1. The sin grasped in Romans

We continue the series of the lecture on Epistle to the Romans and today is its third session. Frankly saying, I have certain difficulties in preparing sermons on Romans. Because the contents of the letter is not a mere guidance of Paul to the church of Rome which should have solved problems among believers. In addition to that, it shows Paul¡Çs fundamental doctrine of the faith, too. So I read several works concerning Romans and, as a guide book of this lecture, I chose ¡ÈCommentary on Epistle to the Romans*1¡É . The book was written by Dr. Kazou Kitamori, one of Japanese influential theologians. He is also known as ¡ÈTheologian of the pain of God.¡É Today I will lecture on Romans 3 by referring to that commentary.

Paul had aspired longtime to preach in Rome, the center of the world. The church in Rome had been founded by other preachers but it was facing troubles due to believers¡Ç different origins. More exactly, Jewish-Christians blamed Gentile-Christians for negligence of the law of Judaism. And Gentiles looked down on Jewish-Christians who stubbornly observed the Jewish law in superficial way. Thus conflicts occurred between two groups. And Paul found the core of human sin behind those disputes.

Therefore he started to explain about the nature of sin from Romans 1:18 to 3:20, just after the greetings. The passage is very helpful to reflect deeply on the theme. At first, we must ask ourselves the question, ¡ÈWhat is the nature of sin?¡É

Dr Kitamori pointed to ¡È¦Ð¦Á¦Ñέ¦Ä¦Ø¦Ê¦Å¦Í-paredōken (gave up or gave over)¡É in the concerning part as the key word :
¡È¡ÄGod gave them over in the sinful desires¡Ä, ¡É(1:24) ¡È¡ÄGod gave them over to shameful lusts¡Ä,¡É(1: 26 ) and ¡È¡Ähe(God) gave them over to a depraved mind, to do what ought not to be done.¡É (1: 28)

Paul said that God showed his wrath to sinful humans but let them do whatever they desired. As a result, humans surrendered to their emotional impulse. Thus they hated and killed each other throughout the history. Indeed, the human history is an unceasing continuation of wars. And, even today, numerous men and women are being injured and killed in combat over the world. Because ¡ÈGod gave them over to a depraved mind¡É(Romans1: 28)

Besides, many of humans consider sexual relationship as a tool of physical pleasure, though God made males and females in order that they prosper sanely. In consequence, they commit adultery, sexual abuse or homosexuality. Because ¡ÈGod gave them over to shameful lusts¡É(1: 26 ) In short, this world is filled with sinful behaviors and unfairness under the wrath of God. And Paul said to Romans, ¡ÈYou are one of those sinners.¡É

However, for which reason God expressed the wrath on humans by ¡Èletting-them-go¡É? It is because God loves humans. God loves us so much that He want us to repent and recognize our sinful existence by ourselves. And, to arrive at the recognition, we must undergo a desperate state. We acknowledge our sin only when we lost every thing. God let us go until we arrive at the ultimate stage. In this world, the strong and evil exploit the weak to satisfy their egoistic desires. But today¡Çs victorious winners might become powerless losers, suddenly and easily. Then, under such a desperate circumstance, new losers begin to cry for God because he or she has nothing and nobody to rely on.

That commentary by Dr. Kitamori reminded me ¡ÈThe parable of the lost son¡É in Luke 15. The son recognized his ungrateful behavior and decided to come back home when he lost all of his money. In the ultimate misery, he wanted to eat the pods for pigs to fill his empty stomach. He had no one who would help him, except his father. We understand that we are sinners only at the moment of total despair. Therefore God let us go until we arrive at that crucial stage.

*1 In Japanese alone ISBN-10¡§4764264218 / ISBN-13¡§9784764264212
Lectures by Dr. Kitamori http://www.gogetpapers.com/Lectures/Kazo_Kitamori

2. Lecture on Romans by referring to the parable

Now let¡Çs glance through the parable of the lost son, please see Luke : 15:11-16 ; - There was a man who had two sons. The younger one required his share of the estate. So the father gave the son a half of his property. Not long after that, the son set off for a distant country and there squandered all of inherited wealth in wild living. ¡Ä and he began to be in need. So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs. The son longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating¡Ä.

