Included
Every day we're reading or listening to part of the Bible together and sharing thoughts with you. Today it’s Owen Lynch:
What did I like about today’s passage?
Last summer whilst reading Paul’s letter to the Romans, I remarked to my wife, Claire that I think if I had met Paul, I probably wouldn’t have liked him. His letters whilst full of much wisdom, pastoral care and concern, can sometimes seem to be written by an angry, opinionated man whose words have been used to justify all manner of injustice by Christians ever since.
If read at face value, the first three chapters of his letter to the Romans seem to back up this caricature. But as is always the case with the Bible, rather than ask what does this mean for me, we must first ask what did this letter mean for its original audience.
The people who Paul was writing to were a mixture of Jews and Gentiles. ‘Gentiles’ was the term used by Jews to describe anyone who wasn’t a Gentile. Amongst the followers of Jesus, Paul felt a particular calling to share the Good News of Jesus with Gentiles, which is interesting because he was a Jew. Far from being exclusive, Paul believed that the Gospel of Jesus was for everyone, not just Jews. So I like chapter 1:5 - “Through him we received grace and apostleship to call all the Gentiles..” Perhaps Paul is more inclusive than we tend to think?
What did it show me about Father God, Jesus or the Holy Spirit?
One of my friends sometimes jokes that she is one of God’s favourites, but here Paul is clear, God the Father does not have favourites (2:11). Why? Well, another way of saying this is that every single human being who ever lived are all God’s favourites. The quality of the relationship between you/me and God is entirely founded on the faithfulness of God to us (3:3-4), not on our faithfulness to God. Phew, that is good news - because I don’t know about you, but I have not been consistently faithful to God! Paul sums this all up in 3:21-24, saying that all humanity have been redeemed by Jesus, by his faithfulness to God.
What am I going to do differently as a result?
I think this has given me fresh perspective on God’s intention to redeem the whole of humanity through Jesus, and indeed the whole of his wonderful creation. I am going to look for his ongoing redemption in places and people where I never expected to see it.
Who am I going to share this with?
I will share this with my wife and teenage kids as we eat together around the dining table.