Consider the Possibilities

Through the first 4 chapters of Romans, Paul asks us to contemplate the real nature and extent of sin, both in humanity as a whole, and in each individual.

Then, in chapter 5, he asks us to contemplate, over against this stark soulscape of sin, the nature and extent of God's grace to those who believe.

This is a teaching I drank deeply of in my Lutheran days, but the question that always concerned me was, what then? Or, in Schaeffer's famous words,"How should we then live?"

In chapter 6 of Romans, Paul's answer begins with a rather grand assertion. In sum: we died with Christ, and now, through union with him in his resurrection we can live his kind of life.

I always hesitate to use pretentious theological terms, but what we are talking about now is union with Christ and sanctification. The church's teaching on this has been all over the block in the past century or two. Nevertheless, here is where the Christian's existential thirst becomes most apparent. We desire righteousness, and we see it lovely in Christ, but in ourselves marred almost beyond recognition.

This issue, this problem, this thirst, is where the conscience of the sinning Christian--that means all of us--tosses and turns. Shall we avoid the frustration by lowering our expectations? Such is not Paul's way. He says, "Consider yourself dead to sin." If this is true, then it must be a matter for me of believing something that I do not see. A matter, that is, of faith.

On this question of holiness Paul's aim is always very high. He seems to assume holiness to be always possible!!! [If that statement does not deserve multiple exclamation points, nothing does.] This is why Paul can say,

Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions. Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness. For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace.

Now I want to turn your attention to an old book called Thoughts on Christian Sanctity, by H. C. G. Moule. I'll just say this: read his first chapter, called Aims, Limits, Possibilities (on Google books). It is a wonderful exposition of some stunning Bible truths.

On the matter of the Christian Aims, he writes:

The Christian's aim is bound, absolutely bound, to be nothing less than this--"Let the words of my lips, and the meditation of my heart, be always acceptable in Thy sight, O Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer."

And on the subject of Limits, Moule has this to say:

Here I hold, with absolute conviction, alike from the experience of the Church and from the infallible Word, that in the mystery of things there will be very real limits to [the attainment of Christian holiness], and very humbling limits, very real fallings short. To the last it will be a Sinner that walks with God. To the last will "abide in the regenerate" that strange tendency, that "mind of the flesh," which eternal grace can wonderfully deal with, but which is a tendency still.

Finally, under the heading, Possibilities, Moule writes:

It is possible, I dare say, for those who will indeed draw on the Lord's power for deliverance and victory, to live a life--how shall I describe it--a life in which His promises are taken as they stand and found to be true. It is possible to cast every care on Him daily and to be at peace amidst the pressure. It is possible to have affections and imaginations purified through faith, in a profound and practical sense. It is possible to see the will of God in everything, and to find it, as one has said, no longer a sigh, but a song. It is possible, in the world of inner act and motion, to put away, to get put away, all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and evil speaking, daily and hourly.... These things are possible. And, because they are His work, the genuine experience of them will lay us, must lay us, only lower at His feet, and leave us only more a thirst for more.

"Love bade me welcome . . ."

Romans 5 has pretty much fired me up! I'd kind of like to write something about Paul's use of the word "reign" there, and something else about his phrase "hope of glory." Maybe I'll get to that here, maybe not. But this morning something jumped out at me that I hadn't really noticed before. It happens right at the end of verse 10:

For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life.

Ray Ortlund, in his Romans devotional, Passion for God, translates it this way:

After all, if, alienated from him as we were, God broke down the barriers by the death of his Son, how much more certain is it, now that we are back on good terms with him, that we will be fully saved as he imparts his life to us.

It's that last phrase that really grabs my attention here. Ortlund's words, "... fully saved, as he imparts his life to us."

Boy, if that doesn't lift the shades on your wonder-window, nothing does.

***

A timely post by Jared Wilson, quoting Augustus Toplady, might just relate. Also, this poem by George Herbert.

The Romans Reading Plan

Since I'm back to blogging through Romans again, I thought I'd just mention again what this reading/blogging plan is all about. I'm reading through Romans very slowly this year, spending the whole year on this one book. I've divided it up into 12 segments, one for each month. The April segment, for example, is 5:1-6:14. Here's the whole plan:

January Rom 1:1-2:11
February Rom. 2:12-3:20
March Rom. 3:21-4:25
April Rom. 5:1-6:14
May Rom. 6:15-7:24
June Rom. 8
July Rom. 9:1-10:4
August Rom. 10:5-11:24
September Rom. 11:25-12:21
October Romans 13 & 14
November Rom. 15
December Rom. 16

I'm trying to look at my life through the lens of Romans. I'm trying to let the words of Paul, in effect, sit me down and ask me discomforting questions. I find that this reading and re-reading longish passages of Scripture every day has the benefit, eventually, of breaking through your rote responses and routine applications.

