Kalamazoo Mennonite Fellowship
Will Fitzgerald
May 17, 2009
Passage: Romans 2:1-3:21
This is the third teaching on Romans. We first discussed the idea of “the obedience of faith,” which (according to Stephen Metcalf-Conte) is “the behavioral aspect of a complex motion of the soul that includes trust, conviction and fidelity.” We then discussed how humanity’s response to creation is not to give honor to God or to give thanks to God, but to choose to honor and thank other things instead: so-called “gods,” or animals or human beings. As a result, God gave us up to our own desires, and we fell into a cesspool of sexual degradation, foolishness, and “every kind of wickedness.” We no longer trusted God, nor were convinced of God’s truth, and we fell into great unfaithfulness.
In Romans chapter two and the first part of chapter three, Paul continues this theme of unfaithfulness. So, if the good news is that we can live a life of “the obedience of faith,” we are continuing in listening to the bad news of our unnatural unfaithfulness.
Reading the end of chapter one, it is easy to stand back and say, “tsk, tsk” at the evil behavior of others. Bess and I call this playing the “ain’t it awful” game. With so much bad in the world, it is easy to stand removed from it. “They” act badly, and even approve of others acting badly. “We” condemn “them” for this.
But the scriptures don’t let us off so easily. When we judge others, we are really passing judgement on ourselves, for we do some of the very same things. We might condemn people who steal, but steal things ourselves; condemn pornography, but read it ourselves; condemn idolatry, but put money before God; condemn gossips, but talk trash about others. You can almost tell which sins bedevil people by the sins they most criticize.
In vv 2:4 ff, Paul reminds us that we are unlikely to escape the judgment of God if we continue to act unfaithfully. If God hasn’t punished us, it is because God wants to save us: to give us more opportunities to act faithfully. Our goal is to pass out of a mode in which we condemn others for their unfaithfulness, and move into a mode where we experience the obedience of faith; from condemnation mode to life mode: “the just shall live by faith.”
In vv 6-11, we have a good description of both the good and the bad news. I am particularly impressed with the description of faithfulness used here: “patiently doing good, seek[ing] for glory and honor and immortality.” We are reminded the great reward is for anyone, whether Jew or Greek—another one of the big themes in this book.
It was to the “the Jews first”; God gave the Law, the Torah, what we call the Old Testament, especially the first five books. The Jews had a head start in knowing what it means to “patiently do good.” But what matters is not knowing what the good is, but doing what the good is. So when non-Jews or non-Christians do good “instinctively” says the scripture, this is all to their credit.
We just returned from our trip to Ireland, the land of a thousands welcomes, they say. One night we stayed at a bed and breakfast on the Dingle peninsula, and just sat enjoying the sun and the green earth and the sea for hours on end. Perhaps we were a little too blissed-out, because we left our cell phone behind when we left the next day. I called Angelica, our host, and she said she had found it right away, and called two places she knew we were going to try to get it back to us. Unfortunately, the message didn’t get through to us. But she graciously offered to mail the phone back to us in the States.
Now, I could ask why she did this good thing: was it because she learned to do the right thing from her priest, or from Catholic school, or because it was good business, or because it was just the right thing to do? In many respects, it doesn’t really matter: her act was a good act, however it came about.
But this raises the question as to whether having the Torah was in fact an advantage. In verses 17-24, the general condemnation of hypocrisy is turned on Paul’s fellow Jews. I find the last verse (“The name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you.”) especially damning, just as I cringe when yet another Christian leader is found to be guilty of some heinous crime, and my “Gentile” friends have another easy target to lampoon.
We get a long series of “one the one hand” and “on the other hand” arguments about whether the Jews were better off having the Torah than not having it. On the one hand, it matters a lot. On the other hand, it doesn’t matter at all.
On the one hand, as we have said, the Jews have had a head start knowing what God’s specific will is.
On the other hand, when we (who have the Law) disobey God, it has meant God’s name is sullied because of it. There’s even a Yiddish phrase for this that Jews use: “a shanda fur die goyim,” a scandal for the Gentiles.
On the one hand, God gave the Jews certain “cultural markers” (I think I am quoting N.T. Wright here) that marked them out as God’s people, primarily circumcision.
On the other hand, what matters is “a circumcision of the heart,” that is, heart-obedience of the Law, not having the Law or having cultural markers. It is so easy to get wrapped up in our own specialness that we forget that the important thing is to be good, not look good.
On the one hand, when there is a breakdown between what we know about God’s righteousness through the Law, and between Jewish unfaithfulness, we can see God’s righteousness more clearly.
On the other hand, being a really bad example doesn’t do the Jews any good; Jews who disobey God still receive condemnation.
And finally, we get a great roll call of “on the other hand”: we Jews, says Paul, are no better off having the Law because the Law charges us with great moral failure. (vv 9-18). This is the Law itself explicitly condemning all—Jews, Greeks, Gentiles, Christians, non-Christians, everyone—for their unfaithfulness.
We Christians have this rubbed in our face twice: First, in the original places you find these verses in the Old Testament. Second, here in the New Testament. And now I am rubbing it in your face as well.
But, even if we didn’t have the Law to tell us that “no one is righteous,” we’d have the newspapers. And even if we didn’t have the newspapers, we’d have our own warring hearts to tell us that we often do what do not want to do.
The “obedience of faith” involves conviction, trust and fidelity. We cannot actually fulfill the fidelity portion of the obedience of faith. What knowing the Law does is it teach us better how bad we are at the moral life.
We’re going to have to find a better way to be be faithful; and that will be through Jesus Christ:
But now, apart from law, the righteousness of God has been disclosed, and is attested by the law and the prophets, the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ​d​ for all who believe. For there is no distinction, since all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God; they are now justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.
And it will be to this good news that we will return next week.