Romans Study #2

Here is the next summary in our series on the book of Romans.

We have been using The Deliverance of God. An Apocalyptic Re-reading of Justification in Paul by Douglas Campbell (2009) as a background text in this study.

Romans #2                                                                                          8/3/12

Paul was the first to formulate a systematic Christian theology. It may not be systematically presented but it's clear he is connecting a global set of topics, attempting to articulate the radicalism of the gospel. He was confronting powerful obstacles – the greatest of which was the attempt to keep Christianity as a Jewish sect under Jewish Law. Within 15 years Christianity had become established in the non-Jewish world, all the way to Rome. It had broken from the temple but many Christians were still living under the Jewish Law. The new movement needed to stay connected to the person of Jesus and the community of original disciples in Judea to maintain its authority – however, Paul recognized the need to break free from the constraints of the Law. At times he was a lone voice facing the opposition of the most powerful figures in the movement. 

Romans, Paul’s key text, has inspired numerous commentaries and is used by theologians to underpin their understanding of the meaning of Christ’s death and to develop their theology of justification. One of these is Douglas Campbell, whose recent book interpreting Paul’s theology around the topic of justification, we are using in this study. Another example of note is Ernst Kasemann who was a disciple of Rudolph Bultmann. Bultmann had a huge impact on the 20th century, and was himself a disciple of Heidegger. Bultmann demythologized the New Testament. He removed what he identified as the mythological or miraculous elements of the Gospels. Following in his footsteps the Jesus Seminar  determined that about over 80% of the Gospel words attributed to Jesus were generated by the early Church. They were stories written to help address Church needs.

Kasemann was a German theologian in the 1960s who took a differnet approach to that of his teacher. He was trying to make sense of the failure of the Church (with a few exceptions) to stand up to Hitler. Kasemann believed that the evangelical theology of his day, Luther’s contractual,  individualist understanding of justification by faith, was inadequate. Something  more incisive was needed. Kasemann turned to an apocalyptic theology of God's power – that God is taking a hand in things, making a move to change history. In a world of conflict, in which evil powers and principalities dominate, God chooses not to leave the world untouched. Other theologians have carried the argument about Romans in other areas. For example, Krister Stendahl argued against the strict contractual, substitutionary interpretation of Romans and the rampant individualism on which it was based .

Campbell says that there is something deeply implausible about justification theory. That is, because it depends upon a decision that I make, a contract I accept, it becomes something that I do – another form of works. It is contingent, i.e. continuous with the world in which we already exist and think. Campbell does not think that this was Paul’s meaning. That in fact Romans has been misread and misunderstood. Paul had an apocalyptic not a contractual understanding of Christ’s death. Something radically new is in the world.

Campbell  argues that chapters 1-4 of Romans – the chapters that focus on the judgment/wrath of God – are not really presenting Paul’s theology. Instead Paul is quoting somebody else. This person is an anonymous figure, a leader in the Roman Church,  whom Campbell names "The Teacher”. This Teacher says that God is coming to judge us all punitively, a God of wrath. He advocates the need for Christians to live under the Jewish Law. Campbell says that these chapters of Romans  are written in a technical form common at that time called a “diatribe”. In this style of writing one argument is presented and then the counter-argument follows. It is a method by which a particular individual’s thought is first presented--often by speech-in-person--then crushed.  Chapters 1-4 are the diatribe. Chapters 5-8 are Paul’s authentic theology, without this kind of back-and-forth. These chapters describe a breaking in, a revelation of God’s loving move in history. This is Paul’s apocalyptic, redemptive gospel. The person carrying the letter from Paul would have been expected to read it aloud, probably with "stage directions" in mind. People at that time would have been familiar with this style of writing. Over time the text has been misinterpreted – understood as a single voice.

Campbell  renders the word “justification” as “deliverance”. The word “flesh” (sarx)  can be understood as the human worldly systems of generative violence rather than the way it has often been understood in the past as “body” (and often sexuality). For Paul the human body is important and will be transformed. In fact, Galatians 5:16-21 lists the works of the flesh, and these are mostly forms of violence. This generative violence is revealed to us by Christ – that we are enslaved and unable to free ourselves from our state. We think that this is normal but only by becoming free of it can we see it. Any knowledge of the problem is grounded in the revelation of the solution. The crucifixion is a revelation of love and the means of our deliverance. The old Adam, the old way of being human, is terminated – Jesus is the template of a new humanity. Incredible divine love from outside our human system, breaks in, terminates the old order, and we are reconstituted through love. This is fundamentally a transformational not a legal action. An apocalyptic intervention that shakes the foundation. Baptism is a sign of this new thing. Contractual justification does not work – we need deliverance or rescue. And this deliverance is pure grace.