Since commentaries can sometimes get in the way of devotional reading, I'm not using them (although I've been tempted at times). But I am reading a devotional based entirely on Romans and written by Ray Ortlund, called Passion for God. It's really wondrful. And Ray Ortlund is of course a wonderful blogger, too.

Things are not as they seem!

Last night I shared a Chestertonian nugget with you, something I'd found in Viola and Sweet's new book, Jesus Manifesto. Here, I'll give it to you again:

There is a great difference between a mystery of God that no one understands, and a mystery of God laid hold of, let it be but by one single man.

As I've come to chapters 5 and 6 in my Romans Reading Plan this month (reading 5:1 to 6:14 all month), I feel like I've been meandering down stream in a kayak, but just now I've hit the rapids. There's just so much here!

But getting back to the Chesterton quote, I take his "laid hold of" to mean, simply, believed. Believed, and lived out. A truth of God, mysterious, not fully understood (the truths of God never are), but believed and lived.

Here's another quote for you. It's not from the Romans passage, but it compliments what Paul says there nicely:

For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. (Colossians 3:3)

By the way, Ray Ortlund has something to say about this brief verse at his blog the other day. Check it out.

Making a similar point, John says:

Beloved, we are God's children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. (1 John 3:2)

But here's what I'm getting at. It's one thing to read the word of God. It's another thing to lay hold of, to believe and to live out, what it says there. I died? And my life is now hid with Christ in God? Things are not what seem, brothers and sisters. If I were to really lay hold of that, how would it change my life?

Back to Romans. I could choose any number of statements from this chapter-and-a-half, but let's go to 6:11:

So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.

This means believing that what Jesus accomplished on the cross really does stick. It really does make a difference. The imperative is: consider it done.

Lay hold of this mystery. You are now dead to sin, alive to God. You thought you were alive before, but you were under the dominion of death. When you were born again, your were born into a new kingdom, a new dominion. A dominion of life and light. It may not seem so, but things are not as they seem. Trust God and walk in newness of life.

Can I do that? Can I take my own advice and lay hold of this mystery today?

Romans: Stranger than Fiction

So I've been reading chapter 5 of Romans this month, and on into chapter 6 to verse 14. The more you read these mighty words of Paul's, the more humbling their impact. It is an amazing passage, and seems only to deepen in resonance with each re-reading.

Frequent re-reading is useful that way. I highly recommend it. The biggest roadblock to really receiving Scriptural truths and working them out in our lives is the presumption that we already understand them well enough. We move on too quickly. In a hurry to "read the Bible in a year" or find a passage more immediately stirring, we turn the page too readily. The truths of Scripture are both simple and yet deeply resisted within us. We disbelieve them more than we are willing to admit. Frequent re-reading can, rather than making us over-familiar, break though our jadedness and open our eyes to the wonder of it all.

The truth of God is stranger than fiction.

Anyway, Paul's descriptions in Romans of the nature of the Christian life can really set you to wondering. Take the passage in Romans 8:

For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, “Abba! Father!” The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him in order that we may also be glorified with Him.

Not a spirit of fear, you read, and you begin to wonder about fear, about your own fear, the things you fear, the fear you felt yesterday or just a moment ago. Silly, indefensible fear. And it occurs to you once again that your own life, admit it, does not exactly coincide with what Paul is describing here. But why not?

Let's go back to chapter 5, where I've been nesting all month. There Paul describes certain conditions as given for Christians, based on the justifying work of Christ. Peace with God, for example. And then, unashamed certainty concerning the glory of God that is our destiny. Which of course allows us to endure what we have to endure in this life while still "rejoicing" despite it all. That's all in the first paragraph of chapter 5.

Stop me when it all seems routine and, you know, obvious. If rejoicing even as you "endure" and "suffer" is normal for you, way to go. I guess I'm not there yet.

Toward the end of the chapter Paul says that since we have been reconciled to God through the blood of Jesus and have received the free gift of righteousness, we will reign in life through Christ Jesus. Life won't defeat us. We'll reign. We have this righteousness gift, so "sin death and the devil" will not master us. Instead of being reigned over by life and its burdens, by suffering, by the stubborn sin that seems to live in us, we will "reign in life through Jesus Christ our Lord."

Think about the word "reign" and tell me this doesn't just make your jaw drop?

It should seem at once unbelievable--unreasonable!--and yet, somehow, deeply resonatingly true and very believable.

Last week I was on the elevator at work with a co-worker (a Catholic Christian) who was clearly feeling depressed. We got to talking, and she said, "Bob, how do you keep this place from getting you down?" I said what popped into my head: "Greater is he who is in you than he who is in the world."

That's from 1 John 4:4. And it takes me back to chapter 5 of Romans, where Paul says we're able to rejoice even in the midst of suffering because "the love of God has been poured into our hearts." Love pour into our hearts! And, One in us greater than whatever the world can throw at us! Can you believe it?

