Chapter 1 cont'd:
For I am not ashamed of the good news of Christ. It is the very power of God that imparts salvation to every person who believes it; to the Jews first and also to the Gentiles. (A past history with and greater knowledge about God implies a greater opportunity to receive from him.) Through this message God's own righteousness is revealed from heaven and imparted to people, from start to finish, on the basis of faith.
Comments:
Something very radical (lit: "to the roots") occurred through the coming of God's Son, Jesus, to this world. It was an event unlike any previous act of God in the whole of human history. It was the event by which God himself came "in person" to the planet. God actually did what many people have half-heartedly complained about..."If God wants us to believe in and follow him, why doesn't he just appear to us and tell us in person?"
But what if a holy, just and loving God (as the Scriptures reveal him to be) really did visit us in person to invite us back into a mutual and genuine love relationship with him and set things in motion for all the evils of this world to be resolved? How would that story go...given the voluntary nature of love and the fact that evil is not simply "out there", but "in me" as well? Come to think of it...it would seem to go very much like the gospel of Jesus. God foretells of his intentions in many ways over many years in preparation, intervenes and becomes like one of us, lives a perfect life, reveals his wisdom, love and power, lays down his life to absorb and absolve our personal guilt and shame, deals out a mortal wound to all evil, overcomes Satan and death and delays his final justice for this world's evils to offer his creation, over a long period of time, the opportunity to choose to love him back before those who have chosen and cherished evil have to face the consequences. And also...to set up a way of doing all of this so that those who choose his love are not able to take credit for their choice thus falling into pride or gloating?
Finally...why might Paul, or anyone else, even be tempted to "be ashamed" of this Story? Maybe because such a radical act on God's part would necessarily expose and shake down the fragile internal and external arrangements that we personally and whole cultures (religious and otherwise) have historically made for ourselves in an attempt to "survive", "succeed" and "feel okay" about ourselves. Sounds like it could involve the rising of some conflict on all fronts for anyone truly bearing such a message...because God himself has come on the scene and isn't necessarily buying all our human wisdom or self-righteous religions--not to mention our excessive self-indulgences. High drama and passionate spiritual romance truly await us as Romans unfolds.
No comments:
Post a Comment