The “Gracism” of Romans 3:21–31

Over at the Zondervan Blog, Jeremy Bouma gives a summary of my take on Rom 3:21-31 from my Romans commentary under the heading “Gracism.”

He closes with this:

Bird introduces a theological neologism here, insisting Paul is ruling out ethnocentric nomism, “the view that you have to become a Jew in order to be a Christian, where salvation is by performance of the law and limited to people of the law.” (121) Instead, Paul dismisses both merited grace and ethnocentric privilege: “[It] is not possible to segregate the issues of grace and race in Paul’s argument in Romans as they are intractably linked together.” (121)

This has great bearing on how we teach and live the implications of justification. Bird offers a few:

• “[Paul] reinforces his contrast between ‘grace’ and ‘works’ while also eliminating the possibility that God has limited his grace to one particular people.” (121)
• Our reflection on justification “needs to encompass wider the themes of election, adoption, and church unity;” (133)
• “a theology of grace will naturally and inevitably shape our churches toward the practice of racial and ethnic unity.” (133)
• “Grace and racial prejudice are mutually exclusive because justification creates a church, a new covenant community…” (134–135)

“Embracing grace means embracing a story that shapes and transforms an entire community. As God draws us to himself, so he also draws us closer to each other.” (136)