Ascension at LCS Devotions

I gave this talk this morning at LCS. As I recently told Calvus, "It's much better to be an amateur theologian, because the pay isn't any worse, and you don't have to cite your sources." In the interest of due credit, however, I owe much (most) of this to N.T. Wright and J.I. Packer. Thanks to J, Mom, Calvus, and Dad Davis for contributing edits.

The last time I presented a devotional here I spoke about Paul’s exposition of the Resurrection in I Corinthians 15, and especially about how that text ought to inform the way we think of heaven and the afterlife against the dualistic popular notion that heaven is the place where we go after we die to live in an eternal state of disembodied bliss. Having just completed the Easter season and celebrated the bodily resurrection of our Lord, with all the rich and joyful implications of that event, I thought I might talk a little this morning about the great event that followed shortly thereafter: his Ascension. The Ascension is approached in all four of the gospels, but given its fullest treatment in Acts. From Chapter 1, Verse 1, Luke writes:

In the first book, O Theophilus, I have dealt with all that Jesus began to do and teach, ² until the day when he was taken up, after he had given commands through the Holy Spirit to the apostles whom he had chosen. ³  He presented himself alive to them after his suffering by many proofs, appearing to them during forty days and speaking about the kingdom of God. ⁴ And while staying^[a] with them he ordered them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father, which, he said, “you heard from me; ⁵ for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized in^[b] the Holy Spirit not many days from now.” ⁶ So when they had come together, they asked him, “Lord, will you at this time reestablish the kingdom to Israel?” ⁷ He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority. ⁸ But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” ⁹ And when he had said these things, as they were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight. ¹⁰ And while they were gazing into heaven as he went, behold, two men stood by them in white robes, ¹¹ and said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.”

I have a suspicion that this passage is misunderstood in modern popular theology, not because anyone disbelieves the core points, but because they have slightly forgotten what the core points are and gone on believing other things in their absence—as has happened with the resurrection. We are just now at that time of year when everyone has been reminded of the importance of the bodily resurrection, and it all seems clear again, but after a month or two we might revert back to some muddled compromises. The central truth of the Ascension, as far as I can see, is the entrance of Jesus into heaven as King and Ruler, rather than as a departure away from earth. In short, the Ascension doesn’t mean absence, it means sovereignty. I’ll briefly talk about what this sovereignty means, how this event was anticipated in the Old Testament and by Jesus himself, and what it means for us in the present.

No Christian would dispute the claim (just as no one would dispute the claim that Jesus is raised from the dead) that Jesus is Lord. But what does that really mean? The Evangelical movement in which most of us have served has taken great care to emphasize how Jesus is Lord of our personal and individual lives. We’ve been deeply concerned, and rightly so, with bringing people to confession of personal faith that Jesus is Lord. Thanks be to God, however, that he is not merely the Lord of our private interior lives, but is also the world’s one true Lord in the cosmic and political sense. To put it another way, he is not only a religious Lord, but the Lord of all lords, and all things are subjected to and summed up in him—one need not look further than Ephesians 1 for a great summary of this high Lordship. It is sovereignty in this sense that the New Testament writers meant when they announced the gospel to the 1^st century Mediterranean world. To call someone kurios kai huios theou—the Lord and Son of God—was not to use religious language, but political, and political language that threatened the other man who laid claim to such titles: the Caesar of Rome. When the New Testament writers call Jesus Lord, they do not mean only that we owe him private obedience, but that he is in fact the world’s true king, and Caesar, or whoever else might be claiming power against him, is not. What’s this to do with the ascension? Keep in mind that the ascension was not merely an entrance into heaven, but an entrance into heaven to be seated at the right hand of God the father. If your controlling metaphor for heaven is someplace a long way off where eventually we might go to strum ethereal harps in disembodied bliss, you might mistake the ascension as a departure story—E.T. getting back into his spaceship and returning home, only with the second person of the Trinity. If however, you draw from all the biblical language portraying heaven as the control room of earth—which is as much as to say, God’s domain—then Jesus’ enthronement at the Father’s right hand is about becoming the world’s true sovereign. When he said in Matthew, all authority in heaven and on earth is given to me, he meant it! We are even given a glimpse of Jesus in his glorified state in Revelation 1—where he is described as the ruler of the kings of the earth.

Thus was the language the New Testament writers used to describe the ascension event—an event prophesied in the Old Testament and looked for by expectant 1^st century Israel. The ascension was not an afterthought to Jesus’ Messianic career, nor was it a tidy wrap-up to the gospel accounts. Rather, it was the final task of the Messiah as foretold in Daniel 7: And behold, there came with the clouds of heaven one like a son of man, and he came to the Ancient of Days and was presented before him. And to him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him; his dominion is an everlasting dominion which shall not pass away, and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed. Though there were many varieties of Messianic expectation in second temple Judaism, all camps were roughly agreed that God’s Messiah would be the one to put an end to exile, drive out the pagan oppressors, restore the true temple worship of YHWH in Jerusalem, and lastly to share YHWH’s throne ruling as the king of Israel and the world. Jesus was keenly aware of all of these Messianic vocations, which he fulfilled in unexpected ways. His ascension represented the completion of this final task, having, as was foretold in Daniel, defeated Israel’s monstrous enemies, he went upon the clouds to share God’s throne, with all authority given to him for the everlasting kingdom he proclaimed. This would not only have been looked for by the Jews of his day, but was clearly anticipated by Jesus himself. Being tried by Caiaphas, he was asked directly whether he was the Messiah, the son of God. He answered thus: You have said so, and I tell you from now on you will see the son of man seated at the right hand of power and going on the clouds of heaven. When asked directly whether he was the Messiah, Jesus replied to the Jewish leaders that indeed he was the son of man foretold in Daniel, the one who would defeat Israel’s enemy—by his death on the cross—and would be exalted to share the throne of the Ancient of Days, being given the everlasting power and kingdom, that Kingdom not from this world, but the Kingdom from heaven, which Jesus at the ascension received as coronation.

