Getting Job-ed
This was a paper written for Belhaven University for the course on the New Testament: Paul and His Letters. The paper’s objective was to discuss the purpose and central theme of the Book of Romans as seen throughout the book while only using Thomas Schreiner’s book Handbook on Acts and Paul’s Letters as our reference (along with Scripture). Although I state my disagreements with Schreiner in the paper on certain aspects, I highly recommend Schreiner’s work from the book and him as a teacher on Youtube. This is part 1 of 2:
Historically, many scholars believed the Book of Romans was a complete picture of Paul’s theology. (1) However, by studying the book with the central theme and purpose in mind, we see that it is a letter written to a church to address the needs of that church at a specific point in time. This is not to say that the Book of Romans’ impact on theology is small but rather to help us keep the intended audience and purpose in mind while studying the book, which will then help the theological implications bloom even more. The purpose of this paper is to address the purpose and central theme in Romans and relate them to the different parts of the letter.
To begin, we will discuss what the purpose and central theme are in the Book of Romans and then move to see the purpose and central theme throughout the letter. The purpose of the Book of Romans is to address divisions in the church between Jews and Gentiles in the Roman church and for this church to be a “launching pad for his mission to Spain.”(2) The central theme of Romans is distinct from the purpose. The central theme in Romans is the “Gospel,” meaning, the “good news” for both the Jews and Gentiles that fulfills Old Testament Scripture.(3)
We will explore how both of these make up an underlying current that is seen throughout the entire book. For the most part, I will be using Thomas Schreiner’s outline for the book of Romans which includes: The introduction to God’s saving righteousness (1:1-17), the need for God’s saving righteousness (1:18-3:20), God’s saving righteousness explained and experienced by faith (3:21-4:25), hope as a result of saving righteousness (5:1-8:39), God’s saving righteousness with reference to Israel (9:1-11:36), living out God’s saving righteousness (12:1-15:13), and God’s saving righteousness in the Pauline mission (15:14-16:27).(4)
The Book of Romans opens with Paul’s introduction to God’s saving righteousness in Romans 1:1-1:17. (5) In Romans 1:1-1:6, Paul opens up with the “gospel” that is revealed in Christ that fulfills the Old Testament writings and has brought about “obedience of faith for the sake of his name among all the nations, including you who are called to belong to Jesus Christ” (Romans 1:5-1:6 English Standard Version). Although Paul makes it obvious that the Roman church is the audience of the letter (Romans 1:7), the letter is also intended to reach a wider audience as well, such as unbelieving Jews. (6) Although this is an established church before Paul’s writing and visit, Paul appears to want to preach the gospel to the church (Romans 1:15) possibly to make sure the church understands the true gospel of Christ. Most scholars agree that Romans 1:16-1:17 show the theme of the letter in that the gospel is the power of God to save everyone that has faith in Christ, both the Jews and Gentiles. (7)
In Romans 1:18-3:20, Paul reveals the need for God’s saving righteousness for both Jews and Gentiles. (8) Although the majority of scholars are convinced that Romans 1:18-32 is addressed to Gentiles and Romans 2:1-29 is addressed to Jews, I am not totally convinced about this because of Paul’s lack of use of the term “Gentile” and “Jew” to make this delineation. (9) Paul appears to be discussing much of the human condition that is seen throughout the entire Old Testament, even with the Israelites, God’s chosen people. We see this in Exodus 32 with Israel’s worship of the golden calf and the verbiage in Ezekiel 16 with rebellious Israel being likened to a sexually perverse partner in a relationship. (10) Historically, whether Paul truly had the Jews and Gentiles in one category or two categories in this section, the message is clear: all are totally depraved in their sin and are without excuse before an infinitely holy God.
I feel that there is an overlap between the last section in regards to total depravity and the upcoming section in Romans 3:21-3:26 in that there is a pivotal transition noted in Romans 3:21-3:22 ESV that states, “But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it— the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe…” The prior section ends with hope in the gospel of faith in Christ for depraved mankind, and the new section begins with the gospel of righteousness through faith in Christ.
Paul moves on to show God’s saving righteousness as being explained and experienced by faith in Romans 3:21-4:25. (11) Paul makes the notion that, whether Jew or Gentile, one is made righteous before God by faith in Jesus and not from the law in Romans 3:21-24, 26. Jesus was the “propitiation” for our sins (Romans 3:25), meaning, “atoning sacrifice” or “mercy seat” as seen in the Old Testament－the place where divine wrath is satisfied. (12) Is was predicted in Isaiah 53 as the servant of God and also fulfills the atonement of sin in Leviticus 17:11. (13) Paul appears to be concerned with a holy God overlooking sin as noted the atonement was “…to show God’s (his) righteousness…” as stated in Romans 3:25-26 ESV, repeated twice in those verses. For Paul, an infinitely holy God cannot just overlook sin and leave this unpunished (Exodus 34:6-7). Rather, God satisfies His own justice by taking the sins of mankind, imputing them into Christ, and then imputing His righteousness into sinners (2 Corinthians 5:21). This is “good news” for a rebellious creature that stands before a holy God. This way, God can be both “…just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus” (Romans 3:26 ESV).
Romans 3:27-3:31 sets the stage for Paul stating that no one has room to boast, whether Jew or Gentile, because we are only justified by faith alone. In 4:1-4:25, Paul uses Abraham and David as examples to show this notion. In Romans 4:3, Paul quotes Genesis 15:6 in that Abraham had faith in God and then he was counted as righteous. Just as Abraham had faith in God and this was counted as righteousness, so too are the ones that have faith are counted as righteous (Romans 4:5). Paul then quotes David in Romans 4:7-6 from Psalm 32:1-2 which states blessed are the ones whose sins are forgiven. In Romans 4:9-12, Paul states that Abraham was justified before God by his faith, not by his work of circumcision because of the timeline of Abraham’s faith in God in Genesis 15 versus his work of circumcision in Genesis 17. Abraham was justified by faith before his work. (14) Abraham is the father of both Jews and Gentiles who believes, not just the circumcised alone. (15)
We will end part 1 and will pick up part 2 right where we left off.
Footnotes
- Thomas Schreiner, Handbook on Acts and Paul’s Letters, (Michigan, Baker Academic, 2019), 53.
- Schreiner, Handbook on Acts and Paul’s Letters, 54.
- Schreiner, Handbook on Acts and Paul’s Letters, 55.
- Schreiner, Handbook on Acts and Paul’s Letters, 54-55.
- Schreiner, Handbook on Acts and Paul’s Letters, 55.
- Schreiner, Handbook on Acts and Paul’s Letters, 60.
- Schreiner, Handbook on Acts and Paul’s Letters, 57.
- Schreiner, Handbook on Acts and Paul’s Letters, 58-65.
- Schreiner, Handbook on Acts and Paul’s Letters, 58, 60.
- Schreiner, Handbook on Acts and Paul’s Letters, 59.
- Schreiner, Handbook on Acts and Paul’s Letters, 55.
- Schreiner, Handbook on Acts and Paul’s Letters, 56.
- Schreiner, Handbook on Acts and Paul’s Letters, 56.
- Schreiner, Handbook on Acts and Paul’s Letters, 68.
- Schreiner, Handbook on Acts and Paul’s Letters, 69.
Bibliography
Schreiner, Thomas, Handbook on Acts and Paul’s Letters, (Michigan, Baker Academic, 2019).
