already & not yet

Reading for Wednesday, Feb. 8: Romans 7

It would be easy to assume that Paul has a negative view of the OT Law based on some of his writings (especially Galatians!). I think we have to remember that Paul is arguing against those who have improperly elevated the Law onto the same plane as the atoning work of Christ. It’s not that Paul dislikes the Law; in fact, as a Torah-observant Jew, he would have much use for it. See v12: Paul argues that the Law is holy in that it comes from God and illuminates our sinfulness. But Paul’s concern is to make the Law subservient to Christ — and in the case of Gentile converts, to render the Law obsolete for their relationship with Jesus.

We’ll talk more about this in Galatians, but Paul’s “salvation equation” works something like this:

Faith in Christ = Salvation

Paul is arguing against those who would want to make this addition to the equation:

Mosaic Law + Faith in Christ = Salvation

For Paul, adding anything to the first equation is a violation of the Gospel.

We can see Paul’s understanding of this new relationship with God through some of his phrases in this chapter:

v4 – bearing fruit to God
v6 – released from the Law
v6 – the new way of the Spirit

The purpose of the Law is to make us cognizant of our sin.

The purpose of Christ is to liberate us from this sin into a new life, a new Way of being — the new way of the Spirit.

Reading for Thursday, Feb. 2: Romans 3

In Romans 3, Paul answers some of the questions he laid out in the first few chapters. What makes someone righteous before God? It certainly isn’t the law. V20, “Therefore no one will be declared righteous in his sight by observing the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of sin.” Instead, Paul says, “a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known (v21).” Righteousness is not merited or accrued in relation to one’s obedience to the law. Rather, “this righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe (v22).”

Paul spells out the universal problem of sin in v23: For all have sinned and fallen short. Sin is “falling short” or “missing the mark”. We might ask, “What mark? Falling short of what?” The mark, I believe, is God’s intention for humanity to bear His image in the world. We fall short any time we fail to live as He intended for us to live. This problem — sin — plagues every man, woman, and child. As he says in v23, ALL have sinned and fallen short of His glory. We do this every time we choose our way over His way.

But Paul also holds up a universal solution to this problem: the justification that He graciously extends to us through Christ. “for all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus (vv23-24).” Paul argues that the cross is the greatest demonstration of the justice of God. He cannot let our sin go unpunished; to do so would violate God’s sense of justice. Yet He lovingly chooses to absorb the full penalty for sin, making our justification possible.

Paul closes the chapter with a practical warning to the Jewish Christians in Rome: since we ALL have sinned and fallen short of God’s glory and since the death of Jesus brings justification to ALL who believe, where then is there room for boasting or differentiating between Jew and Gentile? “Is God the God of Jews only? Is he not the God of Gentiles, too? Yes, of Gentiles, too…” (v30).

Romans 3 helps us remember that righteousness is intrinsic to God’s character, therefore it is His to dispense as He sees fit. The Jews historically associated their right standing before God with the lineage of Abraham and their reception of the Torah. But Paul is expanding this understanding. Although he will have much to say about both Abraham and the Law in the next few chapters, Paul maintains that the Gentiles have a full share in the Gospel because the one God is God of both Jews and Gentiles alike.

When we study James, we will bring his conversation alongside what Paul has to say here about the Law. As it pertains to salvation, faith alone is God’s means. And yet, as it pertains to discipleship — the “what comes next” after salvation — the commands of Scripture are binding to “bear fruit in keeping with repentance (Luke 3:8).”

Reading for Tuesday, Jan. 31: Romans 1

Thanks to everyone for a great study of John. Starting today, we turn to one of the church’s most important voices — Paul — and his letter to the Romans.

There are plenty of background issues that are important to a detailed study of Romans. While we don’t have room to discuss all of them here, one particularly important issue seems to be the division between Jewish and Gentile Christians in the church at Rome. This note from the ESV Study Bible succinctly summarizes this background issue: “Paul’s selection of themes (gospel and law; the significance of Abraham; the future of Israel) suggests significant tensions between the Jews and Gentiles in Rome. Paul wrote Romans so that they would be united in the gospel he preached, and so that they would comprehend how the gospel spoke to the issues that divided them.” As we’ll see toward the end of Romans, Paul knows a united Roman church will be a powerful springboard for sharing the Gospel in Spain and beyond.

Finally, the most likely date for the writing of Romans is in the late 50s, probably around AD 57.

Paul is fond of great and grand introductions to his writings and his letter to the Romans is no different. Only Paul could get caught up in such sweeping doxology while simply trying to say hello!

One phrase in his introduction catches my eye: “set apart for the gospel”. I think that phrase holds the key to Paul’s self-understanding. If you asked Paul about his purpose, his life’s mission, I think he’d say the Lord had set him apart for the gospel. Paul seems to have this laser-like focus on his calling. The only thing that matters for Paul is the gospel, Jesus Christ crucified. If you listen to Paul’s sermons that Luke records over in Acts, Paul only preaches Jesus! Jesus is the central thesis of Paul’s life and ministry. Paul’s encounter with Jesus on the road to Damascus forever altered his life, putting him on an entirely different path, giving him a radically different purpose to pursue. And the glory of it all is that Jesus continues this same work, intersecting our lives and transforming them, calling us the same purposeful pursuit, gracing us with His all-sufficient presence to accomplish the tasks at hand. We, too, brothers and sisters, have been set apart for God’s gospel!

I find it interesting that Paul wants to preach the gospel to these Christians in Rome (1:15). We might ask ourselves, “But these people are already Christians, Paul. Why are you so eager to preach the gospel to them?” If we define gospel purely in terms of atonement and response — Jesus died on the cross for your sins; you need to repent of your sins, accept Him as Savior, etc. — then we might question why Paul would feel this pressing need to share the gospel with the Roman church. But I believe there’s an additional element to the Good News, one that ties in with our comments about being set apart for the gospel. In Paul’s presentation of the gospel, accepting the gracious gift of God in Christ is a fully liberating experience. By acknowledging our sinfulness and receiving the forgiveness that can only be found in Christ, we also receive the freedom to truly LIVE for Christ. Our very lives become infused with fresh wind from on high, propelling us into a new life (the abundant life, to use John’s terminology). This comprises the practical outworking of all the atonement theology: it’s all focused on setting humanity free from the bondage of sin to live on purpose as God’s image-bearing creation. I think this is what Paul means when he says, “For me to live is Christ.” Paul has been freed from the mistakes of the past in order to more fully live toward Christ. This is gospel, too. And I think this, more than anything, is what Paul longs to share with a divisive church family in Rome.

The final half of Romans 1 is a set-up for what comes in Romans 2. Paul talks about “them” — the godless and wicked, depraved in both mind and body — in order to heighten the point he’s going to make about “us” in ch2. But we can draw several important themes out of these final verses: God’s self-revelation, even in creation (v20); a definition of sin as exchanging God’s glory for something false (v23); God’s acquiescence to human free will (v24, 26, 28). But more than anything else, I think Romans 1 affirms that which plagues us all: sin. Paul will have more to say about this in the next few chapters. Thankfully, sin never has the final word for those who are in Christ Jesus.