Reflections on Romans

It has been an intensive two weeks for me (and I believe for everyone attending the class!), with lessons occurring almost everyday and with other commitments also crying for my attention. The course has definitely been fruitful, especially learning about the profound theology (2 Pet 3:16) embedded in Paul’s argument for the salvation of grace for both Jews and Gentiles in his letter to the Romans.

Coming to God on His terms

For me, one thing is clear throughout the convoluted and brisk-paced argument of the first eleven chapters – we come to God on His own terms, not according to ours. At first glance, God’s terms are not difficult to follow – He desires to reconcile us back to a right relationship with Him, and we need to believe in His faithfulness towards us and trust in Him to lead us into His righteousness. Of course, this entails a willingness to walk according to His Word and obey it. To me, what complicate matters are two things, both of which are related to sin in us (frustratingly, Paul states the source but does not elaborate on the nature of this sin!). Firstly, we resist surrendering our will to God and trust in Him, preferring instead to earn our own righteousness – on whom we trust (ie. ourselves!) – and so along with it decide to set our own terms on how to attain a right standing with God (mistakenly). This self-deception is conceived out of a self-sufficiency rooted in pride. The second complication is that by nature we are resistant to obeying God wholeheartedly, so we resort to obeying God in outward form only (which is so like the Pharisees, whom Jesus denounced as whitewashed tombs in Mat 23:27). This contrasts strongly with the “genuine love” exhortation which Paul gives in Romans 12:9. To carry this one step further, we pervert obedience, which is supposed to be our relational response to God’s love, into a performance and badge of honour (especially the outward, form-based kind).

Even though it takes some time and deliberate effort to change from my old mind set of obedience as performance, this perspective is liberating in that my way to God is not based on how much I managed to obey God – this is still important as an outflow of my relationship with Him, but not as a way to open my access to Him.

The Need to Scrutinise the Word

It is good that Brother Casey prompted us with questions of our interpretation of various words and phrases used by Paul in Romans. One area he kept reminding us is to note the function of words and phrases. For words in the genitive case, whether they are subjectively or objectively related to the modified noun will indicate different meanings, and often makes significant difference in our interpretation of the Word. Regarding “love of God” in Romans 8:39, for example, understanding God as subjective enables us to trust in the Lord even in the most difficult times, while interpreting God as objective will cause us to rely on our own limited strength during times when we are already challenged in our faith. Another example is the “righteousness of God” in Romans 1:17, where righteousness can be understood to be distributive, attributive or salvific (or perhaps a combination?).

Knowing the different nuances that affect the same words when interpreted differently, I see especially the importance to read the Word of God carefully and to take more time to reflect on what it means and how it affects my own life during devotion. It is a refreshing view of the richness of God’s Word, and an inspiration to delve deeper into it with the enablement of the Holy Spirit.

Love as a Principle, and Serving God as an Expression of Love

The Romans 12:9-13 passage which we were supposed to base our team project on looks straightforward at first sight, but a more in depth analysis shows that there is a richer meaning hidden under the grammatical structures and in the original Greek. The connection of love with seeking what is good and hating what is evil exposes the perspective of love as a principle which we live by instead of just emotional sentimentalism which characterise contemporary understanding. Hence, it is not capricious and unpredictable, but consistently expressed through principles based on God’s Word – though of course there is an affective dimension to it too.

Serving God, subsumed under the theme of genuine love, reveals ministry as an expression of love being acted out. Having been used to a culture of busyness both within the church and in secular Singapore, this understanding certainly injects a deeper significance into my perception of ministry in the midst of the many activities that we tend to be involved in, and gives me a meaningful anchor to persevere onwards in the midst of challenges I would face at times when serving God.

Serving Together… and Spurring Each Other Onwards

We all agree with each other that the team that we have is wonderfully self-initiated. Certainly, technology helped in our communication – eduencounter, email, and whatsapp group-chat, but more important is how each person tried to contribute to the group project without the need for clear assignment of roles and responsibilities. We might not have a perfect report and presentation, but the team ministry in action shows what it can be like when everyone does his or her best to support each other in completing our common goal, and is a good example what ministry can look like too. Although I am supposed to be the leader of the team, I find that I did not need to do much to encourage everyone to work together. Learning from this experience, I can help to spur my teammates on when I am part of a team, and I can learn to rally the team towards the common goal if I am leading the team.

The course is coming to an end, and it is time for celebration for a well-spent two weeks! May we keep in mind the lessons that we have learned and put them into practice, and may be continue to take opportunity to encourage one another in the different areas we serve in whenever there is need.