Through the Bible: Week 46 - Romans, part 5

Judgment and Vocation

Romans 2

            Following the catalog of sins in Chapter one, Paul anticipates our proclivity toward judgment.  We are not like the honest pagan, who after being shown the 10 commandments for the first time, ruefully admitted “Well at least I haven’t killed anyone.”  If you are like me, you have a keener ability to detect sin in others than in yourself.  Paul is cautioning us about doing so.  He gives several reasons why judgement is bad for us.

(1)    It is often a case of projection (vv. 1-3).  We often condemn people whose sin is most like our own.  David condemnation of the fictitious character in Nathan’s parable is a case in point (cf. 2 Samuel 12).  Beware of what you rail against; it will betray you – “for in passing judgment you condemn yourself.”

(2)    We misread God’s forbearance.  God is patient so that all of us might return to him.  This patience is as much for us as it is for others (v.5).  God shows no partiality so that judgment and mercy should be expected based on responsiveness to the divine will (vv. 9-11). 

(3)    The advantage of having the law is no advantage if one does not obey it; God reads hearts as they are expressed in behavior (vv. 15-16). 

(4)    Our advantages due to birth do not translate into spiritual advantage (vv. 17-24).  Some people are born on third base and believe they have hit a triple.  But Paul isn’t buying it.  He knows religious heritage has no advantage apart from a renewed heart. 

(5)    Thus, Paul argues, echoing the prophets (Ezekiel 36:26, Jeremiah 31:31) a Judaism of the heart (vv.25-29).

So why is Judgment destructive to the church?

(1)    It usually precludes inner reflection and reformation.  We are too busy comparing ourselves to those who make us look good.  But others are not our standard.

(2)    It is highly selective and tends to undervalue the advantages we have been given.

(3)    We don’t know how hard someone fought against sin before succumbing to it.  Beside it focuses on the problem rather than the solution.  This is wasted energy. Paul prefers a redemption attitude that yields reformation and renewal of life. 

Through the Bible: Week 45 - Romans, part 4

Becoming What We Worship

Romans 1: 18-32

Verse 18 & 32 form bookends around this section of Paul’s argument: God’s displeasure is revealed – ultimately in death – against our tendency to distort God (ungodliness) and thereby one another who are created in God’s image (unrighteousness).  The theme of this passage is that when we displace God (in false worship) we distort ourselves (those who are made in God’s image) in unrighteous living.  When the center goes everything else goes.  God lets it happen (“God gave them up” vv.24, 26, 28) not merely as judgment but also as mercy. 

 Ungodliness – translates asebia which literally means “no worship.”  Ungodliness is the posture of finding one’s center is something or someone other than God.  This false center distorts one’s own perspective and values so that it inevitably leads to false living.

Unrighteousness – translates adikia which means “no justice.”  This is a person who lives as if their own desires and expectations are the standards for all.  It is a false measure based on a false center. 

Unrighteousness is the result of ungodliness.  Their relation is cause to effect.  And the effect is that we distort the cause – “by their unrighteousness suppress the truth.”  What truth is it that our unjust lives suppress?  We suppress the truth of God’s nature which is revealed in the world around us – especially the world of interpersonal relationships.  We suppress the truth that relationships are whole to the degree that they are grounded in God.  And we suppress the truth about how our relations are restored through the “obedience of faith.”

Paul then demonstrates how these effect one another, by “giving us up” to the false centers we construct and give ourselves to.

                        Ungodliness/Cause                             Unrighteousness/Effect

(1)  Lusts of their hearts (v.24)	(1)  To dishonor their bodies (v.24)
(2)  Dishonorable passions (v.26)	(2)  To exchange natural relations (v.26)
(3)  Debased mind (v. 28)	(3)  Filled all manner of unrighteousness

A lot of these unrighteous acts are in the realm of sexual behavior.  Why is that?  I wonder if this is not analogous to our relationship with God?  When we distort God’s image we invariably distort the divine image in us.  If the dominant motif underlying Paul’s argument is the Garden of Eden, then we must recall that the image of God in the garden is defined in terms of male and female relationships.  The divine image in them is constituted by their complimentary and differentiated relation.  The first distortion after their distrust and distortion of God was to practice the same suspicion against one another.  Paul is making explicit in Romans one what is implicit in Genesis three:  Exchange Gods and you will exchange your genuine humanness.  Does life confirm this analysis? 

Through the Bible: Week 44 - Romans, part 3

Why Paul Wants to Visit Rome: “Eager to Preach the Gospel”

Romans 1: 8-17

Since it is not Paul’s practice to go where a church has already been founded (15:20), he explains his break from protocol.  He states 4 reasons for coming to Rome.  He comes in order to:

(1)    Impart a spiritual gift, to strengthen them (11).

(2)    For mutual encouragement, that each other’s faith will grow by interaction (12).

(3)    That he may harvest more people into the kingdom, thus fulfilling his apostolic      vocation (13).

