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Overview
Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9781426709869 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Abingdon Press |
| Publication date: | 03/01/2011 |
| Series: | Immersion Bible Studies |
| Pages: | 96 |
| Product dimensions: | 5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.40(d) |
About the Author
Read an Excerpt
Romans
Immersion Bible Studies
By Lynn H. Cohick, Mark Price
Abingdon Press
Copyright © 2011 Abingdon PressAll rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-4267-0986-9
CHAPTER 1
God Credits Us As Righteous—in Spite of Ourselves
Romans 1–4
Claim Your Story
"Love means never having to say you're sorry." This line from the novel Love Story was made famous by the movie of the same name. But nothing could be farther from the gospel truth. This proverb does, however, express the human hope that others will accept us as we are. What are we really like? What must we admit is our "human condition"?
The opening chapters of Romans leave the reader with no illusions: each human has in one form or another turned his or her back on the Creator God. If that was the only point of these chapters, this would be a sad story indeed. But the resounding note is one of great joy, for our sinful predicament does not have the final word. If I could rephrase that movie sentiment, I might say, "Love means no longer having our sins held against us." And I might add, "Love means never being outside of God's forgiving grace." What if sometimes you don't feel forgiven? Or what if you don't feel you need to be forgiven? Paul answers both these questions: God's salvation plan includes everyone, and God does not play favorites.
Enter the Bible Story
Paul opens his letter to the Romans describing himself as "a slave of Christ Jesus." With this label he claims absolute allegiance to God the Father and God's Son Jesus Christ, and he acknowledges his freedom from this present (evil) age and from sin's power. Paul will encourage the Romans to embrace their status as slaves of righteousness (6:18) and live out their freedom, for they are no longer slaves to sin (6:20). Paul also explains that he was called to be an apostle to the Gentiles, proclaiming the good news promised in Scripture and completed in the work of Jesus Christ. God defeated death and, thus, sin's power in the resurrection of God's Son. Jesus' human lineage from David, and David's from Abraham, links Jesus with the story of the Creation, Fall, and Redemption. Paul focuses on Abraham and his faith in Chapter 4; here he notes that Jesus is the fulfillment of God's promises to David (see 2 Samuel 7:12-16).
Paul's thanksgiving sections often preview the main points of his letter. Notice in Romans 1:8-14 that Paul stresses his desire to meet the Roman church and to preach the good news of salvation to those in Rome. Paul especially focuses on reaping a harvest among Gentiles. No one knows who began the church in Rome, but most likely Jews from Rome traveled to Jerusalem for Pentecost and there heard Peter preach and became followers of Jesus (Acts 2:1-41). When they returned to Rome, they established a fellowship within their synagogues. Gentiles who feared God were welcome. Then, under Emperor Claudius, many Jews were expelled from Rome, including those who worshiped Christ. The church was a Gentile community for five years, until the new Emperor Nero rescinded the order. Jewish Christians returned, but the re-integration was rocky. Today we too have a tendency to prefer fellowship with people quite similar to ourselves and to resist change brought by new members in our group. Paul encourages us to reach beyond our prejudices and embrace others.
The Heart of the Gospel
In Romans 1:16, Paul lays out the heart of the gospel. Several points must be noted. First, what we translate as gospel is in Greek literally good news. We celebrate God's redemption in Christ every time we say the word. Second, Paul declares that God's good news has full supremacy—it breaks the power of death and brings salvation. In Paul's day the competing argument was that Caesar would bring peace and harmony. Today we often hear that persons can get in touch with their inner selves and find serenity. Yet, in truth, only God's work in Christ can bring the peace that touches the deepest longings of the human heart. Third, Paul indicates that God's salvation is to the Jew first and then to the Greek. Why is this statement important? It connects Paul's message of salvation tightly to the prior revelations of God to Israel and to the Jews of the Second Temple period. The gospel message is the fulfillment of God's promises. Not only is each of us individually redeemed through Christ's work on the cross, but we are also united as members of God's family. Twenty-first-century individualism can deaden our ears to the wonderful news that God has made God's followers into a family. Paul reminds us that we are part of a very long line of faithful followers of God. We read of God's faithfulness to past believers, and we have assurance that all the struggles of our day are not too big for God. Moreover, these struggles can be faced together, as God's church.
