Pride and boasting. These are certainly trademarks of the American culture today. But they are nothing new! Pride and boasting also existed in the culture of the early church. And they created the same results that they do today: disunity and division. And we all know that a house divided cannot stand. This is why we find Paul so intentional about confronting disunity within the church in most of his letters. And his letter to the Romans is no exception. It is a letter written with this very practical purpose in mind.
WHAT ROMANS IS NOT
But many people today believe that the book of Romans is a theological treatise where Paul lays out his understanding of the gospel of Jesus to gain the approval of the church in Rome (so that they would support his missionary endeavors to Spain). But Romans (if understood in its entirety) does not read like this. It is not a theology textbook.
How do I know this? Well, just like most of Paul's other letters, Romans is divided into two parts, often referred to by scholars as Paul's indicative-imperative structure. What does this mean? Paul usually begins his letters with a grouping of statements of fact [in the indicative mood]. He then instructs the church by applying these facts to the life of the church [in the imperative mood]. This is the nuts and bolts of the indicative-imperative structure. And it reveals to us that Paul desires for the church to not only uphold good theology BUT also (and more importantly) to put good theology into real-life practice. This is the essence of a Bible-believing church according to Paul and this is at the heart of ALL of Paul's letters!
While Romans may not be a theological treatise, there is no doubt that Paul clearly lays out the theological message of the gospel in the first half of his letter to the Romans. So how does Paul use the gospel message (in a practical, non-academic way) to confront the disunity within the church at Rome? We'll look into this in the next blog...
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