Well, her eyes went wide with surprise and yet also, it seemed, recognition. It was as if I had reminded her of something she had forgotten. And the cool thing is, it turned her day around!

So we have, taking these 3 passages mentioned above, the spirit of adoption in us, the love of God poured into our hearts, and One in us who is greater than the one in the world. The New Testament is positively blooming with these kinds of strange and mysterious truths.

If I really understood them, well, I should be crazy with love and passion for God and all that.

It should all feel, I think, both amazing and surprising on the one hand, and on the other so real and so true that it can even provoke rejoicing in the midst of suffering. But, as I've been at pains to say, how seldom it seems to correspond with the way we live from day to day. How often it seems that the one who is in the world has the upper hand! And yet, when we let ourselves dwell on these Scriptural truths, perhaps we may begin to understand it just a little. We might just begin even to feel it. Even if we're enduring something--and of course we are! Suffering, after all, is another Biblical given, but as given as suffering is for the believer, so is (for the believer) peace. And so is hope. And rejoicing. And so is, in ways that none of us fully comprehend yet, reigning.

It's all so strange. And it's all so true!

By Christ Jesus

February's Scripture passage for month-long consideration is Romans 2:12-3:20. I read it every day. On the weekend I read the whole book of Romans. The point is to live with this "pinnacle epistle" (I think it was R. C. Sproul who called it that) for a whole year. Through thick and thin. And by the way, this past week has been pretty thick.

Anyway, the ESV heading for this section is (as you will see if you follow the link) "God's Judgement and the Law." The key verse of the passage (the coup de grace, if you will), comes at the very end, at 3:19,20:

Now we know that whatever the law says it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be stopped, and the whole world may be held accountable to God. For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin.

It occurred to me this morning that there's quite a bit about "judgement" in this passage. At 2:16 Paul says the judgement of God is "according to [his] gospel." In other words, it's good news.

It has taken me years to think of it that way. Furthermore, I don't know about you, but I'm really grateful that every mouth will be stopped. Can you just imagine that? A first in human history. Every mouth silent! And I'm particularly grateful, first of all, that my own mouth will be stopped. It will be so obvious, in that moment, that all my self-pardoning, my excuse making, my sublte prevaricating, back-filling, niggling qualifiers, and careful "re-interpretations" of the truth would be utterly useless. More, they would only prove my utter blindness to the glory before me, and the glory of His judgement of me (and the world) by Christ Jesus.

Let me say that last bit again: God is going to judge me, and you, and everyone, by Christ Jesus.

And Paul says, at the start of this passage, that this is good news.

Here's the thing. At this moment in my life, at this moment in my week, at this moment on Friday afternoon, I can't wait till every mouth . . . and especially my own . . . is silenced before the judgement seat of the Almighty, and in that universal hush we know profoundly, as never before, as the wounded Lamb smiles upon his many brothers and sisters, that we were indeed lost, but now are found!

Even so, come Lord Jesus.

Is everybody really worthless? Some meandering thoughts.

It's February, so I've been reading the February passage in my Romans Reading Plan. The passage begins at 2:12 ("For all who have sinned without the law will also perish without the law, and all who have sinned under the law will be judged by the law.") and ends with 3:20 ("For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin.").

You can kind of see right away what Paul is up to here. He wants to lay the groundwork for what he is about to say by showing that, whether Jew or Gentile, all are in dire need of grace (although he hasn't used that word yet).

In between, he makes the point that "circumcision is a matter of the heart." It reminds me of Steven, in Acts 7:51, where he calls his murderous accusers, "uncircumcised in heart and ears." Saul was standing by and perhaps condoning the religious mob that lynched Stephen, but many years later he would write to the Philippians, "For we are the circumcision, who worship by the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh." I like to think Stephen's accusation might have struck close to home for Saul that day.

Anyway, if circumcision means putting no confidence in the flesh, as Paul says, and if such misplaced confidence wells up from the deepest parts of us, then we are uncircumcised at heart. At heart, maybe we do put confidence in the flesh. On the surface, on the level of assertion, on the level of proposition, we say otherwise. But what of the heart?

Paul, in Romans 3, is about to say something quite awful.

“None is righteous, no, not one;
no one understands;
no one seeks for God.
All have turned aside; together they have become worthless;
no one does good,
not even one.”

Not even one? Ever?

Paul is quoting from Psalm 14 here, but doing so rather selectively. Go back to that Psalm, and read the opening lines.

The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.”
They are corrupt, they do abominable deeds,
there is none who does good.

Note: it is the fool who says all this, who has turned aside, etc. [By the way, my study Bible tells me that the three Hebrew words for fool always refer to "moral orientation."] For the Psalmist, it is the fool who ignores God, but meanwhile there is another group, as opposed to "the fool," whom God calls "my people." They're under siege, but God is their refuge (v.4,5). There are at least some, it seems, who "seek God."