This brings me to my third and most important point—that Jesus’ omnipotent rule and kingdom are a present as well as a future reality. As I said earlier, the meaning of Jesus’ ascension is not absence, but sovereignty. I believe, and am willing to discuss with any interested party, that the last 150 years of popular eschatology has misunderstood this badly, though it’s not my task to address eschatological questions here. As the people of God on earth we are not called to bemoan the degradation of a world ruled by evil—we are to remind the world that it already has a King. Some here might quickly object that the world does not look as though anyone were in charge, let alone the supposed son of God. But keep in mind, it was no ordinary king who ascended to the right hand of the Father—it was the man whose kingdom looked like peasant fishermen, and whose crown was made from thorns. The Jesus of the gospels rarely ruled as the kings we know, those kings who are but a parody of his power. Rather, his kingship is through service and suffering; ultimately, through sacrifice. It is in this present reality of his Lordship that the church is to act for the world, in religious and public life. We do not fill the vacuum of his absence. Rather, we pray, work, play, and act as the subjects of the already-crowned king. We should be constantly asking ourselves, “What would it look like if God were in charge here?” For in and through Jesus, he is. Ask yourself today, “What would it look like if God ran the show at Lima Christian School? Not, keep in mind, the God of watery Deism who looks down from way up high and pulls the puppet-strings, but the God who in and through Jesus forgives prodigally and feasts and creates. Or what would it look like if our Lord ran the city of Rochester? We remind those in power who is the true Lord of the world. We take care of the poor and widowed, we reflect the creator God, and we tell stories of his exalted Messiah—the Messiah whom God raised to heaven to share his throne. His ascension does not mean absence, but sovereignty.

Let us pray. Almighty God, we thank you this morning that you have raised your son Jesus to the right hand of your throne, and him we do confess to be our Lord, he to whom all authority and power is forever given. We pray that we might be faithful stewards of his kingdom on earth, and that through our efforts and the working of the Holy Spirit that kingdom might be realized on earth as it is in heaven. Give us, O Lord, the courage and wisdom to bring Jesus’ kingdom to the world’s believing and unbelieving, and especially to our students. To you be all glory and praise forever more, our gracious God. All these we ask in the name of your son, our Lord, Jesus Christ.

Romans Commentary Project, chapter 5

Chapter V

1 Therefore being made righteous by faith we have shalom to God through our Lord Jesus the Messiah.

v. 1-2 are an early statement of what will be fully said in 8:31-39, what would be, in musical terms, the development of Paul’s argument so far. Having established that God is faithful to his promises through the Messiah Jesus, Paul now begins to explain how the privileges which ought to have been enjoyed by Israel are now given to the people of the Messiah, through the Messiah’s re-making of the Israel story around himself. First off is the peace with God, standing against the wrath of God which is to be poured out against the ungodly earlier.

2 Through whom we also have the coming-near [in faith] unto this grace in which we stand and we boast upon the hope of God’s glory

Just as the Messiah people now have the shalom to God that should have been the privilege of God’s elect, so also they have the entrance before—prosagogen—that would have been associated with the approach to God’s dwelling in the holy temple on Mount Zion, and a portion of the hope of his glory, which was, as God’s elect, to have been the privilege of ethnic Israel. Remember that the entrance before God was not a spiritual abstraction. In temple language, God really did dwell on Mt. Zion. (At least he did in the old temple) To enter higher and further within the temple really was to approach God. That privilege, through the Messiah, is now given to the Messiah’s family—Gentiles are allowed within, regardless of their status to purification, circumcision, or Torah.

3 And not only this, but we also boast in troubles, knowing that trouble produces endurance

Paradoxically, the situation of the persecuted early Christian is to glory in his distresses, for this is how the Messiah accomplished his great victory. It was not by raising arms and striking his enemies, but by submitting to their strikes. Boast is kauchometha again.

4 And endurance character and character hope

Dokime can mean character, worth, proof, or evidence.

5 And the hope is not disgraceful, since God’s love is poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit given to us.

Kataischunei is often translate “disappoint,” but I think that Paul writes about the Christian dokime in contrast with that of pre-Messianic Judaism, which was disgraced because it had, through its disobedience, allowed itself and its God to be shamed by the pagans who had taken it and subjected it to troubles. In contrast, the people of the Messiah, looking to him as their model, expect and glory in the troubles they are given. Again, Paul is not writing in abstract spiritualisms when he talks about God’s love in the Holy Spirit—it is as concrete as the glory which once filled the temple, but now is indwelt within the Christian heart.

