Romans: Chapters 9 to 16

Click here for the first half of Romans.

CHAPTER 9

Paul tells us he has nothing against Jews.  He feels bad for them because they rejected Jesus.  He appreciates the patriarchs, but as far as Paul is concerned, “not all who are of Israel are Israel, nor are they all children of Abraham because they are his descendents.”   No, you’re only a true child of Abraham have faith, not if you follow the rules.

I had a little trouble getting the argument at first, but basically he’s taking his circumcision argument one step further.  Earlier he faith now rule abiding is what it’s all about – circumcision of the heart, not of the genitalia.  Now he applies it to people.  You’re not a real member of the community unless you have the faith, but if you don’t, then you’re not really among the chosen.  Just as it is with circumcision, so is it with human beings.

Oh, and so it stands to reason that you don’t have to be a Jew to be among God’s chosen.  Righteousness is based on faith.  Paul even quotes a few prophets on the matter, like Hosea and Isaiah to back him on this.

CHAPTER 10

It’s just more of the same points reinforced.   Faith is the supreme thing.  As a result, “there is no distinction between Jew and Greek.”  Paul is really hammering away at this theme.  That let’s us know two things.  First, it is a belief he deeply held.  Second, it is a message he felt the Romans really needed to hear.  I’d take this as a sign that the early Roman Christian community was made up of Jewish converts and Gentile converts, and there was some definite friction there.

Oh, and he justifies the fact that God isn’t just for Jews any more by pointing out some prophecies and quotations from the Old Testament about what a “disobedient and contentious people” they are.   To be fair, he could drive that point home a lot more if he wanted to (there is, after all, tons of things like that in the Old Testament).  I get the feeling Paul is just trying to knock down any sense of Jewish entitlement in the Roman Christian community, not trying to demonize them altogether.  After all, if he wanted to be nastier, he could produce tons more quotes along those lines.  (But of course, in centuries after Paul, Christians could use Paul’s references to Jewish disobedient and contentious nature and use that as a justification for anti-Semitism.

CHAPTER 11

After some occasional digs at Jews over the previous chapters, Paul tells us that God hasn’t rejected his people. “Of course not!  For I too am an Israelite.”  That said, things aren’t hunky dory.  Paul never says this directly, but he’s essentially saying that God hasn’t rejected the Jews, but many have rejected God.  Paul brings up examples from the Old Testament of how prophets were rejected or mistreated – but God always left a holy element among them.  So Paul isn’t against Jews all the time, but he does have problems with many of them. 

That’s bleak and nasty – but then I think back to Acts of the Apostles and all the incidents he’d gone through before he wrote this letter.  Short version: he’d go into a town, preach about Christ in a synagogue, find most of the Jews upset at him, and be forced out of town – and I do mean forced.  It wasn’t always Jewish believers doing it to him, but it usually was.

In general, Paul has a negative view of human nature now.  He says some were elect, but the rest hardened to God.  He’s talking just of the Israelites, but you can see the stirrings of Calvinist pessimism about human nature. 

Paul continues to talk trash about the Jews noting, “through their transgression salvation has come to the Gentiles, so as to make [the Jews] jealous.”  That’s a curious way of looking at it.  If Jews had just been more faithful, God would’ve ignored the Gentiles?  That is actually a rather nasty statement about God.  He was content to let his prize little pony get the glory, but only when it misbehaved did he start caring for his other horses.  I hope I’m misinterpreting that line a bit.

That said, Paul does tack away from this a bit.  He warns his congregation to not be upset with Jews.  Don’t think you’re better than they are just because you’ve found Christ and they haven’t. He flatly says, “do not become haughty” for if you do, you’ll be making the exact same mistake they did.  If you become haughty, you will lead yourself on the path away from God.  Essentially, Paul is trying to keep the anti-Semitism latent in his theology just that – merely theological anti-Semitism, not over “Fuck Jews” anti-Semitism.  Paul says the God turned to the Gentiles because the Jews misbehaved, so if we Christians misbehave, what’s going to prevent God from doing something similar?  Hmmm – that’s a decent point by Paul.

CHAPTER 12

This has one of my favorite passages of the Bible so far – and I’m 90% the way through the Bible so far.  Here it is: “Let love be sincere, hate what is evil, hold on to what is good; love one another with mutual affection; anticipate one another in showing honor.  Do not grow slack in zeal, be fervent in spirit, and serve the Lord.  Rejoice in hope, endure in affliction, preserve in prayer.  Contribute to the needs of the holy ones, exercise hospitality.”  Yeah, that’s a mighty not over life philosophy. 

It’s impossible to live up to (I sure don’t – even if you ignore the religious part of it).  But people trying to live up to this statement can go a long way to explain the success of Christianity.  It’s not just the blood of the martyrs – it’s the actions of your Christian neighbors.  (Alternately, people have left some churches – most notably the Catholic Church – in droves in recent years/decades because they don’t see churches act like it.  Francis is a return to this attitude so far, which is why he’s been a great Pope thus far). 

In fact, Paul goes even further, telling people to bless their persecutors, and so on.  The entire second half of this chapter is great stuff.

