Archive for the ‘Romans’ Category

Salvation of the Cosmos (Romans 1:18-23)

August 31, 2024

Pentecost 15 – 2024 Season of Creation – Planet Earth

Romans 1:18-23

Marian Free

In the name of God whose salvific act in Jesus embraces not only ourselves but the whole creation. Amen.

At the moment I am teaching a subject called New Testament Letters which of course includes the letters of Paul. Many people find Paul difficult to understand. This is in part because it is impossible for us to transport ourselves back into the culture of the first century and to the origins of what was to become the church. More than that we don’t always understand Paul because most of us are unaware of the many tools which Paul used to convince his readers of the truth of his arguments. Foremost among these are the tools of Rhetoric which were common usage for the philosophers, speakers and writers of Paul’s time. These included the rhetorical question – a question (to which the answer is obvious) and dialogues with an imaginary partner in which Paul poses questions that his readers might be asking. 

Another tool which is particularly evident in Paul is the use of ancient texts to demonstrate that he is arguing no new thing but is building on an established tradition. Paul’s dependence on the Old Testament is particularly evident in Romans which is peppered with direct quotes.  The translators have helpfully indented these in our Bibles which makes them easy to identify. Much more difficult to recognise are Paul’s allusions to scripture, especially when they are drawn from the Apocrypha, a number of books written between the Testaments which are often omitted from the Bibles that are used by Anglicans. 

I mention this, because Romans 1, a portion of which we have read this morning, draws heavily on the book of Wisdom especially chapter 13.  At some time, you might like to read the two texts so that you can see the similarities for yourselves. For the moment I will quote a couple of passages.

Wisdom 13:1 reads: “For all people who were ignorant of God were foolish by nature;

and they were unable from the good things that are seen to know the one who exists,

nor did they recognize the artisan while paying heed to his works.” 13:5 states: “For from the greatness and beauty of created things comes a corresponding perception of their Creator.”  Compare these lines with Romans 1:19,20: “For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. Ever since the creation of the world his eternal power and divine nature, invisible though they are, have been understood and seen through the things he has made.”

Paul shares with the wisdom tradition a belief that God can be known through the revelation of the natural world and an understanding that the worship of idols (or a failure to worship God whose presence is all around), is the source of all vice and wrongdoing.

That is not to suggest that God is a fundamental entity of the same nature as the world but to recognise that God can be known through God’s creation and through history.

Paul is clear that the creator of the universe is not hidden but is accessible to and therefore able to be known by all of humanity whether or not they belong to the religious tradition that names the creator as God. Further, those who recognise God in God’s creation, will behave in ways consistent with knowing God, whether or not they subscribe to the law followed by those who call God their God.

On this first Sunday of creation, we celebrate God’s presence in the created world but Paul’s interest in creation doesn’t end there. If we read further in the letter to the Romans, we discover that not only can God be known in creation but that Paul’s view of salvation embraced the whole creation. The created world is of one piece, if one part of creation suffers, the whole of creation suffers. As long ago as the first century, Paul understood that all creation was weighed down by the powers of Sin and Death which had held sway since Adam. Now,  through Christ, creation itself has been set free.

In chapter 8 he writes: “For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the children of God; for the creation was subjected to futility, not of its own will but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and will obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. We know that the whole creation has been groaning in labour pains until now; and not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly while we wait for adoption, the redemption of our bodies.”

It is powerful language especially as it was written at a time when no one could have perceived the life-destroying stresses that would be placed on our natural world, the weights under which it would begin to struggle and groan and the changes it would undergo as a result of human greed and indifference. 

Our individualistic, self-centred culture has tended to associate salvation with humankind.  As Gaventa points out: “we have reduced God’s salvific act into something small, a transaction between God and ourselves, or between God and a group of people”[1] whereas Paul’s view is collective and cosmic. Paul sees Jesus’ death as a turning point in a cosmic conflict (op cit, 42) in which God defeats the deadly powers that have held the whole cosmos in their thrall.

Paul recognises as we often fail to that all creation is God’s and that we are an integral part of, not separate from, that creation. As we celebrate this month of creation, may we understand our place in the universe and strive to live in harmony with the whole created world, and as one part of an intricate and interrelated cosmos.

[1] (not an exact quote). Gaventa, Beverly, Roberts. (2016) When in Romans: An invitation to linger with the Gospel According to Paul. Grand Rapids, Michigan:  Baker Academic, 32.

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The place of the flesh – Romans 7

July 8, 2023

Pentecost 6 -2023
Romans 7:14-25
Marian Free

In the name of God, Earth-maker, Pain-bearer, Life-giver. Amen.

