Day 52: The Weak and the Strong, Travel Plans, Greetings

The letter to the Romans ends with Paul weighing in on what seems to be a local controversy.  There are some among the Christians in Rome who are careful about what they eat, who practice abstinence of certain foods, and feel that this is part of how they are faithful.  There are others who feel that freedom in Christ means that they can eat anything they want to.  Paul seems to agree, in theory anyway, with those who feel that they can eat anything.  But "in theory" is a loaded phrase.  Paul tells the Christian community in Rome that just because they are free to eat anything, doesn't mean it's a good idea, especially if it's going to be harmful to the faith of their brothers and sisters.

So, what kind of food is Paul talking about?  Is he talking about people who keep kosher?  Is he talking about people who eat food which has been sacrificed to idols?  Or are there different dietary restrictions?  I don't know.

But what is interesting to note is that Paul's instructions are based on doing what is good, not for you, but for someone else.  It reminds me of someone who said that the question that always comes up at election tie, "Are you better off?" should really be this one, "Is your neighbor better off?"  That is Christian ethics.

Paul winds down his letter by talking specifically about his plans to visit the church in Rome, after he delivers the offering he is collecting to the Jewish Christians in Jerusalem.  He is passionate about this offering, and what it represents.  It represents unity between Christians who are far away from one another.  It represents a unity of mission, even where there has been disagreement about practice.  Paul wants the Gentile Christians to be generous.

And then he sends greetings.  He sends greetings to specific people he knows, to those he has heard about and hopes to meet.  It might seem to be the least interesting part of the letter, except that there are probably fascinating stories (mostly that we don't know) behind every one of these names.  For example, there is Junia the apostle.  Junia is a woman's name.  Apparently there were some women leaders in the early church.  I would like to know more about Junia.

Paul closes his leader with a great and wonderful phrase about a secret -- the secret that has now been revealed.  I love the idea that the gospel is a secret.  It's been there, all along.  It's not that it's a new thing  It was just that it was a secret before, and now it has been spoken.  The grace of God has been spoken in the person of Jesus.

Day 51: Israel's Salvation, A Transformed Life, Living with Rulers

These three chapters appear to have nothing in common (and perhaps they don't, except that they are all a part of the letter to the Romans).  Chapter 11 completes Paul's thoughts about the salvation of the Jews, the promise of Jesus, and what he thinks will happen "in the end."  Paul exhorts the Gentile Christians not to think of themselves too highly; after all, if they could be grafted into the vine, they could most certainly could be cut off, and the original branches grafted back on!  He also muses that perhaps God has a purpose in the supposed hardness of heart of some of his Jewish brothers and sisters.  It is exactly so that God could show mercy to the Gentiles -- and then -- in the end -- all of Israel will also be saved.  At least, that is Paul's vision and his hope.

In chapter 12, Paul casts a vision of a transformed life and a transformed community.  He begins by speaking about the gifts people will share in this transformed community.  And then he goes on to share a laundry list of Christian excellence:  genuine love, hospitality to strangers, service to others.  Giving to  the needs of the saints.  Associating with the lowly.  This is what transformed lives look like.  And though it is easy for us to read the list and consider these as individual virtues (that is the way we think of most things in our lives), these are virtues practiced and honed in community.  This is the "rock tumbler" of Christian community, where we bump up against one another, and begin to shine.

And then, we come to the difficult chapter 13.  Why difficult, you might ask?  After all, Paul is simply asking us to consider civil authority as given by God, to obey the law, to believe that there is an order to the creative world.  God has put governments in place for a good purpose, to prevent chaos, and to make sure communities live (as much as possible) in peace.  It seems fair enough.  Even now, we encourage citizens to obey the law.

Except that there are extenuating circumstances.  Except that in Nazi Germany, church-goers used this particular chapter of Romans as an excuse for not standing up to Hitler.  So we need to read Romans 13 very carefully, respect the message and its limits.