6 For the Messiah with our yet being weak at the right time for the sake of the ungodly died

Ungodly (asebon) might also be irreverent? If vv. 1-5 are a preview of ch. 5-8, vv. 6-11 are a sort of recap of the letter so far. Paul restates the propitiatory death of the Messiah for the ungodly.

7 For scarcely will anyone die for the sake of the just. For concerning a good man someone might dare even to die

I’ve always wondered (and I can’t find any footnotes to see if anyone else has followed this up) if Paul is quoting from another source here. He breaks the line of his argument, and the sentence just doesn’t quite sound Pauline. But I have no real evidence for this. It just doesn’t sound quite right. Dik language again.

8 But God demonstrated his love unto us, that with our yet being sinners the Messiah died for our sake.

Though we (the Messiah people) were not worth saving, the Messiah made God’s rescue by sacrificing himself to suffering and death. Keep the verse within the context of the argument before and after. (Although, of course, it is one of the key verses of whatever atonement theology ought to be drawn out of the New Testament.)

9 Therefore much more being justified now in his blood we are saved through him from wrath

Justified is again dikaiothentes, which ought to be read as a shorthand way of saying “given covenant membership.” The problem of God’s just wrath in ch. 1 is addressed by the sacrifice—which is somehow a temple sacrifice—of Jesus.

10 For if being enemies we are reconciled to God through the death of his son, how much more being reconciled will we be saved in his life?

Reconciliation here and throughout is katellagemen, which could also be read as “being put into friendship” but comes from a term from the reconcilement of an estranged man and wife. Here is powerful resurrection language—as the cross has accomplished covenant membership through sacrifice, so also will Jesus’ victory over death be translated into our final salvation. (Note, this is a future salvation)

11 And not only this, but also boasting in God through our Lord Jesus the Messiah through whom now we receive reconciliation.

Parallels v. 3, concluding the expository section.

12 On account of this just as through one man sin entered unto the world and through sin Death, even thus unto all men Death spread over, upon which all sinned.

Paul now begins to retell the whole Israel story, starting with Adam and the problem of sin. Adam is the type of the Messiah, but everywhere he has failed Jesus has conquered. Spread over is dielthen, which also could mean passed through.

13 For before Torah sin was in the world, but sin was not charged with the Torah not being

A complex sentence grammatically. Basically it means that there was Sin before there was the giving of the Torah at Mt. Sinai, and though the penalty was paid for Sin (Death), sin could not be charged in the same way. (I’ll get a little ahead of Paul’s argument and say that the giving of Torah served as a warning against sin but also as a stumbling block by which Israel and the world would be convicted.)

14 But Death ruled from Adam until Moses and upon those not sinning upon the likeness of the overstepping of Adam who is the type of the intended one

Without sin, Death held dominion. (ebasileusen, was king.) Overstepping is again parabasis. Adam is the typos—model, figure, example--of the intended one, who is the Messiah.

15 But not as sin, thus even the gift. For if by one all die in sin, how much more the grace of God and the gift in grace of the one man the Messiah Jesus unto all abounds

The original word order makes less sense. The meaning is, “but the gift of the Messiah is not as the sin of Adam.” The Messiah not only counteracts, but does more than Adam, for the gift abounds. (or overflows)

16 And not as through one sinning the gift. For indeed the judgment from one sin unto condemnation, but the grace from many sins unto justification

The first part of the verse (all the references to one, one, one are comparing to Adam to the Messiah) says that the gift is not as the sin of the one sinning. Though it was but by one sin from the one first sinner that death/condemnation came, the gift can and does cover many sins. Dik language implying covenant again.

17 For if by one in sin Death ruled through the one, how much more those the abundance of grace and of the gift of justification receiving in life will rule through the one Jesus the Messiah.

Death did rule the world through the one sin of Adam, but we will rule the world in Death’s place through the gift and justification of the Messiah.

18 Therefore then as through one sin unto all men unto condemnation, thus even through one righteousness unto all men unto justification and life.

Righteousness and justification, here as always, cognate through dik.

19 For just as through the disobedience of one man many were made sinners, thus even through the obedience of one many will be made justified

Many are entered into the covenant by the obedience (which elsewhere, Paul calls faith) of the one man, in contrast to the disobedience of Adam. Will be made might also be translated “proved” in a legal sense, continuing Paul’s courtroom metaphors.

20 And the Torah arrived, that Sin might abound. But where Sin abounded, Grace overabounded.

Paul doesn’t leave us hanging with this mysterious statement that Torah came and Sin abounded—this will be the task of ch. 7-9 to explain. But please do read as “Torah came, with the result that Sin abounded.” Abounded (epleonasen) becomes overabounded (upereperisseuesen)

21 That just as Sin ruled in death, thus even Grace might rule through justification unto eternal life through the Messiah Jesus our Lord.

Where Sin had dominion (ebasileuisen) now Grace has dominion unto the covenant justification, and ultimately eternal life (the victory over death) through the Messiah.

