CHAPTER 1
Now it comes – the letters.
Almost all the rest of the Bible is a series of letters (epistles,
they’re called in the Bible). Only the
last chapter – Revelations – isn’t a letter.
And most of the letters are penned by St. Paul, including
this one. Weighing in at 16 chapters,
Romans is tied for honors as the longest letter. (The letters section is loosely organized from longest to
shortest, which is why the two 16-chapter letters both come first).
According to the notes at the outset here, this letter is
believed to have been written from 56 to 58 AD. So there were already Christians in Rome – but we really don’t
know exactly hot the community began there.
(Yes, there is a tradition that Peter went to Rome, but that’s not
actually in the Bible, at any rate assuming he did do that, there is no way to
know if he was responsible for the first conversions there). These letters are offering guidance, advice,
and theology.
This letter by Paul gets off to a memorable start with its
very first line in the greeting: “Paul, a slave of Christ Jesus.” Whoah!
That line hasn’t aged well. He
means devoted follower and all that – but he says slave. Sure, that was common then, and freedom
wasn’t the end-all, be-all value like it is for most of modern societies. That’s why it’s just a jarring start,
though. It reminds us that Paul lived in a very different world with rather
different values from the one we live in.
The opening is fairly standard stuff. Paul pronounces his love of God and gives
thanks to the community in Rome he’s writing to. It’s standard, polite stuff – but we’re not yet getting into it.
Oh, one thing I should note, in that very first sentence –
right after Paul calls himself a slave to Christ Jesus, he says he’s been
called on to be an apostle. Mind you, he never met Jesus Christ. He just had his visions. So I wonder if the apostles of the earthly
Christ would appreciate Paul claiming a similar status to them? I doubt they would. It’s one thing to allow a guy in as a
missionary because he said he had a vision of Christ, but if you give equal
apostle status to anyone who tells you they had a vision, then the apostles run
the risk of having their authority and prestige diminish because any visionary
can do an end-run around them.
When Paul does get to the meat of the matter, he still
starts off a big slowly. He begins by
stressing the importance of opposing idols.
That’s something that any Jew can agree with, but Paul is writing to a
Christian community in Rome, whose members contain many/mostly former
pagans.
Paul says God punishes people for engaging in idolatry by
handing, “them over to degrading passions.
Their females exchanged natural relations for unnatural and the males
likewise gave up natural relations with females and burned with lust for one
another. Males did shameful things with
males and thus received in their own persons the due penalty for their
perversity.”
There you have it – for the first time in the New Testament,
the denouncing of homosexuality. Jesus
Christ never did it, but St. Paul did.
The way Paul describes it, this is a punishment God places upon people
for going against his ways (such as by engaging in idolatry).
CHAPTER 2
Moving on to his next point, Paul warns people not to be
judgmental. My Bible doesn’t actually
say, “judge not least ye be judged” – that’s in Matthew, the Sermon on the
Mount (even there, my Bible has a clunkier, though I’m sure more accurate –
translation).
Paul’s point here is simple. God is the judge. Don’t
presume to do his job form him. Just
follow his ways as best as you can, and you’ll be repaid with eternal
life. God will judge and if you are
deemed worthy, that’s your reward.
Those deemed unworthy will get wrath.
Paul never actually says heaven and hell, but you can see the genesis of
that idea. He says the good will find
glory, honor, and immorality. The bad
get “wrath.” Paul never mentions heaven
and hell because he is expecting a more imminent coming of God (he doesn’t say
that here, but it’s something I know about Paul’s thoughts). Later, when it becomes clear that God’s
return isn’t imminent, you need to change Paul’s ideas into heaven above and
hell below, because neither will be here.
Finally, Paul dives into what is probably the main theme of this
entire letter – God and the law. By
law, he means the laws of Moses, the old codes of law laid done all those years
ago that Jews faithfully follow, and believe that their salvation depends upon.
Paul disagrees. He
notes that there are Gentiles outside the law – by which I assume he means
outside the covenant (re: uncircumcised), but if they are good and true to God,
why shouldn’t they be saved?
