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No Escape

Read Romans 2: 9-29

As it happens, I believe that the Bible is the word of God. I trust that the LORD of heaven and earth, the one who created the cosmos and all that we perceive throughout reality, is capable of the relatively minor miracle of ensuring that the 66 books that we have are the 66 books that we need. There are several other reasons that I believe the Bible is trustworthy and the word of God, but that is for another post on another day.

Saying that I believe that the Bible is the word of God does not mean that I like everything that the Bible says. Like most Christians there are portions of scripture that I like more than others. There are stories that I find distasteful; I am looking at you Lot’s daughters. There are long sections that can seem tedious. I mean really, we could all build our own at-home tabernacle if any of us had any idea about the length of a cubit. The more I mature as a Christian the more I come to understand that it is all in there for a reason and it is all beneficial.

I bring this up at this point in our journey through Romans because I do not want us to forget Paul’s driving force for his missionary work. There is a day of judgment coming. Obviously, it was not coming as quickly as Paul feared, but as he pointed out in Romans 2:4 that the fact that the final judgment tarries is a reflection of the kindness and patience of God. Our response to the delay should be repentance.

There will be tribulation and distress for every soul who does evil, of the Jew first and also of the Greek.

The idea of the final judgment is prevalent in the Bible.

Many of those who sleep in the dust of the ground will awake, these to everlasting life, but the others to disgrace and everlasting contempt. (Daniel 12)

God will bring every deed into judgment, including every hidden thing, whether good or evil. (Ecclesiastes 12)

It is appointed unto men once to die, after that the judgment. (Hebrews 9)

For the Son of Man is going to come in the glory of His Father with His angels and will then repay every man according to his deeds. (Matthew 16)

It is that last one that stings the most, that is, if you know that it is Jesus speaking. Jesus talks about the final judgment quite a bit. He has several parables (sheep and goats, wheat and tares, the rich fool, etc) that are centered around the final judgment.

As central as it is to the teachings of Jesus, I am not so sure that it is a frequent topic from American pulpits. There are times when I think that I failed when I was a preacher for not commenting on the judgment to come more often. There are many who do not want the old “fire and brimstone” messages, but shouldn’t we occasionally have the heat turned up on us?

In Paul’s day there were many Jews who took comfort in the fact that they were children of Abraham. They thought that having the law gave them a special status. They were confident that they had little to fear of the coming judgment because they were the children of God. For them sin was something that needed to be atoned for with the proper sacrifice according to the covenant. Not unlike a Catholic today who might think sin is not that big a deal. I can go to the priest, confess, do the rosary prayer or whatever else he tells me and move on with my life. Protestants sometimes think “oh well the grace of Jesus covers that one too”. The Apostle Paul took a much more dire view of sin.

Paul understood what too many of us ignore. We Christians spend a lot of time talking down the importance of this sin or that sin. Like the Jew who was overly confident in the status of the people of God to be concerned with the condition of their own heart, we rely on grace to cover a multitude of our sins. As such, we are at risk of being overconfident of grace towards those sins that we simply will not stop committing. Like a junior high boy relying on body spray instead of a shower we expect grace to hide the stench. We are cavalier because we have not truly fathomed the cost of sin. I am not speaking in our own lives, although that cost is high. I am talking about the cost to God.

Christ died because of sin.

Let that sink in for a moment.

Sin was such a big deal that Christ had to die.

What is your own life worth? For what are you willing to die?

Christ died because of sin.

Christ died because of your sin.

Many are fond of saying that “Christ died for my sins”, but that also means that “Christ died because of my sins.” I mentioned in the previous post that mercy only has meaning when there is a law that demands punishment. There is no mercy where there is no judgment. In a similar way grace has no meaning where there is no sin. Soon we will be spending several posts on grace and justification and other good theology words as we go through Romans 3-8, but right now we need to sit in the knowledge that there is a judgment coming for a sin-filled world and that our sins are part of the collective problem that cost the savior his life. As Taylor Swift sings “it’s me, I’m the problem, it’s me”

Recall that Paul says that he is not ashamed of the gospel because it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes (Rom 1:16); but he wants to be sure that we understand that there is no other way to salvation. There is no partiality with God (Rom 2:11). Those who choose the path of self-justifying will suffer the same fate whether are familiar with the law of God or not. The path of self-justifying today looks like the person who wants to avoid faith and simply try and be a good enough person. They are not certain that there is a God or a judgment, but if there is, they intend to rely on the “T-Chart” method. Hopefully there is one more tick mark on the good side of the chart than the evil side of the chart. Poor things probably don’t even realize Jesus is serious when he says the “secret” stuff is going to be judged (Rom 2:16).

At first it seems that Paul gives this group hope when he says that the “doers of the Law will be justified” (v13), but Paul just spent several verses highlighting the sins that demonstrate the unrighteousness of humanity. Not only that but in the proceeding verse he says that all who sin outside of the Law will perish; and everyone who sins under the law are to be judged by the law meaning that they too will be deserving of capital punishment. Paul knows Psalm 24 too well to believe anyone can do the law perfectly enough to get into heaven.

No, there are no ways to justification with God through works. If there were then Jesus Christ would not have had to die.

The rest of Romans 2 relates to the Jew who is overly confident that his status as a Jew will result in his salvation. This first century Jew is in the synagogue (hearing the word but probably not being a doer of the word) and he is quick to correct and judge his neighbor. He knows the law, but he cannot be bothered to live a transformed life. Like a Christmas and Easter Christian, today; just need a little inoculation twice a year to keep up the effect of my baptism, but hey football, bass fishing, and travel ball are going to be more important most Sundays (or the rest of the week) than living a life guided by the Holy Spirit.

What Paul writes for the first century Jew (I fear may be true for the merely baptized) that circumcision is of value only if you are keeper of the law, as soon as you transgress the law your circumcision really amounts to very little. In a similar vein, you can be baptized, take communion, attend worship and be there every time the door is open, but if there is no transformation of the heart then it all comes down to nothing. Or as they use to say in East Texas “just being a church goer doesn’t make you a Christian any more than sitting in the garage once a week would make you a car.”

In summary, at the end of Romans 1, Paul explained how the wrath of God was being readied to be poured out on those who practice various idolatry and live fully into their decadence, depravity, and selfishness. At the beginning of chapter 2, he turned his gaze onto those who nodded approvingly at his list of vices and congratulated Paul for his apt condemnations. They forgot their own self-righteousness is a sin. Now, deeper into chapter 2, Paul has revealed that those who trust in their own innate goodness as one of God’s creations will also face the judgment. So too, anyone who seek to be deemed good enough on their own merit when the judgment comes will be found lacking. Those who are confident that they are among the elect (to borrow a phrase from the Presbyterians) and active in the church will not miss the guilty verdict either. Finally, he gets all the “good church people” who know what’s right and even remind others when they miss the target of righteousness. Those people who can quote scripture chapter and verse as they say but still also break the law on the regular will not escape the “tribulation and distress” of verse 9. This is because God is looking for those whose circumcision is of the heart by the Spirit. Jesus himself said the days were coming when people would worship God in Spirit and Truth for the Father is seeking such people to worship him (John 4).

All of this is building Paul’s case and soon enough he will reveal the gospel solution found in Christ Jesus. For now, it is Holy Week 2025, and we should all take our sin just a little more seriously.

Our sin is why Christ had to die.

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La Morte Javert: the Peril of the Self Righteous

Read Romans 2:1-8

Recently I attended Les Miserables for the first time. It was amazing. I had not seen any of the film adaptations over the years nor had I read Victor Hugo’s masterpiece upon which the musical is based. Even beyond the immense talents of the performers, the mind reels at the skill necessary to make such a powerful, yet concise, performance out of 1000 pages of literature.

Spoilers ahead! Although, since the novel is over 160 years old it is really on you if you do not know the story at all.

Going into the performance, I was really only aware of the scene where the protagonist Jean Valjean experiences grace from a bishop who takes him into his home. Valjean repays the kindness by stealing some silverware. The bishop, when Valjean is presented to him by the authorities with the evidence of his crime, rather than ensuring his recidivism informs the police that he had given Valjean the silverware; and that he had left some of his gifts behind! This moment of mercy changes Valjean’s life forever even though he can never escape his past identity as a thief to some. His character arc is the most obvious example of what Hugo called the novel’s march from “evil to good… nothingness to God… The starting point: matter; destination: the soul…”.

