Answers: Paul's Theology in Romans 1-8

I gave my Romans and Galatians class a take home test whose questions I posted a while back. I thought I'd post my answers to those questions today. There's some stuff here I'd like to publish, so as is always implied, © Ken Schenck on the parts that aren't common positions.

1. What is the gospel?
The gospel, the good news, is that God has enthroned Jesus as the Christ, the Son of God, the Lord of the cosmos. Jesus was qualified to be cosmic king because he was descended from David and then God raised him from the dead.

2. Ethnic make-up of the audience of Romans?
There are only three reasons to suggest that the audience might have a significant Jewish component: 1) the Jewish names in Romans 16, 2) the Jewish interlocutor of 2:17, and 3) common sense, the likelihood that early Christian communities might have been mixed.

Aside from chapter 16, however, whose destination is questioned, the actual text of Romans pushes us toward an overwhelmingly Gentile audience. 1:13 implies that the audience is Gentile, and the discussion of 9-11 speaks about the Jews as other than both Paul and the audience. The interlocutor of 2:17 is an imaginary one and could even include Gentiles who were particularly "conservative" on matters of law.

3. Why did Paul write Romans?
First, Paul planned to visit Rome soon. Romans thus was meant to introduce himself to the Romans in preparation for his coming visit.

Second, he was visiting them hopefully on his way to Spain. He preferred not to minister in locations where the gospel was already established. The church at Rome was already founded, so he hoped to use Rome as a launching pad for a mission to Spain and no doubt hoped to have the material support of the Roman church as he went.

Thirdly, part of his introduction involved fending off possible rumors about him the Romans might have heard. In particular, it was rumored that he advocated sin because of his emphasis on grace (e.g., 3:8) and probably that he disdained his Jewish heritage. Romans is thus, more than anything, a defense of his understanding of the gospel.

Lastly, Paul has apparently heard that the kinds of issues between "weak" and "strong" that he addressed at Corinth were also in play at Rome. Romans 14-15 in particular address these issues directly, 12-13 indirectly, and the theology of Romans 1-11 indirectly.

4. What does Paul mean by the "righteousness of God" in Romans?
The Jewish background of the phrase in Psalm 143, Isaiah 40-66, and the Dead Sea Scroll hymns suggests that the first meaning this phrase would have had for a Jew is that propensity of God to act in love toward His people, Israel, and to save them. For Paul this love clearly extends to the Gentiles as well, so that the phrase, God's "saving righteousness" is very appropriate to the sense of Romans 1:17.

For Paul, the phrase also has connotations of God being just, a slightly different sense that we find in 3:26. God has passed over sins, but he has offered Christ as an atoning sacrifice. He is thus "just" at the same time that he justifies the ungodly.

In a couple places, however, Paul seems to build on the semantic flexibility of the phrase "the righteousness of God" to double entendre (3:21) or explicitly blur to (10:3) a sense of the righteousness that comes from God in justification, a pronouncement of innocence in court, acceptibility by God.

5. What is salvation for Paul?
Salvation for Paul most literally refers to escaping God's wrath on the Day of the Lord. On the one hand, the wrath of God is something already intrinsic to him "giving over" idolaters to sexual immorality and such. There is judgment intrinsic to their actions.

Yet Paul also looks to a Day of Judgment at the point of Christ's return. Salvation relates most directly in his regular usage to being rescued from that wrath (5:9). We must all appear before the judgment seat of God (2:5; 14:10).

When Paul speaks of being saved in the present tense in Romans, therefore, he is either speaking proleptically of something certain enough to speak of it as accomplished, gnomically of general truths, or using a futuristic present. Only Ephesians seems to use salvation language with more of a genuine past tense (2:8), and we would argue that it reflects more the wording of a secretary or heir than Paul's own natural vocabulary, style, and specific thought patterns.

6. What is faith for Paul? What is its content? Whom is it directed toward?
Paul can use the word faith with most of the flexibility of meaning the word had at the time. He can use it to mean faithfulness (3:3). He can use it with a primary emphasis on belief (10:8).