Alternately, you can be a bad person and still part of God’s community,
but if you’re bad, why should God be nice to you?
Paul isn’t saying that the laws of old are bad. Actually, he’ll say the opposite. He says circumcision has value, but that’s
not what it’s all about. If you get
snipped and are a dick, who cares if you’ve lost your foreskin. Then again, if you act righteously, why
should God let a foreskin come between you and him? Paul notes, “Rather, one is a Jew inwardly, and circumcision is
of the heart, in the spirit, not the letter.”
Among other things, this indicates that some of the Christian
community in Rome are Jews. Paul has to
explain to them why it’s OK for the Gentile brethren to keep their foreskins
and still be good Christians.
CHAPTER 3
In a favorite literary device of his (Lord knows he’ll do it
enough), Paul will ask a rhetorical question – the sort of question he thinks a
critic of his ideas might have – and then answer it right away. It’s not a bad literary trick to use,
really.
This chapter uses it a lot, as it begins with a section
called “Answers to objections.” Paul asks
the question – is there value to being a Jew?
(After all, he just said circumcision isn’t all that). Paul answers himself – sure there is value. But that value comes from being entrusted
with God’s laws. Now you have to live
up to them – that’s the key thing. Mind
you, if you’re unfaithful, that won’t nullify God’s fidelity because, “God must
be true, though every human being is a liar.”
My golly that’s a nice line from Paul.
Though the letters are rather dry, if you dig into them,
they make sense and show an enormous amount of thought. There is a reason such a big religion was
built heavily on the pen of Paul – he’s good at this whole theology thing.
Getting back on track, what matters isn’t circumcision, but
having faith – and that means faith in Christ.
We are all sinners, but God sent down his son to redeem us. So if you have faith in him, you can be
redeemed, “though faith, by his blood.”
Faith is the central thing, not works.
(He’s not anti-good works, but faith is still central). Reading this, I can definitely understand
why Martin Luther and his ilk both: 1) had problems with Catholic theology, and
2) wanted to get the Bible in as many hands as possible. The Catholic Church, in contrast, traditionally
eschewed (and still eschews) reading the Bible. In one of my all-time favorite historical bits, Martin Luther
never even SAW a Bible until after he became a monk. (To be fair, that was still early in the Guttenberg Revolution;
until the printing press mass production of Bibles was impossible).
However, since faith is the key thing, that means that
Christ isn’t restricted just to Jews.
If a Gentile has the same faith as a Jew, then that’s the ballgame right
there.
CHAPTER 4
To back up his point of view, Paul turns to scripture. In particular, he turns to Abraham. The original patriarch is often looked at as
the best example of the importance of circumcision. After all, God tells Abraham to get snipped in order to show
he’ll follow God’s covenants. That’s
where it all comes from.
But Paul reverses it all to argue against the centrality of
circumcision. Why did God pick Abraham,
Paul wonders. Was it because he was
wandering around town without a foreskin?
No! It’s because he was such a
righteous man. It was that righteousness
of his – that faith – that caused God to pick him and make a great nation of
him. Circumcision was just a sign of
it. Thus a person with the sign but not
the internal faith may as well not have the sign. Then again, a person with the faith may as well keep his
foreskin. I got to admit, that’s a
mighty inspired bit of theological argument making by Paul.
Faith is our guide, therefore don’t worry too much about all
those old rules. And now that’s all
amplified through Christ. We believe in
him and thus don’t need circumcision.
CHAPTER 5
This just builds on where Paul ended up last chapter. We’re justified by faith, and that means
faith in Jesus Christ.
You see, we are all sinners through Adam. Paul doesn’t use the phrase “Original sin”
here, but clearly that doctrine largely comes out of what Paul says in this
chapter. That sin happened, and we’ve
all come out from that sin. Due to it, we have no chance to be saved from out
sinful nature.
Then Jesus Christ entered.
Through him we are saved from our own sinful nature. As Paul says of Adam and Jesus, “For just as
through the disobedience of one person the many were made sinners, so through
the obedience of one the many will be made righteous.” Adam is the first one. (Interestingly, Paul never mentions Eve
here, though he does mention Adam.