As I experienced the performance, I came to realize that there are 3 viewpoints at tension in the musical. Valjean, who has experienced grace and mercy and having been transformed is trying to live a life marked by both going forward. Javert the indomitable lawman doggedly chasing after Valjean to bring him to justice. The crafty Thenardier who provides comic relief all the while exhibiting a belief in doing whatever it takes to survive and take what you can get whenever and wherever. Thenardier’s worldview is the only one that is atheistic. The musical asks the listener to choose between a path of enlightened grace, slavish adherence to law and order, or a strictly self-serving existence. Each of the three characters have identities that are shaped by the viewpoint they espouse.

What does any of this have to do with the second chapter of Romans? This will take a minute or two of your time but bear with me.

Above is a print from one of the many editions of Les Miserables. Depicted is the death of Javert. The intrepid lawman has chosen to end his own life in the rapids of the Seine. What drives him to this despair? Jean Valjean had the opportunity to kill him and chose instead to demonstrate the same grace that he had himself once experienced when his own life hung in the hands of the bishop so long before. Javert whose identity and self-worth are so wrapped up in his understandings of good vs evil and the keeping of the law cannot fathom a world build on such mercy.

As he stares into the churning waters below, he sings:

Who is this man?
What sort of devil is he?
To have me caught in a trap
And choose to let me go free?

Vengeance was his and he gave me back my life!
Damned if I’ll live in the debt of a thief
Damned if I’ll yield at the end of the chase
I am the Law and the Law is not mocked
I’ll spit his pity right back in his face

And must I now begin to doubt,
Who never doubted all those years?
My heart is stone and still it trembles.
The world I have known is lost in shadow.

Unable to conceive of a world that has space for mercy, Javert would rather die and escape a world of mercy if it does not comport to his understanding of justice. If the law is to be circumvented by grace, then the law is mocked. He prefers the darkness of death to his shattered worldview.

Paul, the apostle, not a character from Les Miserables, culminated his discussion of the impact of idolatry on the soul with a litany of evils (1:18-25) that demonstrate the coming wrath of God is justified. As, chapter 2 begins he turns his indictment on the least suspecting evil of idolatry: the self-righteous.

Therefore you have no excuse, everyone of you who passes judgment, for in that which you judge another, you condemn yourself; for you who judge practice the same things.

Paul knows that his audience (mostly Hellenized Jews in Rome) would have heard his railings against idolatry as judgment on the gentiles and in their hearts would be providing a hearty amen! It was not uncommon in the sermons and writing of first century Jews (and earlier) to point out the many ways in which the gentiles fell short of God’s law. Paul knows that the “amens” in their hearts and thoughts of “yeah, you tell them Paul” belies a heart that is not aligned with God but rather one that takes the place of God and renders judgment on others. I suspect that the first time that the letter to the Romans was read to the gathered faithful there was silence in this moment.

…do you suppose… when you pass judgment on those who practice such things and do the same yourself, that you will escape the judgment of God?

Paul is never one to mince words. Look back at the litany of Romans 1:18-25. Everyone is on that list somewhere at some point in their lives. To bring it immediately back to Javert, Paul literally says that God’s wrath is coming because people are “insolent, arrogant, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, without understanding, untrustworthy, unloving, unmerciful; and although they know the ordinance of God, that those who practice such things are worthy of death, they not only do the same, but also give hearty approval to those who practice them.“

Javert would rather die than try to live in a world that makes room for mercy.

Paul asks all of us who pass judgment to reconsider our own need for a gracious response from God. Our failure to be self-reflective of our own weaknesses before a Holy God belies a subtle belief that others are more deserving of God’s wrath to come. Honest assessment of our own need for grace should makes us more loving and merciful. The failure to do so means we are at risk of following a God of our own making, one that judges those whom we judge and one that would never hold us accountable. Paul writes: Do you think lightly of the riches of His kindness and tolerance and patience, not knowing that the kindness of God leads you to repentance? 

Jesus told a parable about a King who forgave an exceptional debt to one of his servants. That servant subsequently refused to forgive the much smaller debt of someone else. When the King heard of this, he had the unforgiving servant imprisoned and tortured until he paid back what was owed. Jesus concluded the parable saying, “This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother or sister from your heart” (Mt 18:21-35).

Paul says that we have a choice. We can choose hardened hearts (Javert does so to the point of death), or we can recognize God’s mercy towards us as an opportunity to repent and choose grace and mercy as the guideposts of our faith. Paul assures us that there is a reckoning to come and those of us who choose to practice self-righteousness will be found wanting. In the end we will have mocked, not the law, but God himself.

So long as Christ has not returned then there is still time for us to repent (to change the way we think) and live lives marked by mercy and forgiveness. Those who persevere will experience eternal life, what Jesus called “the joy of the Master”. Best to not comment on the alternative.

What Javert (and far too many Christians) fail to understand is that mercy does not mock the law. Mercy does not negate the law. Mercy only exists because of the power of the law to condemn. Law has no means of forgiving; it can only assign guilt and punish. Mercy and its cousin grace only exist where there is first a law.

I can only appreciate the freedom mercy allows if I understand the penalty that is due. Mercy only has meaning where law is taken seriously. Jean Valjean understands the mercy of the bishop because he has already experienced the penalty for theft. In contrast, the rascal Thernardier has no respect for the law because he has always thwarted it. The self-righteous Javert having never broken the law feels justified in his interpretation of the law and its application.

Transformation in the Christian sense begins with the understanding of the need for grace. (I urge you because of the mercies of God to not be conformed to this world but rather to be transformed by the renewing of your mind…) A true understanding of the righteousness of God leads to an admission of guilt before the throne. The subsequent feelings of conviction and self-recrimination produced in us is a recognition of the righteousness and holiness of God and the wonder of his mercy and grace. We are forgiven and pronounced righteous instead of judged as guilty. Both Javert’s world of crime and punishment and Thernardier’s cavalier approach to life lead to death. Only Jean Valjean’s world provides the space for redemption.

Throughout the next several chapters of Romans, Paul is going to make us aware of the guilt of everyone before the law and of the exceptional character of God’s grace manifest in our reconciliation through Christ Jesus. That is for future posts. For now, heed the words of Jesus and “be merciful like your father in heaven is merciful”. Embrace a world where grace and mercy can abound. Start with those closest to you and work your way outward until your merciful heart can embrace even those whom you struggle to love.

Peace to you in your journey. Vaya con Dios!

Feel free to use this Bible Study for your own groups or discussion.  It is freely given. If you do I merely ask that you acknowledge where you got it and if you find it useful that you encourage others to seek it out. It is freely given and written with fear, foreboding, and prayer by a fellow hypocrite who is simply trying to figure out the road ahead.

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Enough Idol Chatter

Take a close look at the image above. It comes from an article I saw regarding the development of new towns in England. The diagram reflects the way in which new developments would be laid out. Not limited to the United Kingdom, I saw a similar design for a community being built here in Texas. Do you notice what is missing from the area that we Americans would call the town square? There is no house of worship whatsoever in the drawing.

When I was a boy, we learned about how the Spanish had designed settlements as they colonized the southwest. In the center of town around the livestock pens and the taverns and the government building there would be a church. You can still see examples in Sante Fe, New Mexico and Jackson Square in New Orleans, today. It was literally more likely that there would be a church or abbey or mission at the center of town than there would be a schoolhouse.

The prevalence of the local parish has been replaced with the GP Surgery (the local doctor’s office in England) in the plotting of new towns. The exact same health clinic was present in the model town I saw here in Texas. Why am I bringing this innocuous detail to your attention? Because idolatry is pernicious and omnipresent.

What can be idolatrous about a doctor’s office? In modern western culture, the health care system is the center of worship! Recall the ways that we can determine an idol: where we spend our time, where we commit our money, and the outcomes of the idol. I will add a fourth determining factor: the size of the buildings dedicated to the idol. We already discussed politics and sports both of which have major structures dedicated to them. Now consider that some of the largest buildings in any US city or town are hospitals. There are pharmacies, emergency clinics, and doctor’s offices on every other corner.

Every year, the pharmaceutical industry spends hundreds of millions of dollars on advertising for various medications encouraging the viewer to ask their physician about “drug X”. In 2020, the United States collectively made 1 billion visits to the doctor! That was nearly double the number of visits that we made as a nation in 1988. The population only grew by 30% during that same 30-year period meaning we go to the doctor a lot more. Let me be clear that in and of itself is not a bad thing. I merely mean to point out that given the amount spent ($4.8 TRILLION in 2023) along with the time committed there is the potential for an idol to be at work.

Everyone wishes to be healthy and being mindful of your health is a good thing, but just like the manner in which politics and sports can misalign the focus, so can our obsession with health. When I was a pastor, it was much more likely that when asked for prayer requests folks offered up concerns about upcoming surgeries and current maladies than to pray for the salvation of their neighbor or the hastening of Christ’s return. Admittedly I was a presbyterian minister, but I suspect that many clergy from other denominations would report a similar trend.

