The New Testament in 90 Days

The letter to the Romans ends with Paul weighing in on what seems to be a local controversy.  There are some among the Christians in Rome who are careful about what they eat, who practice abstinence of certain foods, and feel that this is part of how they are faithful.  There are others who feel that freedom in Christ means that they can eat anything they want to.  Paul seems to agree, in theory anyway, with those who feel that they can eat anything.  But "in theory" is a loaded phrase.  Paul tells the Christian community in Rome that just because they are free to eat anything, doesn't mean it's a good idea, especially if it's going to be harmful to the faith of their brothers and sisters. So, what kind of food is Paul talking about?  Is he talking about people who keep kosher?  Is he talking about people who eat food which has been sacrificed to idols?  Or are there different dietary restrictions?  I don't know. But what is interesting t...

In different ways, both chapter 12 and 13 are about how to live as a follower of Jesus in the world as it is.  They seem very different in some ways.  Chapter 12 is a soaring vision with practical and impractical advice (let love be genuine; hate what is evil; hold fast to what is good) and Chapter 13 seems more practical, dealing as it does with the relationship of the early Christians with civil authorities. In chapter 12, Paul casts a vision of a the transformed life and a transformed community.  He begins by speaking about the gifts people will share in this transformed community.  And then he goes on toe share a laundry list of Christian excellence:  genuine love, hospitality to strangers, service to others.  Giving to the needs of the saints.  Associating with the lowly.  This is what transformed lives look like.  And though it is easy for us to read the list and consider these are individual virtues (that is the way we think of most ...

Paul is Jewish.  Paul is a disciples of Jesus.  Paul loves Judaism.  Paul loves Jesus.  In chapters 9, 10 and 11, Paul tries to speak about all of these things in a way that is true to God's promises through Jesus, but also true to God's faithfulness to Israel as the chosen people. One of Paul's statements is that God chooses the ones he chooses, and hardens the hearts of others, and who knows why.  An imaginary opponent poses the question, "How can God blame someone for a hard heart, if he hardens the heart?"  Good question. Paul has nothing but praise for his Jewish brothers and sisters' zeal and how religious they are.  He respects them, an doesn't really have any idea why most of his brothers and sisters have not joined him in the community of Jesus. But, Paul asserts:  God chooses.  God chose Abraham, and Jacob, ad Joseph.  And God is choosing now, and is choosing Gentiles to also be a part of his chosen people.  God is i...

Perhaps chapter 7 of Romans confuses you somewhat.  I find the sentence structures convoluted, and it seems like (at times anyway) that Paul is really struggling to say what he wants to say.  The, for a moment, it becomes clear.  then, it's a struggle again. Since Paul is talking about the relationship between sin and the law, between our desire for God and our temptations to do evil, perhaps it's understandable that his language sounds like a struggle.  Because there's a struggle going on inside us:  the struggle to do good,  the knowledge that we have done evil, and our guilt before God. Many people have assumed that what Paul is writing is a sort of confessional, that he is saying, "this is what it was like for me before I followed Jesus."  But actually, he is not writing about himself, but his "I" is meant to be EveryMan.  He is not telling his story; he is telling all of our stories.  We are in bondage to sin, struggling to do the ri...

In the next three chapters are three different models for us.  In Chapter 4 we meet Abraham, the father of Israel, the father of the circumcised, the one who originally head God, and set out on a journey to a place he had never been before.  Paul makes the argument that Abraham is the father not just of Israel, not just of the circumcised, but of all who trust God's faithfulness.  Didn't God's call to Abraham (and Abraham's answer) precede his circumcision?  Paul asks.  (Yes).  Well, then, it's not circumcision that makes the difference but it is faith in God.  It is trust in Christ's faithfulness, not whether we meet a particular legal requirement, that makes the difference. Before we meet the next model (Adam), there is that wonderful portion of Romans 5 that shows us the consequences of trusting in Christ's faithfulness:  peace with God.  This peace transcends our circumstances, builds character, and gives meaning to our suffering, becau...

Have you eaten a good breakfast?  Are you sitting down and ready to think deeply?  We are out of the stories of Jesus and the Apostles now and into the deep theology of the letters of Paul.  Romans is the longest, and the deepest, and the most systematic of these letters.  I wish we had more than a few days to read the whole thing. Most of Romans actually doesn't read much like a letter.  It sounds more like a treatise.  Paul is on his way to Rome, but on the way he is collecting an important offering from his Gentile churches to the Jewish believers in Jerusalem, an important symbol of unity between the two bodies of believers.  In the meantime, he's writing to Rome to share his faith with Gentile believers, at least in part to help them to live with, and be good witnesses to, their Jewish brothers and sisters.  As it is, there is much misunderstanding between them. Paul is writing this letter to a church has has never met ( that is not the c...