Sunday 2 November 2008

Intermediate Conclusion: Romans 1-8

Well, those were the first eight chapters of Paul’s letter to the Church in Rome. For me this was an interesting quest, to read these chapters with our question about the relation between Church and Israel at the heart. A few comments before I proceed.

1. I think I have followed Paul’s argument rather closely, even though I am also sure I missed some theological finesses, purposely or foolishly.

2. Paul’s discussion about law and faith was not, I am sure, held in a vacuum. The question must also have played a role among those Jews who did not follow Christ.

3. I have the impression that when Paul speaks about the law, he uses that term in its different meanings; sometimes he speaks of concrete moral rules, at other times about Scripture in general.

4. My presupposition that Paul wrote this letter mainly for discussing the relation between Church and Israel, seems confirmed by how easily all he says falls into this scheme. I do not have the feeling that I had to push Rom. 1-8 into a straightjacket to see this theme in all Paul wrote.

5. I think Paul wrote his theology about salvation in order to clarify his views on Church and Israel. This does not mean that Paul did not describe in detail what his actual views on salvation (including justification by faith) were; it only means that the issue about Church and Israel was a right reason for doing so.

6. Before proceeding to Rom. 9-11, I will hereunder describe my findings from Rom. 1-8. What Paul wrote in Rom. 9-11 about the relationship of Church and Israel logically follows what Paul said previously in Rom. 1-8, or it repeats it. In no case is it logical to assume that he contradicts in Rom. 9-11 what he has said in plain and equivocal terms in Rom. 1-8.
The gospel Paul preaches, is about the Jew Jesus Christ from the Jewish tribe of David; this gospel was promised by the Jewish prophets in their Jewish Scriptures. The Gospel, however, is not only for Jews, but for all people. God is partial; all people are equal before God.

The gospel is God’s power for salvation for all who believe, first for the Jew and for the non-Jews as well. All people are in need of salvation, as God’s wrath is also for all people, Jews and non-Jews. This is because all people are equal sinners. With many quotes from then Jewish Scriptures Paul says that all people are unrighteous, and that no-one seeks for God. This means, Jews and non-Jews are equally bad.

The fact that the Jews possess the law is an enormous advantage for them, because they know the will of God. But knowing that, and being circumcised, mean nothing for God, if it does not go together with obedience to the law.

If uncircumcised not-Jews keep the law, God sees them as if they are circumcised. And if a circumcised Jew who possesses the law does not follow the law, he will be judged by those form the nations who follow the law.

The real Israel are those from the Jewish nation who believe in Christ, together with the believers in Christ from the nations.

By trying to follow the law, no-one becomes righteous. God makes righteousness available for those who, separate from the law, believe in Christ. This is also how Abraham was justified: by faith, when he was not circumcised yet. Circumcision was a confirmation of his faith.

Paul explains that Abraham is a father of all believers in Christ from the nations, and for believers from Israel as well. In this way, Paul creates unity in the Church in Rome. In Abraham, Jews and non-Jews have a forefather in common by faith. Not Moses and the law unite the believers, but Abraham and his faith. Not Moses, but Abraham is the paradigm for Christians.

The promise to Abraham and his posterity that they would inherit the world was not related to the law but to the righteousness that is the result of faith. Faith and its related promises makes people heirs of the world; people who think that obedience to the law makes them heirs of the promises, are not heirs of the promise, is what Paul says. He says that such Jews are not part of God’s covenant promises.

Just as through one man, Adam, death entered the world, so through one man, Jesus Christ, justification entered the world. There is no difference between Jews or non-Jew. For all believers, whether born Jewish or not, the facts are the same: they were dead in sin, but in Christ they are free form sin. Their destiny is also the same: eternal life.

If Christ and his Spirit live in someone, he is able to please God. If someone is not connected to Christ in faith, he cannot please God, as he is in the flesh and he has the mind of enmity to God. Jews without Christ have this mind of enmity to God.

But for Jews and non-Jews in the Church in Rome the same is true:
The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God's children. Now if we are children, then we are heirs— heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.
Abraham and his posterity inherit the world. When a Jew does not believe in Christ, he is not an heir. But: whoever is a child of God through faith, is an heir of the promises to Abraham, an heir of all the promises of God. And this inheritance is described as glorification in eternal life. Paul speaks in great words about this:
And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.
Whoever is in Christ Jesus, Jew or non-Jew, is connected to the love of God, without any difference. By nature, all miss the glory of God, but through faith in Christ, they are assured of being heirs of the world, and of participating in the glory of God. All who are in Christ through faith, Jews or non-Jews, have been predestined by God in eternity, to be heirs of the glory of God.

The heirs of the promise await God’s glory in eternity, honor, peace, being set free from this body of death. That is the salvation the gospel offers. The opposite of this is being lost. Connected with that is missing the glory of God, his wrath, the day of wrath, judgment.

Salvation is the gift of God for all who believe in Christ; the gift of eternity in the glory of God. The opposite, being lost, is the situation of all who do not believe: eternal judgment.

In Rom. 1-8 the word all, or everyone (Greek: pas) occurs regularly. This word, also occurring in the verse that says that thus all Israel shall be saved, means numerical totality, compleness, no-one is not included.

Finally, about the word thus (Greek: houtoos) that also occurs in this verse, see Rom. 1:15, 4:18, 5:12,15,18,21 and Rom. 6:4,11,19. It means that is why, thus, so, in this manner. It does not add to what goes before, but it is the conclusion of it.

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