(4)    Discharge his obligation to preach the gospel (14-15).

This last reason is elaborated in verses 16-17.  But note Paul’s change of perspective.  A Pharisee who was trained to keep strict boundaries of faith now finds himself outwardly oriented to others.  Paul’s own encounter with the risen Christ has transformed his outlook on life, in general, and other people in particular.  He is under obligation to both Greeks and barbarians, and he is eager to do so. 

Paul now, as a way of explanation, summarizes the nature of his gospel.  He is eager to preach it for the following reasons:

(1)    For he is not ashamed of it – even though he is a Jew living in occupied pagan territory, the gospel gives him a sense of triumph (cf. Psalm 71).

(2)    For it is God’s power of salvation.  The good news of Jesus death and resurrection is God’s dynamo to reorder the world.  Paul’s understanding of salvation is addressed more fully in chapters 5-8.  Note this ends with the redemption of creation. This message effects profound change.

(3)    For every one who believes – thus this is a universal message, not limited by ethnicity.

(4)    For God’s righteousness is revealed – God’s way of putting the world right is made manifest in the gospel.

Paul states finally that the gospel comes from God to humans by faith – from faith for faith.  Faith is the delivery system in the gospel.  Our openness and trust in God positions us to receive God’s gospel.

Through the Bible: Week 43 - Romans, part 2

What and Why Paul is Writing: “The Obedience of Faith”

Romans 1: 1-7

Paul has self identified as an apostle of “the gospel of God.”  He mentions several things about this “good news” which bears close scrutiny.

1. The gospel is good news not good advice.  It is a royal proclamation about what God has done to set the world right through his Son.  The gospel is first and foremost about what God has done not what should do.

2. The good news is long promised – thus Paul reviews Jesus’ pedigree (v3-4).  Thus we are introduced to the full humanity and deity of Jesus. 

3. The good news is closely tied to Jesus Christ.  The good news has him as its subject.  It is about his arrival, his death, his resurrection – and the implications of all that for the world. 

4. But there is an implication of this good news – “to bring about the obedience of faith.”  This phrase sandwiches the whole letter thus underlying its importance (16:26).

• “Obedience” – derives from the word “to hear.”  It is not performance in relation to a law.  It is a relational word and implies a willingness to be open and responsive to the communication of another.
• Sometimes Elizabeth asks me to “listen.”  If I don’t listen I cannot fully appreciate or relate to her in an appropriate manner.  Thus it is with God.   

      5.   This rendering of “obedience” fits the word it modifies – “faith”.

·         Faith is essentially a posture of “trust” or “openness.”

·         Example of interacting with estranged friend. 

·         Opens possibilities of insight and understanding; this insight comes from the other side of the world, as a distant One who comes close to guide and teach me. 

·         This experience of relatedness opens me to the other.  Faith implies a posture of other-orientedness.  My goal is sharing the gospel is not, first, to change another.  IT is rather, to share a common humanity that is estranged, in need of reconciliation.  We must experience a fraternity, beginning with the experience of the otherness of God.  What does this mean for us?  It means, even if we are different, that difference is much smaller than our difference from God.  Yet this God, the one revealed in Jesus Christ, has come close to decrease the difference.  God’s incarnation has made reconciliation possible.  There is hope that we can be reconciled to each other in Him.  We will pick this theme up next week. 

Through the Bible: Week 42 - Romans, part 1

 

Paul: A Slave of Jesus Christ

Romans 1:1-7

This is a conventional introduction to a letter, except it has been expanded (cf. Galatians and Philippians).  Paul spends more than the usual time introducing himself partly, no doubt, because the church in Rome has not had personal contact with him.  It should also be remembered that, in antiquity, letters always substituted for the actual presence of the author – an epistolary proxy. There are several words and phrases employed by Paul that merit close scrutiny.

“Slave of JC” = property of another.  By use of this word, in a very socially structured world, Paul is at once saying two things.  1^st, he claims to belong to another.  He is not, as the saying goes, “his own man.”  Rather, one cannot fully understand or appreciate Paul without reference to Christ.  2^nd, Paul is countering the imperial overtones of Rome by acknowledging another master.  Paul is at once humble and political. 

“Called to be an apostle” – Paul associate his vocation (apostle) with his conversion (Christian).  See Acts 9:15.  Paul viewed the Christian life vocationally – we are all called to represent Christ regardless of our occupation.  Some do it from a pulpit, some a desk, or from a tractor or a bench.  Paul took up tent making in order that people would not think his Christianity was merely professional. “Apostle” – comes from the verb meaning to “be sent.”  An apostle is a “sent one.”  Paul was especially sent to evangelize the Gentiles.  His Hellenistic background prepared him for such a mission.

