The Cost of Being Right

We do not live to ourselves, and we do not die to ourselves. ⁸If we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord; so then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord’s. Romans 14:7-8

I have read these words countless times at graveside services for families saying good bye to a deceased loved one. In that context, these words remind us that no matter what happens in life God is always with us, in life and death. While reading this passage from Romans is certainly appropriate for a funeral, the original context that Paul sought to address was not death but food.

In the early church there was considerable conflict between Jewish Christians and Gentile Christians. The conflict that Paul addresses centers around the Jewish Christians who maintain strict observance of dietary laws while others, whether Jewish or Gentile, feel free to eat whatever they like. This caused a crisis of faith for those who held fast to those regulations, as they felt those who did not were violating God’s commands. As a technical matter, Paul believes that no food is unclean, but for the sake of the mutual upbuilding of faith, he encourages sensitivity and restraint and not judging those who practice and believe differently.

Let us therefore no longer pass judgment on one another, but resolve instead never to put a stumbling block or hindrance in the way of another. ¹⁴I know and am persuaded in the Lord Jesus that nothing is unclean in itself; but it is unclean for anyone who thinks it unclean. ¹⁵If your brother or sister is being injured by what you eat, you are no longer walking in love. Do not let what you eat cause the ruin of one for whom Christ died. Romans 14:13-15

 Paul espouses a communal rather than individualistic ethic. It matters how other people feel and even when you are right sometimes you are wrong. This sounds like good advice for any relationship. There are times when the relationship between people is more important than the individual. Paul is encouraging the Roman church to be sensitive, thoughtful, and flexible in how they treat one another. He encourages them to see the higher value of brothers and sisters coming to faith in Jesus Christ than the rightness of which food they can eat.

Let us then pursue what makes for peace and for mutual upbuilding. ²⁰Do not, for the sake of food, destroy the work of God. Everything is indeed clean, but it is wrong for you to make others fall by what you eat. Romans 14:19-20

So the next time you find yourself arguing or debating with a dear friend, family member, or fellow member of the Body of Christ ask yourself whether the benefit of being right is worth the cost.

Branching Out

If the root is holy, then the branches also are holy. ¹⁷But if some of the branches were broken off, and you, a wild olive shoot, were grafted in their place to share the rich root of the olive tree, ¹⁸do not boast over the branches. If you do boast, remember that it is not you that support the root, but the root that supports you. ¹⁹You will say, “Branches were broken off so that I might be grafted in.” ²⁰That is true. They were broken off because of their unbelief, but you stand only through faith. So do not become proud, but stand in awe. Romans 11:16-20

In Romans, Paul makes a compelling argument for how God’s salvation through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, is an extension rather than a repudiation of God’s salvific work in the Old Testament. In other words, there is continuity in the gracious way God interacts with humanity in both the old and new testaments. Salvation is by grace, through faith, apart from works of the law. It was the faith, not the works, of Abraham that was “reckoned to him as righteousness.” (Genesis 15:6) So while the people of Israel were chosen for a special relationship with God, this was always the gracious offering from God not the result of adherence to the law.

In the death and resurrection of Christ, this graciousness is revealed for all people, not just the Jewish people. Our relationship with God, and our salvation, is not a matter of the family you were born into, the faith tradition you inherited, or our moral perfection. Rather it is a matter of faith:

If you confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. Romans 10:9

Anyone who has faith has salvation. This is the central message of Romans and the heart of the gospel. Salvation is, and always has been, a matter of faith.

So what then becomes of the Jewish people who do not believe? Are the ancestors of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the same people God chose for a special relationship, no longer included in the promises of God? Paul desperately wants the Jewish people, his family and friends, to be saved (cf. Romans 9:1-5, 10:1) but also recognizes that by rejecting Christ they are standing outside of the promises of God. He uses the familiar image of a tree to illustrate the situation. In the Old Testament the people of Israel are often depicted as trees in both positive and negative ways:

The righteous flourish like the palm tree, and grow like a cedar in Lebanon. ¹³They are planted in the house of the Lord; they flourish in the courts of our God. ¹⁴In old age they still produce fruit; they are always green and full of sap. Psalm 92:12-14

To provide for those who mourn in Zion— to give them a garland instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, the mantle of praise instead of a faint spirit. They will be called oaks of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, to display his glory. Isaiah 61:3

The Lord once called you, “A green olive tree, fair with goodly fruit”; but with the roar of a great tempest he will set fire to it, and its branches will be consumed. Jeremiah 11:16

So when Paul uses the image of branches broken off from the holy root of God, and a wild olive branch grafted in its place, he is describing both the continuity of salvation and the situation of those who do not believe by using an image for God’s people that would be readily recognized. The grafted branches (Gentiles) should not however look down upon the broken branches (Israel) because:

And even those of Israel, if they do not persist in unbelief, will be grafted in, for God has the power to graft them in again. ²⁴For if you have been cut from what is by nature a wild olive tree and grafted, contrary to nature, into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these natural branches be grafted back into their own olive tree. Romans 11:23-24

God has not given up on the Jewish people and they could at anytime be grafted back into the tree of salvation. Salvation is a gift of grace through faith and it is open to all. This is good news for all branches of the human family.

Already, Not Yet

For in hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what is seen? ²⁵But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience. Romans 8:24-25

There is nothing more powerful than hope. Hope allows us to endure hardship, suffering and pain and still trust that redemption and healing are possible. Hope allows us to believe that despite the brokenness, sin and evil in our world, God will be victorious. Hope allows to see a future that has not yet been fully realized that we know is true and to wait for it with patience.

This kind of hope is powerful and liberating and plays a central role in Paul’s theological vision in Romans. This hope is rooted in the understanding that the death and resurrection of Christ is the pivotal moment in history. On the cross, Jesus defeats all the powers of death, sin, and evil. This has already happened and yet we also know that sin and evil still exist in our world. God’s kingdom was ushered into the world in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus, but is not yet fully realized. At the second coming of Jesus, the kingdom of God will be fully realized and all that is not from God will be eradicated. This is the central promise of the cross, but it is not yet here and so we wait with hope and faith and patience.

So how shall we wait with patience? Paul offers the evocative image of the creation in labor pains to illustrate the hopeful waiting:

We know that the whole creation has been groaning in labor pains until now; ²³and not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly while we wait for adoption, the redemption of our bodies. Romans 8:22-23

The not yet, kingdom world is already present but not yet born. The whole creation waits with eager hope and expectation that God will deliver on the promise of redemption. This is a powerful image that captures the hope for what we cannot see but deeply trust. We trust that as we wait that nothing will separate us from the love of God.

For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, ³⁹nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 8:38-39