Reading Romans Backwards

Reading Romans Backwards: A Torah That Disrupts Peace

Review: Reading Romans Backwards

Beginning at the End: Romans 12-16 A Community Needing Peace

Then in Romans 9-11 A Narrative Leading to Peace

Now, we finally get to the beginning: Romans 1-4 A Torah That Disrupts Peace

And, not to spoil the ending, but next we’ll look at Romans 5-8 exploring these powerful chapters that reveal to us a Spirit Creating Peace.

But let’s remember what we’ve covered so far:

(16, 12-15) Introduced to the Community(ies) in Rome who are in need of peace.

We met Phoebe, the woman who Paul trusted the letter to… and not just to run his errand of letter-delivery, but to DELIEVER the letter to them. To stand in their midst as Paul’s proxy. To address the Weak and the Strong and to call them - weak and strong alike, to a process of being transformed into the likeness of Christ. A process that would orient them towards God, towards one another as the Body of Christ and public facing towards Rome and the rest of the known world.

Once we had a picture of the cast of characters and the issues they were facing, we backed up to chapters 9-11, and traced the narrative. A Narrative that leads to peace.

The familiar characters of Abraham, Isaac, Rebekah, Jacob, Moses, prophets like Isaiah & Hosea, Kings and psalmists like David, … and discovered that the story that continued to repeat - God chooses, God blesses, God has mercy.

Last week, we took a break and Barb preached a beautiful sermon on the prayers of Paul, including the prayer Paul prays in Romans 1:

Now, this week, we move back to the opening chapters.

And now, more than ever, we will need to be careful. Why? Because we’re moving to the “more famous” parts of Romans. These might be the chapters that contain verses you know.

Romans 1-4 and Romans 5-8 are sometimes taken as one piece, sometimes two, but either way, they are seen as the “heart of the book of Romans”… and in fact, many of us have likely mostly or only heard these chapters preached or read. By the time we get to Romans 9, we’re blown away and exhausted. Paul has pointed the firehose our way and we quickly skim Romans 9-16…

Romans 1:7 (CEB)

7 To those in Rome who are dearly loved by God and called to be God’s people.

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Now, if we haven’t got the end of Romans in mind, if we’ve lost sight of this being a letter at all and treat it as a theological treatise without context or occasion, this verse should bring us back, right?

Who is dearly loved by God? (the strong and the weak!)

Who is called to be God’s people? (the strong and the weak! All of us!)

Romans 1:16 (CEB)

16 I’m not ashamed of the gospel: it is God’s own power for salvation to all who have faith in God, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.

Sorry, what is the gospel again? God’s power for salvation! For whom?

For the weak. And for the strong. First Jew, then Greek. All of us.

And then here’s where things start to take off. Romans 1:18 all the way to the end of chapter 4… are often read as bad news, good news and how to get it.

Bad news, everyone is sinful. Gentiles (or generic humanity) and Jews.

Good news, everyone needs a saviour. Redemption is found in Jesus alone.

How to get it, everyone needs to have faith. Faith alone, instead of works is the proper response to God’s grace in Christ.

In fact, I could preach this standard reading and likely get away with the fact that it is completely removed from the social context sketched in Romans 12-16. Taking the teaching from the first four chapters of Romans and universalizing them, focusing on the aspect of redemption at the expense of reconciliation.

Now. Redemption is important. And it’s present in what Paul writes to the church in Rome. But it’s not the only thing. And too often, and for too long, we’ve ignored the way Reconciliation is a major focus of Paul’s not to mention the goal of his writing to these believers in the first place. Their redemption is meant to reconcile them. Not lead them to continue to claim their privilege and power… but to living in fellowship as siblings with people who do things differently than you do.

So. Let’s slow things down a bit. Let’s move through these four chapters slowly.

And let’s keep the sketch of the community in minds as we do…

These four chapters, beginning at 1:18 are, according to Scot McKnight, addressed to the Weak. (Think about how Paul has set this up by speaking of “first to the Jew, then to the Greek.)

We’ll start with The Stereotype

And then Paul will make his Rhetorical Turn before moving onto 3 questions

Imagine for a moment that there were a group of people that we tend to stereotype. (Millenials, boomers?) Now imagine that I had a really great example of how that stereotype is unfair and i wanted to share it .

One option is to wait for you to speak the stereotype and to counter it with this information I have.

Another is to spew such stereotyping speech myself, get you nodding along, “Yeah, they really are like that, aren’t they!?” and then turn it around on you, revealing the stereotype as what it really is. And moving from there into truth.

Romans 1:18-32 is a stereotype of a specific type of Gentile that borrows heavily from The Wisdom of Solomon - a book that most of us aren’t very familiar with because it’s part of what we call the Apocrypha.

