The Fourth Chapter of Romans

Comment:

COMMENT: The fourth chapter of Romans is too long to be copied here—and really too complex in its entirety to encompass in one response. Paul is writing to the church in Rome, which he hoped to later visit, and offering them a sense of his understanding of the message and ministry of Jesus Christ—an understanding that differs from other teachings, particularly concerning the question of obedience to Jewish law. Paul believed that while the law was necessary as a process to move forward in spiritual understanding, the message and ministry of Jesus Christ completes the requirements of religious law and lifts us to a new dimension of relationship with the divine that is not based simply on blind obedience. In this chapter he is suggesting that this is not a new understanding, but that Abraham himself predated the established law by hundreds of years. "For the promise that he would inherit the world did not come to Abraham or to his descendents through the law but through righteousness of faith” (v. 13). It is equally true for us as for Abraham. We do not “earn” our Oneness with God by obeying religious law. We embrace our Oneness through the "mustard seed of faith" that Jesus calls us to find within, and then use the law as a guide to making the choices that will create the new consciousness that is the kingdom of heaven.

Blessings!

Rev. Ed