Romans: 3
Having painted so magisterial a picture of God’s holiness, grace, and mercy through the first 11 chapters of his letter, Paul erupts in a short poem (Rom 11:33-36) where he extols the “bigness” of God: God is so completely larger than our understanding! All praise and glory belong to him!
Paul now moves from theology to praxis: his ethical exhortations. He entreats his readers to offer themselves as living sacrifice to God (Rom 12:1). Let me pause and say a few things here. His imperative that we offer up ourselves as a living sacrifice is based on God’s inestimable mercy—which Paul has spent the previous 11 chapters describing! Paul alludes to the OT sacrificial system in this verse; and he likens us not to the priest—which you might expect—but to the animal to be sacrificed! We’re to live our lives, as it were, on the altar of God. We are to offer our entire being to God: our body, our mind, our possessions—everything (not surprisingly, Paul then exhorts believers to use their spiritual gifts to honour God [12:3-8]). Living lives on God’s altar means that we stop listening to the lies that the world throws at us, and we start listening to God’s word (Rom 12:2).
To live in light of God’s sovereign mercy means that we live well harmoniously with our brothers and sisters in the body of Christ (12:9-21): we devote our time and energy to helping one another; we act humbly towards each other; we share in one another’s pain and triumphs; we pray for and with each other, and we act charitably towards each other. But such God-honouring living doesn’t stop inside the walls of the church. We are also to live like this with people outside the church, i.e., with unbelievers (chap. 13). Hence, as Christians we obey the “laws of the land,” knowing that as we obey human authority we are obeying God, who has instituted human authority (Rom 13:1-2). This is quite a statement Paul makes here: at the time of him writing this letter, the Emperor of Rome was Nero, the mass killer of Christians! Clearly for Paul, God’s mysterious sovereignty has no limits. So, we are to honour those who rule over us, pay our taxes (Rom 13:7), and love our neighbour (13:8-10).
In the next section of the letter, Paul deals with strained Jew-Gentile relationships (14:1-15:13). It’s clear from chap. 11, that many of the Jewish Christians and Gentile Christians in Rome were not on the same page theologically. Not surprisingly, they were not on the same page in terms of praxis, particularly with respect to some of the finer points of the Mosaic Law, viz., Sabbath observance and eating. The Jewish believers extolled the Sabbath above the other days of the week; Gentile believers, for their part, didn’t think the Sabbath was such a big deal and that all days were the same (14:5-6). The Jewish believers also upheld the ritual purity laws; consequently, they limited their diet to certain foods (i.e., they ate “kosher”). Gentile believers, however, really liked their ham and pork chops. While Paul, a Jew, is convinced that all food is “clean”, and no food restrictions are necessary for believers (Rom 14:14a; cf. Mark 7:19; Acts 10:13-15; 1 Tim 4:3-5), he nevertheless charts a course for compromise. He says that whatever our convictions, we should not waver in them, recognizing of course, that they remain only personal “convictions” not divine stipulations for everyone (Rom 14:22-23). He says that we shouldn’t judge each other’s personal convictions/preferences (Rom 14:4, 10, 13). He says that we should be sensitive to each other’s personal convictions and respect them (Rom 14:13-15). He also says that if our convictions are contrary to someone else’s in a given situation, we should abide by the convictions of the person with lesser freedom (Rom 14:20-21). Thus, for example, someone who drinks alcohol should abstain if s/he is with someone who doesn’t feel it’s right for Christians to drink (rather than vice versa, where the tea totaller would begin drinking). By treating each other in this way we bring glory to God (Rom 15:7).
Paul often prays for his churches. I love his prayer in Rom 15:13. Question: Have you ever prayed that for yourself or for someone else? What might the answer to that prayer look like?
The final section of Romans deals largely with Paul’s ministry plans (15:14-33). He begins by reaffirming his commitment to the Gentiles (15:14-19). When Jesus appeared to Paul on the Damascus Road, he appointed him to the ambassador of the gospel to the Gentiles (Acts 9:15). That calling has never changed in the 25 years since his conversion. Consequently, Paul now wants to preach the gospel to the Spaniards—via Rome (15:20-24, 28). But despite being “the apostle to the Gentiles,” Paul has always had a heart for his fellow Jews (cf. Rom 10:1) and for the Jerusalem church. Paul shares with the Romans that he is bringing an offering from the Gentile churches to the Jerusalem church in order to help the poor believers there, and as a show of solidarity between Gentiles, who now comprise the vast majority of churches throughout the Roman Empire, and the Jews, from whom the entire church of Christ ultimately originated (15:25-27). Paul, however, realizes that he still has enemies in Jerusalem: hence, he asks the Roman believers for their prayer support (15:30-32).
The final chapter (16) is simply Paul’s closing remarks; just a few things here as we close out Romans. Paul commends Phoebe as a “deaconess extraordinaire” (16:1-2), and Priscilla and Aquila (of Acts 18 fame), who risked their necks for Paul (16:3-4). Interestingly, he refers to Andronicus and Junias as “apostles” (Rom 16:7). Question: How do you account for this title? Were there more than just the 12/13 apostles named in Acts? Paul says that God will “soon” crush Satan under the church’s feet (16:20). Question: if “soon” means “soon”, then when did that happen, or, did something happen since then to reverse that crushing? Lastly, the letter is from Paul, but it was written by a guy named “Tertius” (Rom 16:22). That means that Paul (like other authors of the time) used an amanuensis—theological jargon for “secretary.” The use of an amanuensis raises other important questions; maybe we’ll tackle some of them at a later date.