So, come back to Romans 3. Paul is sounding quite a bit harsher and more sweeping than the Psalmist, and indeed I have heard preachers use verse 10 to declare that all humanity is nothing but a crawling mass of dung beetles. But is Paul really meaning to say that? I must hearken back to Romans 1, where Paul, addressing the Roman Christians, says they are called to be saints. And he says the purpose of the gospel is to bring about the obedience of faith in all the world. And even look forward to Romans 8, where he calls on people to walk by the Spirit, and yes, not by the flesh ("put no confidence in the flesh").

The point being, the gospel circumcises hearts. The gospel causes people to lose confidence in the flesh and gain confidence in God.

Bottom line, the circumcised heart is the heart of faith, whose confidence is in the Lord, who flee to his refuge, crying "Abba, Father," as one who knows the Father's response will be one of unalloyed love. If we know this, we can have peace in any storm. But if we do not have peace, is it because, at the heart level, we do not really believe these things?

Circumcise my heart, oh God.

The Good News on Judgement Day

So this month I'm reading Romans 2:12-3:20.

In the last post in this series I asked myself, how can it possibly be good news that Christ will one day judge the secret thoughts of my heart? I was kind of hoping that the secret thoughts of my heart would be, well, forgotten. Now that would be good news! But Paul says it at 2:14 and 15:

For when Gentiles, who do not have the law, by nature do what the law requires, they are a law to themselves, even though they do not have the law. They show that the work of the law is written on their hearts, while their conscience also bears witness, and their conflicting thoughts accuse or even excuse them on that day when, a according to my gospel, God judges the secrets of men by Christ Jesus.

Now this pure-hearted Gentile that Paul mentions here is a hypothetical case. In fact, he doesn't exist. Paul is making the point that circumcision is not the crucial thing when it comes to salvation. In fact, as he will say in a moment, everyone is sinful, and therefore all our talk of justice (on the day of judgement) is at best troubling and problematic.

But (here's where it gets tricky) even the hypothetical Gentile do-gooder has conflicting thoughts in his heart which either accuse or excuse him, and even these will be judged on that day. If even he has thoughts which accuse (and he keeps the law!), how is it good news that those thoughts will one day be judged by God in Christ?

A few thoughts: first, deeds matter, but deeds spring from the motivations of the heart. The heart matters too. True justice will not focus only on the tree, but also the root. There is no sin that is excused by the supposed good intentions harbored in the heart. And there is no outward law-keeping that is not undermined by the conflicting thoughts of the heart.

Second, the heart is a mess. Even the hypothetical Gentile has conflicting thoughts; some that accuse, some that excuse. But that fellow's measuring stick is probably crooked anyway. Note: the accusing and the excusing thoughts have their source in that same heart from which the sin itself sprung. In other words, it's untrustworthy. The bottom line is, whether his thoughts accuse or excuse is not really important. He is not the judge. To give you an infamous example, Adam and Eve judged that their own disobedience was small enough, insignificant enough, as to be covered up by a fig leaf. Surely God wouldn't notice....

Third, as Paul will state later, we all come into this world as children of Adam. Which is to say, like him, root and branch. Sorry to have to break the news....

But all this begs the original question. Paul says, and I wonder how it can be, that it's good news that God will judge our inmost thoughts "by Christ Jesus." And my question is, you call that good news?

I'm going to venture a guess at the answer to this question. I think the "good news" part of this statement hangs on the last three words of the passage. God will judge our hearts, Paul say, "by Christ Jesus."

This is where the mercy is. In Christ Jesus. God will look into our hearts, see what is there in all its inglorious reality, and look to Christ Jesus for the judgement. And Jesus will say, that sin also is one that I bore to the tree.

As I've mentioned before, I've been reading a book by Darrell W. Johnson called Discipleship on the Edge. On page 32 Johnson is summing up what it means to say that Jesus is the alpha and omega. The fact that Jesus is first and last says something very important about him. The fact that he is first (arche) means that he is the archetype of all creation. "Everything has its beginning in him and takes it shape from him."

And the fact that he is last (telos) means that he is victorious. He is the "inherent destiny" written into creation, the inevitable consummation, just as the telos of the acorn is the towering oak. The shape of eternity is Christ Jesus.

Here's Johnson:

The implications are staggering. For one thing, Jesus' claim finally explains the anguish of life. We were made to live his way; either we do, or life does not work. At the heart of so much of our anguish is choosing to go against him or his way. But Jesus' claim [that he is the first and last] gives tremendous hope. Jesus is going to have his way. We are going to become like him.

Christ Jesus bestrides history, but he also came into history, took on mortality, for the purpose of bringing about his vision for creation. That is, as Paul will soon say, so that he would be the first of many brothers.

