as one hundred per cent true or if we try to
work around one particular sin, then we reject the whole Bible.
In chapter 2, Paul
deals with hypocrisy and the law for both Jew and Gentile. What is being said
is that if you are obeying God’s law without even thinking about it, and then
praising God, you pretty much got it made.
Chapter 3:21-26, Paul speaks of
judgment, wrath and justification of God and we are all sinners. However, God
sees us as innocent of our sins even though guilty, because of our faith in
Jesus Christ. This is a foundation of our faith. “Just as if I had never
sinned” is an easy way to understand justification.
In Chapter four and
five, Paul really gets to the heart of justification again by bringing forth
the Old Testament that shows the way to sanctification. It is here that I have
to admit that I feel like an argument going in circles. Paul could have left
the Greek arguments at home.
The
intent of chapter six, seven and eight is clarifying the old character of man
before and the new man after Jesus Christ. Chapter 7:1-3 Paul comments on
divorce and remarriage, which the church today ignores.
In
addition, in v.14-25 Paul describes what we all can relate to: “I do not understand my own
behavior: I do not act as I mean to, but I do things that I hate. While I am
acting as I do not want to, I still acknowledge the Law as good, so it is not
myself acting, but the sin which lives in me. …… So I find this rule: that for
me, where I want to do nothing but good, evil is close at my side. I my inmost
self I dearly love God’s law, but I see that acting on my body there is a
different law which battles against the law in my mind. So, I am brought to be
a prisoner of that law of sin which lives inside my body”.
In
chapters nine through eleven, Paul deals with Israel’s unbelief and their
blindness to the new covenant. What does this mean for the chosen people of
God? It means that God will not forsake them because they are the ones who have
carried God’s word throughout time. By accepting the message of Jesus, they can
be saved. However, should they “stumble”, they will be the cause of reconciliation
in the world and the Gentiles will cause Israel to be jealous.
My
favorite - Chapter 12:2 “Do not model your behavior on the contemporary world,
but let the renewing of your minds transform you, so that you may discern for yourselves
what is the will of God -- what is good and acceptable and mature”.
I like to think of this
verse as not only avoiding worldly thoughts and pleasures but being on guard
against Christians who take the Bible out of context or twist the meaning into
something that will justify their own sin.
Again
in chapter 13:1-7 we see an example of Paul not giving a better understanding
which leads to much confusion, of when to abide by the laws of the government
we live under and when we should defy a government that forces its citizens to
go against God’s law.
Dietrich
Bonheoffer dealt with those issues under the Nazis. How do we balance between
what Paul says and what Peter and the apostles said in answer to the priest of
the Sanhedrin, “We must obey God rather than men”? The decision must come down
to what is morally just before God and that will be how we answer to God on
judgment day. No earthly authority is above God and God’s law. When God’s law
is broken so is the authority of those who govern. Later in Ephesians, 6:10-13
written later than Romans, Paul answers this question with, “For our battle is
not against flesh and blood, but against the authorities, against the world
powers of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavens”.
Now this is at a later time and a different group of people. What was
different? Did the question arise after the Roman letter? Paul saw something
that was happening in Rome that caused him to bring more clarity to the
subject. Perhaps the example of when Jesus became outraged at the moneychangers
and merchants and chased them from the temple caused him to rethink the
position he wrote in chapter thirteen.
In
chapters, fourteen and fifteen, Paul gives a sermon on how Christians should
act toward one another and serving God by spreading the Good News.
Paul was self admittedly, not a great public
speaker and yet Paul wrote letters that has survived a couple thousand years.
He took the message of Jesus Christ and ran with it to the world. The book of
Romans is the centerpiece of Christendom and a foundation of Christ’s church.
His claims of being the greatest apostle may be a bit pompous considering Peter
was proclaimed by Jesus to be the Rock of the Church and John was given the
Revelations. Paul may come across as pompous; magnanimous may be a better
description. However, I wonder if the Christian church, as we know it, would
exist today if Paul had not taken it to the gentiles with such determination
and passion.
The
next time you walk out the doors of the church of God, will you being taking
the message of Jesus to the community as Paul took the message to the world? Or
will you sit on your moral claim and rely on your traditions to save the
unsaved?
We
all can do better. Having courage and spreading our wings like eagles with God
supporting us will drive the meekness into another place.