“Set apart for the gospel” – a participle derived from the same root as the word “Pharisee.”  Before meeting the resurrected Lord, Paul had been set apart for the Torah.  Now this orientation of exclusive allegiance has been given to another.  The Lord takes Paul’s training and orientation and uses it for redemptive purposes.  “Gospel” refers to a glad announcement in Greek – either the birth of a royal child, or the ascension of a King, a royal marriage – something to bring blessing on the realm.  In Hebrew, gospel has specific reference to the “good news” that Israel is to return from exile (cf. Isa. 40:9). 

These self identifications help us to know how to read Paul, what are the best “lenses” for understanding him.

1. Personal lens – his encounter of the Resurrected Lord was revolutionary.
2. Social lens – he had the “mind of Christ” and knew how to humble himself so that he could communicate with those for who his message was intended.
3. Historical lens – the good news of Jesus Christ was the story through which he made sense of the world and by which he intended the world to understand itself. 

We will discuss the nature of this “gospel” – or good news – next post.  

Known for What We Are Against

 

The Great Evangelical Recession

A powerful diagnoses and prescription of evangelical Christianity in North America.

All of the vestry and staff are reading this book.  Check this link for a splendid synopsis and join the parish conversation:  http://crossmap.christianpost.com/news/christian-pastor-on-decline-of-cultural-influence-evangelicals-are-known-for-what-were-against-3888

Summer (and Fall) Reading

Top Ten

 

Jonathan Merritt has posted an inviting article about his favorite 10 religious books he has read in the past 10 years.  I invite you to share your favorite or most influential 10 religious books.  You can read his here: http://jonathanmerritt.religionnews.com/2013/07/15/top-10-religious-books-ive-read-in-the-last-10-years/ 

And mine are here:

1) Witness to Hope: Biography of Pope John Paul II by George Weigel.
The seminal biography of the most influential leader of the 20th century who was, among many things, the conscience of human rights in Eastern Europe as well as a strategic player in the fall of the Soviet Communist bloc.  But more importantly he saw around corners better than anyone and provided an antidote to the Western slide into the sexual nihilism we are now facing.  

2) Without End: New and Collected Poems by Adam Zagajweski
Outside of the Hebrew Prophets no poet has ever written so powerfully at the intersection of history and transcendence.  Zagajweski is our greatest living voice.  Along with four or five other Polish poets he has preserved his culture despite the collapse of his country - which is another similarity to the Hebrew Prophets.

3) Fire from Heaven: The Rise of Pentecostal Spirituality and the Reshaping of Religion in the 21st Century by Harvey Cox
This swashbuckling account of the the Pentecostal movement is no mere chronicling.  Cox digs deep at the wellsprings of this revitalizing force within twentieth century Christianity.  Its essential reading for understanding Global Christianity in the 21st century.

4) Evangelical Disenchantment: 9 Portraits of Faith and Doubt by David Hempton
If surrender to the Holy Spirit is the primal source of enchanted Christianity, read this book to find out how the Church becomes "disenchanted." The American Church is increasingly in such a state and here is an important reason why.  (All the books on this list are antidotes to disenchantment).  

5) Desiring the Kingdom by James K.A. Smith
This is volume one of a planned trilogy whereby Smith explains how humans at the root are liturgical beings (we worship stuff) and who are constantly and subversively being shaped by cultural and secular liturgies (i.e. the mall, the stadium, etc).  The antidote is not first and foremost apologetics but proper worship of the God who became King and who embodies ultimate reality.  We become real by worshiping Him.    

6) How God Became King by N.T. Wright
I could put two or more books by Wright on this list, but this one in particular places a lot of his earlier and scholarly tomes into the reach of all of us.  I have a few quibbles with Wright, but this book inspires worship of Jesus and builds confidence in the goodness of the Good News. 

7) Introduction to Phenomenology by Robert Sokolowski
Three of my favorite twentieth century theologians - Pope John Paul II, Dietrich Bonhoeffer and  Dallas Willard - were all trained phenomenologists.  This book helped me to be a better student of their writings, to read them with more sympathy and understanding. 

8) Housekeeping by Marilynn Robinson
I liked Gilead and Home, Robinson's more well known novels but this her first novel is my favorite.  The book aroused a longing in me that was difficult to name.  Very memorable. Her essays also merit your attention.  I'd start with the Death of Adam.  She is my favorite living Calvinist writer. 

9)  Into the Silent Land by Martin Laird
This is an enormously wise guide on "apophatic" prayer - prayer that brings us into the ever present presence of God without the aid of images.  At the source of our being is the triune God and prayer is ultimately about coming into contact with the One who is our life. 

10) When God Speaks Back by Tanya Luhrmann
This is a fair and insightful study of Charismatic Evangelical Prayer in various Vineyard Churches in North America.  John Wimber, the founder of the Vineyard, was also very influential in the charismatic renewal within Anglicanism.  Thus, this is an insightful guide into the prayer life of many of us at Truro.  It describes "kataphatic" prayer - prayer  that sparks off of interior images.