And then Paul will make his Rhetorical Turn in chapter 2… introducing us to the “Judge” - a member of the Weak. A reminder that Paul is addressing two main groups within the church in Rome. There are Jewish and Gentile believers in this church and some of the Jewish believers insist that the Gentile believers must observe Torah. In other words, they must become Jewish in order to then follow Christ.

Paul’s whole point in Romans 1-4 is to argue against Torah observance as the path to moral transformation. And then in Romans 5-8, Paul will reveal union with Christ to be the only true path for anyone (Jew or Gentile) to achieve moral transformation.

But he starts by addressing the Weak. And by potentially repeating exactly what the Judge the representative of the Weak, might have been saying about “those Gentiles”…

So, here we read the stereotype.

Romans 1:18–25 CEB

18 God’s wrath is being revealed from heaven against all the ungodly behavior and the injustice of human beings who silence the truth with injustice. 19 This is because what is known about God should be plain to them because God made it plain to them. 20 Ever since the creation of the world, God’s invisible qualities—God’s eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, because they are understood through the things God has made. So humans are without excuse. 21 Although they knew God, they didn’t honor God as God or thank him. Instead, their reasoning became pointless, and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22 While they were claiming to be wise, they made fools of themselves. 23 They exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images that look like mortal humans: birds, animals, and reptiles. 24 So God abandoned them to their hearts’ desires, which led to the moral corruption of degrading their own bodies with each other. 25 They traded God’s truth for a lie, and they worshipped and served the creation instead of the creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.

Romans 1:26–32 CEB

26 That’s why God abandoned them to degrading lust. Their females traded natural sexual relations for unnatural sexual relations. 27 Also, in the same way, the males traded natural sexual relations with females, and burned with lust for each other. Males performed shameful actions with males, and they were paid back with the penalty they deserved for their mistake in their own bodies. 28 Since they didn’t think it was worthwhile to acknowledge God, God abandoned them to a defective mind to do inappropriate things. 29 So they were filled with all injustice, wicked behavior, greed, and evil behavior. They are full of jealousy, murder, fighting, deception, and malice. They are gossips, 30 they slander people, and they hate God. They are rude and proud, and they brag. They invent ways to be evil, and they are disobedient to their parents. 31 They are without understanding, disloyal, without affection, and without mercy. 32 Though they know God’s decision that those who persist in such practices deserve death, they not only keep doing these things but also approve others who practice them.

What we read here is a stereotype of a specific type of Gentile

“Romans 1:18-32 describes not typical sins of typical sinners but specific sins of a specific kind of sinner. Paul is not universalizing here…The words in Romans 1 are a standard Jewish stereotype of the godless, idolatrous gentiles of the diaspora.” Scot McKnight

McKnight suggests that Paul is parroting the words of the Judge - or at least putting these words in his mouth, so that he can turn these words back on the one speaking them.

Imagine Phoebe delivering the letter, and a group within those listening are nodding (either internally or externally) and thinking, “Give it to them, Paul. This is exactly right!)

But now we moved from the Stereotype to the Rhetorical Turn. In Romans 2 - Paul shifts from the 3rd person (talking about THEM) to 2nd person (talking to YOU). So now instead of talking about “those Gentiles” he moves to speak to the Weak and to the Judge directly.

Romans 2:1–7 CEB

1 So every single one of you who judge others is without any excuse. You condemn yourself when you judge another person because the one who is judging is doing the same things. 2 We know that God’s judgment agrees with the truth, and his judgment is against those who do these kinds of things. 3 If you judge those who do these kinds of things while you do the same things yourself, think about this: Do you believe that you will escape God’s judgment? 4 Or do you have contempt for the riches of God’s generosity, tolerance, and patience? Don’t you realize that God’s kindness is supposed to lead you to change your heart and life? 5 You are storing up wrath for yourself because of your stubbornness and your heart that refuses to change. God’s just judgment will be revealed on the day of wrath. 6 God will repay everyone based on their works.7 On the one hand, he will give eternal life to those who look for glory, honor, and immortality based on their patient good work.

Romans 2:8–11 CEB

8 But on the other hand, there will be wrath and anger for those who obey wickedness instead of the truth because they are acting out of selfishness and disobedience. 9 There will be trouble and distress for every human being who does evil, for the Jew first and also for the Greek. 10 But there will be glory, honor, and peace for everyone who does what is good, for the Jew first and also for the Greek. 11 God does not have favorites.

So here, with this shift from 3rd person (they/them) to 2nd person (you), we shift from the stereotyped sinners to “the Judge”… someone who is among the Weak … and who is likely stirring up Jewish Christians to insist that Gentile believers become Jewish on their way to Jesus.