Most of the time Paul uses it, he uses the connotation of trust or confidence in the God who raised Jesus from the dead (4:25) or in Jesus' Lordship and all that it accomplishes (9:33; 10:11). Presumably faith in this latter case involves commitment and investment in Jesus as Lord, surrender to his Lordship.

The belief content of faith is thus primarily that God raised Jesus from the dead and thus that Jesus is Lord.

7. What does the expression εκ πιστεως mean for Paul?
This phrase is drawn from Habakkuk 2:4 and can be taken as a shorthand reference to Paul's understanding of that verse. The expression, "justification by faith" is an apt summary of Paul's understanding, provided that we correctly understand what Paul might mean by that phrase.

First, it is clear from 9:32-33 that Paul understands the phrase more in relation to human faith rather than Christ's faithfulness. Human faith leads to justification as opposed to Jewish or human "works." We trust in what God has done in Christ and God declares us justified, not guilty, our sins not reckoned because of our faith in the God who has raised Jesus from the dead and enthroned him as cosmic Lord. Most of the time Paul uses the expression, we believe he refers to human faith.

However, since we believe that Romans 3:22 refers to the faithfulness of Jesus, his obedient act to the point of death, it seems more likely than not that the first sense of "from the faith of Jesus" in 3:26 is Jesus' faith rather than human faith. The context thus implies a double reference in this verse--a reference to the faith Jesus had and to the faith we must have. 2 Corinthians 4:13 reflects this same common story of faith between Jesus and us, leading to resurrection.

8. What is the role of works in final justification?
Romans 2:5-10 speak of the Day of Wrath when God will render to each person according to his or her works. This is possibly the same event as Romans 14:10 where Paul indicates we will all stand before the judgment seat of God and 2 Corinthians 5:10. In 2 Corinthians, Paul speaks of giving an account for things done in the body.

The idea that even Christians will be judged for their earthly deeds is found several places in Paul. Thus in 1 Corinthians 3:13-15 Paul speaks of the Day disclosing a Christian's works, including some judgment by fire for individuals who will nonetheless be ultimately saved. Paul also indicates that certain notorious sinful types of individual will not inherit the kingdom of God (1 Cor. 6:9-10).

I think we should thus factor in repentance and forgiveness for the time in between "initial" justification, Paul's primary concern in Romans, and ultimate or "final" justification on the Day of Wrath. The works for which a believer might be judged on the Day are thus sinful and carnal deeds toward which a person shows no repentance (e.g., 2:4).

9. What is the role of repentance in justification?
Paul makes no explicit connection between repentance and justification. However, it does show up in a couple instances where Paul is addressing the process of reconciliation with God. It is the goodness of God that allows the sinful to repent (2:4). We suspect that Paul would fully affirm the importance of repentance as a prior requirement for justification, even though it is not a category that plays a major role in his explicit and probably conscious thought.

As an aside, my hunch is that Paul is not saying in 2:4 that God causes repentance but rather that God allows for it.

10. What does Paul mean when he says that all have sinned?
While I believe Paul would affirm that all individuals have sinned, 3:23 primarily indicates that both Jews and Gentiles have sinned. So all have sinned--both Jew and Gentile. The Jews as well as the Gentiles stand under the wrath of God.

In my opinion, Paul uses the words sin and transgression in much the same way, although Sin can take on cosmic proportions for him that the word transgression does not. Transgression tends more toward concrete actions, while sin can become more abstract. The basic meaning he primarily has in mind is to violate God's law (5:13; 7:7-8). Paul, however, seems to focus on those aspects of the Jewish Law that a believer will keep after the Spirit of Christ indwells him or her.

He does not, however, seem to define sin as the violation of some absolute perfection, such as to "miss the mark." Nor does he have in mind unintentionally violating a law that one knows. We now know the commandments (as opposed to those between Adam and Moses) and in this context Paul never speaks of sinning without knowing one is sinning. We should probably steer away from the word unintentional, however, because Romans 7 speaks of a person who does not intend to sin but is overpowered by Sin's power over their flesh.

