10 comments on Romans

Recently, I purchased Judgment & Justification in Early Judaism and the Apostle Paul by Christ VanLandingham, based upon Chris Tilling's review of it here. I am slowly reading through it, so I am not completely through it, but this is the second book that I have personally read that has attempted to make understanding of judgment, grace, justification, and works in the Romans letter without the typical Protestant view (the other being Paul by N.T. Wright). I am not through VanL thesis yet, so I am not reviewing his book. Instead, reading those two books have sparked me to present my opinions as to the nature of Paul's theology in Romans. So here goes:

1) Justification is not to be understood primarily as an eschatological idea, but justification does have implications for the end times. Justification is how God views us and has implications for the present (such as peace with God in Romans 5:1) just as much as eternal life to be received(Romans 2:6-13).

2) Justification is not an acquittal. Nor is justification itself the process of making one righteous. Rather, justification is the view of one's character.

3) God's justification of men is not at ends with works. Paul never speaks of generic works as being at odds with justification (but only the "works of the Law"). Romans 4:4 is not speaking of the person who does not trust God, but rather it speaks of a man like Abraham who obeys God. The justification he receives can not be attributed to grace.

4) Grace describes God's character in the paradox of the new convert or the penitent backslider. Their deeds, as they stand, would lead them condemned, but yet they desire to live a new life of obedience. At that moment where their deeds do no allow for them to be seen as righteous, God graciously forgives past and account their trust in God as righteousness, and thus they can stand justified before God, who justifies the ungodly.

5) Grace also describes God's character in giving the ability to man to fulfill their desire of righteousness. "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied" (Matthew 5:6). The "gift of righteousness" (Romans 5:17) is given to us on the account of Christ's sacrifice so that we can be obedient.

6) God's grace does not absolve a person of their responsibility of righteous deeds if they so have the opportunity. Grace gives man a new beginning, by forgiving the past so that one can stand in confidence before God and by providing a hope of obedience. God's grace covers the sins of those who sincerely repent of their wicked deeds and desire to obey. It is not a covering for a lack of works when one has the opportunity (unlike the sincere death-bed converts who do not have the opportunity).

7) Justification and forgiveness are related to the final judgment where God gives according to one's deeds. (Romans 2:5). Forgiveness is the forgiveness past actions so as to not be brought up against a person, either in the present or in the final judgment. Justification is God's judgment of the person's current character, whether before or during the final judgment. And a person remains justified so far as a person's character remains consistent. Therefore a person justified presently will be be found to "patiently doing good" and thus receive eternal life (Romans 2:7) if they continued to live life in such a manner till the end.

8) The phrase translated traditionally translated as "faith in Christ," should be translated as "the faith of Christ," describing the trust in God that Jesus had while on the earth. This faith is given as a example for believers to follow.

9) The "righteousness of God" describes the righteous character that God has. It does not refer to the quality of God's righteousness (i.e. perfection), but rather it refers to the type of righteousness, and thus is to be contrasted with the works of the Law.

10) God's righteousness it is displayed by the faith that Christ lived by while on earth. By Christ's faith, we have an example of how we are to live to achieve the type of righteousness that God has. By mimicking Christ's faith, we achieve the type of righteousness that God has. Thus, by that type faith, seeing that is produces righteousness, a person may be justified by that faith when they have had no opportunity for righteous action.

Hopefully, I got my ideas across sufficiently. I realize these points do not address all exegetical questions one might have, nor does it address the objections one might bring up to this view of Romans. My point though isn't to address everything or explain why I believe these things to be true, but rather to explain how I see Romans and maybe encourage a view of Romans that gets rid of the tension between grace and works.

(I confess the similarity to the "ten propositions" series at Faith and Theology, though I did it unwittingly and discovered the similarity after I had finished. By no means though am I as eloquent as Kim Fabricus though)