Many, if not most, of the hospitals and hospital systems in America were originally funded by churches. We have Methodist, Presbyterian, and Baptist health systems all over our nation; although, the roots that those systems have sprung from are largely forgotten, the only remnants being the name on the sign and a small benign chapel tucked away somewhere deep within the complex. As a culture we have gone so far from the church being involved in the health systems as to looking to the government to provide for our health needs. The pendulum has swung from churches and denominations loving their neighbor by funding hospitals and research institutions to the government being seen as a source for universal health care. One might be excused for thinking there was a malevolent force at work in the world to drive allegiance and fealty away from God and towards the government.

Allow me to suggest two other outcomes that indicate that an obsession with health has become an idol in the West. First, as the government takes on more of the expense of health care, the rationing of care becomes increasingly likely. Ultimately this leads to decisions about withholding treatments from the elderly and other members of society (those with special needs, for example) perceived to be a waste of expenditures. People become line items in a budget rather than patients in need of help. Second, there has been a breakthrough medication in recent years that allows diabetics to regulate their blood sugars effectively. The drug also happens to spark weight loss in non-diabetic users. The result is predictable. So many prescriptions have been written for people looking to lose weight that there has been a shortage of this life-saving medication for diabetics.

The first of these outcomes represents the dehumanizing of life. The elderly become expendable to save a dollar or two. Not exactly the stuff of honoring our fathers and mothers that. The second outcome reflects a potential selfishness that runs up against love of neighbor. To be sure there are some people who are not diabetic for whom a weight loss drug can be a significant blessing; however, last year the FDA reported 80 million prescriptions for these medications in a nation where less than 40 million people are diabetic.

Again, none of this is to say that health care and pharmaceuticals are inherently evil. Nor am I making political statements about how tax dollars are spent on health care. What I am suggesting is that for many people the modern health care system (like politics and sports) has become an idol complete with its own temples, priests, and sacraments.

I could continue to expose potential idols over and over again and never get on to the rest of the letter of Romans. I have hit on 3 of the biggies in modern America and I already feel like a curmudgeon hollering for the kids to get off of the lawn. I leave it to you to determine your own potential idols. They can be politics, sports, pleasure, food, healthcare, shopping, victimhood, just to name a few. The list is endless. John Calvin is right; people are idol factories.

Why is that?

Because we were made to worship. More specifically, we were created to respond to God; to glorify God as God and give thanks (Rom 1:21). If we choose to ignore the truth about God, that urge to worship will find an outlet and in the absence of God that outlet will be an idol, either physical or metaphysical, of our own creation. When we do this, we suppress the truth, and God gives us over to the freedom from God that we indicate that we want. It is a dark path that leads to increasing wickedness. Put another way, what we spend our time, talent, and treasure on begins to shape us and our way of thinking. The idol becomes increasingly important and determinative in our lives. Paul describes it as exchanging the truth about God for a lie and worshiping the created thing instead of the creator (1:25). What starts as sin becomes wickedness; idol worship begats immorality and injustice.

In his day, Paul looked around Roman culture and zeroed in on what he considered to be the most egregious example: homosexual activity. The truth about God that is revealed in creation is that there are two sexes (male and female) and that they procreate to “be fruitful and multiply” (in Genesis terms) and perpetuate the species (in evolutionary biology terms), but homosexual behavior does neither of these things.

Over the centuries many people have looked at this portion of the letter to the Romans and concluded that homosexuality is worse than any other possible wickedness. This is a misuse of the text in my estimation. Allow me to present two arguments against this interpretation. One, the fact that Paul zeroes in on homosexual behavior at the beginning of his list has more to do with the culture of Rome that he is addressing than any notion that this sin is greater than all the others. Rather than being the chief sin, homosexuality provided the most egregious example of Paul’s basic argument that when a people routinely deny the truth about God and begin worshipping idols of their own making, they live increasingly as a law unto themselves. Homosexual behavior illustrated how far from the intentionality of God’s creation humanity could fall.

If Paul were writing a letter to the American Church, it would look decidedly different than Romans 1. His principal example of humanity worshiping the creation rather than the creator might well be the embrace of transgenderism. If the truth revealed in creation is that there are two genders (male and female) then the notion that we should be altering the biological reality of an individual to suit their self-perception would be the ultimate example of the creation ignoring the creator. I find it interesting that the arguments about transgenderism beg responses from the 3 idols I have highlighted. The health industry designing the procedures and medications for transitioning a person’s gender begging for research dollars as they play creator all the while bristling at any attempt at restraint. People of conflicting politics demanding that the government either affirm multiple interpretations of gender or declare that there are only two options. Sports confronting the fairness of transitioned athletes competing in the alternatively gendered sports.

Perhaps another sign of idol is the expectation that the idol can declare truth.

The second proof I will offer that Paul is not mentioning homosexuality as the chief sin of humanity is scriptural. Take a moment to read the works of the flesh he relates to the believers in Galatia (Gal 5:19-21). Consider the two places in Corinthians where he lists out wicked behavior (1 Cor 5:9-11 and 6:9-10). Read his admonition to Timothy about the behavior of people in the last days (2 Tim 3:2-5). A careful reading of scripture indicates that there is plenty of sin to go around for everyone. Not convinced? Try on the words of Jesus: “out of men’s hearts, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly. All these evils come from inside and make a person unclean. (Mk 7:21-23)”.

None of this is to say that homosexuality is not a sin; it is. Elevating it above any other sin is a form of judgmentalism and denies the truth that all sins are equal in the eyes of God. All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God whether the sin is an obvious violation of God’s law or more subtle like self-righteousness and judgment of the neighbor.

It is important to remember that the end of Romans (1:21-32) is a description of what happens to all those who “do not honor God or give thanks.” These individuals profess “to be wise, they become fools.” In the Bible, the fool is the one who rejects God. Earlier I said that idolatry begats wickedness and injustice. Paul put it this way:

 And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God any longer, God gave them over to a depraved mind, to do those things which are not proper, being filled with all unrighteousness, wickedness, greed, evil; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, malice; they are gossips,  slanderers, haters of God, insolent, arrogant, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, without understanding, untrustworthy, unloving, unmerciful;  and although they know the ordinance of God, that those who practice such things are worthy of death, they not only do the same, but also give hearty approval to those who practice them.

The truth is, though, all of us are somewhere in the list; no matter how difficult it is to stomach we are all in the list. We prefer to point the finger anywhere but ourselves. We try to ignore the subtle sway of our own idols on our souls. We deny the power of the idols in our culture and ignore the means by which the sphere of the flesh shapes our thinking and our actions.

The chapter culminates in that list because it is that list (and any other listing of wickedness found anywhere in the scriptures) that condemns us. Romans 1 ends this way because here Paul shares why “the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness… (Romans 1:18)”.

As I am finishing this post it is Ash Wednesday. My pastor shared this thought tonight: “when we treat God trivially, we will treat sin trivially”. Not sure which ancient commentator said this first, but whomever it was must have been a careful student of Paul. Those ten words are an excellent summary of Romans 1:18-32.

The first reading for Ash Wednesday was Joel calling for a solemn assembly of the people to rend their hearts and not their garments because “the day of the Lord is coming; surely it is near…” and so it is. There will be time enough for the gospel in Romans, it will be delivered in spades! But make no mistake even for those who trust in the gospel, what Paul called the power of salvation (1:16), the day of the Lord comes.

For now, it is best to linger for a time in the depths of your own depravity. Consider the litany of wickedness that Paul provided us. If you know the gospel, really know it in the depths of your being, such lingering will produce a deeper repentance and a deeper thanksgiving for grace. If you do not know the gospel, the lingering can prepare your heart for the truth of Jesus Christ.

Blessings to you in your journey. Vaya con Dios!

As always, the above is freely given, and all are welcome to use it. If you do it would be nice if you mentioned where you got it. Finally, if you know someone who might benefit from reading these posts please share the URL or email with them.

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More Idol Chatter

Romans 1:28-32: And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God any longer, God gave them over to a depraved mind, to do those things which are not proper, being filled with all unrighteousness, wickedness, greed, evil; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, malice; they are gossips,  slanderers, haters of God, insolent, arrogant, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents,  without understanding, untrustworthy, unloving, unmerciful; and although they know the ordinance of God, that those who practice such things are worthy of death, they not only do the same, but also give hearty approval to those who practice them.