For Men Only, by Shaunti and Jeff Feldhahn

I suppose the best preliminary question is not whether this particular book is any good, but whether it's even possible to write a good book--at least one that isn't mealy sentiment and common nonsense--about one gender to another. Whatever might be generally true of enough women that someone might dare to write it down, is astonishingly false about some other woman somewhere. Writing about the genders is like writing about America. Whatever you say is true, the opposite is true somewhere else. Confusing this further, there are several truisms about women espoused in For Men Only that might be vaguely correct about American women between the ages of 26 and 49, but are certainly not at all descriptive of African women, or Victorian women.

With all that said, For Men Only doesn't come off quite as poorly as you'd expect. It's biggest flaw actually turns out to be the underlying assumption that a happy marriage is one in which the husband and wife keep up the constant sensation of "being in love" for as long and as powerfully as possible. Being in love, of course, and enjoying that love in romantic and sexual fulfillment, is quite pleasant. It is not, however, helpful for very long in building a successful marriage, or in understanding, so far as such a thing can be done, what a woman is. 

Romans Commentary Project, chapter 4

Chapter IV

1 Therefore shall we say Abraham to be found our forefather according to the flesh?

There is some controversy as to the proper translation of this verse. The ESV asks whether anything was gained by Abraham (ti oun eroumen heurekenai), the NIV what he discovered, and the KJV what he found. These are all grammatically sound translations within the context of one verse, but I contend (via Hays, Wright) that the proper way to translate it in the context of the preceding chapter an argument to read Abraham (which is indeclinable in Greek) as the direct object of heurekenai, thus asking whether we find Abraham to be our physical father, not whether Abraham himself finds something. Vv. 4:1-12 then are not a temporary digression to indulge in Lutheran theology via some proof-texts from the Old Testament. (It helps, by the way, to re-read Genesis 15 before going through these verses). Rather, Paul is continuing to show how God kept his covenant promises to Abraham through Jesus to be the father of the covenant people. Therefore, the implied answer to Paul’s question is v. 1 is not “Yes, and here’s what Abraham found.” Instead, it is “no, but according to grace, so the promise might be valid for all.”

2 For if Abraham by works was justified, he has a boast, but not to God

Again, the answer to the question posed in v.1 is “no.” Abraham was not justified—did not receive his covenant membership—by works of Torah, since he was uncircumcised when he received the covenant. V. 3 makes more sense as a premise in this sort of argument than in proof text of Abraham’s salvation apart from the Categorical Imperative.

3 For what does the scripture say? And Abraham believed/was faithful to God, and it was accounted to him unto righteousness

Here Paul is explaining Genesis 15, not citing it. Episteusen de Abraam to Theo kai elogisthe auto eis dikaiosunen. Read: It was not by works of Torah that Abraham became the head of the covenant family. Not: Abraham received salvation by belief instead of a successful moral effort.

4 But to him working the wage is not accounted according to grace but according to what is owed

Paul continues the logize language (accounted in the previous verse) in this metaphor of a worker being reckoned or accounted his wage. The meaning of this verse in the reading I’m proposing is that, “clearly you Gentiles are members of the covenant family by grace, as was Abraham your father according to grace…this is very much unlike the demand of covenant membership as a recompense for the physical works you’d done, as would be the case if you made Abraham your father according to the flesh by undergoing circumcision and whatnot.” What is owed is opheilema, also obligation or due.

5 And to him not working but believing/trusting upon him justifying the irreverent his faith is accounted unto righteousness

To him (the Gentile covenant member) not taking on ethnic Judaism as the covenant demarcation but instead believing in the God who raised the Messiah from the dead, he receives covenant membership by grace through his faith/trust/belief. Pistis and dik language continue throughout.

6 And even as David said of the man which God accounts righteousness without works

As if evidence from Abraham wasn’t enough, Paul cites another Jewish central figure to draw from God’s historically faithful plan. (Ps 32) This looks a bit more like proof-texting, but it is a proof-text in support of Paul’s statement about Abraham and the covenant people according to grace.

7 Blessed are those whose lawlessnesses are forgiven, and whose sins are covered

Lawlessnesses are anomiai, also iniquities or misdeeds in some translations. Blessed are those Gentiles being forgiven for their sins even though they don’t have Torah.

8 Blessed is the man who the Lord will not account sin.

Continue logizomai language throughout.

9 Therefore is this blessing upon the circumcised or the uncircumcised? For we say Faith was accounted to Abraham unto righteousness

The blessing (taking the form of Ps. 1 or Jesus’ beatitude, a fairly concrete and moveable concept in Judaic theology) which David has been referring to is intended for the uncircumcised Gentiles. Note carefully here that Abraham was uncircumcised at the time of the covenant and his faith being reckoned unto righteousness…hence his being father of the covenant Gentiles according to grace, the covenant to which his God has been faithful. If v. 2-8 are an answer of “no” to the question in v.1 because of dikaiosune through grace, vv. 9-12 are another “no” because of Abraham’s own uncircumcision.

10 How therefore was he reckoned? In being circumcised or uncircumcised? Not in circumcision but in uncircumcision

Or what was the manner of his reckoning? I think that the syntax here expresses (with the participle onti) a concept of time, but I’m not comfortable enough in my ability to translate it to say that it should be the absolute and undoubted proper rendering. If I’m right, though, it should say? How was it accounted? Was it before or after he was circumcised? It was not after he was circumcised, but before. The rougher translation I’ve left up carries the same idea but with less temporal definition.

