SECOND SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY
1 June 2008

The Epistle to the Romans – which we began reading today, and from which we will continue to read until the middle of September – is not the easiest of Paul's letters to understand. And so perhaps today is as good a day as any to put it into perspective; and to get some idea of what Paul is trying to say in this, the longest a,d arguably greatest of all his letters.

One of the things that makes Romans what it is, is that unlike most of his other letters, it was not written as a result of a visit Paul had already paid, but rather to prepare the way for a visit he was about to make. When Paul writes to, say, the Thessalonians or the Corinthians, or to Timothy or Titus, he is writing to communities and individuals he knows, often in response to particular issues or problems that have arisen since he left. So the letters to the Thessalonians deal largely with questions about the state of the departed and the final judgement, while the letters to the Corinthians deal with questions about order and morality among believers.

Likewise the two letters to Timothy are advice about leadership, and such questions as the sort of people who should be admitted to particular offices in the Christian community. That makes these letters often very practical in tone, and if not actually easy, at least reasonably straightforward to interpret. We understand the questions Paul is addressing.

But Romans is different. Paul is sending this letter on ahead as he himself prepares to make the journey to Rome that will ultimately end in his execution. And so he is telling the Christians in Rome, whom he has not met, what this Gospel is that he proclaims. He's establishing his credentials as an evangelist in advance, so that they know who they are dealing with. In short, Romans is a letter of introduction: This is my Gospel; this is the message I have been proclaiming; and this is why I am on my way to you now.

That means that instead of dealing with particular aspects of Christian life, or particular problems of Christian belief, what we have in Romans is an attempt systematically to present the whole of the Christian message. It's almost a sort of “Gospel according to Paul”, staring with God's purposes in creation; moving through human rebellion and sinfulness to the call of Israel; then to the coming of Christ and the meaning of his death and resurrection; and finally to a working out of all that in practical Christian living.

And because it is so systematic, it has been hugely influential, not least through people such Saint Augustine, Martin Luther, and Charles Wesley, all of whom have seen Romans as seminal to their own experience of Christian faith. And perhaps it's worth adding that. being very much in the Augustinian tradition, it is a letter that also plays a prominent rôle in the thinking of the current Pope.

At the heart of Romans lies a key question: How are we set right with God? God, says Paul, has made his existence plain for all to see, be they Jew or Gentile; and yet we have wilfully refused to see and fallen short of what he calls us to be. Can we set ourselves right we God? he asks. No. Can the Jewish Law set us right with God? No. Can good works set us right with God? No. Only God can set us right with himself; and this he does be sending Christ to take our place; standing in, as it were, for sinful Adam the first human being, and offering his own spotless life to the Father in our place.

Where Adam failed, Christ succeeds, and renews the whole human race in his image. And we are set right with God when we respond in faith to what God has done.

An argument like that is not easily compressed! Expounding it takes up four-fifths of the letter as a whole. Which means that reading it Sunday by Sunday we are getting only a small part of the argument each time, which can lead us utterly perplexed ... as might arguably be the case with this morning's passage, in which Paul lays the groundwork for what it to follow, but setting up the contrast between Law and Grace, almost seeming to struggle with it himself. But over and over again the repeated theme is, God justifies; we cannot justify ourselves.

Sometimes people accuse Paul of being gloomy, and the whole tradition of theology that finds its roots in Paul in general, and Romans in particular, as being especially so. It is true: Paul gives very little credit to human initiative, and attempts to redress the balance in the long history of Christian theology have been many, if not always successful.

After all, however seminal it may be, Romans is not the whole story. Even within the pages of the New Testament, we find James putting much more emphasis on the importance of demonstrating our faith in practical ways, telling us that a faith that does not reveal itself in good works is a dead faith, something we thought about last week.

But the contrary idea, that as long as we live reasonably good lives, say our prayers, and wash behind the ears, we will do all right in the end, is always with us. It is the belief of a great many women and men of good will, of the sort who say things like, You don't need to go to church to be a good person. Romans reminds us that won't do. We are utterly dependent on God for the grace that makes our salvation possible.

As we make our way through Romans this Summer, may we never cease to give thanks to God for what he has done for us in Christ; and respond in lives of faithful obedience.