Introduction
• The letters of the Apostle Paul are difficult to interpret consistently.
• The letter to the Romans is contested on a variety of different levels.
– Most parishioners are familiar with only one approach that uses isolated texts for evangelistic purposes.
– Is this what Paul had in mind when he wrote the text?
– What approach did Paul take in trying to get to the point of the writing?
• Another look, and probably several after that will just start the process of seeing the point.
Three Approaches
• The Reformational Approach
• The New Perspective
• The Apocalyptic Approach
The Reformational Approach
• This is the oldest perspective that sees Paul through the eyes of Martin Luther.
• In summary, this approach looks much like the four spiritual laws:
1. In God’s eyes, all human beings are sinful. (3:23)
2. No human being is righteous in God’s eyes on the basis of the deeds they have done. (3:20)
3. God has provided atonement for the sin of human beings through the death of Christ. (3:25)
4. By God’s grace alone, apart from human works, God finds righteous those who have faith in Christ. (5:17)
• Some Pressing Problems
1. This approach leaves many unanswered questions.
2. Given that Paul sees faith as essential, is faith not a human “work” that God requires before he will justify?
3. How does Paul’s long and difficult diatribe in chapters 9-11 fit into this approach?
4. Why the long excursus on submitting to governing authorities in chapter 13?
5. This approach has too many extra puzzle pieces that do not fit into the four spiritual laws framework.
The New Perspective
• The new perspective is a reaction to past Christian understanding of Judaism as a works-based religion.
– The new perspective embraces Judaism as having a religious pattern of covenant renewal not justification from retribution.
– Since covenant laws (like Sabbath, food laws, and circumcision) were essential for covenant renewal, then how does it apply to a church Paul did not plant that has both Jews and Gentiles?
• Paul is pressing against those who are creating a rift in the church: one branch for the Jews and one branch for the Gentiles.
• Th emphasis in on the unity of the church and the inclusion of all.
– The discussion of salvation is to create a level playing field within the church at Rome.
• God has reconciled all things in Christ; the believer is reconciled in Christ; believers are reconciled with one another; the Christian is an agent of reconciliation in the world; the Kingdom of God is a new creation fully reconciled.
• To get at the heart of the book of Romans you must begin at the end.
• In Romans 12-16 the emphasis is on Others, Love, Peace, and the Spirit.
– The closing chapters give us concrete situations at work in Rome that percolate in 12:1-16:27 and bubble over in 1:1-11:36.
– The heart of the purpose is the relations of the Roman Christians with each other, with the state, the collection for the poor saints in Jerusalem and the mission of Paul to get to Spain.
The Apocalyptic Approach
• Paul’s gospel rests on a revelation from God centered on Jesus.
– If Jesus was the revelation of God, Jesus’s truth must be lord over and judge all other truths.
– The truth about God is definitively disclosed by Jesus.
– The key question is: “what does Jesus reveal?”
• Jesus reveals a deliverance from the incarcerating state Paul calls the flesh.
– The flesh sins, but not of its own volition.
– It is deceived (7:7-13) and enslaved (7:14-25) by something Paul dramatizes as “sin” in Romans 5-7.
– The flesh cannot simply be repaired or healed. It must be terminated and reconstituted.
• The apocalyptic starting point for Paul’s analysis has revealed we participate in Jesus’ death and resurrection.
• These critical events underlie the salvation that drags God’s cosmic plan for communion back on track (Romans 8:28-29).
• We are now actually beginning to participate in God’s long-planned consummation of the universe in a fellowship of siblings.
Dr. Pete Enns Suggests
• The audience makes a difference (Jews, Gentiles, or both?)
• It’s not about individuals but it’s about a collective (think ecclesiology not soteriology). Who makes up the people of God? What role do the Gentiles play?
• The election that Paul is talking about has to do with groups not individuals.
• The condemnation of death has been reversed in the resurrection of Christ. Death is something that unites the Jewish and Gentile experience (in Adam) but now everybody is alive (in Christ). Christ rules. Death doesn’t.
• The center is not Torah obedience that marks you off as somebody who’s part of the family of God. Jesus is the center.