For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.

That my judgement is in his hands is good news indeed!

The February Reading

This month's passage in the Romans Reading Plan (henceforth, RRP) is Romans 2:12-3:20. This is just the sort of passage I tend to pass through quickly. I mean the passages in which Paul seems to address the Jews in his audience, to talk of circumcision, uncircumcision, etc. I'm just not the target audience, so I think. So I grab the gist of Paul's argument and hurriedly read on.

Well, the RRP won't let me do that of of course. I've got to stay here for the month, and my guess is that I'll be glad I did. Some preliminary thoughts after 4 readings.

At one end of this passage Paul is arguing, hypothetically, that when people keep the law, even though they are Gentiles, they will be saved. Paul had stated this proposition back at 2:7. He's expanding on it here.

At the other end of this passage, Paul draws on the prophets of old, who spoke for God, to make the point that, well, nobody keeps the law. "No, not one."

Those are the two key points. We learn something important about the law here, and we learn something important about ourselves. More about all this later.

Also, more later about about 2:14-16:

For when Gentiles, who do not have the law, by nature do what the law requires, they are a law to themselves, even though they do not have the law. They show that the work of the law is written on their hearts, while their conscience also bears witness, and their conflicting thoughts accuse or even excuse them on that day when, a according to my gospel, God judges the secrets of men by Christ Jesus.

This passage prompts a question in me: in what way can it be "good news" (gospel) that God will judge the secrets of my heart?

A Summary of Romans 1

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.

Patience in Well-Doing

My January reading for the Romans Reading Plan is Romans 1:1 through 2:8. So I've been reading that passage all month and occasionally blogging about it. But the last part (2:1-11) kind of bugs me, because of this:

to those who by patience in well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, he will give eternal life;

Now, if you try preaching a sermon at me about how I should be "patient in well-doing," I might just walk out. The Luther-ish thing to say here would be that Christ is my righteousness--that his righteousness is imputed to me--but is Christ my patience in well-doing?

It helps to remember that this passage comes in the midst of a long argument for the proposition that, in the words of the estimable Ray Ortlund, Jr., "God has consigned the entire human race, even upright people, to domination under sin." Which means of course, that Paul's talk of "patience in well doing" is intended to show us what is required, and also that it is beyond us. The good news (again channeling Ortlund) begins with the bad news.

I don't want to look too far ahead in Romans, but I know that Paul will address this matter more completely later on. So file it away for now. Patience in well-doing. It's a challenge.

My quotations from Ortlund are drawn from his meditative devotional, A Passion for God: Prayers and Meditations on the Book of Romans. In his meditation on this Romans 2 passage, he quotes William Beveridge (1638-1708):

I cannot pray, but I sin. I cannot hear or preach a sermon, but I sin. I cannot give alms or receive the sacrament, but I sin. Nay, I cannot so much as confess my sins, but my confessions are still aggravations of them. My repentance needs to be repented of, my tears want washing, and the very washing of my tears needs still to be washed over again with the blood of my Redeemer.

God and Morality

Over at Desiring God I found the following quote (from Doug Wilson's new book, Five Cities that Ruled the World):

Tyndale was willing to endure great trials because of what he believed about the gospel. C. S. Lewis explained that the “whole purpose of the ‘gospel,’ for Tyndale, is to deliver us from morality. Thus, paradoxically, the ‘puritan’ of modern imagination—the cold, gloomy heart, doing as duty what happier and richer souls do without thinking of it—is precisely the enemy which historical Protestantism arose and smote.”

The whole purpose of the gospel is to delivers us from morality! Although I suppose I might question the appropriateness of the word "whole" in that statement, I consider the overall point of the sentence to be true, and to be a great and essential insight that all who teach and talk about their faith or about Scripture should keep in mind.

Remember my post last week about the road from Eden? On this road that we all walk, some of us have forgotten God, choose not to honor him as God, and instead pursue what is by definition an "ungodly" or anti-Godly way (you can read Paul's nutshell description of that way in Romans 1:18-32).

But some, in an ostensible acknowledgement of God, devise another way, a way that they think may ultimately get them back to Eden (or, in other words, peace with God). That way is called "morality," and it is this way of morality that, according to Tyndale, it is the whole purpose of the Gospel to refute. The way of morality is one of the most commonly taken detours on the pilgrim road.

There is always a tendency to boil down Christianity to morality. I myself have often been a culprit in this. I'll give you an example. In Genesis 17, God speaks to Abraham:

“I am God Almighty; walk before me, and be blameless, that I may make my covenant between me and you, and may multiply you greatly.”

Now note that God is promising fruitfulness, as the ensuing verses make clear, and fruitfulness is a key aspect of Garden life. In Romans 1 (and elsewhere) Paul indicates that fruitfulness is a key aspect of Kingdom living, while futility marks the way of the God-deniers.