11 And the sign he received of circumcision the seal of righteousness of faith in uncircumcision unto his being the father of all believing through uncircumcision, unto accounting the righteousness also to them

While Abraham was uncircumcised he received faith’s righteousness, and circumcision functioned as a seal of that. I don’t have the time or energy to do an exhaustive study of Paul’s use of the “seal” concept right now, but it would be a very interesting project for someone who does. Therefore (here’s the QED tying back into v.1) Abraham is the father of us who receive covenant membership/justification/dikaiosune not being circumcised.

12 And the father of those of circumcision from circumcision alone but even which are walking in the footsteps of the uncircumcision of faith of our father Abraham.

And he is the father according to the flesh of the circumcised, providing that they are not only circumcised but walk in the same faithfulness of the uncircumcised and circumcised Abraham. And there’s your answer to the question in v.1.

13 For not through Torah was the promise to Abraham or to his seed, this to be the inheritance of the world, but through the righteousness of faith.

Now that the question in 4:1 is satisfactorily answered, we come back to the problem that Paul began to address in chapter 3 and foreshadowed in chapter 1. (How would God be faithful to his promises to Israel?) Promise here is again epangelia. In using the language of inheritance (kleronomon) Paul evokes the inheritance language of Israel (that of the promised land) to be reshaped through the Messiah—in the fulfilled covenant people the inheritance is not merely Israel, but the whole world, as we shall see later. And this inheritance comes not through the keeping of Torah, but through pisteos, the only demarcating requirement of covenant membership in God’s Messiah.

14 For if there are heirs by the Torah, faith is emptied and the promise is nullified

Emptied is kekenotai and nullified is katergetai. Kekenotai can also mean “made meaningless,” and katergetai is the same word as earlier. In addition to the following verse (the Torah as the vehicle of judgment against Israel) Paul’s premise here carries an unspoken statement about the heirs by Torah. Clearly a sinful and arrogant people, embarrassing their God by being overtaken by pagan Gentiles, can’t be the mode in which God is keeping this great promise to Abraham? Paul will give a full and compassionate picture of ethnic Judaism as it lay in his time later on, but it’s important to note the implicit premise in this argument as well as the explicit one stated next.

15 For the Torah accomplishes wrath. But where there is no Torah neither is there overstepping.

By taking on the symbols and praxis of Torah, the children of Abraham according to the flesh received God’s oracles but also his judgment because of their unfaithfulness. Where there are not works of Torah, however, there is not the obvious external failures of the Jews (referenced in ch. 2) or the interior impossibility of upright law-keeping (see Paul on coveting later.) Overstepping is again parabasis.

16 On account of this by faith, that according to grace, unto the promise being reliable to all the seed, not to those from Torah alone but also to him by Abraham’s faith, who is the father of us all.

One of the most complicated sentences I’ve ever seen. It has neither a subject nor a verb in the original language! Perhaps Paul omits them out of reverence? It certainly is the perfect summary statement of the preceding section. Not by faith, but grace, unto the reliability of the promise to those children of Abraham by faith. Reliability is bebaian, cognate with confirmed, sturdy, or weighty. (Foundational.)

17 Even as it is written I have established thee the father of many nations, before the God he believed life-giving the dead and calling those not being as being.

Nations in Greek (and Hebrew) is the same word usually translated Gentiles. (ethnon, or goyim) Paul, when he speaks of God’s faithfulness to Abraham, deliberately begins to invoke his creative and life-giving/making (same word which he uses to describe resurrection in Philippians, I think) attributes. There’s no good way to translate the second part of the verse and preserve the word order of the original. The God in whom Abraham believed, who is the creator of life and makes things ex nihilo, is the sense of it.

18 Which against hope upon hope he believed unto his being the father of many nations according to that said Thus shall be thy seed

Or as we might say in English, “hoping against hope.” Paul quotes only part of v.15, the other part of course being God’s demonstration that Abraham’s descendants shall be as numerous as the stars. He lives this to be remembered by the reader.

19 And not being weak in faith he considered his own body already deadened, almost being one hundred years old, and the deadness of the womb of Sarah.

Considered is katenoesen—basically means realized or perceived. Again, note that Paul tells the story of God bringing something from unexpectedly from death to life, against all hope, by faith, to the fulfillment of his promise.

20 But unto God’s promise he did not doubt in unfaithfulness but was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God

The glory to God bit isn’t a throwaway—rather the appropriate and perfectly natural response to God’s goodness in faith, as in ch.1. Unfaithfulness is apistia, unbelief would be an acceptable translation also, but not in the sense of apostasy, of course. Strengthened is actually “enstrengthened.”

21 And having been assured that he promised is able also to do

Not quite sure the best way to translate plerophretheis. Often it’s rendered fulfilled, but the sense here could mean “assured” or “accomplished.” Basic sense, Abraham trusted that God would do what he promised.

22 Therefore [even] it was accounted to him unto righteousness

Back to the theme of God’s accounting (elogisthe) Abraham righteousness—within covenant membership, as the example of our being accounted to righteousness.

23 And it is not written on account of him alone that it be accounted him

This almost sounds like the part of the discussion where someone explains what the practical application is. But of course, for Paul, it was always God’s purpose through Abraham to bless the whole world. Now he does that.

