Romans 5:1-11, the Second Reading for the Third Sunday in Lent in the Year of Matthew, is one of the most complete passages in Scripture regarding the salvific work of God in Christ. The opening announcement that we have "peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ" is just the start from which Paul builds and builds. It is therefore, a purely gospel text, and as such, it will be the preacher's joyful duty to announce its good news.
(The following questions have been formulated to help the preacher consider the function of the Word in the text, a fundamental concern of Law and Gospel preachers. These questions are best used in conjunction with other fine sets of questions which have other concerns, thus adding richness to one's understanding. For more on this method and on Law and Gospel preaching in general, see my brief guide, Afflicting the Comfortable, Comforting the Afflicted, available from wipfandstock.com or amazon.)
1. How does the Word function in the text? One can see quite readily that the subject of almost all the sentences in this text is God, and God is doing marvelous things. God is justifying, pouring out love, proving love, and reconciling, all gospel actions. The Word is announcing God's grace to us in Christ.
2. How is the Word not functioning in the text? While our state apart from Christ is lifted up in different ways: weak, ungodly, sinners, enemies of God, there is no call to repentance here, no word of Law. The Word does not function to accuse in this text.
3. With whom are you identifying in the text? We are those described as weak, ungodly, sinners, and enemies of God. We are also those who have peace with God because God's love has been poured into our hearts in Christ. We are, in short, those who stand in need of Christ and have received Christ.
4. What, if any, call to obedience is there in this text? If we can define the call to obedience as the invitation to live in response to God's work in Christ, then we can see that there is no such call here. This will come later in Paul's letter.
5. What Law/Gospel couplet is suggested by this text? The vocabulary here is filled with couplets that might be useful in forming a sermon: weak/strong in Christ; ungodly/made righteous; sinners/justified; enemies of God/reconciled to God.
6. Exegetical work: Commentators galore have explored this central text of the Christian faith, lifting up the many marvelous ways God is active on behalf of the world God loves. Pelagius, a 4th century British monk, marveled in the love of God shown in the Cross: "Why did Christ die for us when he had no obligation to do so, if it was not to manifest his love at a time when we were still weighed down with the burden of sin and vice?" And again, Pelagius marvels in the result of this love made manifest: "God becomes the object of love when he conveys how much he loves us. For when someone does something without obligation, one demonstrates love in a special way." (Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture, NT, vol. VI, pp. 131-132). R.C.H. Lenski, in his classic commentary, notes the figure of "pouring out" that Paul uses in describing God's action: "The figure used in 'pour out' is that of water. Our dry, arid, lifeless hearts have poured out into them the love of God for us. This may come upon us like a stream or like a rain of living water and change our hearts into fruitful, delightful soil. Again the means is the Word." Lenski also suggests that our receptiveness to God's love is dependent on the Holy Spirit: "How much of his love embodied in his gifts is poured out in our hearts depends on the receptivity which the Spirit is able to produce in us. Let your heart not remain a thimble or a tin cup; let it be a vast lake." (Interpretation of St. Paul's Epistle to the Romans, p. 341). Anders Nygren talks about our state as the justified: "When we believe in Christ, we thereby have, in a purely objective sense, a new status before God." (Commentary on Romans, p. 205). Ernest Kasemann concurs: "When God's love has seized us so totally and centrally, we no longer belong to ourselves; a change in existence has taken place." (Commentary on Romans, p.135). And again: "The new creature stands, not on our morality, but on 'God for us and with us'." (Ibid., p.136).
7. How does the Crossings Community model work with this text? Lori Cornell, in her 2017 analysis, picks up on the theme of weakness in verse 6 of the text. She uses this theme to illustrate our tendency to trust in our own strength, pitiful as it is, instead of the strength of Christ Crucified. See the entire analysis at crossings.org/text-study, archived under its reference.
Blessings on your proclamation!
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