People often blame the Fall from Eden on Eve, but Paul isn’t doing
that).
CHAPTER 6
By having faith in Christ, people can be free from sin, and
live an eternal life. This is a little
interesting because while it’s kind of similar to what we’ve always heard from
Christian pulpits, it’s also kind of different. Oh, this sounds like heaven – sure. That’s how it’s similar: believe in Jesus and go to heaven.
But it’s a bit off for a few reasons. First, it’s not heaven above. Paul just talks about how being baptized in
Christ gives us eternal life – “we believe that we shall also live with
him.” But we will go up with him or
will he return with us down here? Paul
never really says, but the lack of talk of heaven at any point here makes me
think it’s more the latter.
Also, traditionally the sense is that everyone has eternal
life – some go upstairs, others go downstairs.
But with Paul, the idea of eternal life begins with Christ. It’s not that you get a better eternal life
than you otherwise would – it’s that you otherwise wouldn’t. Again, that makes sense if you expect Christ
to return to earth soon.
As Paul goes on, he tackles one possible pitfall of his
approach: “Shall we sin because we are not under the law but under the grace
[of God]?” In other words, if you’re
de-emphasizing the laws (as Paul openly is), then does that mean people can sin
all they want, as long as they believe in Christ?
Paul’s answer: “Of course not!” If you believe – if you truly believe – then good works will flow
from your faith. Works and faith are
connected. You start with inner belief,
and then let outer behavior follow. He
says we’re all slaves to something.
(Again, the slave talk reminds the reader how different it was in
ancient times). But if you’re a slave
to passions, then you’ll receive death and nothing more. But if you’re a slave to Christ, then you’ll
get eternal life.
CHAPTER 7
Here is where Paul reaches the culmination of the last
several chapters. He flatly and
explicitly states, “now we are released from the law, dead to what held us
captive, so that we may serve in the newness of the spirit and not under the
obsolete letter.”
We are now released from the law – this means the laws of
Moses. All the other edicts and codes
of old – all of that Leviticus stuff – is no more. It served its purpose as a code to guide us, but now we have
Jesus Christ. This right here is
arguably the notion that makes Christianity a separate religion – Jewish law no
longer applies. Based on the first
seven chapters, this approach makes sense.
It’s also precisely why the Jews in Jerusalem want to kill
Paul back in Acts of the Apostles. He
is on trial for believing what he’s written here. He tries to wiggle out of it there, but they were accusing him,
essentially, of believing what he actually believed. This is also, by the way, what James Christ opposed. In his letter of instructions he says it’s
OK for Gentiles to avoid circumcision, but they have to follow all the rest.
Now Paul is saying the law is dead.
That’s not a minor difference.
This is also why it’s such a humiliating humbling for Paul
when he’s ordered by James to go to the Temple and give a ritual offering. James orders Paul to do exactly what Paul said
you don’t need to do.
CHAPTER 8
Paul now gives the good news – life in Christ Jesus has
freed you from the law of sin and death.
Again, there is no notion of an eternal soul if you’re outside
Christ. Paul isn’t really talking of a
heaven/hell afterlife here. You only
get life after death if you believe in Christ.
It’s not heaven vs. hell but spirit vs. flesh.
And we tend to think it’s the same thing – flesh leads to
hell while spirit leads to heaven. But
Paul is just talking spirit/flesh. Afterlife
is a one-way street – a reward.
Punishment is the lack of an afterlife.
Paul tells the little campers to buck up. Sure, you’ll go
through pains now. Sure you’ll
experience hardships in the present – but the reward is worth it. “I consider that the sufferings of this
present are as nothing compared with the glory to be revealed for us.” It gets better, people. It has to get better. After all, God is on our side. (That’s even better than Batman backed up by
an army of mini-Ditkas!) As Paul says,
“If God is for us, who can be against us?”
That’s an awesome line, by the way. That’s a wonderful sentiment. I’m sure it helped some people plow through
their sufferings and persevere. In
fact, I’m sure it still does the same for many in modern times.
Click here for the second half of Romans.
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