In Paul’s introduction, he both thanked God for the Roman church and comments on how their church was known around the world for their faith. They were evidently a passionate church, but they were clearly still lacking the foundational understanding of living in the grace of God apart from Law. In addressing this issue, it’s worth taking note that Paul didn’t talk anywhere near as harshly to them as he did to the Galatians church.
It is clear that the Roman church misunderstood the fullness of the gospel, but Paul took a very different approach with them than he did with the Galatians church. When Paul talked to the Galatians church, he was much more emotional, he seemed to take their rejection of his gospel much more personally; he was shocked how they had turned from the gospel foundation that he had preached to them and established them in and had turned to another gospel.
The difference between the two churches was that Paul never laid the foundation in Rome; he never taught them the foundational teaching of the good news of God’s grace apart from law. Because of this, Paul didn’t rebuke the church for believing ‘a different’ gospel as he did with the Galatians.
I believe this is an important point to consider for preachers today. We can not be overly critical of other church communities that don’t understand the reality of God’s grace apart from law if they have never been taught it to begin with. If we have not been personally involved in laying the foundation of the gospel in their community, then we can not take offence at their lack of understanding, but rather we can offer our gift as communicators of God’s grace to build the church up and help them see the greater reality of the gospel that is rightly theirs in Christ.
If it is our own church community; the ones that we have been personally involved in preaching the foundational truths in, and we know that they clearly did understand it and embrace it but are now turning away from it to embrace another gospel, then there is a place to be very firm in our approach and correction. However, if it is another local church community, one that we have not laid the foundations in, then we need to encourage them through love, to serve them with a spirit of love and grace to help them embrace the greater reality that is rightly theirs in Christ.
Paul wanted to first acknowledge that the Roman church’s faith had a great reputation and that they were full of faith, but he also wanted to take them on a journey. It is possible that the reason Paul was writing this letter because although the church was full of faith and loved Christ, they still couldn’t grasp how it is possible that they can now be in a new covenant that is completely apart from the law. That, I believe, was their greatest difficulty.
As we discussed earlier, Paul evidently had some personal relationships with some of the leaders within the Roman church community. It was one of these friends who most likely had contacted Paul and explained that many in the church were still clinging to the idea that law the means to be righteous, and that it was the law, and not Christ in them, that caused them to have knowledge and understand truth.
Before Paul jumped into talking about this very topic, he first expressed his heart to the church; he wanted the church to know that he loved them and that he cared deeply for them. Paul explained to them how he not only serves God with all his heart, but he was also constantly thinking about the church in Rome and praying for them; explaining to them that one of his hearts desires was that God would bless him by making the way possible for him to visit them. It’s good to know that God did answer Paul’s prayer, as Paul did end up not only visiting, but staying in Rome for about two years, as we read in the end of the Acts account.
Paul also encouraged the church with his motives for wanting to visit them. He said that he desired to impart a spiritual gift to the church. He went on to explain what that meant to him; he told the church the way he could impart a spiritual gift to them was through being encouraged by their mutual faith. Paul was explaining that when he would come to see them and they would see his faith and that he was living in God’s grace and the hope he had in Jesus, they would be encouraged by that and it would stir their faith and bless them.
Paul was also explaining that it worked both ways; it was a double blessing. What he meant by that was that when he came and saw their faith in Christ, and that they were living in the liberty of Christ and allowing his life in them to be walked out, that is what would encourage Paul in his faith. It is a beautiful reality that encourages all of us when we see one another letting Christ in us live his life and overflow his grace through our lives. When we see each other letting that be our reality, it encourages us in our spirits greatly!
Paul’s letter to the church in Rome is just as relevant to us as the church today, and we too need to open our hearts to hear what God is saying to us through this letter. When we don’t cling to religious ideas and religious traditions that we have been taught and indoctrinated into, but we lay them aside and open our hearts to listen to what Paul has to say to us regarding our inheritance and new creation life in Christ, then we too can be greatly encouraged.
God certainly wants to speak to us through this letter, just as he originally spoke to the Roman church through it, and help us to accept and live in the fullness of God’s abundant grace and truth.
More to come…
