I want to mention, just in case anyone is paying attention, that this series of posts on Romans, which bids well to stretch throughout the year, is not an attempt to dissect Romans or to present a blogging commentary on the epistle. I do not write as an authority of any kind, just someone who has been immersing himself in the book by re-reading it often. In these posts I try to capture my thoughts and internal responses to the text as I read (and re-read), and put them down in words. That's all.
I'm nearing the end of the first month of the reading plan. Here's my attempt to summarize the January passage (1:1-2:11).
Christ is the key here. Paul is his servant, preaching his gospel (the good news about who he was and what he accomplished). The purpose is to "bring about the obedience of faith for the sake of [Jesus'] name in all the nations." [1:1-7]
So we have Jesus/gospel/faith. And we have this wonderful and slippery phrase, "the obedience of faith." Keep these in mind.
The Roman Christians are world-renowned for their faith, so much so that even Paul longs to receive encouragement from it. The faithful are encouraged by one another's faith. Paul needed this kind of encouragement. So, I presume, do we. [1:8-14]
A word about encouragement here. Encouragement, in its Christian form, is not (judging by Paul's use of the word at v.12) mere positive thinking you-can-do-it pep talks. That kind is mostly irrational nonsense and has led many people into fruitless time-wasting and spirit-draining endeavors that they should never have begun. Real Christian encouragement contains the gospel. We are encouraged by one another's faith. Preaching the gospel is encouraging. For an example of this, you can jump ahead to Paul's use of the gospel as encouragement in the eighth chapter. Paul's faith is on display for the encouragement of people who are enduring the most distressing situations imaginable (see 8:35, for example).
So, Paul wants to be encouraged and he wants to encourage. His way of doing this is by preaching the gospel everywhere he goes, to all types, unashamedly. I take away this lesson here: faith needs encouragement. It seems that the "obedience of faith" is no quick and easy transformation in the one who believes. This is why the gospel needs to be frequently re-preached to believers. This is why Paul longs to preach it even to these Christians renowned for their faith. [1:15-16]
Set all this against the backdrop of a world de-volving in a downward spiral that begins with the refusal to acknowledge God (think, to begin with, of Adam and Eve) and a setting up of new Gods in His place. From all this follows every sort of sin, and Paul lists most of them. The one-word heading for all this is unrighteousness. It merits God's inevitable wrath. [1:18-32]
That's the human predicament addressed by the gospel. And you get the impression, reading this first chapter to the Romans, that Paul does not want the Christians in Rome to think they've risen above all this and can now feel safe from its contamination. We know from other passages in the epistles that Paul does not see the life of a Christian this way. See Philippians 3:12-14, for example.
Of course Paul is laying the groundwork here for much that is to come, but suffice it to say that the predicament of the world, caused by the failure of the human race to acknowledge God as God, is a gargantuan problem. Do not underestimate the problem, nor its potential impact on your own lives, Paul seems to be saying.
That's why, I presume, Christians need to hear the gospel again and again. That's why the Roman Christians, and Paul himself, stand in need of encouragement. For Paul, the encouragement is the gospel itself. The gospel reaps a harvest. The gospel is fertile ground for human flourishing. The gospel "acknowledges God" in the most clear and perfect way, and thus reverses in some sense the impact of the failure to acknowledge Him that is at the root of the world's problems. That failure produces darkened hearts and futile thoughts [v.21], but the preaching of the gospel reaps a harvest. [v.13]
Finally, in the last segment of the January reading [2:1-11], we learn that the religious person is not immune from this need of the gospel. His primary problem is hypocrisy. He sets himself up as the judge and jury, but is guilty of all the things for which he condemns others.
Here's the lesson I take away from this passage: Be very careful not to judge others. Don't claim the moral high ground because you're a Christian. This kind of behavior is deadly, and amounts to playing God, which is what started the whole crisis of sin to begin with.
The passage as a whole leaves me with this contrast of, on the one hand, futility and fruitlessness (as the result of the failure to acknowledge God), and on the other hand, the harvest metaphor used by Paul, and the phrase "the obedience of faith." Between these two contrasting pictures stands the "good news" about Jesus, who was the son of David according the flesh, but the son of God according to the Spirit, as proven by his resurrection from the dead. He is the Lord, and through him we receive grace, calling, faith. We go from futility to fruitfulness. The good news about Jesus changes everything, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes.
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