But back to to God's word to Abraham. In my early days as a Christian (well, early and middle), I would have assumed that those words, "walk before me and be blameless," were a moral imperative, simply equivalent to "keep all the commandments perfectly." That's morality, and if it is God's plan to make moral people then Tyndale is greatly mistaken about the "whole purpose of the Gospel."

I heard a great sermon yesterday (as usual) at Missio Dei. The preacher talked about how "walk before me" is a term from shepherding. Picture the sheep walking before the shepherd, the shepherd following behind watchfully, and the sheep responsive to his voice or to his rod and staff. There is danger in straying from that place "before" the shepherd. The way that the shepherd leads is the good way, and there is ultimate safety in it.

Rather than "morality" (life in subservience to moral rules of behavior), we have life in relationship with the One who knows the way. A life of attentiveness on a road with a glorious destination.

On the Long Road from Eden

We've been walking in the footsteps of Adam and Eve. All of us. Sent from the presence of God, banned from ever returning to Eden, and condemned to desperation, conflict, and futility. So we walk. We're not getting along, so we don't talk much. We're each blaming the other for what happened. And maybe we're each dreaming about Eden, remembering Eden, longing for Eden. And then after a while we get tired of that. It's useless. What good does it do? So we try to forget it. We try to put Eden out of our thoughts forever. There never was an Eden. We never walked with God in the garden. It was a dream. Life has always been what it is, dog eat dog from beginning to end. Never an Eden, never a Creator overseeing it all and responsible for it all. Never any of that. Just this dusty road. This daily blaming.

Still, you cannot forget, no matter how hard you try, the promise. The seed of the woman will crush the head of the snake. How distant and obtuse that must have seemed to them. Especially after so many years. What did it mean? When? It's not much of a promise to put your hope in, not much to stave off despair during the long, cold nights.

So the road goes on, generation after generation, and the collection of stories we Christians call the Old Testament is the story of that road, and the lives lived along that road. The road from Eden. And it is also the story of God giving ever more largeness and clarity to that vague promise in Genesis 3. As Eden recedes in the proverbial rear-view mirror, the promise grows and takes on greater particularity, greater distinction. Even as Israel spirals downward, the promise looms larger. But it is a long road from Genesis 3 to Isaiah 51.

I've been reading Romans 1 all month. The second half of that chapter, beginning at the 18th verse, is Paul's depiction of the road from Eden. It is futile, fruitless, and spirals downward. But the first half of the chapter indicates that something has happened to change the dynamic. The promise that began in Genesis 3 and grew in clarity of expression through the centuries, that promise has been fulfilled in Jesus.

I think we fail to understand how stunning that assertion is. We have on the one hand this depiction of a world in moral freefall. Like Adam and Eve, all humanity is "given up" by God to pursue its own path. But on the other hand, people from among that company are "called to be saints" (v.7) It is possible to speak of people having peace with God (v.7) and of being saved (v.16).

It's starting to look like there are two kinds of people in the world, according to Paul. There are, on the one hand, the "given up" by God (v.24, v.26, v,28). Eugene Peterson's rendering of that last verse is typically memorable:

Since they didn't bother to acknowledge God, God quit bothering them and let them run loose.

And then there are the called, the set apart. These folk owe it all to Jesus, the fulfillment of all the historic promises of God to Israel. It is a gift, clearly, since these set apart ones were every bit as "given up" as anyone else. And yet now, through faith, they speak of Jesus of Nazareth, the crucified son of a Galilean carpenter, as Jesus the Messiah and Lord (v.4).

All this begs many questions, which Paul will go on to address in later chapters, but that's all I wanted to say this morning. Those walking the long road from Eden have discovered hope. Not a new hope, but something promised to our parents, Adam and Eve, back at the start. Something big has happened, and it is changing everything.

Caveat Lector

Eugene Peterson said:

The words printed on the pages of my Bible give witness to the living and active revelation of the God of creation and salvation, the God of love who became the Word made flesh in Jesus, and I had better not forget it. If in my Bible reading I lose touch with this livingness, if I fail to listen to this living Jesus, submit to this sovereignty, and respond to this love, I become arrogant in my knowing and impersonal in my behavior. An enormous amount of damage is done in the name of Christian living by bad Bible reading. Caveat lector, let the reader beware.

A Double Apocalypse

There is this double-apocalypse at the heart of Romans 1.

But first a word about that word: apocalypse. As Darrell Johnson makes clear in his book Discipleship on the Edge (which is about the NT book we call The Revelation, but which was once generally known as The Apocalypse), the word means something to us that it never meant in the first century.

To us it means catastrophe. It means end of the world. Think all the horrifying visions of the end that John was given. Think four horseman, three of which are famine, war, and death (as for the other, well, you can look it up). Apocalypse draws its meaning for us from these terrifying visions.

