Episode Transcript
[00:00:18] Speaker A: Well, we're a couple weeks in to Romans, and so just setting the course here, to understand anything about Romans, it turns out you need to understand everything about Paul, which that is not easy to do. And we know that. How do we know that? From the most famous verse from second Peter, where he says, some things in Paul's writings are hard to understand.
That's what second Peter says, right? So that the ignorant and the unstable twist, as they do with the rest of the scriptures, to their own destruction. That's what it says about trying to understand Paul. You got to think. You got to use your brain. You got to be historically thinking, contextually thinking all these things. So to understand Romans, we have to understand Paul. But there is a very revealing way to make good sense out of Paul, and that is to understand Paul's mission, because Paul's mission informs everything he does and says.
And you know what? Thank God for that. It is not that difficult to do it. We're putting together pieces of a puzzle here, really. The audience, the author, the mission, and ultimately the mission will lead us to the purpose of the book of Romans. They're not exactly the same, but they're very connected. Okay, that question, what is Paul's purpose in writing Romans? Has not been revealed to you yet in this series. I promise you, it will be. This is a series about what Romans. Soon we're going to get into the chapters of Romans, but in order to understand Paul, we have to lay this very, very important foundation. And these weeks of background are just that. But I've got this good news for you today. Today we're going to understand Paul's mission and a little bit of his purpose. And you hardly even have to think about it, actually, you know why he says it. It's so very, very clear. You can start in Romans one. This part is very easy. Just as we looked at the audience to whom Paul speaks is who. The Romans. The Romans. And the Romans are Gentiles. This is the audience to whom Paul is speaking. Romans one, here comes. You ready for the mission? Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus. I'm using all these traditional translations, so you'll hear me say Christ and Jesus. And a lot of times we say messiah, mashiach Yeshua, all these things. But these are the translations. Paul, really, his name is.
It's also Paul. But when we think of. I'm not going to go there right now. We'll get there eventually. Romans one. Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God, which he promised beforehand, through his prophets in the holy scriptures, skipping down just a bit to verse five, to bring about the obedience of faith, among whom all the gentiles. Acts nine. Yeshua speaks to Ananias, who doesn't think, for very good reason, that Paul is a very good dude, and he doesn't want to bring him into his house. Right? Because Paul had not been kind prior to those seeking the way. But the Lord said to Ananias in acts nine, go for he is a chosen instrument of mine to bear my name before who?
The Gentiles. These are those scriptures, Darren, by the way, acts 22. And he said to me, go, for I will send you far away to the Gentiles. Galatians two. But on the contrary, seeing I had been entrusted with the gospel to the uncircumcised. Who is that? The Gentiles. Ephesians three. To me, the very least of all saints, this grace was given to preach to who? The Gentiles, the unfathomable riches of Christ and bring light to what is the administration of the mystery which for years has been hidden in God. We'll talk about the mystery eventually. It's very important, but I'll come back. The point from all of these scriptures is pretty obvious. Paul's mission was, to whom?
The Gentiles. The apostle. To the Gentiles, the sent one. That's what an apostle is, ta ethne. To the nations, to the Gentiles. To the Romans. Easy, right?
That's easy. But we need to stop and ask a question. Why?
Why? Why now?
Why?
To tell them what?
The good news. Right, but what does that mean actually in Greek, the good news, why? Why now? Okay, well, here we go.
Saul's conversion.
Saul's conversion. Acts nine, the heading in most of your bibles, when you get to acts nine, says, saul's conversion or departure from Judaism or whatever the thing is, that's the heading.
I'm going to summarize the traditional assumption as follows. This is rapid fire. Okay, you ready?
SauL the jew becomes Paul the Christian on the road to Damascus. And from this point forward, Paul leaves all Judaism behind. Actually, worse than that, he disdains Judaism.
He considers it lost because of Christ. He recognizes the complete and utter failure of a system of works based righteousness that Judaism certainly is. I am quoting, summarizing the traditional perspective. This is not my perspective. Let's be real clear.
Paul declares the end of the law. Why Telos, the end of the law for Christ is the end of the law. And he creates, most famously, the law. Free Gospel. Thereby shining light on the legalism of the Jews.
