A New Kind of Christianity - Brian McLaren [77]
Seventh Move: Call everyone to unity in the kingdom of God (Rom. 14:1–16:27). Having emphasized the importance of love, Paul gets down to grassroots contemporary issues that put love to the test and that can easily alienate and divide Jews and Gentiles—dietary scruples, holyday practices, and so on. Paul’s message is not new or unique; it’s exactly the message of Jesus. Don’t judge one another. On these controversial matters, he says, individuals should do two things: first, be convinced in their own mind, and second, keep their convictions to themselves. What they do regarding disputable matters is important, because it expresses their devotion to the Lord. But what they do is not relevant to what others do as their expression of devotion to the Lord. The kingdom of God (Paul mentions it explicitly now) will not be a community of uniform policies and practices. Only one policy will be universal: love. And on those central themes, love and the kingdom of God, Paul hangs his summation:
I know and am persuaded in the Lord Jesus that nothing is unclean in itself; but it is unclean for anyone who thinks it unclean. If your brother or sister is being injured by what you eat, you are no longer walking in love. Do not let what you eat cause the ruin of one for whom Christ died. So do not let your good be spoken of as evil. For the kingdom of God is not food and drink but righteous ness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. (14:14–17, emphasis mine)
Paul seems to conclude the letter no less than four times with a succession of premature benedictions (15:5–6, 13, 33; 16:20). The first—emphasizing unity—clearly resonates with Paul’s grand theme:
May the God of steadfastness and encouragement grant you to live in harmony with one another, in accordance with Christ Jesus, so that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. (15:5–6)
Finally, Paul tells the Christian community in Rome how much he would like to come and visit them in person (which he will do about six years later, but as a prisoner, not a visitor). After offering a number of personal greetings, we can imagine Paul nodding as if to say, “This is it, Tertius. I’m really finishing now.” He offers a fifth benediction, complete with a final reminder of his great theme: good news for all, both Jews and “all nations,” good news of a new way of life that reconciles people to one another and to God in trust and obedience:
Now to God who is able to strengthen you according to my gospel and the proclamation of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery that was kept secret for long ages but is now disclosed, and through the prophetic writings is made known to all the Gentiles, according to the command of the eternal God, to bring about the obedience of faith—to the only wise God, through Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory forever! Amen. (16:25–27, emphasis mine)
Tertius puts down his pen. Paul nods and smiles. The ink dries, and Tertius prepares the letter to be carried to Rome, where it will be copied and distributed and preserved, so that we can read and ponder it today, just as we have done in this chapter. Paul has reduced Jew and Gentile to the same level of need. He has announced a new way forward for Jew and Gentile alike: the way of faith and grace. He has united Jew and Gentile in a common story, a common struggle, and common hope. He has addressed specific controversial issues and called all to one common rule: nonjudgmental love. And he has invited all to share a common life and mission—living out the restorative justice, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit that constitute the kingdom of God.
Through all these moves, Paul makes it clear that there is only one gospel: Jesus’s good news of God’s kingdom, available for all people. Paul’s gospel, when we release him from the precritical assumptions of our conventional six-line