24 But also on account of us, to whom it was intended to be accounted, to those faithful upon the raising of Jesus our Lord from the dead

Just as God brought death to life in Abraham, thus is Jesus, and to those faithful (faithing) in him the same sentence of the accounting of righteousness applies.

25 Who was handed over for the sake of our sins and was raised for the sake of our righting

Paraptomata, not hamartia, for sins.

Romans Commentary Project, chapter 3

Chapter III

1 Therefore what is better of the Jew or what is the profit of circumcision?

This is a dense and confusing section, and I’ll plainly admit I’m not sure I wholly understand Paul’s language. Structurally, it’s clearly a related separate argument to the preceding polemic against the arrogant ethnic Jew, but why is it necessary to include this bit before vv. 9-20? The first few times I read through vv.1-8 I was reading them in the context of Paul’s initial question, What is the advantage of being Jewish? Yet he only gives one reason for this advantage (they were entrusted with God’s oracles) and then goes off talking about something else. I think what Paul’s really getting at in these 8 verses is not about the status of Jewishness, but more a defense of God. This serves to accent God’s faithfulness against Israel’s unfaithfulness in the present context, and anticipates the questions about the covenant that come up in later chapters. (Why would a faithful God make a covenant with a hopeless people doomed from its inception?) If this were true, God would be something like those banks that gave out absurd mortgages to the ill-qualified and unemployed—it would be a slur on his character as well as theirs. Paul will argue later that this covenant has been kept faithful by God and by Israel in the person of the Messiah, by his reconstitution of Israel, Israel itself. But writing to some recently converted ex-pagans, perhaps it makes sense here that Paul would need to shift gears from his polemic against the Jews and reaffirm the transcendent faithfulness of the one God.

2 Much according to every way. [For] first on the one hand since they were entrusted God's oracles

Oracles is logia, a cognate with logos (word, reason, argument, a dozen other meanings) yet used only. Logia is used only twice else in the N.T., once in 1 Peter, and once in Acts where Stephen, in his Jewish-history speech, mentions logia brought down from Mt. Sinai. The meaning here (presumably God’s authoritative revelations to his chosen people) isn’t as obvious to me as Paul presumes it is to his audience, nor is it spelled out why this is advantage of Judaism and circumcision. (Or rather, I think I understand why this is a marvelous advantage, but I don’t understand why Paul doesn’t spell it out fully) Entrusted is episteuthesan, which could also mean enfaithed, cognate with pistis (faith) which remains the central topic of this section. (God’s pistis.) Note that sometimes we translate belief instead of faith, but this is a section where the flavor of the word is savoring much more of loyalty than of mental assent. This becomes very important when we start to talk about whether pistis Christou means faith in the Messiah or the Messiah’s faithfulness.

3 For what? If some were unfaithful, surely not does their unfaithfulness nullify God's faithfulness?

Here the metaphor of the irresponsible mortgage-lender (I’m rather proud of that, I think it was apt) seems to be what Paul is getting at. What does it say about God if he entrusted these oracles to an unfaithful people? If he’s God, shouldn’t he know better? If some were unfaithful is ei epistesan (long eta, from the lengthened alpha, from apistos), which could also mean if certain ones were unfaithful. Nullify is katargesei, as in when Jesus denies that he has come to nullify (render ineffective, empty of power) the Torah.

4 May it not be! But let God be true, and every man false, even as it is written That you might be justified in thy words and you might be victorious in thy judging (being judged)

Again, Paul’s famous me genoito. Whatever you would say about men, let God be true/faithful. Note that the Psalm quotation here is from the famous Create in me a clean heart (Ps. 51) and that the following verses tie in to original sin (I was conceived in iniquity) where—finally—we arrive after the initial caution I gave in Ch. 1. The second half of the psalm quotation could also read you might conquer (nikeseis) instead of “be victorious” and since being judged is a dative articular infinitive with the pronoun, could conceivably refer to an acquittal/right judgment on God himself. (I’d need to look up the articular infinitive rules before I made a case for that) This section is one of the central tangles of Romans. God is faithful to his promise, but Israel’s unfaithfulness will demonstrate God’s faithfulness all the more not only because it is God’s character, but God will have his promise kept by Israel through the Messiah.

5 But if our injustice demonstrates God's righteousness, what will we say? Surely not that God is unjust which pronounces (his) wrath? I speak according to man

Back to adikia—dikaiosune language. Paul plays the fool in his “speaking according to man.” Also back to the apokalupsis language of chapter 1, where Paul states that this judgment is taking place in the now.

6 May it not be! Since how would God judge the cosmon?
God’s judgment is at least partially in a positive sense, envisioning, from the Judaic vision of the God keeping his promises to Israel by dealing with evil, the putting to rights of the oppressed and his just ordering and return to the temple. (But of course this can’t happen if you would prevent the judgment, favorable and unfavorable, from coming)

7 But if God's truth in my falsehood abounds unto his glory, why yet am I also judged as a sinner?
I think, though I’d hear arguments to the contrary, that Paul is speaking as ethnic Israel here, not as the Gentile. Presumably he’s at least still tied into his question in v.1, and this makes something of a return to the idea. How am I a Jew, though being God’s elect and contributing to his glory, given the unfavorable judgment.

