Homilies on Romans, Homily 0

As I keep hearing the blessed Paul's Epistles read, twice every week and often three or four times when we celebrate the memorials of the holy martyrs, I gladly enjoy this spiritual trumpet. Recognizing the voice so dear to me stirs and warms me with longing. I seem almost to see him present before my eyes, speaking with me. But I grieve and feel pain that not everyone knows this man as well as they should. Some know so little about him that they are not even sure how many Epistles he wrote. This comes not from inability, but from not wanting to converse continually with this blessed man. Whatever I know—if I know anything—comes not from natural quickness or sharp intelligence, but from constantly keeping close to him and loving him earnestly. Those who love someone know what concerns that person better than anyone else, because they take an interest in him. This blessed Apostle shows the same thing in his words to the Philippians: “It is right for me to think this of you all, because I have you in my heart, both in my chains and in the defense and confirmation of the Gospel.” (Phil. i. 7.) You too, if you willingly and eagerly devote yourselves to reading him, will need no other help. Christ's word is true: “Seek and you will find; knock and it will be opened to you.” (Matt. vii. 7.) But most people who gather here with us have taken on raising children, caring for a wife, and looking after a household, and so cannot devote themselves entirely to this work. At least wake yourselves up to receive what others have gathered, and give as much attention to hearing what is said as you give to gathering money. Though it is shameful to ask only this much of you, we must be content if you give even that much. For this is where our countless evils have come from: ignorance of the Scriptures. From this the plague of heresies has broken out; from this come negligent lives and work without benefit. People deprived of daylight cannot walk straight; likewise, those who do not look to the gleam of the Holy Scriptures must sin frequently and continually, walking in the deepest darkness. To prevent this, let us keep our eyes open to the bright light of the Apostle's words. This man's tongue shone more brightly than the sun, and he surpassed all the rest in teaching. Since he worked more abundantly than they did, he also drew upon himself a great measure of the Spirit's grace. (1 Cor. xv. 10.) I constantly affirm this not only from his Epistles, but also from Acts. Whenever there was an opportunity for public speaking, everyone gave way to him. This is also why unbelievers thought he was Mercury, because he took the lead in speaking. (Acts xiv. 12.) Since we are going to examine this Epistle fully, we must also give the time when it was written. Contrary to what most people think, it was not earlier than all the others. It was earlier than all the letters written from Rome, but later than the rest, though not all of them. Both letters to the Corinthians were sent before this one, as is clear from what he wrote at its end: “But now I am going to Jerusalem to serve the saints, for Macedonia and Achaia have been pleased to make a contribution for the poor saints in Jerusalem.” (Rom. xv. 25, 26.) When writing to the Corinthians he says, “If it is right for me to go too, they will go with me” (1 Cor. xvi. 4), speaking of those who would carry the money from there. Clearly, when he wrote to the Corinthians, his journey was still uncertain; when he wrote to the Romans, it had been decided. Once that is granted, the other point is clear: this Epistle came after those. The letter to the Thessalonians also seems to me to have preceded the letter to the Corinthians. He had first written to them and raised the question of alms, saying, “Concerning brotherly love, you do not need me to write to you, for God Himself has taught you to love one another. Indeed, you do this toward all the brothers.” (1 Thess. iv. 9, 10.) Then he wrote to the Corinthians. He makes this very point clear in these words: “I know your eagerness, which I boast about to the Macedonians, saying that Achaia was ready a year ago; and your zeal has stirred up very many.” (2 Cor. ix. 2.) This shows that they were the first people he had spoken to about it. This Epistle, then, is later than those, but earlier (πρώτη) than the letters from Rome. When he wrote it, he had not yet set foot in the city of the Romans, as he shows by saying, “For I long to see you, so that I may share some spiritual gift with you.” (Rom. i. 11.) But