“Where Romans Lands” Summer Intensive with N.T. Wright was organized by Admirato.org.
Too often people who look at Romans spends most of their time looking at Romans 1-8 which are glorious and the more difficult portion of Romans 9-11. Too few spend the time Romans 12-16 really deserves perhaps because of the Platonic view reality influencing the Western Church.
“My campaign is to eradicate Platonism from modern day Christianity.”
Some of Romans 12-13 is very general with the basics of Christian life, but 14:1-15:13 is all about Christian unity in the midst of ethnic tension and diversity. Romans 15:14-16 is his farewell.
The very thing that Paul wants to emphasize at the end of his letter is not what very many Christians want to hear.
The central passage of Romans is Romans 15:7-13 which reads:
7 Welcome one another, therefore, as the Messiah has welcomed you, to God’s glory. 8 Let me tell you why: the Messiah became a servant of the circumcised people in order to demonstrate the truthfulness of God—that is, to confirm the promises to the patriarchs, 9 and to bring the nations to praise God for his mercy. As the Bible says:
That is why I will praise you among the nations, and will sing to your name.
10 And again it says, Rejoice, you nations, with his people.
11 And again, Praise the Lord, all nations, and let all the peoples sing his praise.
12 And Isaiah says once more:
There shall be the root of Jesse, the one who rises up to rule the nations; the nations shall hope in him.
13 May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the holy spirit.
For Paul, the primary witness to the pagan Romans is the demonstration of the new way of being human as demonstrated through the Church, the true royal family. The Church was modeling an entirely different way of life from the imperial style of the Romans.
We are not to be competing for honor, power, wealth, or prestige as the Romans did. The Romans had clear lines between the rich and poor, the free and the slave, men and women. Romans saw treachery and oppression as the norm.
“Therefore…” Romans 12:1
A Summary of Romans
Formal Opening – Romans 1:1-17
Collapse and Restoration of the Creator’s Purpose for Humans – Romans 1:18-4
There has been a failure of worship and a failure of justice.
When we fail to worship the Creator, we deconstruct.
The call of Abraham was part of the solution, but Abraham and his family are infected with the same issues we have.
“The Jewish people are just like everyone else only moreso.” – Jewish Rabbi from the LondonGod focuses His plan onto Israel’s Messiah.
The Messiah’s death and resurrection demonstrate the covenant faithfulness of God putting humans right.
God’s Final Rescue of All Creation – Romans 5-8
Nothing in all of creation will separate us from the love of God!
The Word of God has Not Failed Even Though Israel Did Fail – Romans 9-11
God has not cut off Israel.
1 million inhabitants in ancient Rome. Of them, 30,000 were Judeans. They were often unpopular because they did not worship the gods. They were blamed when bad things happen because the people assumed it was the response of angry gods for not worshiping them.
Nero expelled the Jews. Claudius allowed them to come back. During that time the Church in Rome became completely Gentile. Now that the Jewish Christians were back, Paul needed to address this new tension.
True Worship and Bringing Justice (Putting Right of the World) – Romans 12-15:13
Closing Remarks – Romans 15:4-16:27
To start this final section, Paul begins this section with exhortation and encouragement because of the mercies of God.
Romans 12:1-2
So, my dear family, this iis my appeal to you by the mercies of God: offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God. That’s what properly thought-out worship looks like. What’s more, don’t let yourselves be squeezed into the shape dictated by the present age. Instead, be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you can work out what God’s will is, what is good, acceptable and complete.
Our response to God’s love and mercy is nothing less than become fully human! The compassionate God has done all He has done and because of that, now we can do this! He wipes off our tears from our failures and restores us to our true vocation.
As an act of gratitude, we are to be “a living sacrifice.” This will be holy and pleasing to God. Too often we think we can do nothing to please God, but that is a misunderstanding of God’s character by those who see God as always angry. God can be delighted in us!
“properly thought-out worship” – Humans are joining in with the rest of creation to worship the Creator!
Paul often interacts with the other thoughts of his day. In some ways, this is a rebuke of Aristotle who considered humans simply “rational animals.”
Humans are image-bearers, reflecting God to the world and the world to God!
“The present age” is evil, but this is temporary. One day, God will usher in the age to come when everything will be put right!
The Psalms and prophets were often lamenting the “evil age” and looked forward to “the Messianic age” and “the age to come.
Paul believes we are currently in “the age to come” right now! (See Romans 1:4)
The new world has been launched by the resurrection of Jesus.
The early Christians did not see the resurrection as one peculiar miracle but the beginning of the Kingdom of God which is here now! Resurrection is about the launching of the age to come! (See John 20 which refers to the new Genesis)
Don’t be “squeezed into the shape dictated by the present age” because Jesus is already ruling!
The way Jesus rules is not like the kings of this world by bullying others but through the shape of the cross.
The darkness should not be part of us.
“Instead, be transformed by the renewing of your minds.”
Paul wants his hearers to know the plan of God and know our part to play in it. Paul wants to teach us not just what to think but how to think!
We are not striving towards change or turning ourselves into wise Christians but hard work. Instead, we are open our minds to relying on the Spirit. New creation is taking shape within us – even if we do not realize it or even if it is happening in a way we do not expect.
Forgiveness and peacemaking are not options but mandatory for those who follow Jesus.
We are seeing the world in a new way rather than the unfit mind we see in Romans 1.
Humans who worship and do justice think differently.
“So that you can work out what God’s will is…”
This is more than just understanding what God wants me to do next in my own life but seeing my place in the larger narrative. This helps me know where I belong in the here and now.
“what is good, acceptable, and complete” refers to becoming fully mature or “perfect” in the ways of Jesus.
This means becoming fully human as Jesus demonstrated!
This doesn’t mean we won’t make mistakes but our trajectory is towards Christlikeness.
We should not separate the “is” from the “ought.”
The rest of Romans 12 talks about the Church as an alternative society.
Romans 13 is about the daytime people in a nighttime world.
Romans 14-15 deals with the complexity of ethnic backgrounds interacting and living together well.
Paul did not want the Roman Church to split along ethnic lines. When we worship together we communicate to the world that Jesus is reigning!