In today’s reading from Romans, we hear this heartfelt cry: “Wretched man that I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?” The text continues: “So then, with my mind I am a slave to the law of God, but with my flesh I am a slave to the law of sin.” These words have led generations of Christians to believe a) that it is impossible to do the right thing and b) that the body/flesh is inherently bad and cannot be controlled. The negative effects of such an understanding are incalculable. The former has created an atmosphere in which faithful Christians are burdened with the feeling that no matter what they do, they will not be able to please God and the latter has led to an attitude that the body is a traitor that has to be subdued, if not punished .

Paul, who was utterly confident in his salvation, would have been mortified to learn that his words had been so misunderstood, or that members of the Christian community thought that he struggled to do the right thing, or that he rejected his physical self. Even before his encounter with Jesus, Paul was convinced that under the law he was blameless (Phil 3:6)! It is inconceivable that now, having been reconciled with Christ (Rom 5:11), Paul would have an existential crisis about his worth. Paul, who believed that he (and we) was saved by faith, would not be saying towards the end of his life that all his efforts had come to nothing.

Unfortunately, the lectionary does us a disservice in its selection of verses from the letter to the Romans which of all Paul’s letters is the most carefully constructed, would ideally be studied as a whole.

Our reading today is a case in point. It belongs to a section of the letter which begins in chapter 5 and continues through to chapter 8. Chapter 5 begins with the confident claim: “Therefore, since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,” a sentiment that is echoed at the beginning of chapter 8: “There is therefore now. no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and death” (1,2). Indeed, even in today’s reading we hear Paul’s triumphant cry: “Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!” (7:25). Throughout this section, Paul constantly reminds readers that “while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son” (5:10) and that “sin will have no more dominion over you” (6:14). Overall, Paul’s message throughout these chapters is a positive message about the consequence of Christ’s obedience for all who have come to faith.

Simply put, in Chapters 5 through 8 Paul is describing the battle between two competing powers or dominions – the power of sin/flesh (which includes law and death) and the power of the spirit (which leads to reconciliation and life). Paul is not speaking of himself or his own personal struggle, but of the order of things in the world – an order brought into being by Adam that Christ has now put to rights through the cross. Here and elsewhere, Paul is not thinking of ‘flesh’ as the physical stuff of which we are made , but as a power that (without Christ) has a hold on us. We choose to be under the dominion of the ‘flesh’ (sin, death and the law) or under the dominion of the ‘spirit’.

In chapter 7 Paul is grappling with the place of the law in the newly emerging faith. The law, he argues here and elsewhere, was a temporary solution to deal with sin, which entered the world through Adam. The law (though holy, just and good) was only ever a temporary solution and even so it was co-opted by sin and death.

The apparent contradiction between wretchedness and triumph that underlie today’s reading, lie in Paul’s use of Greek rhetoric. It is important to note that Paul is not using his own voice here, but, in the manner of an actor, is playing a role. That is to say, the “I” here is not a self-referent, but belongs to a character that Paul has assumed – possibly that of Adam. Adam has been in view from the beginning of this section (5:12) where Paul identifies Adam with sin. In 7:7-12, Paul returns to Adam without specifically naming him. referring to “I once lived apart from the law” can only refer to Adam because, according to our scriptures, only one person lived before the law, and this was the first human, Adam.

As is the case with all of scripture, so too, with Romans 7 – it must be read in the light, not only of its own context, but in the light of scripture as a whole which, as one scholar has said, is God’s love letter to humanity. The God who created us, saw us and said that we were “very good”, the Psalmist praises God saying: “I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made” and, far from rejecting human flesh, God sent his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh” (8:3).

Rejection of the body is rejection of the one who created us. A sense of unworthiness is a failure to grasp that “while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” and that “while we were still weak, Christ died for the ungodly.” There is no expectation here or elsewhere that God demands perfection or that the body is a source of embarrassment and shame. Paul’s victorious cry at the end of chapter 7 and his assertion in chapter 8 that “there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ” places this whole section in a positive light and serves to remind us – not how weak and despised we are – but how much we are loved, and how much God in Christ has done for us.

Michael Gorman, Apostle of the Crucified Lord. Grand Rapids, Michigan: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2017 has provided the following helpful summary of. Chapters 5 – 8, p 430 (in the second edition).

Text             Narrative Perspective                   Antithesis                     Theme                                  Cross
5:1-11                Overview                         Enemies vs friends      Justification as reconciliation    God’s love                        

5:12-21             Cosmic,                             Adam vs Christ            Free from sin, under grace       Christ’s 

                          or salvation historical                                                                                                   obedience
6:1-7:6               Baptismal                     Slavery to sin                  Dead to sin, alive to God           Christ

                                                                   vs slavery to righteousness                                               crucified
7:7-8:39           Existential                       Flesh vs Spirit             In the Spirit not in the flesh        Believers’          

                                                                                                                                                     death to the old life,       

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The Trinity and Paul – some thoughts

May 30, 2015

Trinity Sunday – 2015

Romans 8

Marian Free

In the name of God who created us, died for us and enlivens us. Amen.