These are the culminating words of the first chapter of Romans. In them, Paul shares with us the impact that idolatry has on the heart and soul of a person. He also lays out for us the outcomes of the sphere of the flesh that seeks to conform us.

Previously I suggested the following ways to determine an idol: “There are a few simple ways. One it is where we invest our time, energy, and talents. Two is where we spend our money. Three is the outcome that the idol produces.” With this in mind I am going to point to another of the great idols of American culture: SPORTS!

American culture is positively obsessed with sports, football, in particular. I am as guilty as anyone and often have to check in on myself with the Holy Spirit. Every Saturday of the College Football season I wear something with the Texas A&M logo on it and I pay close attention to the outcomes of those games. This year I had the opportunity to attend the first game between TAMU (my alma mater) and The University of Texas in over a decade. This was a huge deal in my home state. Such a big deal that I seriously considered whether I might quit my job if my boss had not approved my request for the day off!

Sports has not always been an idol in America. All of our professional sports leagues were once smaller and college sports more regional and of interest primarily to alumni. But idolatry corrupts slowly. The historian in me would say that what changed was the rise of television and income inequality. Television provided more exposure and profits through licensing agreements and media rights. As income inequality rose, the promise of wealth and scholarships through sports led thousands of parents to invest more time and money into helping their children develop into top-tier athletes.

Not all of this is a bad thing. Children being involved in youth sports teaches many good life lessons if done right. It also keeps them from mischief and danger. I know many parents that choose to program every moment of the day for their children to avoid the child ever being in danger or left with idle time for drugs and sex. There are many wonderful stories of young people from disadvantaged backgrounds who have achieved many great things through sports. Idols in modern culture can be quite tricky to recognize because they are not typically giant statues made from ivory and wood that people are worshipping.

Make no mistake, sports can become an idol. In my first pastorate, I had a conversation with a dad of three children. At the time, they would miss worship fairly regularly because they were in a travel baseball league for their son. They attended tournaments all over Texas and neighboring states. This was true for a lot of parents. The Dad asked me if I thought it was wrong that they were not in worship as often. As a pastor you learn that people often ask you questions about things they already feel guilty about in hopes that you will exonerate them. I said it was really about choices. I also asked if they ever attended worship in the town that the tournament was held in. He said they did not and asked me what I meant about choices. I said as parents where we put the emphasis and the energy communicates to our children what is valued and important. Whatever we choose it will be shaping ourselves and our children for good and for ill. Sports being emphasized will hopefully develop the tenets of sportsmanship, tenacity, and teamwork. What it will not do is teach them about a Creator for whom they should be grateful toward nor a savior that loves them. Choices.

Soccer was the first youth sport in America that invaded Sunday mornings for practices. This was a pragmatic decision because that was the day that practice fields were available to them. The parents and youth involved though were the ones who had to decide if Sunday morning worship was more important or not. When the NFL first began televising games the noon kick-off was deliberately scheduled to allow for those on the east coast to attend church before the game. Sixty years later the NFL broadcasts 3 games a year on Sunday mornings because they are played in Europe. Again, the airtime is pragmatic in nature for that is the time, in the USA, that the game is being played at the “normal time” in Europe. The decision as to skipping church to watch football is not pragmatic at all. It is a matter of devotion and allegiance.

If how we use our time is a measure of a potential idol, then sports certainly qualifies. In 2017, there were 134000 hours devoted to broadcasting sports in the USA. The equivalent of 15.29 years!

70% of that time was devoted to NFL broadcasts. Full Disclosure there is an NFL game on my television as I type this. This is not to say that we shouldn’t watch sports, rather as Christians we should be mindful of the time we spent on watching sports versus the time we spend worshipping God, loving our neighbors, and devoting ourselves to prayer, etc.

Money spent is another measure. No matter how we look at it the money is huge. This week a professional baseball player signed the largest sports contract in history at $765 million over fifteen years. Pundits predict that the player, Soto, will be solely a designated hitter for the last 10 years of his 15-year agreement meaning he will be paid tens of millions to do nothing except hit a little white ball. Professional sports in the USA resulted in $14.3 billion dollars in salaries for all involved in 2023. Global professional sports revenue in 2028 is estimated to be $680 billion. New NFL stadiums are billion-dollar buildings. The most recently constructed one is SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles. It is the 4th most expensive building ever constructed. The list of the 30 most expensive buildings in the world is dominated by casinos, which brings us to gambling.

Professional sports leagues in the United States have all partnered in the past few years with sports betting. Broadcasts include tips on bets to make. Young people in the United States are learning about betting lines, over /under, and parlays. Gambling, when it becomes an addictive vice, is particularly pernicious. It is one of the few vices that can literally take everything a person has in a single day and now all of our professional sports outlets (not to mention their media partners) not only support gambling but actively encourage it.

While gambling is not specifically listed in Paul’s list of the vices that idolatry promotes (I have no idea if there was a Latin word for bookie in Ancient Rome) it certainly can be a vehicle for wickedness, greed, malice, and inventing evil.

Paul culminates that list with the damning phrase “not only do they do these things they give hearty approval to those who do.” Along with sports-betting, here is where we see examples of the outcomes the idol produces. In my lifetime the greatest NFL QB of all time is known to have cheated at the sport. We learned that one of the great College Football coaches of all time knowingly kept an assistant in his employ for years who molested young men. In both instances winning was more important than integrity. There are many other examples of wickedness across sports from gymnastics to basketball to soccer. When sport becomes an idol, it makes winning a virtue rather than an outcome.

What are we to do with all of this? Sports, like politics in the previous post about idols. can be a good thing. There are many virtues to sports and they play an important role in our lives. Politics, particularly, in democratic and republican (or democratic republics like the USA) forms of government provide a good means of distributing power and providing for the general welfare of their citizens. At the same time, politics and sports can become idolatrous and prevent the development of the fruit of the Spirit in the Christian. They can disfigure the individual Christian and produce in us attitudes and allegiances that run counter to our calling as Christ followers.

In modern culture, idols are not often foreign gods but forces in our cultures and societies that can corrupt believers. This is not really different from the idols we see in the Biblical times. The foreign gods that first the Israelites and early Christians faced were not actual gods rather they were representations of cultural forces that threaten fealty to the one true God. They demanded acquiescence to cultural norms that encouraged behavior inconsistent with the call to love YHWH with all your heart, soul, and strength; and, to love your neighbor as yourself. We have seen how sports can distract the believer from time spent in worship. Sports can also encourage an attitude that winning is the only thing that matters even to the point of accepting and encouraging the odious behavior of those who are the best at the sport. Sports increasingly encourages the vice of gambling as well with all of its potential destructive force on individuals and families.

The message of Romans is that there are forces at work in the world (the sphere of the flesh) that seek to conform us to their version of reality. These forces seek to train our souls to accept the supposed virtues of the world and divert us from depending on the Creator. Conversely, those who are alive in Christ are to be shaped by the ever-transformative work of the Spirit and the rule of Christ in our hearts (the sphere of the spirit). Therefore, it is incumbent on the Christian to constantly be checking on our beliefs and how we got them. We must ensure that we are spending adequate time to allow the practice of the faith to shape and mold us. We do this through the rhythms of prayer, worship, and scripture study. We do this through the willful and counter cultural striving to love our neighbor. We are to practice forgiveness and mercy. We are to care for the poor and the stranger in our midst. Later in Romans, we will look at the practical aspects of this Spirit life. The first step though is for us to be honest about the idolatrous forces at work in our world and through prayer discerning the hold they may have on our hearts and minds.

Blessings to you in your journey. Vaya con Dios!

As always, the above is freely given, and all are welcome to use it. If you do it would be nice if you mentioned where you got it. Finally, if you know someone who might benefit from reading these posts please share the URL or email with them.

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Idol Chatter

Read Romans 1:18-25

Trigger Warning: The next several posts may contain ideas that will offend some readers.

In the last post, we looked at the wrath of God and the call, since the beginning of creation, for us to honor God and give him thanks. Living this life of gratitude towards God is one part of how we can live out the calling to become “living and holy sacrifices acceptable to God” (Romans 12); and this life of grateful praise is also part of becoming transformed by the Spirit Sphere in our lives and not being conformed by the Flesh Sphere. (a description of the two spheres may be found in this post)

“Professing to be wise, they become fools and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures.” The Roman world when Paul is writing this letter was a land overflowing with idols. Cities had temples to various Gods. Homes had idols for household gods. The Imperial government itself was beginning to take on cult-like status elevating Augustus Caesar to a posthumous divinity. Good Roman citizens were expected to pay homage to these gods to maintain the peace and stability of society.

