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{"id":271,"date":"2011-05-27T08:18:48","date_gmt":"2011-05-27T12:18:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/community\/exploringourmatrix\/?p=267"},"modified":"2011-05-27T08:18:48","modified_gmt":"2011-05-27T12:18:48","slug":"reading-romans-as-about-christians-and-not-about-christians","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2011\/05\/reading-romans-as-about-christians-and-not-about-christians.html","title":{"rendered":"Reading Romans as about Christians and not about Christians"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

In saying that, I don\u2019t mean that Paul\u2019s message was not that which at a later time would be labelled \u201cChristian.\u201d But neither am I simply pointing out that, when Paul wrote, the label \u201cChristian\u201d had not caught on yet, and Paul does not use it.<\/p>\n

But when we realize that Paul did not have a clear label such as \u201cChristian\u201d for the movement of which he was a part, it should make us wonder: Did Paul think of himself as part of a distinct group at all? Did he simply think of himself as Jewish?<\/p>\n

When he advocated the inclusion of uncircumcised Gentiles in the people of God, if there was no clearly distinct Christian church at this stage, then we must understand him to have been advocating the inclusion of uncircumcised Gentiles in Judaism<\/em>, the elimination for all intents and purposes of the Jew\/Gentile distinction, to be replaced simply by a multi-ethnic Israel on the one hand, and those who refused to be a part of it on the other. Perhaps when we understand Paul this way, against the backdrop of increasing anti-Roman sentiment that would erupt within decades in a war against Rome, it becomes clear just what a radical message he was advocating. His letters are not an attempt to define \u201cChristian\u201d identity in a certain way, but an attempt to define Jewish<\/i> identity in that way.<\/p>\n

It may seem ironic, but one of the best ways to grasp this point, as a Christian reader of Romans, is to read Paul as talking about Christians. Not as<\/em> a Christian so much as about<\/em> Christians. Read him as though he were emphasizing that Christian boundary markers are of no importance. Christian and non-Christian are distinctions that do not matter \u2013 only keeping the commandments is what counts.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve shared some thoughts along those lines before on my blog, but let me share something very recent along the same lines by Richard Hall<\/a>. It is radical, and includes an expletive (those who\u2019ve read Paul in Greek know that he was not above using them from time to time). And you will probably never read Romans in the same way again if you click through and read it<\/a>. But I hope you will, and that after doing so, you\u2019ll come back here and let me know how it affected you.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"