And the language from the opening verses of “first for the Jew, and also for the Greek” resumes.

From here, Paul will go on to explore three questions. And these questions help us see that this first section of Romans 1-4 (other than the very beginning) is aimed at the Weak, not at the Strong. The questions, after all, are not the kinds of questions that the Gentile believers would have been asking. These questions address the concerns of the Weak, of the Jewish believers who are struggling to make sense of their place and how their history fits into things now.

Romans 3-4 explores 3 questions… all about the idea of advantage

Does Jewish election (or God’s choosing) give them special privilege or priority?

Is there space to boast in an advantage?

What about Abraham?

Romans 3:1–4 CEB

1 So what’s the advantage of being a Jew? Or what’s the benefit of circumcision? 2 Plenty in every way. First of all, the Jews were trusted with God’s revelations. 3 What does it matter, then, if some weren’t faithful? Their lack of faith won’t cancel God’s faithfulness, will it? 4 Absolutely not! God must be true, even if every human being is a liar, as it is written: So that it can show that you are right in your words; and you will triumph when you are judged.

Romans 3:5–9 NIV

5 But if our unrighteousness brings out God’s righteousness more clearly, what shall we say? That God is unjust in bringing his wrath on us? (I am using a human argument.) 6 Certainly not! If that were so, how could God judge the world? 7 Someone might argue, “If my falsehood enhances God’s truthfulness and so increases his glory, why am I still condemned as a sinner?” 8 Why not say—as some slanderously claim that we say—“Let us do evil that good may result”? Their condemnation is just! 9 What shall we conclude then? Do we have any advantage? Not at all! For we have already made the charge that Jews and Gentiles alike are all under the power of sin.

Romans 3:21–26 NIV

21 But now apart from the law the righteousness of God has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. 22 This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. 25 God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of his blood—to be received by faith. He did this to demonstrate his righteousness, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished—26 he did it to demonstrate his righteousness at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.

So does Jewish election (or God’s choosing) give them special privilege or priority?

Well. Yes. And also no. As Jewish believers in Jesus, you are redeemed the same way as your Gentile siblings. Through the faithfulness of Jesus who shows us what a righteous God is like.

2. Is there space to boast in that advantage?

Romans 3:27–31 CEB

27 What happens to our bragging? It’s thrown out. With which law? With what we have accomplished under the Law? 28 No, not at all, but through the law of faith. We consider that a person is treated as righteous by faith, apart from what is accomplished under the Law. 29 Or is God the God of Jews only? Isn’t God the God of Gentiles also? Yes, God is also the God of Gentiles. 30 Since God is one, then the one who makes the circumcised righteous by faith will also make the one who isn’t circumcised righteous through faith. 31 Do we then cancel the Law through this faith? Absolutely not! Instead, we confirm the Law.

How much can I say about this? I think this one speaks for itself. Is there room for bragging? No.

So, to recap:

Is there special priority or privilege for the Jewish believers in Jesus?

Is there room for boasting about that advantage?

What about Abraham?

Romans 4:1–3 CEB

1 So what are we going to say? Are we going to find that Abraham is our ancestor on the basis of genealogy? 2 Because if Abraham was made righteous because of his actions, he would have had a reason to brag, but not in front of God. 3 What does the scripture say? Abraham had faith in God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.

Paul goes on to say quite a bit more about Abraham in vs 4-25… but it is more on this right here. Abraham, the patriarch, the prototype of Jewish faith, turns out to also have been saved through his faith. Paul points out that this “faith credited as righteousness” happened BEFORE Abraham was circumcised. BEFORE Abraham offered Isaac as a sacrifice. BEFORE. Those acts of obedience to God were a result of the faith he had already put in Yahweh. Abraham believed, Abraham trusted, and so he did the thing God asked of him.

And so, after the Stereotype, the Rhetorical Turn and the Questions, we return to the way Paul began the letter.

A letter written to “those in Rome who are dearly loved by God and called to be God’s people” by Paul who declared in 1:18 that he was “not ashamed of the gospel - the good news: it is God’s own power for salvation to all those who have faith in God, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.”

And for us, Southwest Community Church, we too are dearly loved by God. We are those included because God’s great love and Paul’s willingness to be a missionary to the Gentiles. We are part of this great narrative because of difficult conversations had in the early church over whether or not we could be a part of what God was doing in the world.

If Paul were to write a letter to us today, what stereotypes might he employ to then turn back on us? What questions that we’re wrestling with would he address?

Paul is no longer here to argue with us (and for us!).

But the Spirit is. And next week, we’ll dive into chapter 5… which after all of this begins gloriously with the word, “Therefore… since we have been made righteous through his faithfulness, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Let’s turn our hearts to prayer. Melanie would you come and lead us?