The Old Testament is replete with idolatry. We read of the “pillars in high places” that were idols of gods foreign to Israel. The Israelites fashion a golden calf when they get tired of waiting on Moses’ return. Elijah confronts the prophets of Baal. All this in a land that was instructed (commanded even!) that “I am YHWH your God… you shall have no other god before Me. you shall not make for yourself an idol or any likeness… you shall not worship them or serve them…” (Deut 5)

Many people think that idolatry is a thing of the past. They are wrong. John Calvin called people “idol making factories”. He was spot on because, then and now, we are really good at constructing things to place our faith and trust in. Paul is very clear that we are to have our faith in and our obedience directed towards Christ. So, any of these other things that we place our hope and trust in are idols.

I live in the United States. The Fall in my country is the time of year when our modern idols are on full display. Not only is it football season, but it is also election season, and thanks to Black Friday it is shopping season. I started this post with a trigger warning because when you begin calling out the idols some people will become offended.

How do you determine an idol? There are a few simple ways. One it is where we invest our time, energy, and talents. Two is where we spend our money. Three is the outcome that the idol produces. Allow me to clarify. Psalm 1 instructs us that the blessed person loves the word of God and meditates on it day and night. It follows that those things that we spend more time on than God’s word are potential idols. In Luke 16, we are told that the pharisees were great lovers of money and that we cannot serve both God and mammon because people cannot serve two masters. We will always ultimately love and serve one master more than the other. So, where we spend our money can reveal a potential idol. Finally, the word of God is truth, and its outcome is love (agape) and the promotion of unity; therefore, idols promote the opposite of these: animosity and division.

Understand that idolatry is like gambling in that it what may be a problem for one person is not a problem for another. That being said, there are Idolatrous forces at work in the world that constitute the sphere of the flesh that seeks to separate people from their calling to know God and praise him. Over the next several posts we will break down the principal idols at work in my culture (Western Civilization /USA). I can only speak of my context; your results may vary. We begin with one of the most powerful and pervasive modern idols: politics. I invite you to read the rest of Romans 1.

Romans 1:18-32

The impact of an idol, according to Paul, is that the idol worshipper devolves into foolishness (v24). Fool is a technical term in the scriptures for it is the fool who has said in their heart that there is no God. The appeal of the idol is twofold. Idols are simultaneously a god that we have constructed in our own image and a god that we can control. But bowing down to the idol eventually leads to becoming a fool. Once someone enters into this foolishness, God decides to give them over to their own desires and unwise thoughts (v28-31).

Paul’s list of vices and sins in the last verses of Romans 1 provides us with a convenient guide to determining idolatry. If idol worship produces that fruit in the fool; then it follows that we can identify potential idols by how many of these vices the idol promotes.

Allow me a quick clarification. Politics in the sense I am referring is not the same as government. Government is the necessary ordering of people to allow for their peace, safety, and prosperity. Government is evident in the Bible and later in Romans we will learn that Christians are called to be good citizens in the communities that they inhabit. By contrast politics is the effort to wield the power of government and to influence the policy directives thereof.

I suggest to you that politics is the principal idol of America today. Americans increasingly look to government to solve all manner of problems large and small. Americans seek laws to legitimize behaviors and belief systems. Americans also are fond of labelling certain groups victims who deserve more of the attention and resources of government. Finally, any casual observer of the American political spectrum will recognize that much of it revolves around who will be allowed to wield the extensive power of the government; because, on every level (local, state, and federal) the right to wield such authority provides both the allure of making over society in one’s own image and to benefit financially as a result. Some of you will think that is all very true, but does that make it an idol?

Let’s look first at some of the criteria I listed above in determining idols. A quick google search reveals the following: Money? Experts estimate as a nation we will spend around $2 billion dollars on relief for Hurricane Helene. By contrast the total amount spend on the 2024 election will be $16 Billion. Time? CBS dedicated around 23 hours to coverage of Hurricane Helene; no doubt they surpassed that amount in election coverage on the day before, during, and after the recent election without considering all the hours spent on the campaign trail over the past 18 months. In terms of time there are now at least 5 television channels devoted to around the clock news reporting the vast majority of which is centered on politics. This tally doesn’t include the channels totally devoted to business news which also invariably covers a great deal of politics. There are also a multitude of national and local radio stations whose format is strictly devoted to politics. Americans spend a tremendous amount of time following and arguing politics on the airwaves. Finally, given the vitriolic responses recorded on Instagram, Tik Tok, and X (formerly known as Twitter) there is little doubt that the outcome of our political life is division rather than unity. If a space alien were to eavesdrop on us during an election year, they could not be faulted for thinking that we were dealing with life-or-death decisions constantly.

I could cite a myriad of examples of headlines that demonstrate the above but that would risk this post becoming pedantic. I want to be clear that none of this is to say that Christians shouldn’t be involved in politics. All I am suggesting is that all Christians should compare their commitment to politics to their commitment to scripture, prayer, and Christ. Again, I can only speak of the context in the USA. There are too many of us Americans who identify quickly as democrats or republicans rather than as Christians. We need to be involved but we would do well to remember these words of Jesus, “render unto Caesar what is Caesar’s, and unto God the things that are God” (Luke 20).

Finally, let’s look at the list of vices that God’s word says idolatry renders and ask ourselves if an over emphasis on politics doesn’t produce wickedness, strife, deceit, and lack of mercy (Romans 1:29-31). If we are honest politics far too often results in people not only doing the same; “but also giving hearty approval to those who practice them” (Romans 1:32).

The good news is that Christ’s sacrifice covers a multitude of sins. We are always able to break the hold of an idol through repentance and seeking God while he may be found. All who have placed their faith and trust in Christ are under the influence of the Spirit. We are to practice the fruit of the Spirit (love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control) and utilize the full armor of God in our political life as we do in our personal lives remembering Paul’s admonition that our struggle is not against flesh and blood.

Politics has a way of infiltrating every aspect of our lives and causing us to filter everything through the worldview of the political ideology (or party platforms) with which we are aligned. I began pondering these things while I was in seminary. I had been very invested in the politics of America most of my life. While in seminary the 2004 presidential election happened. The responses that I saw and some of what I felt myself caused me to question the issues of allegiance to Christ and political allegiance. I began to think that if Jesus cared at all about politics that his own views would never reflect one party platform over another. It was much more likely that his thoughts on the matter would be a blend of positions from across the spectrum. Out of this, for a time, I led talks about how Christians should engage in political discourse.

Around 2008, some minister friends of mine and I gathered for a continuing education event. We spent the evening with a good meal and some drinks. My friend Paul, who often saw things the opposite of me, and I began to argue strongly about the virtues of universal health care. We both had had a little too much to drink and the argument turned ugly. Some mean things were said to one another. Our evening ended with anger and animosity. Our friendship took a body blow that evening.

The next day, I approached my friend with a penitent spirit and a desire for reconciliation. To Paul’s credit he was willing to accept my apologies and be merciful towards me. Eventually, we added a maxim to the rules I was developing for Christian political dialogue: “never get liquored up and talk politics!” We still speak weekly, and we still discuss the important matters of the day. We have been friends now for 20 years, but we almost ended that friendship 16 years too soon. That would have been a tragedy. I credit Christ with seeing us through that time and growing our friendship ever sense.

Regardless of where you live (there are some international readers of Hypocritical Christian!) I encourage you to take a moment to assess how often politics consumes your thoughts. Are you spending more time in conversations about the latest outcomes than you do asking your neighbor about their lives? Do you find yourself anxious and worried about the outcome of elections and judiciary decisions? Do you find it hard to love the neighbor who disagrees with you politically? Have you allowed your political leanings to give you the permission to lose friendships and family members?

Politics tries to draw your thoughts and energies to it. The more time you give to it the less time you give to both love of God and love of neighbor. If you found yourself on the wrong side of the questions above, I encourage you to spend some time in prayer and scripture. Jesus is waiting especially if you are weary or heavy laden. He will give you rest. He will forgive.

Peace to you and blessings on your journey. Vaya con Dios!

As always, the above is freely given, and all are welcome to use it. If you do it would be nice if you mentioned where you got it. Finally, if you know someone who might benefit from reading these posts please share the URL or email with them.

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The Power of the Gospel

Read Romans 1: 16-17

Why is the Gospel so important? Paul says that it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes. Think about that for a moment. Paul says that it is not the power of salvation alone, but the very power of God!