Remember that Paul did not live in a democracy, where everyone had the same voice and responsibility.  Even so, remember as well that if rulers are given by God, they are accountable to God as well.  If they are not acting justly, we have the means, and the responsibility to hold them accountable, while at the same time respecting laws.

So, these chapters are each very different, with a different slant.  The glue that holds 11 and 13 together, though, is the vision of chapter 12:  "let love be genuine. hate what is evil. hold fast to what is good."  And the whole thing is held together with the glue of God's mercy in Christ.

In a sense, each chapter has something to say about our calling, our irrevocable calling, which is completely based on the grace and mercy of God to us.

Which is these chapters hit home the most for you?

Day 50: Israel, the Church, God's People

Paul is Jewish.  Paul is a disciple of Jesus.  Paul loves Judaism.  Paul loves Jesus.  In chapters 9, 10 and 11, Paul tries to speak about all of these things in away that is true to God's promises through Jesus, but also true to God's faithfulness to Israel as the chosen people.

One of Paul's statements is that God chooses the ones he chooses, and hardens the hearts of others, and who knows why.  An imaginary opponent poses the question, "How can God blame someone for a hard heart, if he hardens the heart?"  Good question.

Paul has nothing but praise for his Jewish brothers and sisters' zeal and how religious they are.  He respects them, and doesn't really have any idea why most of his brothers and sisters have not joined him in the community of Jesus.

But, Paul asserts:  God chooses.  God chose Abraham, and Jacob, and Joseph.  And God is choosing now, and is choosing Gentiles to also be a part of his chosen people.  God is in charge, and somehow this is happening.    That is the greatest good news of all.  God chooses.  God loves his people, both the ones he is choosing now and the ones he chose long ago.

And I believe, at the end of Romans 10, when Paul writes, "How can they hear without a preacher?  How can they preach unless they are sent?" he is particularly speaking to Gentile Christians, to make sure they are speaking and sharing words and grace and faith that they have been given.   Make sure you are good witnesses to the grace of love of Jesus, he is telling them.

He has an interesting thought:  Maybe, if we make a really good community, and are really good witnesses of what life in Christ is like, we will make them jealous.

Paul's thoughts are to be continued, in chapter 11....

Day 49: Bondage to Sin/Freedom in Christ

Perhaps chapter 7 of Romans confuses you somewhat.  I find the sentence structures convoluted, and it seems like (at times, anyway) that Paul is really struggling to say what he wants to say.  Then, for a moment, it becomes clear.  Then, it's a struggle again.

Since Paul is talking about the relationship between sin and the law, between our desire for God and our temptations to do evil, it's perhaps understandable that his language sounds like a struggle.  Because there's a struggle going on inside us:  the struggle to do good, and the knowledge that we have done evil, and our guilt before God.

Many people have assumed that what Paul is writing is a sort of confessional, that he is saying, "this is what it was like for me before I followed Jesus."  But actually, he is not writing about himself, but his "I" is meant to be EveryMan.  He is not telling his story; he is telling all our stories.  We are in bondage to sin, struggling to do the right thing but failing at every turn and in every way imaginable.  We are spiraling out of control.  What are we going to do?

The good news is:  "what are we going to do?" is not even the right question.  There is nothing for US to do.  The question is not "what are we going to do?" but "what is God going to do?"  And the answer is,

Thanks be to God, who has given us the victory through out Lord Jesus Christ.

Chapter 8 follows as one of the most soaring chapters in all of scripture.  The chapter begins:  Now there is no more condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.  God has ended the struggle.  God does not condemn us.

By grace God's spirit dwells in us, and helps us to turn to God again and again.  By grace God's spirit dwells in us, and helps us through our suffering, helps us in our weakness, and proclaims to us, holds on to us, so that we know that God's love will never let go of us, no matter what happens to us.   Even death can't separate us from God's love.

This is such a long way from the struggle just one chapter ago, in chapter 7, but it is the movement of our lives, every day, and every time we confess our sin.  We move from our awareness of our bondage to experiencing the gift of freedom again.  That is the power of God in Christ.