Because no one was without sin, so what possible good could our works do? And the Jews had mistakenly relied on their self righteousness, him included, and thereby tragically and worse yet, arrogantly, rejected the grace of God and the gift of Christ. Saul got saved from what?
Judaism?
And from eternal torment, burning in hell. But that came later.
That's a later developed idea.
His mission was apparently to proclaim, as Yeshua directs him in acts nine, instrument of mine, bear my name before the Gentiles and kings, sons of Israel. That is, according to Magnus Zetterholm, who is a fantastic Pauline scholar. Let me just tell you, I won't quote anyone in here who's not a fantastic pauline scholar. How's that? Okay. Zetterholm says this. Apparently, then, Paul's teaching about the Torah had become universal and concerned both Jesus believing Jews and non Jews. For Christians, Christ is the end of the law.
That pretty much summarizes it. Paul has created now a new doctrine that's called justification. Bye, faith. And thereby driven the widest wedge between what was, which was Judaism, and what is and will forever be, which is Christianity.
The new religion is everything that Judaism could never be.
Contrasting works with faith, contrasting law with gospel flesh with spirit, judgment versus forgiveness. Summary Paul is now an enemy of Judaism, and his mission is to save the world from its evil clutches. The word for this is polemic.
You know the word polemic? Polemical, a strong or verbal written attack on someone or something, usually to describe a contentious argument or dispute.
Polemics are characterized by their forceful and combative style. They're used to refute or criticize a particular opinion, doctrine, or group.
Paul's letter to the Romans is viewed in large part by traditional sources as a polemical argument against Judaism.
Lloyd Gaston, one of the pioneers of the new perspective on Paul while the Paul within Judaism.
Just listen. The Judaism which many see reflected in Paul's polemics is a joyless, hypocritical, nationalistic means of salvation. By mechanically doing the works of the law, the God of Judaism is seen as a gloomy tyrant who lays the burden of the law on people, and their response is twofold. They either become self righteous and work really only on what they eat and ignore justice, or they're plunged into guilt and anxiety, for they have broken a single commandment.
Again, the background, the gospel of freedom that's apparently being preached, would indeed be good news. If this is what you thought as a jew, it could only be a stiff neck stubbornness which kept the Jews from welcoming it. So listen, I want to stop there. That's all traditional. I want to ask you a question.
Have you ever heard this before?
Of course you have.
Unless you haven't been in church a lot.
Because if you've been in church, and again, please understand me, I say it too much, please understand that I am not trying to make enemies speak ill, criticize, condemn the church.
But I'm telling you, this perspective is worthy of condemnation.
Of course you've heard it. If you've been around any christian religious thing, you've heard it because Paul's misunderstood mission has been around for millennia. And here's the analogy that I thought was really, really helpful.
This is going to inform everything. I just want you to keep this picture in mind. A puzzle. Because I told you, we're putting puzzle pieces together. Imagine I hand you a box with 2500 pieces of a puzzle, right? And I say, get started. What do you do? Pour it out on the table. You flip all the pieces over, right? And you start building what?
The corners.
You find the corners and you find the edges and you begin to frame in the puzzle. And it's not that hard to do. You don't even have to really know what the picture is because the pieces kind of go together. But then all of a sudden you have to start putting the middle together. And you're looking at the box and you're assembling pieces that are going together. But what you're finding is what's materializing before your eyes doesn't match the box at all. And you come to me and you say this puzzle like, what is this? What is this? It doesn't look like that. And I tell you, of course it doesn't. That's the wrong box.
That's not the puzzle. That picture on that box is what I want you to make these pieces look like.
It can't be done.
It can't be done. And that, my friends, is the problem.
What that traditional interpretation tells you is not what the pieces make.
Okay?
So as we understand the mission, we can construct not only just the four corners and the border, and then we'll begin to fill it in. So I'm showing you that's the wrong puzzle box I just told you about. I'm going to give you the proper picture of the puzzle, at least as far as I see it, okay? Paul's actual mission, the traditional mission of Paul, sees him as all that I told you, the enemy of the Jews on a mission to save them. I've made some pretty bold statements. I'm just getting started on bold statements, believe me. But I've made some so far. But here's maybe the boldest to date. You ready for the mission of Paul? The real, real understanding for Paul is that there is absolutely no hope for the gentiles apart from the jewish people.