11. What does it mean to lack the glory of God?
The glory of God is what God intended humanity to have at creation (Ps. 8) but that all currently lack because of sin (Rom. 3:23). Christ's atonement and our justification on the basis of his and our faith gives us hope to attain to such glory on the Day of Salvation.

Romans 8 gives us some hints of what such glorification might entail. It involves, for example, the redemption of our bodies (8:18, 23). It relates directly to the Spirit we have inside as a downpayment (8:23; 2 Cor. 5:5). And presumably, it has a lot to do with the resurrection body of 1 Corinthians 15.

12. What does it mean to be justified for Paul?
To be justified is to be found innocent, not guilty, reckoned as righteous (4:6) by God. This is despite the fact that all have sinned (3:23-24) and takes place by way of the atonement God has provided through Christ (3:25). Justification so credited when first confessing faith in Jesus as Lord does not guarantee the ultimate trial verdict on the Day of Judgment.

13. What does Paul mean by the "faith of Jesus Christ"?
The expression that appears in Romans 3:22 and Galatians 2:16 may at least initially refer to the faithfulness of Jesus to the point of death. Romans 5:19 seems to parallel this sense closely. The fact that Paul does not explain the expression may imply that it was a well known expression in early Christian Judaism as a shorthand reference to the faithful death of Jesus.

However, Paul tends to build on the ambiguity of the expression in moving toward human faith in his later discussions (see #7) above.

14. What does Paul mean by "works of Law"?
In Galatians 2 it seems fairly clear that Paul primarily has in view elements of the Mosaic Law such as circumcision and food laws when he denies that "works of Law" can result in justification. The expression now found in the Dead Sea Scroll document, "Some of the Works of the Law" corroborates a primary connotation of the phrase in reference to those elements of Law keeping that fueled intra-Jewish debate.

However, Paul's use of the phrase is not limited to those elements of the Jewish Law that separated Jew from Gentile. Paul always has the Jewish Law in view no doubt when he uses the phrase. The question is which parts he most focuses on at any one time. In Romans he tends to speak more generally of "works of Law" in reference to how well one keeps any part.

Paul's point is simply that being right with God is always a matter of His grace. Everyone has some violation of Law for which they need God's forgiveness. The real point of controversy between Paul and his opponents does not seem to be this point, but rather on what basis God dispenses it. God does not dispense His grace because of how well one keeps the Law but on the basis of confession of Jesus' Lordship and all that it entails.

15. What is the nature of atonement in Romans?
Atonement is sacrificial in nature in Romans. God offered Jesus as an atoning sacrifice by means of his blood. The Greek word ιλαστηριον is notoriously controversial (3:25). It surely involves a vindication that God is just (3:26) and a cleansing for sin as well. The fact that the word always refers to the physical cover of the ark of the covenant in the Jewish Scriptures surely implies that Paul has it in view here. God has made Jesus to be the Day of Atonement altar where our atonement is effected.

The logic of atonement remains difficult for us, the way in which the ancients understood animal or human blood to substitute for the offenses of others. But the result was reconciliation between the person or group and the offended god or gods. In the Christian sense, it has to do with reconciliation between an alienated humanity and God by way of the blood of Jesus. Redemption is another image used for the freedom of the offender from their guiltiness by the "payment" of Christ.

16. What is the nature of boasting in Romans?
The principal boasting Paul has in mind is the boasting that a Jew might make in being acceptable before God simply because of being a Jew and knowing the Law (2:17). Boasting in works (3:27) thus still primarily refers to the kind of boasting a Jew might make for keeping the Law. Gentile believers similarly have no basis to boast in relation to the Jews either (11:18). What Christians can boast in is the hope of the glory of God (5:2).

17. What is the role of grace in justification?
Justification is entirely by grace. No one merits or earns God's favor (4:4-5), and death results in a kind of justification for all (5:7). But God has now graciously and mercifully enabled justification for the living on the basis of their faith in what He has done through Jesus Christ and in the Lordship he has bestowed on him.

Grace here is God's patronage toward us in doling out forgiveness. Such grace does not come without expectations, however, and one should not think that such grace is unconditional or will continue indefinitely regardless of how one behaves toward the Spirit of grace.

