I wrote and posted these back in 2010 (February 3) and still agree with them. Some expressions I use seem unnecessarily polarizing or patronizing, but I stand by the positive substance. Here they are below with a few comments added in brackets. I also added three more at the end.
- The gospel is not simply justification by faith or imputation or substitutionary atonement. Those things are true but that is not the message which Paul defines as “the Gospel.” Rather the Gospel is the announcement that God has brought instituted a new kingdom over the world by raising Jesus from the dead. [Another way of saying, He has installed Jesus as King.]
- “The righteousness of God” in Romans is not a reference to a righteousness “from” God by way of imputation. It is absolutely true that Christ lived a sinless life and (as Paul affirms in Romans) died a death that propitiated the wrath of God. But God’s righteousness is proclaimed by Paul for another reason… God’s righteousness is his faithfulness to fulfill his promise to save all who trust in him. This faithfulness is declared in the Gospel message.
- Paul’s writing from Romans 1.18 through chapter 2 is not trying to prove that no individual is sinless. Everyone in Paul’s readership already accepted that fact. There are several passages from the OT I could list [1 Kings 8:46; Proverbs 20:9; Ecclesiastes 7:20] with two things in common: 1) they prove there is no one without sin and 2) Paul doesn’t bother to quote them. If Paul is trying to prove universal sinfulness (on an individual level), he uses incompetent arguments.
- Romans 2 is not dealing with pagans who could theoretically be “saved” if they followed their conscience and never sinned against the light of nature. It is true that Paul interacts with pagans who are unaware of the true God (Acts 14 and 17) but overwhelmingly he and others interact with Gentiles who know about the God of the Hebrews and many who worship him. The issue of pagans who have never heard the truth may be important to us…
- Paul is not trying to refute people who believe they can earn their salvation from God by never sinning or by doing enough good works to counterbalance their sins. He says things that are relevant to such a delusion, but he is not dealing with such a group of people.
- Paul is not only trying to drive home the importance of how much Christ’s obedience will bring more glory than Adam’s disobedience brought condemnation. He is also concerned to show that the much more numerous trespasses had the greater but better result than the one transgression of Adam [Romans 5:12ff].
- In Romans 6.1, Paul is not worried about people who think that God’s grace gives them license to sin. Paul talks about salvation by grace many times in his letters without ever worrying about such a misunderstanding.
- Furthermore, the problem Paul raises (chapter 3 and chapter 6) is not people who think they can sin because of free forgiveness but people who (mockingly) say they should sin to spread salvation and that they should not be held responsible because God is sovereign (Romans 3 and 9). They do so because Paul is talking about more than simply salvation by grace in this letter. He is pointing out that God not only used Jesus, but he used sin to bring salvation to the world.
- Paul does not make all Israel’s history some kind of great object lesson or learning experience about sin. The point of Israel’s history with the Law was not only or primarily to teach people they needed grace. The point (staggeringly) was that God needed to produce a level of sin in order to bring about salvation. Otherwise, propitiation would not have been possible.
- It is insufficient to say that Paul’s message teaches that Christ came, lived, died and rose for our salvation. That makes the history of Israel extraneous to the story. In the normal telling, Jesus could have been born in Scandinavia and fallen into a volcano by accident as atonement for our sins. Paul’s letter is also about the role of Israel and Israel’s history. It was all necessary to the plan—the whole history of the world from Adam’s sin and especially Israel’s calling and the giving of the Law.
- Paul’s description of the struggle with sin and the Law in Romans 7 is not about an individual wrestling with his own behavior, but a believer who sees how Israel constantly falls under judgment rather than becomes a means of blessing to the nations.
- Romans chapter 9 is not an afterthought but the climax of the book (from 9-11). The question of Israel is right there at the center of his concern. [Chapter 11:11ff is in fact of the entire argument and Paul repeats several times the basic point he has been declaring and defending from 1:166ff and most specifically since 3:1ff.]
- Paul’s letter to the Romans is not mainly concerned with imputation or the mechanics of salvation. Paul is writing about the course of world history, which was going to Hell in a hand basket up till now [that is, in Paul’s time] but is about to change dramatically, though not necessarily recognizably as it changes. The way of the cross will lead God to soon crush Satan under the church’s feet.
- While Romans 9 does give us statements that rightly support a “Calvinistic” doctrine (Or at least I happen to think so as a Calvinist), Paul is not talking about people whom he knows are doomed when he speaks of “vessels fitted for destruction” but rather of people who might, and whom he hopes will, repent and be saved. His point is not that God wants to punish them, but that he wanted to use them to provide salvation for the world, including their very selves.
- Paul simply does not share the popular view that the future is supposed to get worse and worse until Christ returns. The premise of his argument is that the world has been getting worse but now that Christ has come he will now spread salvation and blessing far beyond the corruption brought into the world through sin.
Some important points I should have included.
- When Paul writes, “For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly” (Romans 5:6 ESV) he is referring to the actual day Christ died in history, not the time “which precedes the reconciliation of each one with God” as John Calvin claimed.
- Thus, “while we were still weak,” “while we were still sinners” (Romans 5:8), and “while we were enemies” (5:10) all are describing, and expecting believers to identify wit,h the human race as a whole in history. We reached our most wretched point on Good Friday, committing a climactic and ultimate sin in killing God’s son.
- Paul uses the word “now” in Romans 3:21 and 8:1 also refers, in both cases, to the time Christ died. But now that Christ has died the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law… and There is therefore now that he has died no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.