8 And not as we are blasphemed and as some say us to say that "Let us do evils, that the good might come?" Their judgment is just

A dense verse. The first part should be read parenthetically. Paul is saying that someone else is saying that he is saying that they ought to do evil to the increase of God’s glory. It is the blasphemer’s judgment which is just. (Endikon) Interesting that this same absurd heresy has come up several times in Christian history; God will forgive us, and it glorifies God to forgive us, so let’s give him more to forgive.

9 What, therefore? Are we advantaged? Not by all means. For we Jews and Hellenes are both fore-accused all to be under sin

Best evidence that 7 is meant to be read as Paul as the representative Jew. (Important to note that he does so here, because I’ll give this example as evidence for a later instance.) The we applies to both Jews and Hellenes, and is the first person plural in the verbal form, not a pronoun. Fore-accused could also be fore-charged.

10 Even as it is written that There is none just, not even one

And finally, we get to the explicit statement of Original Sin, but via Paul’s intended background of Gentile idolatry, Jewish disobedience to Torah, and God’s faithfulness/righteous judgment. V. 10 is a reworking of Psalm 14, going backwards from Ps. 14-3 (there is none who does good, not even one) and then going to v. 2, where the Psalm asks a question (The Lord looks down from heaven on the children of man, to see if there are any who understand, who seek after God) The same idea is recapitulated in Psalm 53.

11 There is none understanding, there is none seeking out God

I’d read seeking out (ekzeton) more broadly than some of our Evangelical “seeker” language. That isn’t to say that it doesn’t matter that people need to search for God’s will and truth in prayer, but in a first century context it probably has more to do with questions of covenant membership and faithfulness qua covenant people than individual private holiness. (Though of course, private holiness is a characteristic of the covenant people)

12 All have turned away together they are become worthless, there is not one doing kindness, [there is not] as many as one

From Ps. 14-3 and 53-3. I don’t know what the Septuagint reads for v. 3. Not sure whether chrestoteta should be goodness or kindness; perhaps either? Clasically it should be kindness, but it looks like most of my Koine sources agree it is goodness in the N.T. and LXX. (I did look it up in the LXX, and it’s chrestoteta.) Achreo properly worthless, but with the sense of corruption or spoilage. Some manuscripts don’t have the last “there is not.”

13 Their throat is an opened grave, with their tongues they have been deceitful

Psalm 5-9, and of course a very dire insult given the uncleanliness of the dead in both the Jewish and Pagan cultures. Deceitful in the sense of making snares, ambushes, tricks. “They are founts of uncleanliness and they trap others as well.” Jesus used some of these same ideas in his critique of the Pharisees in Matt. 21 (?)

14 Whose tongue of curses and bitterness is full

Tongue/mouth are interchangeable meanings of stoma. This is not a separate bunny trail off of Paul’s definition of Original Sin, these are identifying characteristics. Whereas the holy and human image bearing man responds to the world in obedient worship, not electively, but as a consequent response, the image-defaced and sin ruled are v.11 stupid, looking in the wrong direction v. 12 emptied of their value v. 13 unclean and contagiously so, v. 14 brimming over with the opposite of “natural” blessing, thankfulness and worship—curses and bitterness. Ps. 10-7

15 Their feet being swift to shed blood

From the Isaianic discourse on iniquity. C. 59, primarily focused on injustice.

16 Ruin and misery are in their ways

Again, this is not a side road from the definition of Original Sin, but the essence of it—it heads straight for destruction.

17 And the way of shalom they do not know

An appropriate spot for the more robust Jewish vision of “peace” than the contemporary nation states truces.

18 There is no fear of God before their eyes.

Or against their eyes. Ps. 36-1

19 And we know that what the Torah says it says to those under Torah, that every tongue might be silent and the whole cosmon might be answerable to God

Answerable is another dik-root word, hupodikos, or under-judgment/justice to God. I think that vv. 19-20 belong partitioned with 21 and following, not with 9-18, but most Bibles make the break before v. 21 for a more dramatic effect. (Very easy to understand why!) We return here from the discussion of Original Sin in general to the problem of ethnic demarcation by works of Torah. Now that Paul has established universal guilt, he is prepared to show how God has kept his covenant and made his judgment of righteousness—justification—possible.

20 Therefore by works of Torah all flesh will not be justified before him, for through the Torah the recognizement of sin.

Paul comes back to the recognizement of sin part later, and there’s a deep story about Mt. Sinai and the law coming down into sin that we get when he gives it its full treatment. But this is just the first statement. The point is that keeping kosher and getting circumcised aren’t enough to deal with the Adamic problem, the problem of Original Sin.

21 But now without Torah God’s righteousness is shown witnessed by the Torah and the prophets.

I think it’s the NIV that here translates “but now a new way of being made righteousness apart from the law is being made known.” This passage is not, as that translation would suggest, the exposition of a system of salvation. It is the continuation of Paul’s argument about God’s dikaiosune and the first century circumcision controversy. It would be wrong to read into this passage “here’s how Paul tells us how to get saved—not by works.” Rather, the questions of belief, conversion, and baptism having been settled, Paul is telling the Roman church that God has found a way—through Jesus, in the next verse—to open up the forensic judgment of his righteousness to those without the works of Torah, just as was foretold in the Torah in the Abrahamic covenant and reiterated in the prophets. This verse is a continuation (as becomes obvious in v.27) of Paul’s question of whether or not the physical Jew has a boast over the Torah-less Gentile.

