The West Side church of Christ

Last night, I finally got to start the class on Romans (it had been delayed for several weeks by various activities and traveling). I had been looking forward to teaching a class on Paul’s Epistle to the Romans for a while. Evidently, so had the church. A month ago I handed out slips of paper and asked the class to write down what they would like to study on Wednesday nights. To my surprise, all but one of the pieces of paper said: “the book of Romans.” I have never seen such independent agreement on a topic of study before. It is almost like the class conspired together on what to study (but I’m pretty sure they didn’t). I am looking forward to a rewarding study of this Epistle.

One theme I was not able to go into great depth in my introduction last night was the theme of boasting (KAUXAOMAI). The Church in Rome had a big problem with boasting. Granted, the following is a little corny…maybe a lot corny, but humor me…If it was expressed in dialogue, it might go something like this:

Jews: “Look at our lineage; we are God’s chosen people (2:17) and God gave us the Old Law (2:23) .”

Gentiles: “That lineage you pride yourself in is just a bunch of rejects (11:17-21).”

Jews and Gentiles: “I’m too good to associate with you (12:16).”

Paul: “None of you are anything special, you were all saved by faith (3:27). What are you bragging about? God did all the work!”

Jews and Gentiles staring at Paul

Paul: “Hey you Jews, not even Abraham had anything to boast about, his righteousness was given to him by God (4:1-5). Are you better than Abraham?”

Jews looking ashamed; Gentiles thinking: “Hah! Take that!”

Paul: “And you Gentiles, are your people any better? You think so highly of yourselves, but you too will be rejected if you don’t continue believing (11:22, 25).”

Gentiles looking ashamed

Paul: “If you guys want to boast about something, boast in the hope of the glory of God (5:2). Or you can boast in the tribulations that bring perseverance (5:3). You can boast in the God who brought reconciliation to us through Jesus (5:11). Boast in the things pertaining to God, not yourself (15:17).”

This entry was posted on Tuesday, September 2nd, 2008 at 11:32 am and is filed under Romans.