The power of God? The greek word is dunamis; the root from which we get the words dynamic, dynamo, and dynamite. The power of God is something awesome and explosive. That should come as no surprise. The power of God created all that we perceive through his spoken word. The power of God parted the Red Sea. The power of God caused the Israelites to tremble in fear as God descended upon Sinai. That’s just a few instances from the Old Testament. In the New Testament, we see the power of God still storms, cleanse lepers, change water into wine, and raise Jesus from the dead. The power that did all of that, Paul says, is the same power that is inherent in the gospel.

Gospel means good news. Euangellion (where we get our word evangelism) is the singular form of the word. The plural form of the word was a common greeting in the Roman world. It was the equivalent of saying “good tidings” to a stranger or a friend upon meeting. The Christians used the singular form very early to express, in one word, the work and resurrection of Jesus.

They chose this word, because the singular form was used by Greek translators for Isaiah 61:1:

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me because YHWH has anointed me to bring good news (gospel) to the afflicted; he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and freedom to the prisoners; to proclaim the favorable year of the LORD and the day of vengeance of our GOd…”

You may recall that this is the portion of the scroll that Jesus reads in the synagogue of Nazareth (Luke 4) and when it comes time to provide the commentary on the passage he says, “Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.” The work of Jesus Christ is the fulfilment of the prophecies of Isaiah about how YHWH would set the world to rights.

When the followers of John the Baptist come to Jesus and ask for confirmation that he is the one to come Jesus replies, “Go and tell John what you have seen and heard: the blind receive sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have the gospel preached to them. Blessed is he who does not take offense at Me.” (Luke 7: 20-23). Essentially, Jesus says do you not see the prophecy of Isaiah playing out in my actions and words?

Paul says he is not ashamed of the Gospel because it is the power of God for salvation. When he says he is not ashamed he likely is referring to the above comment from Jesus and a similar sentiment expressed in Luke 9: 26. The stakes are high for those who choose not to believe the Gospel.

Isn’t it amazing to consider that the very power of creation is available to those of us who believe in Jesus Christ? Remarkably, that is what scripture teaches us. When we profess our belief in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior (another shorthand for the work and resurrection of Jesus Christ), we are empowered by the very same power that raised him from the dead! You might even say that we are given the power to be transformed (rather than conformed) into something new. We are given the power to live the life of the World to come in the here and now.

The gospel is available to all. This is precisely what Paul means when he says the gospel is for all who believe, to the Jew first and also the Greek. In Jewish though there were two broad groups of people. You were either a Jew (the people of God) or you were everyone else. Because the world in his day was dominated by the culture of Greeks, they were the ethnicity that was chosen to represent the gentiles, meaning all non-Jews. So Paul means the message and the power is meant for the benefit of all. It is universal.

Too often Christians, particularly Western Christians raised in a culture that promotes the importance of the individual, limits this salvation and power simply to the gift of eternal life. Many Christians are only interested in getting into heaven. They want the equivalent of fire insurance! This salvation we experience certainly includes the gift of eternal life. It is also being able to bring all of our concerns (shelter, food, clothing, health, etc.) to the hearing of God. Salvation is the meeting of our needs and the peace that we can have during trials and tribulations. The thing that is often neglected though is that it is more than our individual concerns and needs being met, it is even more than the collection of all of our individual concerns, it is the victory of God over sin and death. The correction to the carnage that our collective sin has unleashed on the world throughout history.

A careful reading of the Old Testament reveals that the purpose of the calling of the Israelites out of Egypt, and the covenant made at Sinai that established them as the people of God, was for the faithfulness of God to continue the blessing promised to all the nations of the earth through Abraham. That’s not the end of the purpose though. As we saw in a previous post, it was also to eventually complete the promise made to Eve by bringing forth Jesus at the right time to achieve the solution to sin.

“He made him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” (2 Corinthians 5:21). The very righteousness that Paul says is revealed in the gospel from faith to faith. What does that mean?

Scholars agree that Paul quotes the prophet Habakkuk. The prophet says that he will stand at the rampart and await the word of YHWH. He is answered by God, “For the vision is yet for the appointed time; it hastens toward the goal and it will not fail. Though it tarries, wait for it; for it will certainly come, it will not delay. Behold as for the proud one, his soul is not right within him; but the righteous will live by his faith.”

The proud person is the one who relies not on the LORD but on their own strength. The proud ones are those who trust in their own righteousness. God says that the righteous though will live by faith.

Why faith to faith? Paul clearly indicates here that there are two faiths at work and that one faith is transferred or passed to another. There are different ways to understand this when taken in isolation. Later in Romans, Paul will ask how anyone can come to proclaim Christ as Lord without hearing the gospel? So, one understanding would be that faithful Christians must share gospel truth to others that they too might confess Christ and experience salvation.

There is little doubt that we are to tell others about our faith in Christ. This is a consistent message of the New Testament, one could even say that it is the mission statement of the Church given that Christ says to “go out into all the world making disciples of all nations…“; however, this is not the meaning that Paul intends. “From faith to faith” is the faith of Christ to the faith of us.

Look again at the verse from 2 Corinthians above. Christ was made sin that we might be made righteous. To this add what Paul wrote to the Philippians explaining the unsurpassable value of knowing Christ, “not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith…”. This interpretation is made only more likely when we consider that the Greek translation of Habakkuk reads “The righteous one will live by his faith.”

As we will see later in our journey through Romans, Christ is the righteous one, the only sinless one, and his faithful life has accomplished what neither Israel nor anyone else could have done. Through him there is a path to righteousness from God that also justifies us in the sight of the Lord. Sin separates us eternally from God. Christ’s death and resurrection reverses this reality for those who believe.

Won’t you choose today to believe in who Jesus is and what he has done? Now is the time to invite the power of the gospel to transform you forevermore.

A final thought for those who already have put their faith and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ. The passage in Habakkuk is also quoted in Hebrews. There it used to remind the faithful (those who live in the sphere of the Spirit) that they must persevere because of the promised return of Christ. Beginning in 10:36 we are told “For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God, you may receive what was promised ‘for yet in a little while, He who is coming will come, and not delay. But my Righteous One shall live by his faith; and if he shrinks back, my soul has no pleasure in him. We are not those who shrink back to destruction but those who have faith to the preserving of the soul.”

May it be so among us!

Vaya con Dios!

Feel free to use this Bible Study for your own groups or discussion.  It is freely given. If you do I merely ask that you acknowledge where you got it and if you find it useful that you encourage others to seek it out. It is freely given and written with fear, foreboding, and prayer by a fellow hypocrite who is simply trying to figure out the road ahead.

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Jesus Christ is Lord

Read Romans 1: 1-11

There are portions of the Bible that folks tend to read through quickly because they seem a little monotonous. The list of names in Chronicles or the dietary laws in Deuteronomy come to mind. Almost every letter Paul wrote to Churches begins with an introduction of himself that can seem “old hat” to the student of scripture. We allow ourselves to be lulled into a false sense of “heard this all many times before”.

When it comes to the Letter to the Romans, we would be wise to pay close attention.

Paul was last Apostle called directly by Jesus for the working of spreading the gospel. Not the last person called to this task only the last person whom Jesus spoke to directly. All the apostles before Paul had been called in a person-to-person conversation. Paul saw Jesus in a vision and heard him speaking to him directly. He begins this letter calling himself the bond-servant of Christ.

The real word is slave. Most modern English translations soften the language because of the long history of slavery in the Western World. While this is understandable something is lost even in this first verse because we do not understand the word the way Paul’s audience would have understood it. In the Roman Empire there were slaves of many types. The important thing was a slave was not thought of as property so much as the consequence of one group being dominated by another. Slaves were the people who had been conquered and now had to live out a life bound to the will of the family that they served. There was a Paterfamilias (the Parent of the Family) at the top that held the power of life or death over the slave. The Paterfamilias was also called by the title Dominus or the one whom had dominion. All of this and more can be read about in Wikipedia.

Reflect now on how the first listeners heard these words. In a few syllables, Paul communicates he was one who had been conquered by Christ Jesus, that Christ Jesus was the Paterfamilias, the Dominus, and Paul was slave to that household. Had they been aware that Paul was a Roman citizen the claimed status of slave would be even more striking. He goes on to say that his servitude was for the purposes of the gospel, to explain what that gospel message is about.

When was the last time you read the Old Testament? If it has been a while you may want to go back and dive in. Why? Because according to Paul the gospel is contained in the Old Testament. Check out the second verse (which in reality is a clause in a much longer run-on sentence that culminates at verse 7!): “which he promised beforehand through His prophets in the holy Scriptures; concerning his son…“

Paul is not alone in saying that the message of the Gospel is found in what we today call the Old Testament. Twice, Jesus demonstrates this same truth. In Luke, the travelers to Emmaus encounter a stranger along the way who asks the question, “was it not necessary for the Christ to suffer these things and enter into His glory? Then beginning with Moses and with all the prophets He explained to them the things concerning Himself in all the scriptures.” (Spoiler Alert! the stranger is Jesus.)