22 And God’s righteousness through the faithfulness of the Messiah Jesus unto all believing. For there is no distinction.

Again, the NIV here mistranslates pisteos Iesou Christou as faith in Jesus Christ/Messiah by reading a soteriological statement into it when the syntax demands that Iesou Christou be the subjective genitive—the faithfulness of Jesus Christ/Messiah. In other words, it was the faithful work of the Messiah—trustworthy, and loyal to YHWH as Israel’s representative when Israel herself was disloyal, idolatrous, exiled, and mocked—that procures the favorable judgment of God’s righteousness for the covenant people, of which the sign of membership is belief in him. There is no distinction in that belief, no seal of the flesh, ethnic boundary, or ritual. I cannot stress how important this distinction is. It may seem like splitting hairs, but we will misread the whole rest of the book if we insist that Paul is talking about us having faith in Jesus when he means to talk about Jesus’ faithfulness in his Messianic role…and God’s faithfulness to the covenant through him.

23 For all have sinned and are fallen short of God’s glory

Quod erat demonstratum, vv. 9-18, tying together ch. 1 contra Gentiles and ch. 2 contra Jews. Husterontai (fall short) could also be lack or are in need of. The Jews do not start from the position of teachers or instructors because they possess physical covenant membership. They too are under original sin, and have not “lived up” to Torah.

24 Being justified the gift of his grace through the deliverance in the Messiah Jesus

There is a tense change from usterontai (aorist) to dikaioumenoi (present) which most translators have marked with the word “now.” Again, justified here does not mean “got converted” or “got saved.” Rather, they received God’s favorable judgment or righteousness and covenant membership without the deeds of Torah by the gift of his grace. Apolotroseos (apolutrosis in the nominative) would have for the 1^st century Jew the immediate connotation of deliverance from Egypt. It came through Greek as a slave market word, and was the classic Septuagint term to describe God’s deliverance of Israel from the bondage of Egypt…unto his covenant. En Christo here is an example of Paul’s incorporatative use of the word Christos. It could just as easily read “in Jesus’ Messiah-ship.”

25 Which God forepurposed a hilasterion through [the] faith in his blood unto the demonstration of his righteousness through the overlooking of forehappened sins

An incredible verse. There is some question whether hilasterion (originally, mercy-seat) refers to an expiation (forgiveness of a sin) or propitiation (appeasement of wrath). I don’t have the time or expertise to undertake a full lexical investigation, but I’d cast my pebble with propitiation, which would of course include the expiative force as well. This would tie in again to the whole apocalyptic key of Paul’s writing from 1.18 through the present point in the argument. God’s wrath is being revealed…but here is the propitiation of that wrath. It’s also unclear whether the faith in his blood is our faith, or Jesus’ faith/faithfulness. Unlike v.22, there isn’t a clear grammatical clue. For that reason I’m leaving it ambiguous in my translation, though I’d lean towards the precedent in 22. Forehappened is a crude literalisation of progegonoton, but “sins already committed” would be perfectly fine. First reference to the cross is in this verse.

26 In God’s forbearance, for the demonstration of his righteousness in the present time, unto his being just and justifying him faithful in Jesus.

Note the “old” covenant in Paul’s theology always did look to the present time. The pronouns are difficult to express clearly in the latter half of the verse, but they express God’s being just (dikaion) and doing the justifying (dikaiounta) of the person (just an article) who is faithful/has faith/believes in Jesus—the exact same pisteos construction as v.22, but expressing a different harmonic idea (to borrow a musical analogy) by the change in syntax to the objective genitive.

27 Where therefore boasting? It is excluded. By what of Torah? Of works? No, but rather through the Law of faith.

As you see, Paul has his argument in 2:17 while he writes this full exposition of the new dikaiosune, and it is to that question, not the question of “how does one get saved” that he addresses the argument. Excluded is exekleisthe, literally “locked out.” By what of Torah (dia poiou nomou) could come out as by what part or sort of Torah? Of the works part? But even if you translate the first instance Torah, the second needs to be Law…a Torah of Faith instead of a Torah of circumcision, etc.

28 For we are accounted to be a man justified by faith apart from works of Torah.

Apart or without. Accounted is logizometha again. Justified as earlier.

29 Or is God of the Jews alone? Is he not also of the Gentiles? Yes, also of the Gentiles.

Sets up v. 30, which is the shema.

30 Since God is one which justifies the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through faith.

“Hear O Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord is one.” Monotheism and Torah, two of the Jewish theological foundations are reworked here in 27-31. Using the words heis ho theos evokes the prayer quite as quickly as the words “I pledge allegiance” or “Our Father which art” or the “Lord is My Shepherd” bring their next lines to us. I’m not going to attempt an exposition of why Paul uses ek for the circumcision and dia for the uncircumcision. We’ll say he was just going for variety.

31 Therefore is the Torah nullified through faith? May it not be! Rather we stand the Torah.

Stand is histanomen, which is a very facile word. Could just as easily be uphold or confirm. Nullified is the same word as earlier, katargoumen. The Torah is not emptied of its power, the Torah is fulfilled.