Now, that needs a little bit of unpacking. I know. I want you to keep that in mind. I will say it again. The real understanding for Paul is that there is absolutely no hope for gentiles apart from the jewish people and Israel.
Not by becoming Jews, that's important.
But finding an entry point into connection with the promises given to the jewish people, the chosen people, the lights to the nations, the one who have guarded the scriptures, the ones jewish people and all of the promises that the faithful God had given to them.
The nations must have a way into that. There must be some access point for the ethne. Okay, this is not a pauline innovation, by the way. Paul did not come up with this.
When Paul asks in Romans three, or is God the God of the Jews only? Is he not the God of the Gentiles also? Yes, of the gentiles also.
That's rhetorical. There's not a jew alive who would not have understood in Paul's time that the gentiles are all the creation of God. God is the creator of all. He is the God that did the creation. Now, not all jewish opinions in Paul's time were friendly to gentiles. They're sort of kind of two extremes, I think. The negative extreme you've read, it simply says, the nations, you're out destroyed, eradicated or submitted, subjugated to Israel. But on the other side, and this is a more prevalent attitude, the more commonly found jewish perspective, because it's biblically backed. You ready for this? God has an amazing plan for the world, and it includes Jews and Gentiles. Okay, that's the summary. God has a plan. The day of the Lord. Jews and Gentiles. Isaiah two. In the days to come, the mountain of the Lord's house shall be established as the highest of mountains, and shall be raised above the hills. All the nations shall stream to it. When we read in Zechariah, and they say, they take hold ten men from where the nations take hold of one jew. And they say, take us with you, for we understand God is with you. This is the biblical perspective on the nations. And thus it was pretty prevalent. Even our closing prayer, when we say this today, Alaynula Shabaikh la Don Hakol, all of humanity will call upon your name to turn all the earth's wicked toward you. All the world's inhabitants will recognize and know. Every tongue should swear the glory of your name. They'll render homage. They'll accept upon themselves a yoke of your kingship. These are.
It's everybody. These are not converts to Judaism that we're talking about. These are the nations. Okay?
Judaism knew that there is and was a specific calling for Israel. We were to be the light to the nations, and that transferred over to God had a thing with us, and God has a thing with the nations. And the Jews are supposed to play a connecting role in that. Case closed. It cannot be argued.
It can. With terribly weak arguments. The argument cannot be won. Case closed. This was God's work in the world. That's what was happening. God's work in the world. That Judaism saw a place for gentiles. But here's a question. If that was the case and Jews were tasked with bringing in the Gentiles, where were all the evangelical jewish missions to the gentiles?
We didn't do it. There's no such thing as that missionary kind of work in Judaism. We don't see that. We don't hand out tracts to save gentiles. How would you guys feel about that?
That would be weird, wouldn't it?
Quite a turning on its head. We don't find Jews going on mission trips to build gymnasiums and save gentile souls.
Why not?
Well, it's just not how we do it. No, there's a better answer. The better answer is it's this simple. It would happen in God's timing. Okay? When God was ready to unleash the day of the Lord and all, it'll happen in God's timing. And the jewish job is to be ready and responsible for the work. That's your calling. That's your task. Be ready. We have to be ready. But for Paul, something changed.
Namely Yeshua.
Yeshua changed the story. Now, this can undoubtedly be seen as a conversion to Christianity on his road to Damascus, but it's something so much more profound than that. It was an awakening to his and mission.
His mission. I will tell you very clearly. Listen. Christer Stendhal, swedish theologian, New Testament scholar, bishop of Stockholm, professor emeritus at Harvard University Divinity School. Smart guy.
Said this, Paul did change on the road to Damascus, but he was not converted. He was called in two powerfully revealed ways. First of all, he is called to understand that he is chosen by God, appointed by Yeshua to take a message. Where?
[00:20:42] Speaker B: To the Gentiles?
[00:20:44] Speaker A: To the Gentiles to the nations. And he was made aware in a very, very powerful way, of the prophetic realization of Israel's calling. And that that time was now.
