Propositions on Understanding Romans

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.

Jesus & Paul on Israel’s Heritage & Identity

Jesus and Paul do not sound the same but they both have the same basic perspective: That Israel was basically a pagan nation.

There was reason they would be able to assert this. Aside from the frequent periods of pagan worship recorded in the book of Judges, Solomon had officially made the united nation of Israel a polytheist realm. YHWH got demoted from Israel’s only God to the head of a pantheon. In his letter to the Romans (1:18ff), Paul argues that all nations are piling up wrath by turning to idolatry instead of acknowledging God as he has revealed himself in his works. He includes Israel in that verdict, using phrases that point to their own history. The only sin Paul names for which their is no direct Scriptural evidence that Israel was a participant is lesbianism (Romans 1:26).

How does this compare to Jesus’ message during his ministry before the cross?

Solomon the Riddler

What follows is based on a blog post I published exactly 13 years ago today, long before I even planned to write Solomon Says. This was part of my reason for arguing that the proverbs are riddles (Proverbs 1:6; 25:2), but I never used this material in the book.

Consider Proverbs 10:15:

A rich man’s wealth is his strong city;
the poverty of the poor is their ruin.

Seems pretty straightforward, doesn’t it?

God’s Wrath Revealed from Heaven & Pharaoh’s Hardening

In Romans, Paul says that the Gospel reveals God’s righteousness. Then he says God’s wrath is revealed from heaven. I think these are one and the same revelation in the Gospel. Thus:

For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, “The righteous shall live by faith.” For [in it] the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth.
Romans 1:16-18 ESV

Obviously, the bracketed words aren’t there, but I think the implication is entirely plausible. What Paul goes on (1:18ff) to describe God doing in response to idolatry in history is NOT God’s wrath. God does respond to sin by giving people over to more sin and this is “the due penalty” (v. 27), but this is not an expression of God’s wrath, but a continual and compounding provocation of God’s wrath. Romans 1:18ff does not describe God’s wrath but it describes why God is wrathful.

But the fact that God doesn’t respond in immediate wrath is because the same process is due to God’s kindness.

Do you suppose, O man—you who judge those who practice such things and yet do them yourself—that you will escape the judgment of God? Or do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance? But because of your hard and impenitent heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed.
Romans 2:3–5 ESV

“Robbing Temples”?

Paul writes to Jews, “You who abhor idols, do you rob temples?” (Romans 2:22b ESV)

The English translation “rob temples” makes readers think of pagan temples. There was only one Temple for Israel, so robbing more than one would indicate other temples are in view. And if the Jews wanted to worship these idols secretly, or in shrines of their own devising, they could be robbing pagan temples in order to get them.

The charge then, would be that the Jews are known for rejecting idolatry but actually steal idols for themselves.

But…

Why Did God Harden Pharaoh?

I wrote on Romans 9. over eight years ago. I now have some related observations.

So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy. For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, “For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I might show my power in you, and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.” So then he has mercy on whomever he wills, and he hardens whomever he wills.
Romans 9:16–18 ESV

Does the Bible tell us about some of the results of God showing his power in Pharaoh and getting his name proclaimed in all the earth?

Miracle Birth

Monday we celebrate the most important miracle birth in the Bible. Three days after the longest night of the year (in the northern hemisphere) we remember the birth of Jesus to the Virgin Mary.

What are the precedents to, and what is the meaning of, the event?

John Murray for Paedobaptism even if it demanded Paedocommunion

It is objected that paedobaptists are strangely inconsistent in dispensing baptism to infants and yet refusing to admit them to the Lord’s Table …

At the outset it should be admitted that if paedobaptists are inconsistent in this discrimination, then the relinquishment of infant baptism is not the only way of resolving the inconsistency. It could be resolved by going in the other direction, namely, that of admitting infants to the Lord’s Supper.

And when all factors entering into this dispute are taken into account, particularly the principle involved in infant baptism, then far less would be at stake in admitting infants to the Lord’s Supper than would be at stake in abandoning infant baptism.

This will serve to point up the significance of infant baptism in the divine economy of grace.

[John Murray, Christian Baptism (Phillipsburg, NJ: Presbyterian and Reformed Publishing Company, 1980). pp. 73-74; emphasis added. Note that John Murray opposed paedocommunion.]

Is Physical Culture ESSENTIALLY Shallow?

I criticized moralism related to body composition in my last post. I have some further thoughts on the matter, and this is one of them:

The moralism sometimes works the other way: instead of demanding that Christians meet a standard for “physical health” (appearance), one deems gym culture inherently “unspiritual” or “shallow” or some other vaguely negative thing. Then one’s non-participation in it becomes a badge of Christian maturity.

Wisdom, “Fitness,” and Moralism

Recently, I have run into a lot of “Christian” exhortations on social media for people to lose weight and “get fit.” I use quotation marks around Christian, because, in some cases, they are simply outright mockery about physical appearance (but not all are so bad).

The reigning moralisms about healthy (“moderate”) food intake are unhelpful for either virtue or health. There is no intuitive difference between wanting to eat for whatever reason, and being “really” hungry. There is no internal signal that one has eaten “enough” and one should now abstain. There is no sensory guidance that one can use will power to follow or that one can ignore for the sake of culinary desire. God made food. We like to eat food. And, apart from some basic knowledge of biology and math, no one can intuit how much is too much. (Or rather “too much” [Proverbs 25:16] is already probably far more than is healthy on a regular basis. One could avoid that extreme and still not be “healthy” enough.)