But he couldn¡Çt get even the pods. He became so miserable that ; - he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired men have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you.(Luke 15:17-18)

The parable implies that God intended to save humans only through the path of ¡Èletting them go.¡Ç

The son thought of his farther when he had nobody who would help him. He admitted then that he won¡Çt deserve the status of father¡Çs son because of what he had done before. So he decided to make himself hired by his father after a right punishment. ; - So he got up and went to his father. “But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.(Luke 15:20 )

The son was filled with remorse and braced himself for a severe judgement of the father. But, though the father had accepted the request of the son and let him go, he had been always awaiting him. So much so, ; - The father said to his servants, ‘Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let’s have a feast and celebrate.(Luke 15:22-23)

¡ÈThe best robe, a ring and sandals¡É tells that the son was received as he was before. Because the ring should be a signet ring and sandals were only for the rich in that era. Slaves were barefooted. Besides the father was willing to organize a party to show the whole household his happiness of seeing the son again. And he said to them ; - ¡È For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ So they began to celebrate. (Luke 15:24)

The father accepted the ungrateful son without condition. That is the very forgiveness, or according to Paul¡Çs expression, ¡ÈThe Good News.¡É Paul wrote, ; - Therefore no one will be declared righteous in his sight by observing the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of sin. (Romans 3:20)

Humans might have been saved by respecting perfectly the law. ; - But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. (Romans 3:20)

The lost son fell down into the bottom of misery. But his father forgave all of his conducts in order to save him. God will do the same for us. ¡ÈThe lost son¡É represents all humans and we will be forgiven by God the Father. Then Paul concluded ; - This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. (Romans 3:22-24)

3. The Passion, or surrender

Humans¡Ç sin will be redeemed free. All men and women will be forgiven without charge. Because God pays them with the most precious price, His only Son. He did so by putting him on the Cross. Today¡Çs invocation verse is Romans 8:32 ; - He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?

We find here the same expression as before, ¡Ègave up - ¦Ð¦Á¦Ñέ¦Ä¦Ø¦Ê¦Å¦Í(paredōken).¡É Paul said that God had given His Son up to death for all humans¡Ç sake. Paul explained it further in Hebrews 9:22 ; - In fact the law requires that nearly everything be cleansed with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.

The fact that God gave up His only Son for us makes us recognize our sinful nature. The lost son in the parable experienced likewise. And that recognition must push us to repent. Then we, filled with the painful remorse, kneel down before Christ. That is the very essence of Romans 3. Paul wrote the key phrase of the message ; - For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from observing the law. (Romans 3:28)

The verse above represents the fundamental thinking of the Protestantism, ¡ÈSola Fide (faith alone).*1¡É Paul had been one of Pharisees who strived to fulfill observance of the law. He qualified himself thus in Galatians 1:14 ; - I was advancing in Judaism beyond many Jews of my own age and was extremely zealous for the traditions of my fathers.

And that very zeal lead him to persecute Christians because they seemed to him neglecting the law. And he thought it was inadmissible that the believers worshiped a crucified man as the savior. For that reason, he set off form Jerusalem to arrest Christians in Damascus. But ; - As he neared Damascus on his journey, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?” “Who are you, Lord?” Saul asked. “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,” he replied. “Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.¡É(Acts 9:3-6)

We cannot know what physically happened at that moment. We are sure of only one thing, ¡È Paul met Jesus alive after the Resurrection.¡É Paul described how he had been desperate with his nature in the past. He had felt desolate despite his excessive efforts to respect the law ; - For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members. What a wretched man I am! (Romans 7:22-24)

As long as he was striving to be saved by respecting the law, God was the Supreme Judge for him. And Paul felt always guilty. So much so, he cried out with pain like the lost son in the parable. And Jesus showed himself before Paul. Thus Paul met God in the midst of despair. He had been then totally hopeless of his inner nature. We experienced the same as Paul. We met God only in distress. And the very experience gave us the faith as Paul said, ; - For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from observing the law. (Romans 3:28)

Martin Luther, the initiator of the Protestant Reformation*2, passed the same path to conceive the doctrine, ¡ÈSola Fide¡É. He had lived in a monastery in his young days and made all efforts to respect perfectly rules and teachings of the order. He spent almost all his time working and praying. But no human being can be perfect, neither Luther. Therefore he couldn¡Çt have the peace of mind. He felt always ashamed for being faulty before God. God was the Supreme Judge filled with wrath for him too. But suddenly he received the light from Heaven. It came through the lecture of Epistle to the Romans. Profound reflections on the letter allowed him to establish the doctrine, ¡ÈSola Fide.¡É It means that God’s pardon for guilty sinners is granted to and received exclusively through faith. He understood that ascetic efforts or charitable acts couldn¡Çt lead humans to the salvation. It is the faith alone which opens the path to the goal. Thanks to the acknowledgement, he found God of Love, instead of the wrathful Judge.

Luther launched the movement of the Protestant Reformation under the light. The Cross is like a cane which is stretched out to a drowning person. God gives hands to those who are making desperate efforts to be saved. However, we cannot grasp the truth in a logical and rational way, as Paul remarked, ; - For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.(1 Corinthians 1:18)

It might seem stupid to believe that the son of God came to the earth and died on a cross to save humans. But it is the incontestable truth for us who met Jesus and were saved. And you too will recognize that it is the truth when you meet Jesus by yourself.

*1 Sola Fide http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sola_Fide
*2 Martin Luther http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Luther