But in the first century the word meant something quite different. It simply meant a revealing (thus, the modern English title for John's vision, The Revelation). The verb is apokalupto, and the online NT Greek lexicon has this for its meaning: "to uncover, lay open what has been veiled or covered up, to make known, make manifest, disclose what before was unknown".

Which brings us back to Romans 1. The double-apocalypse. You find them at the very heart of the chapter, in verses 17 and 18, translated "revealed" in the ESV. Paul speaks of two revealings.

For in [the gospel] the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, “The righteous shall live by faith."

For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth . . .

That's all for now. I think in these verses we are close to the heart of Romans. 1) The gospel reveals the righteousness of God (God as the source of righteousness), and 2) the unrighteousness of man reveals (brings to light) the anger of God (which is just another aspect of his righteousness, by the way).

Bottom line: righteousness is a core concern of God, and should be for us as well. More in next post.

[The whole Reading Romans series is here.]

On frequently leaping into the same pool

So I really don't intend to write about Romans every day for a year, but it's definitely going to be a consistent theme in 2010. Of course I'm only one week into a 52 week plan, but I'm really enjoying it so far. You might have noticed I've also placed a link to the whole series at the top of the blogroll. I wanted to be able to look it over from time to time, so I put it in easy reach.

That's in a small bucket called "Top Drawer Odds & Ends." I'll probably toss a few more links in there. You see I've already put my early blogs there. It just occurred to me they ought to be somewhere. Just for the record. I've been blogging for over six years and 1600+ posts. What am I, nuts?

I've set myself several hefty reading assignments this year. I'll be spending the whole year with my face in a book! For one thing, I'm reading through the war in the Pacific, including all the major battles, some lesser known episodes, and a biography or two. I also intend to read Augustine's City of God this year if it's the last thing I do.

So beside this blog being all about Romans this year, it's also going to be all about books. That's why I made a point of updating my blogroll with some good book bloggers (they have their own section--scroll down, you'll find it).

OK, back to the Romans Reading Plan (if that ain't my new motto, what is!). Here's the gist (in case you missed it). I divided Romans up into 12 roughly equal segments, one segment for each month of the year. Each month I'll be reading the corresponding segment every day. Immersion reading, you might call it. The principle here is that frequent rereading of the Scriptures is very useful, and we don't do it enough.

But I also want to do justice to the context, a carefully wrought and multi-layered personal letter of sixteen chapters-so once a week I'll read the epistle in its entirety. This will help me to understand how themes struck in a particular passage are played out in the whole book.

That's it. When the year is over I suppose I will have read Romans about 80+ times.

Pray for fruitful reading!

Salvation from futile thoughts and darkened hearts

In the second part of Romans 1, beginning at verse 18, Paul paints a picture a poisoned-by-sin humanity sliding inevitably (it would seem) toward death. It's the kind of passage that tends to be discreetly overlooked in the typical Evangelical preaching cycle.

I can understand that. It's not a pretty picture, and one might even suggest it is too bleak, too unremitting. But Paul is diagnosing a condition that has been brought on by the rejection of God. Rejecting his truth, they turn to their own hearts and minds for understanding. But here's the problem: their thoughts are "futile," and their hearts are "darkened." In this condition they pursue their own way, but it all leads (as Paul will note in a later chapter) to death. Paul sums up the condition in verse 32 here, at the end of a long litany of sin.  The people are:

foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless.

Paul's word for all this is "unrighteousness," and my word for it, drawing from a theme I find running throughout Romans, is futility. It leads to death. It produces no life, no harvest, no good fruit. Without the merciful intervention of the rejected God, it will end in justified judgement and wrath from that same God.

You can't understand salvation Biblically if you don't get the seriousness of humanity's situation. But it is not a hopeless situation. By way of contrast, look at what Paul says in the first half of the chapter about the gospel:

• He says that the gospel's purpose is to bring about the obedience of faith for the sake of the name of Jesus, everywhere in the world (v.5)
• He says that those who belong to Jesus are called to be saints (v.7)
• He  expects that the preaching of the gospel in Rome will reap a harvest (v.13)
• He says that the gospel is the power of salvation for those who believe (v.16)
• And he says that in the gospel is revealed the righteousness of God (v.17)

Note the contrast between unrighteousness and futility, on the one hand, and faith in the gospel and a harvest of righteousness on the other.  From the former one would need to be saved (since "futility" implies you can't save yourself), and salvation, Paul says, is for those who believe the gospel.  The end result, the fruit, is righteousness, or as Paul says, "the obedience of faith."

So the key to this transformation from unrighteousness to righteousness, for Paul, is the preaching of the gospel, and the reception and believing of the gospel by those who hear it.  And it is clearly a continual need, even after the initial motion of believing, for does not Paul desire to reap of harvest among the Roman believers by preaching the gospel to them?  The obedience of faith is, apparently, something one grows toward, and the growth is engendered (watered?) by the continued reception of and trusting in the gospel.  By this means does growth in godliness continue.

