Romans – One Gospel to Rule Them All
Romans is the longest of Paul’s letters, and was supposedly written after he finally made it back to Corinth – after all that back and forth that we read in Corinthians. Settled in, and having completed, for the moment, his proselytizing around the Aegean – Greece and Turkey, for the most part, he’s contemplating his next moves. Spain is the target, but heading there passes him through Roman territory, and in particular, the city of Rome. There, Christianity is split, between those who were formerly Jews and those who were formerly Gentiles of one or another persuasion. His aim is to unite them in Christ, and this letter is a treatise on Christian doctrine, a blueprint for the future of faith.
- Romans opens like the prologue to an epic saga: Paul, servant and apostle, unfurls his credentials and declares the gospel as the single ring of power – One Gospel to Rule Them All. He greets Rome, tosses in his ubiquitous “I’ve always meant to visit, but life got in the way,” and stresses faith as the universal key to, well, everything. He then pivots into a dark panorama of human corruption. Idolatry, lust, and moral collapse are paraded as evidence that humanity has traded the Creator for created things. Paul sets the tone of the letter, making sure everyone knows they’re equally guilty and equally in need of the Gospel.
- This is Paul’s… “Black Mirror” chapter. He turns the moral spotlight on the reader and says, “You’re not better, you’re just louder.” After condemning evildoers in chapter 1, he pivots to the self‑righteous crowd and basically drops the ancient equivalent of “Judge not, lest ye be judged.” He then turns again, to the Jews, and basically says, “If you claim to be following the Torah, and you really are, great, but if you really aren’t, then you’re just a hypocrite.”
On to Mark