Romans 1:17-18 are parallel in thought, and several key terms are either repeated ("revealed") or contrasted, such as "righteous" and "unrighteous," and "God's righteousness" and "God's wrath." In these verses, Paul expands the list of pairs from thinking only of Jew and Gentile, to including the righteous and the unrighteous—this second pair does not map exactly onto the first pair. Instead, from both Jews and Gentiles we find righteous and unrighteous. Today this claim—that believers come from any nationality and ethnic group—is an accepted reality. But Paul was preaching this good news to the first generation of people to hear of God's redemption for all peoples in Christ. In Paul's day, any Jew would (rightly) consider a Gentile as an idolater and, thus, as unrighteous. And the Jews would (again, rightly) consider themselves as righteous in that they were not idolaters but followed the one true God. Paul accepts this as the truth, but not the whole truth. Jews in Christ cannot place the law of Moses (Torah) on an equal footing with the work of Christ. Now in Christ, Gentile idolaters can be made right with God without having to embrace the Mosaic law.
What Went Wrong
Paul sets out in the remaining verses of Chapter 1 to describe how and why things went so terribly wrong with God's good creation. He makes two charges against human beings: (1) they did not honor God and (2) they did not thank God. Instead they made idols, which, as the Bible clearly shows, led to all manner of wrongdoing (sin). Consequently, God turned humanity over to its sinning not because God stopped loving humanity, but because God is forbearing (9:22-24) and fair. We continue to erect idols of stone and wood today—we worship human achievements or out of fear we cling to our possessions. We dishonor God with our focus on what we (wrongly) think we can do for ourselves and we fail to thank God for God's care.
In Paul's day, Jewish believers reading this section of Romans would have recognized aspects of Israel's history (recall the golden calf incident, Exodus 32:7-8). Certain Gentiles likewise shared Paul's disdain for the evils described in Chapter 1: disobeying parents, murdering, ruthlessness, and deceitfulness. Paul's imagined conversation partner, "every single one of you who judge" (2:1), could be a Jew or Gentile, but one who prides himself or herself on seeking the truth and acting honorably. God is impartial, Paul declares (2:11), and will judge each person at the end of time based on whether each person sought truth (honored and thanked God) or promoted self to the center and pursued wickedness. The second half of Chapter 2 is difficult to understand if one supposes that Paul is speaking here about the universal sinfulness of humanity. The passage begins to make a bit more sense if we remember that Paul is dealing not only with the categories of Jews and Gentiles, but with a third entity—the Gentile believer, who is no longer a pagan but is also not a Jew. Paul finds that Gentile believers, though not born Jews and, thus, not naturally part of God's covenant people, behave in line with the law because they are living in Christ. So we, too, if we have God at our center and not our selves, walk in God's way, displaying from our hearts and hands humility, generosity, and loving-kindness.
The Law Is Not Enough
Speaking directly about Jews in 2:17, Paul criticizes his Jewish compatriots for boasting in their Jewish ethnic status. It is not enough that God called Israel and gave them the law. The Jews must also do what the law says—refrain from stealing and adultery, for example. Nor would Jews disagree with Paul at this point, for first-century Jewish writings argue extensively about how best to do God's law. But Paul takes the argument in a specific direction; his charge is Gentile rejection of God based on the Jews' transgression of the law (2:24). Paul concludes that circumcision, that special rite that distinguishes Jew from Gentile, is not finally the determining factor in God's judgment. Consider how that plays out in our own day: do we not set up special requirements in addition to faith in Christ, such as church membership perhaps, or a specific form of baptism, or even speaking in tongues? Are we not guilty of confusing our own personal values for spiritual markers of acceptance in God's family?
Paul knows of a new category of person, the uncircumcised (Gentile) who follows the law (2:26). Such a person will be justified, that is, saved on the Last Day. This category breaks new ground—it fulfills old promises such as Jeremiah 31:33 that God will put God's law in their minds and write it on their hearts. Foreshadowing later discussion in Chapters 7 and 8, Paul contrasts Spirit and letter, circumcision of the heart and of the flesh to drive home the point that Gentile believers fulfill the law and thus will be judged righteous. How is this possible? Paul's answer comes in the next chapter.
The question opening Chapter 3 is whether the Jew has any advantage. Paul has two competing truths that he must balance: (1) God chose Israel and gave it the law, and (2) God shows no partiality. By entrusting the law to Israel, God gave the Jewish people the opportunity to know God through God's self-revelation. They also had greater responsibility to live out that law. Their faithlessness in regard to that accountability does not nullify God's faithfulness or just requirements. The key is that both Jews and Gentiles are under the power of sin (3:9). We all share the same fate, death, because we are all sinners. Paul cites a composite quotation that draws from several Psalms and the prophet Isaiah to prove his point. Paul's statement in 3:20 that through the law sin is fully recognized would receive a hearty "Amen" from his fellow Jews. It is Paul's claim that works of the law will not justify that would have created the controversy. The phrase "works of the law" (NIV) has been understood in two basic ways. It could mean all the requirements of the law or be limited to those requirements that serve to distinguish Jew and Gentile, such as circumcision, food laws, and sabbath practices. In either case, Paul is suggesting that while the law is good (see also 7:12), it has not been understood properly and must now be understood in light of Christ's work, to which Paul now turns.
