Tertius...Corrections to Romans? Part I

Tertius…Corrections to Romans? Part 1 

The reference:Romans 16:22     I, Tertius, who wrote down this letter, greet you in the Lord.

The story that emerges:
Tertius had the role of scribe, writing down what Paul dictated. Rembrandt’s portrait captures the scene properly--Paul deep in thought, Paul composing this letter carefully, judiciously, and painstakingly.

It is neither sacrilegious nor implausible to imagine Tertius making several comments, like: “Paul, time for a coffee break.” “You haven’t prepared your lesson for our church yet. We’ll come back to this in the morning.” “Slow down, Paul, I’m not sure I’m getting this word right.”

From these, my imagination takes me further and hears Tertius observe: “Do you realize what the implications are for this? You are shaking the very foundations of culture and faith.” These comments could have covered several passages, but for this profile I will only pick up those coming from the first chapter.

Here we listen in on Tertius, sort of thinking out loud, expanding on the implications, and putting them in cultural context.

1. The Power of the Gospel
"The gospel is the power of salvation” (1:16). Of course, Paul, you know that people will want more. I mean, you are saying that the mere explanation of "Christ crucified for our sins and raised for our justification" (4:25) brings the power of God to advance people towards His kingdom. But people will have what you call "itchy ears" and will be expecting you to add something more. Something like: You accept this God and you will find His power mighty to remove all forms of diseases and of sin. And they will expect the promise of His assistance for their success and well-being.

But I get it. That misses the bigger and better promise of the reconciling love of the sacrifice of Christ, and of becoming more and more like our Savior. Not everyone will buy in, of course, but I suspect you know that.

2. The Wrath of God
“The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the ungodliness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness” (1:18).

The people in Rome have a pantheon of gods all of whom display wrath. Same for the Greeks here in Corinth. The wrath of these gods is frequent, random, and for petty reasons. You could eliminate wrath. People would prefer that about God, and that would distinguish Him from their gods. You would be presenting a God whom everyone could like. He would be nice, decent, and presentable. No scolding, no standards, just a very nice God.

Once again, Paul, I suspect you know that. What distinguishes our God from their gods is His holiness, His moral purity. All morality emanates from him and his revelation. And his judgments are not burdensome. They are “sweeter than the honey of the honeycomb.” They “make us wise.” Understanding them gives us an understanding that is beyond knowledge. They are telling what lies in the heart of God. Those who are poor in spirit, who mourn, who thirst for more righteousness--they are blessed because they have come closer to the very character of God.

The wrath of God stands upon the holiness of God. This is harder but it is better. If God did not show a holy wrath, we would sink in a quagmire of deceit, rotten power, and violence. Instead He invites us into a kingdom of truth, honor, justice, and peace.

3. Sexual perversion.
“For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions. Their women exchanged natural relations for those contrary to nature; men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error” (1:26, 27).

You don’t mind shocking people, do you! These cultures here in Corinth and in Rome have made peace with homosexual practices. You know that Plato had a boy companion, Xenophon’s leaders did, and Alexander the Great did. Strong examples. Easy for a culture to accept. And as you know, pagan practices always have sexual perversion as part of their practices. And in the face of this firmly accepted practice, you move in.

Permission for same-sex relations throws out the clearest demonstration of God’s mercy. God set up the lifelong marriage of one husband and one wife to be the icon of Christ’s love for his bride, the church. That divinely designed parallel holds the visible evidence of God’s unfailing love. It is quite straightforward: We often make lousy partners for our wives or husbands. But in spite of that, we hold to our promise to stay “until we are parted by death.” We work on our relationship, we forgive, we strain to understand, we show patience, we serve the aspirations of the other, and we stay together through trials of sickness, financial strains, and whatever else. And that is the exact parallel to the unfailing love of Christ, our bridegroom, to us His bride. Are we not lousy, unfaithful, and obstreperous marriage partners to Him? Yet He keeps us as His own.

In all of these points from Romans 1, God is not only merciful but also searching—searching for sheep that are misguided, dissatisfied, and estranged, but sheep that He loves and wants bring into the care of His fold.


Tertius immediately opened the discussion when we sat down on the bench. “Why would anyone ever think that the signs of a fallen culture were the marks of the Kingdom of God!” He had some energy on this. “Look at how the Epistle to the Romans has turned cultures upside down.  Luther and the wrongful teaching on forgiveness in Catholic Europe. Karl Barth’s description of Romans – a bomb exploding on the playing fields of 20th century liberalism. And outside of commentators, the great theologian/author Dostoevsky caught it: 'If there is no God, no morality in the universe, everything is permitted.'”

Then he reminded me that this only covers the first chapter. “I can add more, but don’t forget Phoebe, who carried the letter to Rome. She had some conversations with Paul you would find interesting. Talk to her.”

And we will, coming soon.