{"id":298,"date":"2020-04-15T09:00:00","date_gmt":"2020-04-15T16:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.calbaptist.edu\/scm\/?p=298"},"modified":"2020-04-14T14:33:06","modified_gmt":"2020-04-14T21:33:06","slug":"what-pauls-letter-to-the-romans-means-for-you-and-me","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.calbaptist.edu\/scm\/2020\/04\/15\/what-pauls-letter-to-the-romans-means-for-you-and-me\/","title":{"rendered":"What Paul’s Letter to the Romans Means for You (and Me!)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The book of Romans has been\ndescribed with the most praiseworthy of expressions. John Calvin said that when\nanyone understands this epistle, \u201che has a passage opened to him to the\nunderstanding of the whole Scripture.\u201d[1]<\/a>\nMartin Luther said that this letter \u201cis really the chief part of the New\nTestament and the very purest gospel.\u201d[2]<\/a>\nLuther\u2019s successor, Philip Melanchthon, referred to Romans as \u201cthe compendium\nof Christian doctrine.\u201d[3]<\/a>\nJohn Knox suggested that it was \u201cunquestionably the most important letter ever\nwritten.\u201d[4]<\/a>\nIt\u2019s been called \u201cthe cathedral of the Christian faith,\u201d[5]<\/a>\n\u201cthe most pessimistic page of literature upon which your eyes ever rested\u201d and\nat the same time \u201cthe most optimistic poem to which your ears ever listened.\u201d[6]<\/a>\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These descriptions are supported\nby the experiential testimony of many throughout the history of the church all\nover the globe. The North African rhetorician Augustine was converted by\nreading Romans 13:13-14 in the year 386. The German monk Martin Luther was\nconverted 1200 years later after grasping the significance of Romans 1:17. Two\ncenturies later, a clergyman by the name of John Wesley recounted what he\nexperienced on the evening of May 24, 1738 as he heard the preface of Luther\u2019s\ncommentary on Romans being read: \u201cAbout a quarter before nine, while [the\nreader] was describing the change wherein God works in the heart through faith\nin Christ, I felt my heart strangely warmed. I felt I did trust in Christ,\nChrist alone, for salvation; and an assurance was given that he had taken my\nsins, even mine; and saved me from the law of sin and death.\u201d[7]<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today, Romans is perhaps best\nknown for clearly articulating key doctrines like man\u2019s sinfulness,\njustification by faith, regeneration, union with Christ, adoption, and\nsanctification. Romans is known for its rich, deep, glorious, and at times\nunsettling theological assertions and implications. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

What sometimes gets lost in\nthese descriptions of Paul\u2019s most beloved epistle is that Paul\u2019s heart in\nwriting Romans (as was the case for every letter he wrote) was primarily\npastoral. He was writing to churches made up of real people with real problems,\nreal worries, real struggles, and real questions. He was not interested in\nwriting a theological treatise abstractly disjointed from the congregation\u2019s\nsituation. Rather, Romans was intended to be a deeply practical and applicable\nletter. And yet, it seems like we are less familiar (and dare I say, have neglected!)\nmany of the practical features of this truly wonderful epistle. Thus, my goal\nhere is to preview the landscape of this practical and pastoral epistle, not\njust the wonderful theological clouds we often focus on.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

  1. Paul\u2019s goal: The Obedience of faith<\/strong> (1:5; 16:26)<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    Paul opens the letter of Romans by introducing himself as a slave of Christ Jesus, an apostle set apart for the gospel (1:1). Just a few verses later, however, he states the goal of his apostleship, the mission he\u2019s been given: \u201cto bring about the obedience of faith\u201d (1:5). Right at the outset, Paul makes it clear that his calling as an apostle is deeply practical; it is to bring about a particular kind of obedience<\/em>. The phrase \u201cobedience of faith\u201d probably carries two ideas. First, Paul\u2019s goal is to bring about the obedience that is<\/em> faith among his hearers. The gospel he proclaims is something that is to be obeyed (10:16) by being believed such that not believing the gospel is an act of disobedience. Secondly, however, the \u201cobedience of faith\u201d probably also refers to the obedience, the proper conduct, that flows<\/em> from<\/em> faith. Whatever beliefs Paul wants to solidify in his readers, his goal is still the obedience that flows from those beliefs.