The Gift of Salvation in Christ Is Sufficient
Some of the most theologically complex verses are contained in Romans 3:21-31. And as such, at a certain level of detail they are also the most contested. But the main points are clear: Christ through his death on the cross and his resurrection from the dead defeated sin. God through Christ has accomplished salvation and offers it to all humans. Not everyone today would hold, with Paul, that humanity's main problem is sin. Some suggest that the lack of self-actualization is the primary problem. Others see in Paul's pronouncement an exclusivity that strikes them as unloving, and so they believe that life with God (or in "heaven") after death should be the reward of every "good" person. These positions, how ever, fail to fully comprehend the depth of sin in each person's heart, for no one fully honors God or thanks God as they should. Also these views do not appreciate the wonderful news stressed by Paul that God offers the free gift of salvation to everyone. All humans have full access to Christ's work through faith. This "faith" is not a "work" of its own, nor is it an emotional connection made with God, nor anything else generated by human effort. It is rather the joyful response to God's gracious gift (3:24). God demonstrates God's righteousness by offering this free (yet costly) gift of salvation apart from following the commands of the law. Said another way, our faith stance is the proper way to uphold the law, because God is the God of all.
Abraham: The Father of All Who Believe
Anticipating counter arguments, Paul pulls out his trump card in Chapter 4. Abraham, the father of the Jews, is also the father of all who believe. Romans 4 has been interpreted in two general ways. One position holds that Abraham is a model of our Christian faith, the prototype of how an individual is made right with God (saved). Rather than relying on one's own moral good deeds (actions), a person relies on faith, and then God considers or declares that person to be righteous. Another position suggests that Abraham's story shows why Gentiles can be full members of God's family. In first-century Judaism, most Jews thought of themselves as children of Abraham (see Matthew 3:9; 22:32; Luke 13:16; 19:9; John 8:39), and they pointed to their circumcision as proof. This status made them members of God's covenant people. However, Paul argues that Abraham's circumcision was a sign or a seal of something that happened earlier, namely that Abraham believed God's promise to make him the father of many nations. Abraham trusted that God would do what God promised; do you have that same trust? We can believe God when God says that forgiveness is better than bitterness, for God gives us grace to forgive. We can trust God's word that God will provide for us, so we need not live in worry and anxiety. Jesus' words in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5:1–7:29) provide a picture of what it looks like to live out Abraham's faith that God fulfills God's promises.
The contrast Paul makes is not between faith and works of self-righteousness. Later in the chapter Paul specifies circumcision as the deed in question and makes clear that this deed does not make one righteous or a member of God's faithful community. The contrast is between faith and unbelief. Abraham believed that God could make him a father, though humanly both he and his wife Sarah were past the age of childbearing. Abraham believed God's promise, and thus was credited as righteous. The order of events is crucial for Paul. If God had first ordered Abraham circumcised and then gave him the promise, Paul's argument falls flat; for God would have credited righteousness to Abraham based on works—circumcision. Of course, circumcision came after the faithful response of Abraham; and God's declaration of "not guilty" came not through circumcision, but through Abraham's belief in God's promises. Paul declares that the ground is level at the foot of the cross. To those of us today who have trouble believing fully that the church community is our home because we are conscious of our waywardness, Paul's words offer comfort and confidence that it is our faith, our reception of God's great gift that opens the way to membership in God's family. And to those who have lived long in the church, Paul's words remind us anew that the doors remain open to all who call upon the name of the Lord in faith.
Live the Story
In some families it is very clear who the favorite child is, the one who can do no wrong, who gets the special presents and privileges. Paul addresses that mentality in these chapters in Romans. He makes clear that God shows no partiality. That can cut both ways. From a positive angle, this truth reassures each of us that God's power alone, that great force that raised Christ from the dead, has acted on our behalf. Our sin is fully accounted for in Christ and we are considered righteous by God. We must hear this refrain loud and clear—All sins are paid for by Christ's work on the cross, and God has declared to each believer the verdict: NOT GUILTY! But there is another side to the statement that God shows no partiality. The church must offer the gospel to all people as potential brothers and sisters in Christ.
(Continues...)
Excerpted from Romans by Lynn H. Cohick, Mark Price. Copyright © 2011 Abingdon Press. Excerpted by permission of Abingdon Press.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
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Table of Contents
Contents
Immersion Bible Studies,1. God Credits Us As Righteous—in Spite of Ourselves,
2. Freed From the Consequences of Sin,
3. At Once Condemned and Acquitted,
4. God Chooses All Who Call on God's Name,
5. A Community Shaped by Sacrificial Love,
6. God's Welcome, Our Response,
Leader Guide,