That's the biggest difference. I need you to understand about why Paul has such incredible zeal, such incredible passion. That whole thing I told you about, the day of the Lord and the Gentiles coming in and Jews having a responsibility to it because of the resurrection of Yeshua and Paul's calling. He says it's now.
We gotta get busy.
First of all, Paul was not amazed by Yeshua's resurrection. He'd like.
It wasn't a thing for him in the sense of, wow, this man. No, it's something different. Paul was a pharisee. Of course he believed in resurrection. It's a tenant of the theology of pharisaism.
The point is the fact that it had happened, that this Jesus rose from the dead. It means, and here's the word, imminent.
The kingdom of God. It's like Delitzsch translates it in his New Testament.
What was Yeshua's good news?
Repent, for the kingdom is on the brink of arrival. Okay. And when Yeshua died and resurrected, clearly, if Paul sees this, this is it. The kingdom is arriving. And everything that Paul does from here on out is driven by imminence, his writings, the understanding that the kingdom is right around the corner.
Got to get busy. Nations, wake up. It's time.
Do you follow me on. This is important?
The kingdom was at hand.
Paul's interaction with Yeshua, his calling, all that he had seen occurring among the nations, all pointed to the fact that this is Israel's time to shine the light. It now had a sense of urgency. This yeshua, who was declared the son of God, romans four, says, by the resurrection from the dead, according to the spirit of holiness, Yeshua Hamashiach, our Lord, through whom we have received grace and apostleship, to bring about the obedience of faith among the Gentiles for his name's sake. And he didn't care what the rest of Judaism was doing. This was his purpose or his mission in life.
God called him on the road for this mission.
Can I be any plainer about it?
Nothing to do with getting rid of Judaism. He had a calling. He was the chosen instrument of God to do this. Pamela Eisenbaum, one of four jewish teachers speaking at or teaching at New Testament christian colleges and seminaries. She has a book called Paul was not a Christian. Has a master's from Harvard Divinity School. This is a fantastic summary. Paul believed that the recognition of faith in God by gentiles was necessary so that they might have a share in the world to come. Thus, Paul was not a Christian, a word that in many case completely unknown to him because it had not been invented. Invented. He was a jew who understood himself to be on a divine mission. And as a jew, he felt that he had been entrusted with special knowledge from God that potentially was to save the world.
Paul was a.
He wasn't afraid. He was a big thinker.
However, he also believed that the resurrection of Jesus signaled that this is was happening. Now it was time to reconcile non Jews to Jews, not because they were necessarily hostile, but because they were all potentially children of God. Paul would internalize and undertake the mission to the nations, not by casting off his jewish identity, but as a jew, not like some snake who molts out of their skin and all of a sudden is Paul's. Judaism is not a snakeskin, but Galatians. For you have heard of my former manner of life and Judaism, how I used to persecute the church. Former life. See, see, he's not a jew anymore. Former life.
I have to tell you a little bit about that next week.
But as we will see this new level of interaction and intimacy for Paul in these communities, new world, new world, Jews and Gentiles like this, it required something new, patience, teaching, flexibility, specifically as it relates to jewish practice. But nowhere, hear me, nowhere will we be able to put the puzzle pieces together in a way that they show you a traditional mission of Paul, that Saul got saved from Judaism, became Paul. New religion, all that. Forget it. Mark Nanos, preeminent roman scholar, says this. Paul does not write that he no longer lives in Judaism, but that he has changed the way he lives in Judaism. This is true. I'll tell you more. Not now. Let me reveal. Revisit the statement that I gave you.
The real understanding for Paul is that there is no hope for Gentiles apart from the jewish people.
The jewish people had a covenant arrangement, a covenant relationship that goes back prior to the Torah. It goes back where?
To Abraham in Genesis twelve. The Jews had that. But see, Paul, one of his unique thinking things is that Paul sees the promise to Abraham, that he will be the father of many nations, not just Israel. Because of Paul's calling to the nations, he sees it that Yeshua has made it possible for the nations to come into this abrahamic understanding, this abrahamic relationship, to become covenant co members. That's a very loaded word. But apostle to the Gentiles. The purpose of Paul's mission is to integrate all these various non jewish peoples into the abrahamic family line.