    It\u2019s important here to see that for Paul, believing and obeying belong together and should never be pitted against each other. Similarly, theology and conduct belong together. What I\u2019m arguing, then, is not that Romans is about conduct and not theology but that it is about both. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    2. Consider Yourself Dead\u2026 to Sin<\/strong> (6:11)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    The first explicit commandment (though by no means Paul\u2019s first \u201cpractical takeaway\u201d) comes in Romans 6 after describing the believer\u2019s union with Christ for 10 verses. Interestingly, this first imperative is an injunction pertaining to the Christian\u2019s thinking<\/em>: \u201cso you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.\u201d Here we see that how a Christian thinks<\/em> of himself is an important component of the \u201cobedience of faith\u201d that Paul desires for the Church. Christians are not to view themselves as doomed sinners, hopelessly entrapped in sin, but as dead to sin, freed from its power and dominion over their lives because of their union with the risen Christ. It is this fundamentally optimistic understanding of the Christian as a new creation that makes it possible to not let \u201csin reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions\u201d (6:12).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    3. Be Subject to the Governing Authorities<\/strong> (13:1)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    This line comes not from the mouth of a dictator but from the pen of the Apostle Paul. In one of the letter\u2019s most underrated and disregarded sections, Paul asserts that \u201cwhoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment\u201d (13:2). As with the rest of Paul\u2019s exhortations, this command is not given in a theological vacuum. Rather, this is the inevitable result of believing that \u201cthere is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God\u201d (13:1b). While we should not take this text as Paul\u2019s comprehensive and absolute theology of governing authorities, neither should we read it to mean the opposite of what it says (i.e. feel free to disrespect the government and cheat on your taxes). We should honor the authority that God, in his sovereignty, has established, for as we do so, we honor Him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    4. Loving Your Mistaken Christian Brother > Winning the Argument<\/strong> (14:1-23)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Near the conclusion of this\ntheologically rich letter, Paul has a whole chapter dedicated to how the\nChristian who understands some of the intricacies of the Christian faith should\nconduct himself with a fellow Christian who does not. Paul describes the ideal interaction\nbetween the \u201cstrong brother\u201d (with whom he agrees theologically) and the \u201cweak\nbrother\u201d (who, is mistaken regarding some practical issue of the faith). Christ\nloves and has saved the strong and the weak in the faith and the \u201cstrong\u201d\nChristian should not have a reflex of despising the \u201cweaker\u201d Christian just as\nthe \u201cweaker\u201d Christian is not to pass judgment on the \u201cstronger\u201d brother. In\nother words, if you are planning on having a young Christian friend over for\ndinner and later find out that she (incorrectly) thinks that Christians should\nnot be killing God\u2019s creation (animals) to eat them, it is more important that\nyou love her by not rolling your eyes at her or pressuring her to do something\nshe thinks is wrong than it is to start a debate and convince her she\u2019s wrong. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    The epistle to the Romans is\nrich with theological insights and doctrinal truths. But let\u2019s remember that\nthe purpose of Romans, as with all of the Bible, is not solely to fill our\nminds with knowledge, but that the knowledge we obtain might lead us to have\nlives of increasing Christ-likeness. May we be committed to increased\nobedience, to growing in respect for God and the authorities He has placed in\nour lives, and may our love for others grow deeper as a result of our time\nspent reading Paul\u2019s letter to the church in Rome. 
    <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n\n\n\n

    [1]<\/a>  John Calvin, Commentaries\non the Epistle of Paul the Apostle to the Romans<\/em>, trans. John Owen, repr.\n(Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2005), xxiv.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    [2]<\/a> Martin Luther, Commentary\non Romans<\/em>, trans. John Theodore Mueller, repr. (Grand Rapids: Kregel\nPublications, 1992), xiii.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    [3]<\/a> Philipp Melanchthon, The\nLoci Communes of Philip Melanchthon<\/em>, trans. Charles Leander Hill (Boston:\nMeador, 1944), 69.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    [4]<\/a> George A. Buttrick, ed., The\nInterpreter\u2019s Bible: Acts, Romans<\/em>, vol. 9 (Nashville: Abingdon Press,\n1954), 355.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    [5]<\/a> Fr\u00e9d\u00e9ric Louis Godet and A.\nCusin, Commentary on St. Paul\u2019s Epistle to the Romans.<\/em>, repr. (New York:\nFunk & Wagnalls, 1883), 1.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    [6]<\/a> G. Campbell Morgan, Living\nMessages of the Books of the Bible.<\/em> (New York: Fleming H. Revell, 1912),\n99.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    [7]<\/a> John Wesley, The Journal of\nthe Rev. John Wesley<\/em>, ed. Nehemiah Curnock and John Telford, vol. I\n(London: Epworth Press (E.C. Barton), 1938), 475\u201376.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Learn 4 practical takeaways from the book of Romans, written by Professor Vera!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":28,"featured_media":300,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_s2mail":"yes","footnotes":""},"categories":[7,15],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.calbaptist.edu\/scm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/298"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.calbaptist.edu\/scm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.calbaptist.edu\/scm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.calbaptist.edu\/scm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/28"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.calbaptist.edu\/scm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=298"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.calbaptist.edu\/scm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/298\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":304,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.calbaptist.edu\/scm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/298\/revisions\/304"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.calbaptist.edu\/scm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/300"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.calbaptist.edu\/scm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=298"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.calbaptist.edu\/scm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=298"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.calbaptist.edu\/scm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=298"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}