“Like mouthwash for the imagination.” That is how C.S. Lewis described books that re-present the world to us and break us out of stale categories and preconceptions. Observing this in the religious sphere, Rowan Williams writes that what is stale in much modern Christian thinking is, well, “almost everything.” This is certainly true of much thinking about PaulThe Apostle Paul, originally known as Saul of Tarsus, was the author of several New Testament letters and the founder of many Christian communities. More and his letter to the Romans, which is for many of us so daunting in complexity and length that we are apt to accept outlines and summaries instead of taking the whole thing into our minds and hearts.

Romans is strong mouthwash. Each year I challenge my seminary students to read it in one sitting: turn off your cell phone, pour a cup of coffee, and read it aloud. Better yet, read it in a small group over the course of two hours. The experience is mentally and emotionally exhausting—and exciting. If you have never done it, I urge you to do so without delay! 

Through the experience of such a reading, we discover—and experience—that Romans is not simply about how the individual sinner can find peace before a righteousA righteous person is one who is ethical and faithful to God's covenant. Righteousness in the Old Testament is an attitude of God; in the New Testament it is a gift of God through grace. In the New Testament righteousness is a relationship with God... More God. (Although one can get at that question through Romans.) Neither is Romans about the election of Israel vis-à-vis the Gentiles. (This too is considered in Romans, of course.) Romans is not about a particular ethical vision of peace in the community and with one’s neighbors. (Romans 12-15 does have much to say there, thankfully.) Romans is first and foremost about re-introducing us to God, the God of Israel whom we have known from Scripture and met fully in JesusJesus is the Messiah whose life, death, and resurrection are God's saving act for humanity. More, and what it means to live in the world where this God is on the move. 

Welcome

Romans uses the word “God” 153 times, more than any other New Testament book besides the Acts of the Apostles (167 times; and Acts is nearly double the length of Romans!). Romans far surpasses the rest of the New Testament in its use of the terms “righteousness” and “to be righteous.” First and foremost, righteousness is a characteristic of God, and God is the one who makes people righteous. The God of Israel has acted afresh to set us in right relationship to himself and one another, and this relationship involves God offering God’s own life to us in Jesus and pouring his own Spirit into our hearts. These are head-spinning thoughts when we slow down to marvel at them: the action of God, the life of God, is oriented toward setting people in right relationship with himself and one another. When we compare that to the messages we take in through the news and social media, which seem to exist to divide and polarize us, we are right to see Paul’s words as a message of good news!

In his short study of Paul, Rowan Williams sums up Paul’s whole theology in one word: “Welcome.” And it is no wonder that Paul’s sweeping theology in Romans lands on precisely that term: “Welcome one another, therefore, just as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God” (15:7). In Romans, Paul surveys God’s involvement with Israel, the Gentiles, in his own life of zeal and waywardness. In that survey, Paul discerns the story of God’s love, devotion, and embrace of his people. In short, God’s welcome. 

Every time I read Romans I marvel at Paul’s soaring doxology in Romans 11:33–36: 

Oh the depths of the riches and wisdomWisdom encompasses the qualities of experience, knowledge, and good judgment.  The Old Testament book of Proverbs, which sometimes invokes a Woman as the personification of Wisdom, is a collection of aphorisms and moral teachings. Along with other biblical passages, it teaches, "The fear of the... More and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!

For who has known the mind of the Lord, 

Or who has been his counselor?

Or who has given a gift to him

That he might be repaid?

For from him and through him and to him are all things. 

To him be glory forever. Amen!

These remarkable words capture Paul’s spontaneous response to the thoughts that have just come together on the page: that the history of Israel is one of hardening and mercyMercy is a term used to describe leniency or compassion. God's mercy is frequently referred to or invoked in both the Old and New Testaments. More, as is the history of the Gentiles. The meaning of these two histories was latent in Israel’s Scriptures, and it is expressed wonderfully in the messiahThe Messiah was the one who, it was believed, would come to free the people of Israel from bondage and exile. In Jewish thought the Messiah is the anticipated one who will come, as prophesied by Isaiah. In Christian thought Jesus of Nazareth is identified... More Jesus. It is easy to think that the threads of history are hopelessly opaque or simplistically plain. The former can lead to despair, and the latter to self-righteousness. Paul surveys the biblical story, especially in Deuteronomy and IsaiahIsaiah, son of Amoz, who prophesied in Jerusalem, is included among the prophets of the eighth century BCE (along with Amos, Hosea, and Micah)--preachers who boldly proclaimed God's word of judgment against the economic, social, and religious disorders of their time. More, and what he sees is a graceful sovereignty that defies despair and mocks self-righteousness. “There is no one righteous, not even one” (3:10). Not even me, or my people. “For God has imprisoned all to disobedience so that he may be merciful to all” (11:32). God’s welcoming work is as mysterious as it is inevitable.

Moral clarity—but not in the way you think

Many readers today are put off by Paul’s vivid condemnations of pagan behavior—idolatry, same-sex sexual activity, violence, and selfishness. Romans 1:18–32 seems to some a rude caricature, and one that would confirm suspicions that Paul holds views of outsiders that are outdated at best, bigoted at worst. It is essential to remember when reading this hard text in our complex times that Romans is building toward “welcome,” and the fundamental teaching of 1:18–32 is misheard if it is detached from the message that God’s commitment to the covenantA covenant is a promise or agreement. In the Bible the promises made between God and God's people are known as covenants; they state or imply a relationship of commitment and obedience. More (in other words, God’s righteousness) has not be put off, even by our sin. 

I say “our” sin because several recent analyses have rightly argued that “those who are without excuse” because they “knew God” and “God’s righteous decree” are not outsider-pagans (1:19–21, 32). Those “in the know” in the Bible are God’s covenant people, though they are portrayed here in Romans 1 as indistinguishable in their behavior from the nations. God welcomes back even ungrateful children, even people who should have known better. The moral clarity of Romans 1 and the moral clarity of Romans 12–15 about the gentleness, mutual love, and forbearance that mark the community belong to the same argument. May the church in our time know the moral clarity of mutual love, forbearance, and gentleness, and may that clarity illuminate our understanding of sin, graceGrace is the unmerited gift of God's love and acceptance. In Martin Luther's favorite expression from the Apostle Paul, we are saved by grace through faith, which means that God showers grace upon us even though we do not deserve it. More, and righteousness.

There is a reason that Romans is a perennial source of Christian renewal, a reason that this letter pressed Luther and Barth to set out new articulations of the character of God and ourselves—and new ways of life to match the grace of God. It was a “mouthwash” for their imaginations, much needed in their own specific moments and struggles. We could certainly use the cleansing rinse that Paul’s words offer in Romans, a fresh hearing of God’s gracious “Welcome!”