Later he appears to the first disciples and says “These are My words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things are written about me in Law of Moses and the Prophets, and the Psalms must be fulfilled. Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures.”

Jesus read the Old Testament. So should we.

The writer of Hebrews begins his great letter with no introduction but with these words: “God, after he spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways, in these last days has spoken to us in his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, through whom he also made the world…“. We will get back to that last part soon enough, but there it is again that the Old Testament contains the truth of the Gospel.

It was the Old Testament that Paul went back and studied after he regained his sight (figuratively and literally) to understand how it was that the crucified Jesus of Nazareth could be alive and speaking to him when he had traveled to Damascus. Luckily for us Paul gives us the shorthand version in the salutation of this letter.

“...His son, born of a descendant of David according to the flesh, who was declared the Son of God with power by the resurrection according to the Spirit of Holiness, Jesus Christ our Lord.” Here we see that Jesus is the promised Messiah (heir to the throne of David) and that after the resurrection he has been empowered as the Lord. (Jesus, the Christ, our Lord would be an acceptable alternative translation.) This is the shortest way that you can summarize the story of Jesus found in the Old Testament. A little longer way to flesh it out would be to say that Jesus is the one promised to Eve who will defeat Satan. Jesus is the heir of Abraham through whom all the people of the world shall be blessed. He is the heir promised to David who shall sit on the throne for all eternity. He is the one Jeremiah spoke of who would bring about the new covenant in which the law would be written on the believer’s hearts and God would remember their sins no more. He is the Suffering servant of Isaiah by whose stripes we are healed. The one who would be YHWH returning to his temple promised in Ezekiel. The son of righteousness rising with healing in his wings according to Malachi. (The list is virtually endless!)

Still, there is more in this quick summary than meets the eye. A long running argument (controversy, even heresy depending on how one views these things) exists in the Christian world about the divinity of Christ. In the earliest centuries of Church history, the argument took the form of adoptionism. The idea being that Jesus was just a man like any other until God chose to adopt him as his son. When the adoption took place was argued both at the baptism and after the resurrection. In more recent times the argument centers around when did Christians decide that Jesus was God. This controversy reignited late in the last century over the idea that there were so called gnostic Christians who were shut out by the orthodox but who had the right idea all along about who Jesus really was. Our enemy, the eternal liar, wants people to question the divinity of Jesus. A Jesus who is nothing special is a Jesus who can be ignored.

Some of those who argued for adoptionism pointed to this verse in Romans. To them, even Paul is suggesting that Jesus is appointed to his special role after the resurrection. This is a poor understanding of Paul and the early Christians. So as not to get bogged down into translation issues I will remind you of four different voices of the first generation of Christians who suggest otherwise.

We will start with Paul. To the Philippians he writes of Jesus, “Although he existed in the form of God, he did not regard equality with God as something to be grasped but emptied himself taking the form of a slave being made in the likeness of man.”

Luke writes that the angel Gabriel told Mary, “The Holy Spirit shall come upon you and the power of the Most High shall overshadow you; and for that reason, the holy child shall be called the Son of God.“

In Hebrews (continuing the passage quoted above), “and He is the radiance of His Glory and the exact representation of His nature and upholds all things by the word of His power. When he made purification of sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on High...”.

And our fourth witness is the Gospel of John where we read “In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God… and the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.”

The Bible is quite clear that Jesus is God.

Paul is not saying that Jesus became the Lord after the resurrection but rather in the same way that a prince is always the king even before the coronation, Jesus is declared the Lord after the resurrection. He does not become it in that moment but is revealed as always having been that from the beginning. One needs to look no further, in my estimation, than the repeated use of Lord as a title for Jesus. Paul was a good Jew. A faithful well-educated rabbi. He knew that the word Lord was the word that the Jews had used for centuries to avoid saying the sacred name (YHWH) aloud. He would never have used the title lightly for Jesus.

Many scholars like to side-step this reality by saying that the use of Lord for Jesus was a political statement to draw the distinction between Jesus and Ceasar (the emperor cult in Rome was already, at this point, beginning to deify Caesar) who was known as Lord of the Earth. It is true that declaring Jesus as Lord was a political statement in that day (as it is in our own context), but that fact does not diminish the truth of who the first century Christians understood Jesus to be.

And if he is Lord, then he is worthy of our faith and obedience, which is what Paul says is the purpose of the preaching of the gospel. “Through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith among all the gentiles for His name’s sake, among whom you also are the called of Jesus Christ.”

So, we can draw 3 conclusions from this short passage. First, that Jesus is the promised one of the Old Testament. Two, that Jesus is the Lord God. Three, he is worthy of our faith and obedience.

Wow. Isn’t scripture amazing?

If this is your first time to The Hypocritical Christian, welcome, I am glad that you are here. Honored that you would consider reading at all. Thank you for reading to this point in the post. We are in the midst of a journey through Romans, where we are seeking to understand how we are to be “transformed by the renewing of our minds” (Rom 12:2). Along the way we are going to incorporate other portions of scripture from throughout the Bible but principally from Luke, Philippians, and Hebrews.

At the risk of going too long, I want to highlight briefly two words that will be essential to our understanding of Romans and Paul’s desire that we are not conformed but transformed (this I believe is the spiritual gift that Paul wishes to impart mentioned in Romans 1:11); flesh and spirit.

Paul, a good student of the Old Testament, believes that with Christ’s resurrection a new age has begun. This new age is the age of the Spirit. The Age of the Spirit (wherein believers exist in the power of the Holy Spirit) continues until the return of Jesus and the world is finally set to right again as described in Revelation 21-22. The age of the Flesh is how the world operated until the advent of Jesus and continues to operate for non-believers until the second coming of Christ.

For now, think of it this way. All of us exist in the sphere of the Flesh. We will spend the next several posts discussing the sphere of the flesh and the ways in which it manifests itself individually and collectively all around us. Then we will begin discussing how the age of Spirit, which has broken in, changes us as we become believers (or continue on as believers) and how the influence of that Age should impact our thoughts and behaviors.

This image can help us understand:

As believers we currently exist in a bifurcated world. We are perpetually influenced by both the world (Age of the Flesh) and the presence of the Holy Spirit (Age of the Spirit). To put it simply these two spheres are the influence which seeks to conform us and the influence that has the power to transform us.

But all of that is for future posts.

Peace to you on your journey. Vaya Con Dios!

Feel free to use this Bible Study for your own groups or discussion.  It is freely given. If you do I merely ask that you acknowledge where you got it and if you find it useful that you encourage others to seek it out. It is freely given and written with fear, foreboding, and prayer by a fellow hypocrite who is simply trying to figure out the road ahead.

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Take Me to the Other Side

We have been travelling on a journey of transformation, trying to understand Paul’s letter to the church in Rome. In the previous post, we began unravelling the mystery of God’s mercy. If you read that post, then you now know that the mercy of God is his forgiveness and provision for those who love him. In this post, we will look at the other side of mercy.

As a reminder, Paul tells us in Romans 12, that it is because of the mercies of God that we are to be living sacrifices, transformed by the renewal of our minds and not conformed to the way of the world. Last time we looked at Jesus’ story of the Samaritan to illustrate the provision and compassion of God that mercy requires of us. Today, we start with another of the parables in Luke that illustrates mercy.

Tax Collectors and sinners gathered regularly around Jesus. We are told in Luke that one of the frequent complaints of the good people about Jesus is that he welcomed these people and ate with them. The world is always good at labelling sinners. The “un-desireables” vary from generation to generation and culture to culture, but there are always those whom the world labels and gives up on. Jesus gave up on nobody.

In Luke 15, the religious people are concerned about how Jesus welcomes any and all. So, he replies with parables like the lost sheep and the lost coin. He tells them that Heaven itself is filled with rejoicing when one of the lost returns to the Lord. Each of those parables starts as a rhetorical question, “who among you would fail to act the same?” Then Jesus brings it so very close to home.

He says that a certain young man tells his father to give him his coming inheritance. In that culture it was the equivalent of a child telling their parent to “drop dead”. The young man then travels to what is described as a far country where he squanders his inheritance in loose living and find himself at what the alcoholics refer to as rock bottom.

The young man decides to swallow his pride and return to his father. He will throw himself at his father’s feet and become a servant rather than an heir because he has learned the errors of his ways. Anyone hearing this story would have connected with the parent who was wronged. Judgment of the son upon his return was the anticipated result.