Day 48: Abraham, Adam, Jesus -- Peace with God

In the next three chapters are three different models for us.  In Chapter 4 we meet Abraham, the father of Israel, the father of the circumcised, the one who originally heard God, and set out on a journey to a place he had never been before.  Paul makes the argument that Abraham is the father not just of Israel, not just of the circumcised, but of all who trust God's faithfulness.   Didn't God's call to Abraham (and Abraham's answer) precede his circumcision? Paul asks.  (Yes).  Well, then, it is not circumcision that makes the difference but it is faith in God.  It is trust in Christ's faithfulness, not whether we meet a particular legal requirement, that makes the difference.

Before we meet the next model (Adam), there is that wonderful portion of Romans 5 that shows us the consequences of trusting in Christ's faithfulness:  peace with God.  This peace transcends our circumstances, builds character, and gives meaning to our suffering, because God's love has overflowed into our hearts.

So, what about Adam?  Paul also lists Adam as a model -- a model not of obedience but of disobedience, not of trust but of distrust.  Adam and Eve were in the garden, with free gifts all around them, and instead of seeing the abundance of gifts, they focused on the one thing denied them.    Paul says -- we are like Adam -- and yet, God values us, loves us, and Jesus died for us.

Then, finally, is Jesus, the third model.  Unlike Adam, Jesus trusts God.  Jesus is faithful to God -- and to us.  Somehow because of this faithfulness, the cycle of sin is broken, and we are set free.  We don't have to obey God, out of fear or obligation.  But we get to hear God's voice, experience God's love and caring, and help our neighbor in ways that really help.

Paul is talking about, trying to explain big things, big concept:  Freedom and captivity, sin and faith and righteousness.  What do those words mean to you?  What does it mean to be free?  or, not free?

Day 47: Digging into Romans: All Have Sinned

Have you eaten a good breakfast?  are you sitting down and ready to think deeply?  We are out of the stories of Jesus and the Apostles now and into the deep theology of the letters of Paul.  Romans is the longest, and the deepest, and the most systematic of these letters.  I wish we had more than a few days to read the whole thing.

Most of Romans, actually doesn't read much like a letter.  It sounds more like a treatise.  Paul is on his way to Rome, but on the way he is collecting an important offering from his Gentile churches to the Jewish believers in Jerusalem, an important symbol of unity between the two bodies of believers.  In the meantime, he's writing to Rome to share his faith with Gentile believers, at least in part to help them to live with, and be good witnesses to, their Jewish brothers and sisters.  As it is, there is much misunderstanding between them.

Paul is writing this letter to a church he has never met (that is not the case with most of the letters).  Perhaps this is one of the reasons it sounds less personal than many of the others you will read.  After framing his greetings in the common format of letter of the day, he begins his argument for the gospel -- salvation for everyone, "the Jew first and also to the Greek."  (Paul will repeat this phrase many times.) His main point in these first three chapters is to prove that all of us, Jewish or Gentile, are sinners, that we have no excuse, that we have no defense before God.  He debates with imaginary sparring partners, refuting their arguments at every turn in order to make it to his main point and eventually to the height and the depth and the width of the love and grace of God.  On the way, he speaks of sins, which are the result of idolatry -- of worshipping creation rather than Creator, of looking into the mirror at ourselves  (with out selfishness, greed and hard-heartedness) and imagining God from what we see there.

The well-known verse in chapter three, "since all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, they are now justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is Christ Jesus," is a sort of climax to the whole first section.  If you read it aloud (which I actually recommend), imagine it being read in a louder and louder voice, until finally, the words "Justified by his grace as a gift..." make the peak of the mountain, from which we come down now.

Much as I know well this letter, it's going to be a learning curve for me in the next few days to think of compelling ways to write about what I find here, what my thoughts are, and what stories might emerge.

What is your experience of the book of Romans?  Do you know it well?  What are your stumbling blocks?  What do you appreciate here?