18. What is the role of Adam in Paul's theology?
Adam for Paul brought Sin and death into the world (5:12-14). Since Adam, all humanity and the creation are under the power of Sin. All humans die, and the creation decays (8:20). Because of the power of Sin, we all sin like Adam although we do not inherit his sin.

But just as we have borne the image of the earthly man Adam we will bear the image of the heavenly man Jesus (1 Cor. 15:49). As in Adam all die, so all in Christ will be made alive (1 Cor. 15:22).

19. What is the role of sin in the life of the believer?
Paul makes no allowances for sin in the life of the believer in Romans, although it seems very likely that he assumes it does happen sometimes. It does not have to (1 Cor. 10:13), but he is not making some absolute argument in these chapters. He is not arguing that a Christian will never sin. What he is arguing is that sin must not reign in a believer's life (6:12) and that sin should not typify a Christian's life. Sin should be atypical of a believer, not typical.

Here of course he is talking about doing wrong when you know to do the good (e.g., 7:19). He is not talking about never "missing the mark." Paul consistently in this section says that while we used to be enslaved to sin (6:17) we now walk in newness of life (6:5). We fulfill the righteous requirement of the Law through the power of the Spirit (8:4).

Paul knows nothing about Christ fulfilling the Law for us, only of us dying to the Law by participating in Christ's death. Paul knows nothing of some legal fiction of righteousness that continues to cover our actions after we have first been justified by our faith in the Lordship of Jesus the Christ.

20. What does flesh signify for Paul?
Flesh is that aspect of our human bodies that is susceptible to the power of Sin. There is a dualistic element to Paul's thought here. The physical world is not evil, but it is weak in relation to the power of Sin. Apart from the power of the Spirit our flesh will overcome any intent of our mind to keep the Law. Apart from the Spirit, we will not be able to do the good we want to do. The body and the flesh thus relate to the world where Sin is empowered. Spirit and the mind pertain much more to the heavenly realm, although our minds perhaps can also be affected by Sin (12:2).

In Paul, the flesh thus becomes shorthand for a person under the power of Sin, so much so that those who are "in the flesh" are unable to please God (8:8). To be "in the Spirit" is thus for a person to be empowered in relation to the weakness of the body in this world where Sin and Satan hold sway.

21. What is the Law in Paul's thinking and how does it function?
Paul can use the word Law in a number of ways. Clearly the Jewish Law, the Mosaic Law, the legislation of the Pentateuch, is the base camp for Paul's references to the Law. When he says that Gentiles are freed from the Law or are not under Law (e.g., 1 Cor. 9:20) he both means that they are not required to keep the Jewish particulars of the Law and that our (initial) justification is not on the basis of the Law.

The Jewish Law in this respect functioned 1) to tell me the commandment of God that I must not violate and 2) pointed out my helplessness to keep that Law because of the power of Sin over my flesh. Paul here has subtly blurred into a focus on those parts of the Law that remain in force for a believer, what later Christians (but not Paul) would call the "moral" law. Paul affirms in Romans 8 that Christians can fulfill this righteous requirement (8:4; cf. 3:31). Romans 13:8-10 suggests that it basically amounts to loving one's neighbor.

But Paul uses the word Law in other ways as well. It can refer to the first five books of the Old Testament, the Pentateuch. He can use it to mean a "rule" (3:27). The fact that he does not signal any of these sorts of shifts significantly confuses his meaning.

22. What is the role of the Spirit in the believer and in the Church?
As mentioned under #20, the Spirit finally empowers the person wanting to do good, to do good. The person is empowered to love as God gives life to our mortal bodies (8:11). A person who does not have the Spirit of Christ, on the other hand, is not his (8:9). The Spirit is thus the most essential ingredient in salvation.

The Spirit is an earnest of our inheritance, both a downpayment of our glorified bodies and a guarantee (5:5). The Spirit of sonship indicates our adoption as sons of God (8:14-17). The Spirit sanctifies us, purifies us and possesses us as God's property (1 Cor. 6:11).