That's also a pillar realization of the book of Romans and other writings of Paul. He talks a lot about Abraham, doesn't he, in this book? He will too, and we will cover that chapter.
But the promise God made to Abraham, he will be the father of many nations and the nations will be blessed. And Paul sees this more clearly than ever before and putting it in a memorable way, this will sound terrible, I guess, but Paul is helping God do God's job.
Paul is helping God be absolutely righteous in delivering the promises he has made.
God doesn't need any help, obviously. He met him on the road and said, hey, dude, help me.
He's helping him be faithful to his word that Abraham will indeed be the father of many nations. Ta ethne, the nations are included in this promise. And while all the while in Galatians, and I know that's a. But I know what that means, I know that's sort of a punch in the theological gut to traditional interpretations. But again, I'm telling you, the puzzle goes together this way. Galatians, Romans. Paul's other well known mantra is revealed in this, that nations included, but not this. What's the this circumcision conversion, becoming Jews. That's not it.
Paul's mission does not include the destruction of Torah, the destruction of Judaism, creation of a new religion, pitting Judaism against Christianity or conversion to Christianity. Paul's mission does include, as a matter of fact, his mission centers on relating the members of the nation to the God of Abraham, the God of the jewish people, without obliterating their gentile identity. You got it clear. Cool. Do you understand how incredibly relevant this is for us today, right now?
I would give anything for Paul to come in here and give us a rendering of his current take on things in messianic Judaism. And even more so, I'd love for Paul to show up at every church in Macon and be like, that was Hebrew. What did he say?
What did he just say?
It would be incredible, the clarity.
This is so, so relevant because I want you to understand that when we arrive at the climax of the book of Romans, do you know where it starts?
Romans nine through eleven, which is all about who?
The jewish people.
How can I reconcile that with what I just said? Well, I'm going to, but we see that the most important part of Paul's mission is unity in the body of Messiah, Jews and Gentiles.
And he knew it could be done, how gentiles are to act and interact toward each other toward Torah, but toward the jewish people. That's in this letter. It really is. Till the end, he will be looking out for the jewish people in his process of welcoming the nations.
But what is happening in Romans? Tell us. Tell us, what is this? What's the purpose? As I said, the mission is broad. The purpose is dialed in. In Romans.
It's dialed in. What is the purpose of the letter? Remember, specific audience, specific situations, specific problems, a critical exigency, something that had to be addressed was the purpose of that letter. These were Gentiles with a deep connection to Judaism. And we've been told, I told you five times already, that Paul's attempt was to just obliterate the Torah and Judaism and save them from the law and simply to point them to their individual salvation.
That is the furthest thing from what Paul has on his docket.
I will, well, I gotta stop saying I will. Sooner or later I'm gonna have to tell you these things. But as I said, all of this foundation has to be laid.
That word, Torah, nomos law, it's a big one.
Big one. Some of the most misunderstood material in the book of Romans. We got a lot of discussion in the letter about Jews, Gentiles and the law, what to do with the law. This is huge. This is huge. From a straight read of the text in Romans and elsewhere in Paul, it is no wonder that people think Paul hates the law.
It is no wonder.
But what did Paul think about the law really? Was it really a curse, a revealer of sin, a pathway to death for all who encountered it?
He says those things.
As I said in the intro to the series, Paul's writing on the law. It creates very difficult situations for messianic believers who are trying to share anything you are learning or doing in a church community. Right?
Second, Peter, some things Paul says are hard to understand, but not for us, as we understand a great deal now about his mission. So we'll dive into one last preparatory foundation, laying teaching for understanding Paul in the book of Romans as we prepare for repaving the Romans road chapter by chapter. We'll do that. Probably have to group some together, but next week, Paul and the law Shabbat.
[00:34:51] Speaker B: Shalom please visit our website, shalommaken.org, to learn more about us. Join our live services, access other teachings, sign up for our newsletter, join our private network that will connect you with our greater community from around the world, or contribute to the work of Shalom. Macon, thank you for watching and we look forward to connecting with you.
