Once his Jewish audience catches where Paul is going, all sorts of knee-jerk reactions can occur. After all, through centuries of oppression and exile, it has been Torah that has kept the Jewish people together. Putting the Gentiles on the same footing as the Jews, even to calling them true Jews, is the same as saying, Torah is irrelevant. Or is it?

Whether we like it or not, there is no way to read the Gospel which can exempt us from the requirement to do good. Whether we like it or not, there is no way to read the letters of Paul to reach the conclusion that doing good works is not a requirement of our salvation.

In Part 1 we saw that the bottom line to Paul is that the Gospel has the supernatural power we need for our life because it is the revelation of God’s righteousness. That righteousness has brought us a salvation based on the principle of faith. But only those who believe get to see it and grasp it. So, what about the rest of the world?

The gospel for all nations: A recurring theme in this letter is that the, gospel, the good news of God’s rescue plan for humanity, has always been worldwide in scope. Nevertheless, in execution, it has followed a very precise path: The Jewish nation. Why God chose that path, and why it is important for all of us to understand that it was “a path” and not the end itself, is a case Paul will be building up incrementally. But he starts right off referring to it:

Way back in the mid 80’s when I first started teaching Bible studies at work (during lunch time), I had a diverse audience of Engineers and Managers. I remember when I was about to start a Study on prayer, one of those managers stopped me and asked me to give him a summary of what we were going to be talking about before he would decide if he was going to stay on.

The Apostle Paul’s letter to the Romans has the reputation of being complex. Some people will tell you it is because it is a treasure trove of Pauline theology, and they relish that. Others, that find it a slow read, may cite those very same “theologically” technical passages as contributing to the difficulty. Maybe both ways of reading it miss the point.