The Apostle Paul gets a lot of bad press. From the time the author of 2 Peter wrote: “There are some things in them (Paul’s letters) hard to understand”, there have been those who accuse Paul of being difficult, culture bound and chauvinistic. As a Pauline scholar I would of course, contest all such negative comments and claim them to be misrepresentations at worst and misinterpretations at best by those who have not taken the time to study and understand the genius that is Paul[1].

I am not saying that the letters of Paul are immediately transparent, or that there are not some parts that require a certain amount of effort to understand, but I would claim that what Paul has to say is absolutely essential for our understanding of the gospel and that he says it in a way that is quite masterful and compelling.

One of the difficulties that we face when we read either Paul’s letters or the gospels is that they were written in the first century for a first century Mediterranean audience. The letters are even more specific. Paul was not writing for our edification. In fact I think that he had no more idea of his letters being turning into Holy Scripture than we would imagine that our assignments in theology would one day be accepted into the canon.

Paul was writing to specific situations that had arisen in communities that had come to faith as a result of his teaching or, as is the case with Romans, a community that he wished to visit. His intention was not to write theology but to set the recipients straight on matters of faith or behaviour. The communities to whom he wrote consisted by and large of people who had had no grounding in the Jewish faith and who therefore had considerable catching up to do in order to begin to understand the gospel.

What I find remarkable is, that in this context and within twenty years of Jesus’ death, Paul – who never met the earthly Jesus – was able to distil the significance of Jesus’ life and teaching and to give them a meaning that continues to inform us today. The gospels give us the story of Jesus (albeit with interpretation). Paul, writing considerably earlier, tells us what it all means. In so doing he foreshadows ideas which later scholars turned into theology and into doctrine.

Take the notion of the Trinity for example. Over the centuries much ink has been spilt in trying to elucidate the nature of God and what it means for God to be both one and three. Paul simply assumes a Trinitarian God – Creator, Son and Spirit. This is particularly evident in Romans 8:9-11. “But you are not in the flesh; you are in the Spirit, since the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. But if Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also through his Spirit that dwells in you.” Paul is making an argument about life in the Spirit, but in order to do so he also speaks of God and Christ as if they were all one God.

In verse 9 Paul speaks of “being in the Spirit” because the “Spirit of God dwells in you” and adds “Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. He goes on to say “the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you”, “the Spirit dwells in you.” The Spirit incorporates believers into the life of Christ that in turn incorporates them into the union between Christ and God. It seems that it is perfectly natural for Paul to think of God as the one who raised Jesus from the dead, as Jesus and as Spirit and that as a result he is able to use the expressions interchangeably.

The notion of God being known as God, as Spirit and as Word is not new to Paul. Genesis 1 introduces the Spirit in the form of ruah or breath and in Ezekiel (37:5) it is God’s ruah (breath) that brings life to the dry bones. The same Spirit animates Ezekiel, transports him to the valley of bones and will give life to the people of Israel. (This is not dissimilar to Paul’s idea that it is the Spirit that gives life to the believer (Rom 8:11)). Proverbs introduces Wisdom (sophia or logos) as co-creator with God. So in the Judeo-Christian from the beginning of creation there has been an implicit notion of the complex nature of the One God.

It would be the Incarnation that would give this idea flesh both literally and figuratively. God in human form proved much more challenging than the less concrete ideas of God as breath and wisdom. How could Jesus be both human and God? How could Jesus be pre-existent? Where did the Spirit fit in all this? It would take the church close to four hundred years to express the idea of the Trinity in theological and doctrinal terms that were universally accepted[2] and many more centuries for scholars to continue to explore and name what it means for God to be both one and three and how to express this without diminishing one of the persons of the Trinity.

For Paul and the early church the nature of God was not something to be intellectualized or argued. It seems to have been taken for granted that God could be known as Father, Son and Spirit, the one who sent Jesus, the one sent (Jesus) and the one whom Jesus sent (Spirit), the one who raised Jesus from the dead, Jesus who was raised from the dead and the Spirit.

Instead of worrying about how the Trinity works and which analogies are heretical or not, let us take a page out of Paul’s book and assert that God simply is – Creator, Redeemer and Sanctifier, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

[1] When I speak of Paul’s letters I refer to the seven letters that are considered genuinely Pauline – Romans, 1 and 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Philippians, 1 Thessalonians and Philemon.

[2] Some would claim imposed was a better word.

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