Proper 14, Year A | Romans 10:5-15
St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church
August 13, 2023
the Rev. Jonathan Hanneman
To watch the full service, please visit this page.
“This is in your hands—in your mouth and from your heart.” – Romans 10:8[1]
Earlier this summer we talked about the Apostle Paul and his writings,[2] how epistles function not as theological textbooks but as pastoral letters for different congregations facing particular issues within their own specific contexts. In Romans, he appears to be writing to a gathering built of both adherents to Jewish religious practices and people who had little or no prior knowledge of those customs. As is common, significant amounts of tension surrounded those differences, with some people believing it was important to follow the traditions associated with Jesus’ own background while others (like Paul) recognized that the Christ’s work and gifts spread beyond any single group’s heritage and standards.
The verses we read this morning are part of a larger section of the letter which has long been used to promote the idea of Supersessionism[3] within the Church. Boiled down, Supersessionism is the presumption that Christians are better than Jewish people, having completely usurped their place as God’s “chosen nation.” It’s a type of thinking that endorsed millennia of abuse and outright horrors perpetrated against our Jewish neighbors. And it still creeps in as a platform point for Christian Nationalist or other antisemitic groups today. Although it’s possible for someone to snatch bits and pieces of those ideas from this letter, that kind of thinking has nothing to do with what Paul is saying. In fact, when we pay attention to his overall message, we automatically undermine most arguments that claim to start with Paul’s writings and end up endorsing exclusionary or supremacist attitudes.
But if Paul isn’t trying to convince us that Christianity is better than Judaism in every way, what exactly is he talking about?
Christians have long promoted “Gospel” (or in today’s passage, “Faith”) over “Law.”[4] However, we rarely take the time to consider what exactly the terms mean. The most common understanding of the word “Law”[5] in the New Testament is a reference to the rules or regulations listed throughout Moses’ writings in the Hebrew Bible. However, the term can far more expansive than simply a collection of legal codes, and, in fact, can include the entirety of the principles under which a particular society functions—not only those explicitly written but also those that local people “just know.”
Back in Seattle, riding the bus involved certain rules. For example, if I didn’t pay the fee, the police could charge me with a fine—there was a legislated consequence for my action. But there were other expectations as well, not the least of which being that everyone remained quiet, if not silent—especially during rush hour. Loud conversations were quite literally frowned upon. Everyone would turn from their phones or reading material and glare at the offending party. If they didn’t take the tacit hint of broad social disapproval, someone would explicitly tell them they needed to be quiet. If they kept going, more of the crowd would become involved, and eventually the driver might even make an announcement that the talker needed to lower their voice.
There was no written law or rule about not talking on the bus, yet there was, functionally, a cultural “law.” Anyone could talk as loud as they wanted as far as the police were concerned, but while they remained on the bus, they would receive increasing amounts of social pressure and disapproval until their behavior eventually fell in line with regional practices.
I think that broader scope is what Paul is talking about when he references “the Law:” not simply written codes defining what is or isn’t allowed but the entirety of a particular society’s practices and expectations—the culture than distinguishes that region or group of people from another area or community. Paul was culturally Jewish, and he never appears to have any problem with Christians who had grown up under or converted to Jewish traditions if they wanted to maintain most of those customs. But he also knew it was fine for people who had only ever known Roman or Greek cultural traditions to continue practicing those as well. In modern terms, he was addressing what we would call cultural imperialism. To be a Christian, you don’t have to become someone you’re not, and none of us have no authority, much less responsibility, to force someone else to behave or think like we do. Your home culture is your own. Elements of the Gospel are woven throughout it, so find those, tend to them, and live accordingly.
Regarding the Gospel, most Modern American Christians would summarize it as something like we read this morning, “if you confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved”[6] or, as Paul said elsewhere, “believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved.”[7] But that’s only a minor portion of the overall concept. The Gospel isn’t really about providing relief for guilt or offering a way to go to Heaven when you die. It’s a revolution—a cry of overthrow and victory and liberation. The Gospel is the pronouncement that, through Christ’s work, God has fully displayed their authority and control throughout all of existence, not only in the Heavens but also on the Earth—and even the Underworld![8] There’s no need to fear the trials and terrors of this life, because God is just as present here as in the Heavens. There’s no need to fear the darkness of death, because God is just as present there as in the Heavens. The Kingdom of Heaven—the Celestial Reign—extends throughout all of reality—seen and unseen; known and unknown; past, present, and future. Not only here and now but then and there and everywhere and everywhen, God is with us!
For Paul, the Gospel was capable of embracing everyone without demanding some sort of uniformity from culture to culture or region to region or even town to town. The uniting factor wasn’t specific practices or ways of doing things—how we dress or the language we speak; who we love, what side of the street we walk on, or how we eat. Instead, our common feature—the resemblance that links the entirety of our expansive Christian family—is found in “faith.”
But faith, as the Bible uses the term, isn’t simply the thought process we often mistake it for. It isn’t the intellectual acceptance of certain doctrines or an agreement with the idea that God or Jesus even exist.[9] Faith—better termed faithfulness—is something that bleeds into the fabric of the way we live each day. It’s like an accent or other giveaway telling locals that someone isn’t from around here or letting neighbors know which family a kid belongs to. It’s an adherence to the customs and traditions of the Celestial Reign, however that might look in any particular human context. We—all of Christ’s siblings and God’s children—walk faithfully, carrying the loving actions, mercy, peace, and joy of the Heavens wherever we go and among whomever we meet.
There is no conflict between the Gospel or faith and “Law.” There’s no reason to think that “Christian” customs are better than anyone else’s or to feel the need to adopt practices that don’t make sense to you or the people around you. “This is in your hands—in your mouth and from your heart.” Recognizing the beauty of the Gospel, faithfulness flows out of who we are, emphasizing and bringing to light those aspects of our lives that reflect the Kingdom of Heaven. And that’s where we find our unity—not in particular liturgical or social practices or in uniform thought or behavior. Just as we find the Gospel in our own lives and cultures, we can approach one another with joy and curiosity, not hunting out differences or finding offense at every turn, but searching for evidence of the Celestial Reign in each person around us, encouraging its development and growth not only in them but in ourselves, until we all become faithful to the present reality of God’s Kingdom.
“This is in [our] hands—in [our] mouth[s] and from [our] heart[s].”
[1] My translation | All Bible quotations are from the NRSV unless otherwise noted.
[2] http://www.slouchingdog.com/sermons/year-a-june-18-2023-proper06
[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supersessionism
[4] an opposition which is yet another theological concept people draw from these texts
[5] νόμος (pronounced “nomos”)
[6] Romans 5:9
[7] Acts 16:31
[8] Or as we more commonly reference it, the Afterlife
[9] Intellectual assent—or belief—is certainly an aspect found within the expanse of faithfulness; belief can keep us going in difficult circumstances. But “faithfulness is a foundation for an expectation, a proof for realities which can’t be seen.” (Hebrews 11:1 | my translation)