A New Kind of Christianity - Brian McLaren [72]
So as I read Paul, he does not address his one theme in a linear, lawyerly fashion. He circles around it, again and again, from this angle and that, trying once, twice, again, again. He throws down metaphor after metaphor, each of which works much like a parable in Jesus’s repertoire, shedding some new light and furnishing the imagination with new images to see in a new and different way. But once out of the bag, many of his metaphors jump up on the table and claw the furniture—leading to unintended conclusions and creating new potential misunderstandings in the minds of unsympathetic or uncareful readers. So Paul again and again regroups and qualifies and corrects potential misconceptions, creating an imaginary conversation partner who raises questions to which Paul responds. Then, just when we think he might rest his case, he abandons his current metaphor and reaches for yet another to jolt the imagination in another way. (For an example of this kind of teaching on Jesus’s lips, read Matt. 13.)
So again, I suggest that Paul explores his theme in a series of poetic moves, not in a linear argument that moves from point A to point B to C. Rather, he goes from A (the gospel of the kingdom of God) to Z (for Jew and Gentile alike) several times, but not in a straight A-to-Z way. He does something like this:
A, B, L, R, V, Z
A, F, R, W, Z
A, H, M, T, Z
A, D, S, Y, Z
A, E, G, N, O, X, Z
A, B, K, P, U, Z
A, I, J, Q, Z
Why does he do it like this? Why take this circuitous approach? Well, a one-question quiz will give a partial answer:
Q: Who wrote Romans?
A: Paul
Q: Wrong. Try again.
A: What?
Of course, it’s a trick question. Paul didn’t write Romans; he dictated it. It was written by a scribe named Tertius (16:22). So I’m suggesting that, rather than imagining Paul sitting with a laptop on his lap, as I am, or even with a quill pen and parchment, we must imagine Paul and Tertius. They are sitting in a house, perhaps outdoors in a courtyard, or perhaps on a rooftop, probably in Corinth. It’s a sunny Mediterranean day. Tertius, hunched over a table, listening intently, is quickly scratching down Paul’s spoken words, perhaps holding up his left hand occasionally to signal Paul to pause for a moment until he can catch up.
So what we have is not a premeditated work of scholarly theology, edited and reedited, complete with footnotes. Rather, Paul is dictating a letter to some people he loves on a subject he loves, expressing the honest, unedited, natural flow of his thoughts and feelings. Yes, I truly believe this flow is being carried along in a real way by the Spirit. But that doesn’t mean (I must say this yet again) that the Spirit’s inspiration turns Paul into a human DVR (digital voice recognition) device or transforms Paul’s words into articles and sections and clauses in a constitution. If we read Romans keeping these realities in mind, I think we will become more sensitive than ever to the wonderful dance of the Spirit of God and the mind of a man in the context of a community in crisis. Together, the Holy Spirit and Paul make move after move toward the single goal of justifying the gospel as good news for Gentiles and Jews alike. Let’s consider the moves one by one.
PART V:
THE GOSPEL QUESTION
15
Jesus and the Kingdom of God
Paul’s first gospel move in his Letter to the Romans is downright brilliant. Its brilliance makes our abuse of it all the more tragic.
First Move: Reduce Jew and Gentile to the same level of need (Rom. 1:18–3:20). After his introduction, Paul describes Greco-Roman culture in graphic detail going from moral catastrophe to moral catastrophe. He invites disgust as he details the horrible way pagan sinners suppress God’s revelation in creation. They obsess over idols, indulge in sexual orgies, and display a shocking range of depraved behavior—including envy, strife, malice, deceit, covetousness, lack of compassion, and gossip.1