Instead, Jesus tells us that when the son was still a long way off, the Father ran! Again, this was not a culture in which grown men ran for anything but fear and battle. Yet the father ran to meet the son! Before the son can even give his rehearsed speech, he is met with forgiveness and love. He is given a choice robe, the signet ring that marks him as an heir, and a celebration will be had with a fatted calf. He experiences mercy, unconditional love and provision.

Here at the end of the story Jesus reveals that there is an older brother; a sibling who has not done anything wrong. He has served the father in the proper ways and has not squandered any of the resources entrusted to him. He has been patient and dare we say righteous in his relationship to the Father. The older brother refuses to participate in the celebration because he cannot see past the behavior of his sibling.

The father comes out to urge the other son to join the party. The son reminds the father of all that the younger brother did no doubt certain that his judgment against the son is correct. Where is the justice in these actions you have taken to welcome him back in? That is the question on his mind.

The father replies “My son, you are always with me and all that I have is yours, but we had to celebrate your brother’s return because he was dead but now, he is alive; he was lost and now is found.”

Let’s be clear. The Father in the story is God. The inheritance is the loving provision, protection, and salvation that God provides. All of us are in some way the younger brother who rejects God and seeks to live life on our own terms, until we experience the revelation that we need God in our lives. The tragedy is that many of us after experiencing the salvation of God found in Jesus Christ become the older brother.

Content in the love of God and his forgiveness, too many Christians become judgmental. We no longer look at others with eyes of mercy. We are quick to count faults, remember past misdeeds, and think that God should lead with judgment instead of mercy towards those who wish to return. Somehow, the people of faith, who have experienced mercy, are quick to withhold the same grace from others. In their hearts they believe that they are maintaining the sanctity of the faith, but in reality, they have missed the truth of God’s grace from the beginning. If God has forgiven you of your sins, then he will forgive anyone of their sins.

“The mercies of the LORD are new every morning,” Jeremiah says. If that is true (and it is!) then those mercies are fresh and new each day for everyone. Those who have been transformed know this. Not only do they know this, but they join in the celebration when those who were lost are found. They do not sit outside and go “tsk, tsk”. They do not say “yeah, but what about…”. Instead, they say “Praise the LORD, for his mercy is from everlasting to everlasting!”

In Hebrews 9:11-28, we are told how the blood of Jesus on the cross is so much more effectual than the blood of the bulls and goats that were sacrificed on the altar in the temple. You can read the whole passage following the link above, but the point is driven home with these words: “how much more then will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our conscienses from the acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God! For this reason, Christ is the mediator of a new covenant, that those who are called may receive the promised inheritance — now that he has died as a ransom to set them free from the sins committed under the first covenant.“

This is the mercy that Paul is referring to when he writes “I urge you therefore because of the mercies of God to present yourselves as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God, this is your true and proper worship.“

True Christians have experienced the forgiveness effected by the cross of Christ. True Christians are committed to extending this same mercy to everyone. Not conformed (the world seeks to judge and lessen) but rather transformed (the spirit person is merciful and edifies) by the renewal of the mind. True Christians know that God has forgiven them, and they should then forgive others. Be merciful because your Father in Heaven is merciful.

Why do so many Christians get this wrong? I suspect that it is pride. Once forgiven it is easy enough for a person to think they somehow earned or deserved that forgiveness. Pride tells us God loves us because we deserved that love. Pride tells us that we are more deserving than others. These thoughts are not the mindset of those living as the transformed.

There is an Aerosmith song entitled Take Me to the Other Side. It is not a gospel tune. Small surprise there, right? It does however contain this lyric. “Forget about your foolish pride. Take me to the other side.” Perhaps that should be our prayer. “Lord help me to forget my foolish pride and take me to the other side.” The other side is where Christ is waiting.

Peace to you on your own journey. Vaya con Dios!

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Mercy, Mercy Me

The previous post began our journey through Romans. You can read it here. If you are up to date, you know that we ended that post by saying that “it all begins with mercy.”

“Therefore, I urge all of you because of the mercies of God” Paul writes in Romans 12:1. The therefore at the start of 12 is the culmination of all that Paul has written to the church in Rome up to that point; so, if this is the culmination of his argument, then mercy is a key thing to understand.

Mercy is everywhere in the scriptures. These posts on Romans are an effort to synthesize a three-year bible study that I led. The first year we walked through the Gospel of Luke. We encountered mercy over and over again. For Example: when Mary begins to prophesize after the angel Gabriel has come, she recites Psalm 103: “His mercy is upon generation after generation toward those who fear Him.” Likewise, Zacharias says “because of the tender mercy of our God with which the Sunrise from on high will visit us” referring to the promised messiah. Perhaps most importantly though Jesus himself highlights mercy to his followers.

Jesus in the midst of the beatitudes and preaching in Luke says “Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.” This is not just a suggestion; it is something that is to be true of those who follow God. We are to be merciful. The parallel passage in Matthew expresses the same point differently. There the word is perfect. “Study to be perfect as your father in heaven is perfect.” Now that can cause a lot of grief for a person, because I don’t know about you, but I fail at perfection usually in the first hour of my day. Perfection is an ideal. But Luke helps us to understand that being perfect like God means being merciful!

We will come back to that thought in a minute but first we need to consider another place where Jesus highlights mercy. One day, a lawyer challenges Jesus to explain what it means to love your neighbor by asking “who is my neighbor?”. Jesus replies with a parable (the story of the good Samaritan) that culminates in this question, “Whom do you suppose was the neighbor to the man who was left for dead?”; the answer given “the one who showed mercy to him” is met with the response “go and do the same.”

The underlying Greek word for mercy is eleos. It is a word with a rich and deep meaning. In the New Testament the word means more than forgiveness, although it does mean forgiving a debt or providing pardon. Eleos also means compassion, generosity, and provision. The Samaritan did all of this in the story. In that manner he acted like his Father, God.

In Exodus 34, God offers a self-description to Moses: “The LORD, the LORD God, merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in lovingkindness (hesed) and truth…“. Mercy is so important to the character of YHWH that it is the first adjective used in his self-description!

Hebrew scholars note that the word for mercy and the word for womb have the same trilateral root. In Biblical Hebrew, all words are built outward from three core consonants. These “roots” provide insight into the meaning behind the word. We do something similar in English. You can understand the English word enlightenment if you know the meaning of light as to illumine or make something easier to see. The womb is a place of love, safety, and provision for the baby. It is in the womb that the strong bonds of love are first formed between mother and child. The womb is a place where the growing child is kept safe and where all that is needed is provided.

Saying God is merciful is to say that he loves unconditionally, that God forms us, and we grow when connected to him. Saying God is merciful means that he provides everything that we need. We see aspects of this mercy throughout Luke, not only with the Samaritan, but also when Jesus feeds the 5000, heals the demoniacs, and when he promises the thief on the cross that that very day, he would join him in Paradise. Mercy all around!

The writer of Hebrews shares “we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God… therefore lets us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.“

What does this have to do with Paul and his Letter to the Romans?

Paul grew up learning all that we know as the Old Testament. Early in his life, he felt that he understood all of who God was, what it meant that he was merciful and gracious; righteous and just. Paul was so certain of his understanding he persecuted the Christians in Jerusalem and other places because he was certain that they were heretics sharing falsehoods about God. Then it all changed. After encountering Jesus in a vision, he rededicated his understanding of those scriptures to comprehend what it meant for someone to have risen from the dead. By the time Paul is writing to Rome, and by the grace of God to us as well, he is able to say because of the mercies of God (his provision, his protection, his transforming spirit, and his salvation) we are to provide ourselves as living sacrifices.

Our forgiveness and justification in Christ Jesus are just the starting point. Now we are to live out mercy-filled lives in response to what God has done for us. This is our “rightful worship”. The path of your transformation follows opportunities of mercy, and it means so much more than just being more forgiving.

Some will recognize a Marvin Gaye song from the title of this post. Not particularly theological, but the song begins “oh mercy, mercy me, things aren’t what they seem to be, no.” In our next post we will start at the beginning of Romans and start seeing that the world isn’t what it seems. Until then the title of this post is a prayer you can live this week.

In Exodus when God describes himself it is written that he descended from the cloud and proclaimed the Name of the Lord. “YHWH, YHWH ELOHIM, a god of Mercy…” mercy is not just what God does but it is who God is! So, the title is a prayer best read this way: “MERCY, mercy me.”

Thank you for reading. If this post blessed you, please share it with someone else. As always it is freely given. You are welcome to use it although it would be nice if you credited where it came from.

Peace to you on your own journey, Vaya con Dios!

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