Gentle Reader,
During my third year of seminary I was privileged to spend a semester studying the Apostle Paul’s letter to the Romans with Dr. Michael Gorman at the Ecumenical Institute of St. Mary’s Seminary and University in Baltimore, Maryland. I was initially told about this class by Dr. Andy Johnson, with whom I studied 1 Corinthians at NTS. Later I would find out that the two good doctors are great friends, and are often spotted together at conferences. (I love that). Both men are devoted to God, passionate about Scripture, and are big nerds about Paul. (I also love this). In fact, Dr. Gorman wrote a commentary on Romans that I definitely suggest adding to your collection.
Each week one of us students was tasked with presenting a brief exegetical overview of an assigned passage. To exegete is to provide a critical explanation or interpretation of a text, which is never to be done without seeking the illuminating power and wisdom of the Holy Spirit. You want your pastor to practice exegesis. You want to know what God is saying. You do not want to waste your time just listening to your pastor’s stories and opinions and political viewpoints, even if they’re very entertaining. Preaching is always about what God is saying in the text.
I was glad to be assigned a chunk of Chapter 8, as it’s one of my favorites. (They’re all my favorites, if you haven’t caught on to that). Below you find a brief (trust me, so brief) overview of verses 18-25.
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Romans Chapter 8 arguably functions as a hinge or pivot point, moving the reader from Paul’s initial argument of Chapters 1-7 and into his next argument of Chapters 9-11. The flow of thought moves into this chapter and then out of this chapter. All that Paul has said, and all that Paul will go on to say finds its summation here.
As we have already experienced, Paul practices the art of the zoom, narrowing his focus onto one subject (e.g., his discussion of Abraham in Chapter 4) then moving outward to a wide-angle view, showing how what he has narrowly focused on impacts the larger narrative. So we move in, and out, and back in. Here in 8:18-25, we find ourselves zooming out, shifting focus from humanity’s experiences of the damaging effects of sin – both individual and the cosmic power – and looking at how sin (personal) and Sin (the cosmic power) has devastated all of creation. Paul hearkens back to Genesis 3, requiring the reader to approach that narrative from a position of understanding that the work of Christ is not only to restore humanity’s relationship to and with God, but to redeem and restore all that God has made.
In her commentary on this passage, Sarah Heaner Lancaster writes that the glory Paul discusses here, which we may understand as a way of speaking about the immanent return of Christ, “is not only for [God’s] children. All creation waits and longs for [this glory]. …Creation, too, suffers in its ‘bondage to decay’ (8:21). It is also fallen and needs to be restored.”[1] Paul sets humanity’s suffering and creation’s chaotic decay side by side, insisting that the redemption of the one necessitates the redemption of the other. Lancaster goes on to write that “we can see the gospel as good news not only for human beings but also for all creation because the hierarchical thinking that leads a person to treat another person as an object…also leads persons to use and value creation only as it contributes to personal gain.”[2] Therefore, those who now locate themselves as being in Christ must learn, through the guidance of the Spirit, to approach not only their fellow humans but creation itself from a different perspective, understanding, as Lancaster says, “the circumstances of humans and rest of creation are interconnected.”[3] Humanity stands not apart from and dominant over creation, but is part of creation.
This is a challenging text for those of us living in Western societies. It is easy enough to give intellectual assent to the idea that God will restore all that God has made. It is not so easy to positively respond to the idea that humanity does not stand apart from and dominant over creation and should thus repent of our lack of care for the world around us and correct our behaviors. That negative response seems to flow from three areas: first, widespread teaching that insists the world is going to hell in a handbasket anyway, so why bother?; second, equally widespread teaching that misreads the Genesis creation accounts in such a way as to place humanity in dominance over creation instead of lovingly caring for it; and finally, a despairing recognition that we can rarely escape participating in larger systems that further the decay of creation. But if we are to take Paul and this text seriously, recognizing the voice of God in these words, then we must engage in the sweetly painful work of repentance and correction.
We do not stand apart from creation. The world around us is not at our disposal, to use and abuse as we will. The people of God are given enlightened vision to see this reality and must lead the way in renewal and restoration efforts. In so doing, we become a foretaste of the glory that will one day be revealed when Christ sets foot upon the earth once more, and all is set to rights.
[1] Sarah Heaner Lancaster, Romans (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2015), 144.
[2] Ibid., 145.
[3] Ibid., 145.
This is where the assignment ends, because we were required to stick to exactly one page. Today I am thinking about this passage alongside something the angel Gabriel says to Mary in the Annunciation scene: “…and of his kingdom there will be no end” (Luke 1:33a, NRSV). The Kingdom of God is right now. Right here. It doesn’t begin at the end of time. We don’t enter into it only in eternity. If Jesus Christ is your Lord and Savior, then you are part of the Kingdom of God. That’s your citizenship. That’s your identity. You live out of an entirely different set of ethics than others. You don’t cut corners. You don’t use and abuse. You don’t cheat. You don’t support those who do.
The Kingdom of God is right now. God is the Sovereign over all of creation, right now. So whether it’s the yard or the garden, or the animals, or other people – you treat them as God treats you. With compassion, kindness, and love. You thank God for what you have, and take care of it, whether it’s a lot or a little. You give what you can as God leads to care for those who don’t have what you have.
The Kingdom of God is not centered on competition. Doesn’t even include it. It is not a race to see who can come out on top. It is not about declaring so-and-so person or people the enemy. God doesn’t call us to try and dominate or control anyone or anything. We open our hands. We care. That is who we are, because that is who God is.
GRACE AND PEACE ALONG THE WAY,
MARIE
Image Courtesy of Markus Spiske