The Gospel in Romans 1

So I'm going to be ensconced in Romans 1 all month. I don't know how frequently I'll blog about it, but pretty often I suspect. This is not a methodical dissection, but day-by-day listening to Paul and considering his words.

The greeting in Romans 1 is very rich. I've read this chapter four or five times in the last few days and a couple of things keep jumping out at me. First, Paul is hanging everything on the gospel. He lives for it, because he believes that through it the world will be transformed.

And second, apart from the gospel, we have sin leading to death, a portrait not only of the deeply entrenched sinfulness of our hearts, but of futility. When I read through the whole letter a couple of days ago I saw this theme recurring: on the one hand, talk of fruitfulness and harvest, on the other, futility and death. Very stark contrasts.

We see that contrast in chapter 1. More on this later, I suspect, but for now I just want to collect some of what Paul says about the gospel here.

• Paul is "set apart for the gospel" (v.1)
• the gospel was "promised in the holy Scriptures" (v.2)
• the gospel concerns God's son, "Jesus Christ our Lord" (v.3,4)
• Paul serves God "in the gospel of his Son" (v.9)
• Paul is eager to preach the gospel to the Christians in Rome (v.15)
• the gospel is "the power of God for salvation for everyone who believes" (v.16)
• in the gospel "the righteousness of God is revealed" (v.17)

That's it for this morning. There's pleny here to keep us busy all month!

Kindling for a Holy Fire

Yesterday I took delivery of Ray Ortlund's A Passion for God: Prayers and Meditations on the Book of Romans, a book published in 1993 and now apparently out of print. This looks like the perfect devotional to accompany my immersion in the Epistle to the Romans. Ortlund's method is simple. In essence, he is praying through the book of Romans, with the overriding desire for a closer and more intimate knowledge of God. He is yearning for "revival" within his own heart.

I want to offer a somewhat lengthy quotation from the introduction. Ortlund, who of course blogs at Christ is Deeper Still, wrote:

When you look at your Bible, what do you see? I have learned to see the Bible as kindling for a holy fire. Scripture is meant to inform us, and thus to inflame us. It is meant to illuminate our thoughts of God, and thus to ignite our affections for God. So in our personal Bible study, as we strive to think and learn, we are gathering kindling for devotion and worship in our hearts. And even more, we are amassing kindling for revival and reformation in the church.

Paul's letter to the Romans is of this explosive nature. Under the blessing of the Holy Spirit, it warms Christians with release from guilt, confidence in God, and certainty in their faith. It ignites Christians with joy and moral courage. It fires Christians with energy for bold new ventures of holy obedience. Let me put it this way. The more you understand, believe and love Romans, the more filled you will be with God's Spirit, the more you will walk in newness of life and the more your life will count for the great cause of the gospel.

The Gospel Drama

Here are a couple of things I want to keep in mind as I read through Romans.

1. Octavius Winslow: "Search the Scriptures, my reader, with a view of seeing and knowing more of your Redeemer, compared with whom nothing else is worth knowing or making known."  [Thanks to the Foolish Galatian for this quote.] To know more of my Redeemer, then, is my highest priority.
2. Michael Horton defines the Gospel as the good news that "God has fulfilled his promise to the patriarchs and prophets in his son's death and resurrection." This is the epic drama that lies behind all correct doctrinal teaching, all true worship, all true living by faith and doing of justice and mercy, etc. [Thanks to Tim Chester for this one.]

The Gospel, then, is a story, a drama, with God as the prime mover, revealing the righteousness of God (in fact, the only righteousness in the universe) through the ministry, death, and resurrection of his son, Jesus. On our side, it is the drama of transformation, a kind of travail as in childbirth, as something glorious is brought forth from something fallen and paltry and ridden with sin. As the ESV Study Bible puts it:

[Paul's gospel] included not just a call to initial saving faith but Paul's entire message about Jesus Christ and how Christ's saving activity transforms all of life and all of history.

The gospel, again, is this story, this unfolding drama. The drama of the Christian life is the receiving of this good news, trusting it, and the transformation of life that results. This is the drama of God played out in the life of man, individually and collectively.

This transformation, clearly, is from unrighteousness to righteousness, and it is witnessed in the lives of the faithful. Faith then is our part in the drama. The unrighteous, having been served by God in Christ, accept and receive this gift, and this accepting and receiving, this faith, plays out in the midst of a perversely skewed creation: that is our part, our role, in the great drama. Like all drama, it is not without conflict, set-backs, and even tragedy. But in the midst of it all, the fact of what God has done remains unshakable. The news is good, indeed. He has entered into our situation, and accomplished what no other could. With excellent reason then Paul, as an apostle of God in Christ, can declare to the Romans, "Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ."