Paul’s Epistle to the Romans
February 21, 2021
Opening Prayer
Psalm 119
25 My soul clings to the dust;
give me life according to your word!
26 When I told of my ways, you answered me;
teach me your statutes!
27 Make me understand the way of your precepts,
and I will meditate on your wondrous works.
28 My soul melts away for sorrow;
strengthen me according to your word!
29 Put false ways far from me
and graciously teach me your law!
30 I have chosen the way of faithfulness;
I set your rules before me.
31 I cling to your testimonies, O Lord;
let me not be put to shame!
32 I will run in the way of your commandments
when you enlarge my heart!
Romans 1:11-15
-
The danger of Gnosticism.
-
A preference for the spiritual and disdain for
the physical.
-
The goal is to become pure spirit and then to
become one with “God” who is spirit.
-
The physical body is seen as corruption and we
must “shuck this mortal coil.”
-
Truth: God has made us binary beings: we are
physical and spiritual, and they are not to be separated.
Romans 1:16-17
16 For 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. 17 For
in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for
faith, as it is written, “The righteous shall live by faith.” (ALONE!)
This passage changed the world, and is at the heart of the
Reformation.
Why would anyone be ashamed?
-
Crucifixion is a very shameful death.
-
Jesus was, by Roman standards, a nobody.
-
Consider the Beatitudes (Matthew 5:3-12). Do
these really sound “blessed” or “happy”?
-
A Theology of the Cross vs. a Theology of Glory.
(The Heidelberg Disputation)
“I hated the righteousness of God.” – Martin Luther
-
Before this, Luther had seen the righteousness
of God as a performative standard.
-
It was all about active/formal righteousness ethics,
behavior, conduct – in short, the Law.
-
Scholastic Theologians, like Thomas Aquinas,
taught that there was a little bit of divine spark left from creation in a
human being that, if properly tended, could “flare up” into deeds of
righteousness. The idea was that God’s Word and Sacraments infused grace which
empowered a person to do God’s righteous acts.
-
In essence this is synergism – a false teaching that says that we work with God to
perform good works and display righteousness in our lives, and thereby
contribute something to our salvation – be it ever so small.
-
Luther was not fooled. He knew his sin too
deeply. It was clear to him that he contributed nothing to his salvation – and
this drove him to despair.
Power of God for Salvation for everyone who believes.
-
For by grace you have been saved through faith.
(Eph. 2:8 ESV)
-
But to all who did receive [Jesus], who believed
in his name, he gave the right to become children of God… (John 1:12 ESV)
-
“This is the work of God, that you believe in
him whom he has sent.” (John 6:29 ESV)
-
Faith Alone – Sola Fide
Belief (or faith) is the main theme of Luther’s Small
Catechism
-
10 Commandments – Bracketed by the 1st
Commandment – fear, love, and trust
-
Apostles’ Creed – “I believe…”
-
Lord’s Prayer – “With these words God tenderly
invites us to believe…”
-
Baptism – “Whoever believes and is baptized will
be saved…”
-
Confession – “Confession has two parts. First,
that we confess our sins, and second, that we receive absolution, that is,
forgiveness, from the pastor as from God Himself, not doubting, but firmly believing
that by it our sins are forgiven by God in heaven.”
-
Lord’s Supper – “But that person is truly worthy
and well prepared who has faith in these words: ‘Given and shed for you for the
forgiveness of sins.’”
In the Gospel the righteousness of God is revealed.
-
From faith for faith? From faith to faith? From
faith into faith?
-
The idea is that the righteousness of God is
revealed/made known completely and only by faith.
-
Imputed righteousness, revealed righteousness,
passive righteousness, receptive righteousness.
-
What is this righteousness of God? (What does this text tell
us?)
1.
God’s holiness? This is usually seen as revealed
in God’s judgements.
2.
It is revealed. One does not naturally know, and
cannot be understood or received by our efforts.
3.
It is received by faith. This excludes our
performance.
4.
It gives life.
Roman life was regulated by a form of civic righteousness.
It was highly performative. They understand that some things are right and some
things are wrong. Some actions are righteous and other unrighteous. Paul is
going to explore the distinctions of righteousness and unrighteousness to show
us a different kind of righteousness. (Romans 3).
Why is it important to understand that Paul is speaking of
imputed righteousness as opposed to active righteousness?
When it comes to righteousness, people tend to view it on a
continuum between two poles – one is that they are righteous (or at least more
righteous than others) because of their deeds, and the other is that they are
unrighteous as is evidenced by their deeds. This is part of the confusion
regarding the righteousness of God – active vs. imputed.
Notice how Paul is setting this letter up with these verses.
-
He is going to explore God’s wrath toward
unrighteousness – which will begin with active unrighteousness. (Romans 1-2)
-
He will look at righteousness that is extra nos – outside of us – that is
revealed (Romans 3)
-
He will show righteousness as received by faith.
(Romans 4-5)
-
Righteousness is a new beginning – like death
and resurrection (Romans 6)
-
We struggle with righteousness as sinners and
find that we are simil iustus et peccator
– at the same time saint and sinner. God’s righteousness is imputed to us
through faith and our actions show us to be actively unrighteous. (Romans 7)
-
Righteousness depends fully on God, in Christ,
through the work of the Holy Spirit (Romans 8)
-
It is lack of faith that brings us into
unrighteousness before God – no matter how actively righteous our deeds are.
(Romans 9-11)
-
Imputed righteousness leads to a changed life
that produces deeds of active righteousness. (Romans 12-15)
Homework
-
Read Martin Luther’s comments about the
righteousness of God from Luther’s Works. See handout.
-
Have a conversation about something that you
learned, remembered, found important about Romans.
-
If you felt that this was worth your time,
invite someone to join the study, or share a recording of the study via email
or social media. (An email will go out after it has been posted.)
-
Check out the church’s redesigned website. www.gloriadeihudson.org Go to the About
tab and scroll way down to Recommended Sites (below the staff
pictures) and click on Pastor’s Blog. This is the place to
find handouts and audio recordings of our sessions.
Comments