Romans 5-10
Stacy is right in her comments on yesterday. This is where Paul starts getting a little (OK, a whole lot) dense. It seems to me that part of the problem is that he is working out of a philosophical base that may or may not hold for us anymore. And that creates a real problem. What happens to our faith when the language that we have traditionally used doesn't fit our world.
For instance, substitutionary atonement. The idea of sacrifice is totally foreign for us. In all my years I have not been to a sacrifice--other than Wake Forest football! There isn't a church or synagogue or masque or temple in this country that offers sacrifices--real one, goats, sheep, cows, pigeon doves--as a part of worship. So how do we have any idea of sacrifice? In fact, the real sacrifices today are those offered by suicide bombers--and I dare say that we all totally reject that as a picture of what God calls us to?
So what then are we to say about these things? (Channeling Paul there!) What Paul was doing was "translating" his experience with Christ into a mindset that his readers could understand. At times that meant jettisoning some ideas that were deeply rooted--are the Jews really God's favorites? What about the Gentiles?
So are we willing to let go of some of those ideas that have been rooted in us? What does that mean for how our faith, our churches, our actions look? Who gets to decide what is kept, and what is disposed of?
It is easy to just dismiss Paul. Lord knows that there are times that I do--but then he speaks what is the core of the gospel--"nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus"--and I have to give him another chance. It isn't easy, but I have to remember that Paul was a human who was working with what he had available to him, both technologically (isn't this new papyrus great?) but also philosophically. Neither one is God. To make them so is to completely miss the boat, to substitute one "slavery to the law" for another.
This grace stuff is hard!
2 comments:
This passage made me really emotional, and my emotions were all over the place. One minute I was frustrated and confused, then surprised, then comforted, then empowered, then confused again, then scared, depressed, and angry. I think there's probably some good stuff in ch. 10, but I was still too upset over ch. 9 to really hear anything else. According to ch. 10, "faith comes by hearing," but that is definitely not what came to me upon hearing these chapters. And I found myself wishing very much that when the Faith Comes By Hearing people send out those recordings of the New Testament to people groups that have never heard it before that they also send some person to discuss it with them, or at least a disclaimer that says, "Paul gets it wrong sometimes." At least that's what I want to think. I hear parts of ch. 9 and I hope desperately that Paul isn't right, that God isn't really like this. If everything Paul says is true the way it reads, trying to follow a God like that honestly terrifies me. In case you can't tell, I was profoundly disturbed by today's passage, to the point that I almost thought maybe I shouldn't listen anymore. I think what bothered me the most was the predestination stuff, which always bothers me, and especially the analogy of God as a potter who has made some vessels for special use and others "made for destruction." How can I not hear in this that Paul thinks God creates some people for the sole purpose of destroying them in wrath? If I'm way off base, please somebody tell me. I'm hoping I am, but that sure seems to me like what Paul is saying. The implications of that for who Paul's God is are just too horrid to even contemplate.
For my own sanity, I saved the good stuff for last. Because of course, alongside the horridness, Paul gives us some verses I absolutely love. I can definitely get on board with him when it comes to "I do not do what I want to do, but what I hate I do." That I can relate to, and it's kind of comforting to know that even Paul struggled with those same feelings. And in ch. 8, I love the image of the whole world groaning like a woman in labor, waiting for the glory of God to be revealed in the children of God -- and that would be us! (At least I'm hoping it's us, and we're not some of the ones predestined for wrath -- sorry, there I go again.) The assurance of 8:28 that God is always working in even the darkest situations to bring about good is part of what gets me through the toughest nights at the hospital and gives me hope for all the people I minister to in the worst moments of their lives. I don't believe God caused their pain, but I believe God can ultimately bring good out of it. I need to believe that. Then there's the last part of the chapter, about no one and nothing in the universe being able to separate us from the love of Christ. These are beautiful, triumphant verses that I read at my Gramma's funeral, and I want them to be read at my own funeral, and my wedding if I ever have one (Don, take note). So, I don't want to just completely dismiss Paul. We would lose some great stuff. But oh how I wish his letters came with footnotes from God. It would help me sleep better.
Stacy, you communicate so well what I have struggled with for my entire adult life! But I finally have peace (the peace which passes understanding - quite literally) just because I accept exactly what Don says: Paul was human. The Pope is human. Martin Luther was human. Even those who devote their entire LIVES to understanding what God wants are still human. Just as the most gifted physician cannot stop death for every patient, the most gifted theologians (even those who met Jesus himself) cannot get it right all the time.
And so I became a Baptist! After so many years of struggling with Presbyterianism - where education and knowlege and diligent Bible study are respected to the point of reverence - and yet where no one could explain predestination in a manner that worked for me, and what I honestly believed was in my heart from God - I embraced the idea of priesthood of the believer! But to follow that, I am forced to believe NONE of us has it exactly right. We each have a little piece of it right - the piece that belongs to God - and then the rest, we believe just as strongly, because we don't have a hard and fast way of determining which piece we actually do have right. And so we bump up against each other, even when attempting to show God's grace to each other - because we can't really DO that. Only God can. Our humanity gets in the way, and no matter HOW HARD one tries; how much effort one gives to being Christ-like, we are selfish beings and that gets in the way. Paul was the same. Later, we will hear of his "thorn in the flesh" which is never identified. I think that is a good thing, we can all imagine Paul struggling with our individual thorn, because we each have them.
I've been wondering why I feel the least bit qualified to respond to these passages and to the very well thought out and written Blog and follow on comments. I never went to Seminary and I certainly don't have the education to feel like I'm good company for the two of you (since it seems no one else wants to play!) But worshipping at Providence has given me a peace as well - this priesthood of the believer idea says that I might have something to add even without the degree... but then that means so do all of those with whom I disagree. Humbling. Thought-provoking stuff. I rest in the faith that God alone understands it all, and that what He judges in us is the intention - to love him, to share his love with others, and to continue to work at being Christ-like even knowing it is not possible. I might have that piece all wrong, but it is still the core belief of MY theology.
What is yours?
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