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| Young Martin Luther as an Augustinian Monk |
I'll postpone the Doing Church memoir series and instead write about my thoughts and impressions on Romans. In a way, it was rather nervy of me to take on a discussion of such a weighty epistle. I've heard that ordained ministers can be apprehensive about teaching Paul's masterpiece. It contains some complex and controversial passages. So who am I, a mere layman, to think I could do justice to this work? Well, actually, I can't do justice to it.
I've noticed from reading a few commentaries, that conservative evangelical scholars differ in their interpretations of several sections of the letter. Fortunately, these differences concern minor points of doctrine. I'll often refer to these experts. They really are quite good, so you won't get much original thought out of me.
Who was this apostle Paul (also called Saul) who wrote Romans? Prior to becoming a Christian, he was an up-and-coming pharisee, a Jewish religious leader and expert in the Law of Moses. He also persecuted Christians, arresting them and giving his blessing to their executions. Then, as he traveled north to capture Christians in Damascus, Paul supernaturally encountered Jesus Himself, who said, "Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?" Paul was literally blinded by the light and experienced a dramatic conversion. Then, after a few years of spiritual growth, he became a great leader of the early church and wrote most of the New Testament. Tradition has it that he was martyred in Rome.
When he wrote the epistle to the Romans, from Corinth in about 57AD, Paul likely had in mind a largely Gentile (non-Jewish) Christian audience, though some Jewish Christians in Rome would also have read the letter. A sub-theme of Romans has to do with the place of Jews and Gentiles in the Christian church. There was likely division between these two camps, the Gentiles coming from a pantheistic, lawless background -- and the Jewish Christians coming out of a religion that placed great emphasis on strict rules and the Law of Moses. So, Paul wanted to reconcile these two groups by explaining such things as the purpose of the Law and how "justification by faith" was something that also existed in the Old Covenant.
At this point, you may want to get out a Bible and turn to Romans 1.
What is the main theme of Romans? Paul mentions the word “gospel” (from Greek euangelion, which means "good news") and the pronoun “it” (referring to the gospel) in verses 1, 9, 15, 16 and 17. How does he describe the gospel in these passages? I see the following:
- The gospel is of and from God (v. 1)
- It was promised through the prophets of the Old Testament (v. 2)
- It concerns and is about Jesus (v. 3, 4 and 9)
- Descended from David
- Declared Son of God in power
- Jesus Christ our Lord
- It is preached (v. 15)
- The gospel is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes (v. 16)
- In the gospel, “… a righteousness of God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: “The righteous will live by faith.”
Scholar Douglas Moo concludes that, while the theme of Romans is the gospel, Jesus is the heart of the gospel. Says Moo, “Paul shares with his Roman audience the conviction that Jesus is the heart of the gospel. He is the promised Messiah of Israel (“seed of David”), the Son of God, the Lord.”
Verses 16-17 form the thesis statement of Romans:
"16For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. 17For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, 'The righteous shall live by faith.'"
Notice the terms righteous and righteousness in verse 17. These words appear over and over in the epistle. They are closely related to the words justify and justification, which also appear frequently in Romans. In the original Greek, all four words begin with the same root: dikai-.
Righteousness can be interpreted in a number of different ways. Verse 17 is a prime example. In the early 16th century, a reinterpretation of this passage ignited the protestant Reformation. The following quote is from the great reformer Martin Luther, as he recollects his conversion from a guilt-ridden Augustinian monk into a joyous born-again Christian:
“I had indeed been captivated with an extraordinary ardor for understanding Paul in the Epistle to the Romans. But up till then it was not the cold blood about the heart, but a single word in Chapter 1[:17], “In it the righteousness of God is revealed,” that had stood in my way. For I hated that word “righteousness of God,” which, according to the use and custom of all the teachers, I had been taught to understand philosophically regarding the formal or active righteousness, as they called it, with which God is righteous and punishes the unrighteous sinner. Though I lived as a monk without reproach, I felt that I was a sinner before God with an extremely disturbed conscience. I could not believe that he was placated by my satisfaction. I did not love, yes, I hated the righteous God who punishes sinners, and secretly, if not blasphemously, certainly murmuring greatly, I was angry with God, and said, “As if, indeed, it is not enough, that miserable sinners, eternally lost through original sin, are crushed by every kind of calamity by the law of the Decalogue, without having God add pain to pain by the gospel and also by the gospel threatening us with his righteousness and wrath!” Thus I raged with a fierce and troubled conscience. Nevertheless, I beat importunately upon Paul at that place, most ardently desiring to know what St. Paul wanted." (Luther's Works, Volume 34, P336-337).
Luther continues, “At last, by the mercy of God, meditating day and night, I gave heed to the context of the words, namely, [Romans 1:17] “In it the righteousness of God is revealed, as it is written, ‘He who through faith is righteous shall live.’” There I began to understand that the righteousness of God is that by which the righteous lives by a gift of God, namely by faith. And this is the meaning: the righteousness of God is revealed by the gospel, namely, the passive righteousness with which merciful God justifies us by faith, as it is written, “He who through faith is righteous shall live.” Here I felt that I was altogether born again and had entered paradise itself through open gates. There a totally other face of the entire Scripture showed itself to me.” (Luther's Works, Volume 34, P336-337).
Don't you love ironies? Prior to his conversion, Luther interpreted God's righteousness as His judicial action of judgement against sinners. I don't want to sound contradictory, but there is truth to the idea that God righteously judges sin. God is perfectly righteous and His actions are righteous. However, Luther saw the light when he realized that God's righteousness is also something that can be imputed to a sinner as a gift, through faith.
Later in Romans, we will see that this gift of righteousness came at a great price -- the death of Jesus on the cross.