Oh, and later on, Paul gives us one of the Bible’s most famous quotes: “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.”  The interesting part is that this quote of Paul is Paul quoting someone else.  Just before that line, he notes, “For it is written, `Vengeance is mine.’”  He doesn’t say where it is written, and now it’s famous as his quote.  It doesn’t appear previously in the Bible.

Actually, I remember that quote from the movie The Dirty Dozen.  Telly Savales quotes is when talking to Lee Marvin to justify his murder of a prostitute, claiming he was a tool the Lord called on to take vengeance.

CHAPTER 13

This is the shortest chapter in the book (14 verses) but contains a few lines that upend pretty much every political use people make of Christianity in the modern world.

First, Paul tells us not to rock the boat politically, saying: “Let every person be subordinate to the higher authorities, for there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been established by God.  Therefore, whoever resists authority opposes what God has appointed, and those who oppose it will bring judgment upon themselves.”  You can use that line to oppose everything from Martin Luther King Jr. to Operation Rescue.

Of course, Paul doesn’t have modern American political culture in mind when he wrote that.  He’s thinking of the Roman Empire.  Don’t mess with Rome is Paul’s message.  He’s expecting Christ’s return to come sooner rather than later, so don’t worry about day-to-day stuff in the meantime. 

In fact, he goes on to specifically instruct Christians to pay their taxes without complaint.  In the debate over what Christ meant in his “Rend unto Caesar” line, Paul pretty clearly supports the point of view that we’re supposed to give the money back if the government wants it. 

The rationale for all of this is simple – the End of Time is coming.  And when that happens, who cares about these little, piddling things?

CHAPTER 14

Vegetarians are weaklings.  No, really – Paul pretty much says that. 

He starts off this chapter noting, “Welcome anyone who is weak in faith, but not for disputes over opinions.  One person believes that one may eat anything, while the weak person eats only vegetables.  The one who eats must not despise the one who abstains.” 

Paul is talking about accepting into the church those who believe they must follow certain laws.  Paul has already made clear that he thinks its not about following edicts that gets you into heaven, but faith.  But hey – for some people, following edicts helps reinforce their faith.  They’re a little weak in faith unless they have some structure to hold on to.  So accept those people and the rules they bind themselves to.  It’s an interesting reversal.  Normally you think of people with the most stringent rules they force upon themselves as the strongest – they make themselves uphold these standards – but Paul reverses that.  If you’re really strong, you don’t need the stringent rules.

This is a plea for tolerance.  Accept those who have different practices than yourself, because that’s not what it’s all about.  It’s all about faith, after all.  I get the feeling that Paul wouldn’t make much of a Catholic, but would like the Reformation. 

In fact, Paul goes far enough to even apply this logic to the Sabbath itself: “For one person considers one day more important than another, while another person considers all days alike.  Let everyone be fully persuaded in his own mind.”  There you go – a Biblical justification for ignoring the Sabbath.  Mind you, it’s one of the 10 Commandments, but Paul apparently isn’t messing around with this notion that it’s all about faith, not rules.

For Paul, it’s all about the big picture – faith, not rules.  In fact, he sounds positively Buddhist at times as he notes, “If your brother is being hurt by what you eat, your conduct is no longer in accord with love.  Do not because of your food destroy him for whom Christ died.”  I’m reminded of the Buddhist notion that it’s OK to take part in other religious ceremonies, because they are all different ways of knowing the eternal truth, and you’re just being part of the community anyway.  (I just did a bad job describing their approach, but oh well).

This is a wonderful chapter about the need for tolerance.  You don’t tolerate just for the sake of getting along, but in order to show your love for your fellow man – and love is the central guiding point for human conduct.

CHAPTER 15

Paul is winding down, urging patience and self-denial while noting God’s fidelity and mercy.

Then he begins his conclusion.  Most notably, he tells people he’s going to Jerusalem.  OK, so that’s why this letter is typically dated to around 56-58 AD, it’s in the period just before he worked his way backwards and then was placed under arrest.  He says he’s going to Jerusalem to give donations to the church there, which is interesting – because he sure sounded bleak on his way to Jerusalem in Acts. 

As for your historical what-if, Paul is hoping to go to Spain to help start the church there, and he plans to visit the gang in Rome along the way.  He’ll make it to Rome – but while under arrest, and there he will die. He’ll never make it to Spain.

CHAPTER 16

This reads like an Academy Awards speech, as Paul just thanks many individuals for their service. There is one notable feature: many of those thanked are women.  In fact, the first line is, “I commend to you Phoebe our sister who is [also] a minister of the church at Cenchreae” (brackets in the original).  Not only is a woman the first person he thanks – but he specifically says she is a minister.  Huh.  So in the early church, gender wasn’t a barrier to office and position.  That makes sense – it’s all about having the Holy Spirit and your personal faith.

CONCLUDING THOUGHTS

There are a lot of interesting things here in theology.  Paul goes as hard as he can for faith over all else, including the laws of Moses.  It’s not as exciting a reading as the Bible books that tell stories, but Paul is a good writer, and if you dig into it, what he says makes plenty of sense.

Click here to begin Corinthians I.