he wrote to the Philippians from Rome; so he says, “All the saints greet you, especially those of Caesar's household.” (Phil. iv. 22.) He likewise wrote to the Hebrews from there; so he also says, “All those of Italy greet them.” (Heb. xiii. 24.) He also sent the Epistle to Timothy from Rome while in prison. This seems to me to be the last of all his Epistles, as its ending makes clear: “For I am now ready to be offered,” he says, “and the time of my departure is near.” (2 Tim. iv. 6.) That he ended his life there is clear, I would say, to everyone. The letter to Philemon is also very late (for he wrote it in extreme old age, so he also said, “as Paul, an old man, and now also a prisoner in Christ Jesus”) (Philem. 9), yet earlier than the letter to the Colossians. Again, this is clear from the ending. Writing to the Colossians, he says, “Tychicus will tell you all about my circumstances; I have sent him with Onesimus, a faithful and beloved brother.” (Col. iv. 7.) This was the Onesimus on whose behalf he wrote the Epistle to Philemon. That it was not someone else of the same name is clear from his mention of Archippus. Paul had named him as his fellow worker in the Epistle to Philemon when pleading for Onesimus. Writing to the Colossians, he urges him on: “Tell Archippus, Pay attention to the ministry you have received, so that you fulfill it.” (Col. iv. 17.) The letter to the Galatians seems to me to have come before the letter to the Romans. Their different order in the Bibles is no surprise. The twelve Prophets do not follow one another in time but are separated by long intervals, yet they are placed together in the Bible's arrangement. Haggai, Zechariah, and the Messenger prophesied after Ezekiel and Daniel, and long after Jonah, Zephaniah, and all the rest. Yet they are grouped with those from whom they are so far removed in time. Let no one think this is beside the point, or that an investigation of this kind is needless curiosity. The dates of the Epistles contribute a great deal to our inquiry. He writes to the Romans and Colossians on the same subjects, yet treats them differently. To the Romans he makes great allowances, as when he says, “Welcome someone weak in faith, but not for disputes over opinions. One person believes he may eat everything; the weak person eats vegetables.” (Rom. xiv. 1, 2.) But he does not write this way to the Colossians about the same things. He speaks more boldly: “If you died with Christ to the elements of the world,” he says, “why, as though living in the world, do you submit to regulations (Do not touch, do not taste, do not handle), all of which perish with use, not in any honor to the satisfaction of the flesh?” (Col. ii. 20–23.) I can find no reason for this difference except the timing. At first it was necessary to make allowances; afterward it no longer was. You can find him doing this in many other places. Physicians and teachers do the same. A physician does not treat patients at the beginning of their illness just as he treats those nearing recovery; a teacher does not treat children just beginning to learn like those who need more advanced teaching. Now he was moved to write to the others by some particular cause and subject, as he shows when he says to the Corinthians, “Concerning the things you wrote to me about.” (1 Cor. vii. 1.) From the very beginning of the whole Epistle to the Galatians, he likewise writes in a way that shows the same thing. But why, and for what purpose, does he write to these people? We find him testifying that they are “full of goodness, filled with all knowledge, and able to instruct others too.” (Rom. xv. 14.) Why, then, does he write to them? “Because of God's grace,” he says, “given to me, so that I should be a minister of Jesus Christ.” (ib. 15 , 16.) That is also why he says at the beginning, “I am a debtor; as far as it lies in me, I am ready to preach the Gospel to you in Rome too.” (Rom. i. 14, 15.) Saying that they are “able to exhort others too,” and similar things, is chiefly praise and encouragement. Even they needed the correction a letter could give. Since he had not yet visited them, he brought them into good order in two ways: by the benefit of his letter and by their expectation of his arrival. Such was that holy soul: he embraced the whole inhabited world and carried everyone within himself, regarding relationship in God as the closest kinship. He loved them as if he had fathered them all, or rather showed (so 4 mss.) greater natural affection than any father (so Field: all mss. give “a father’s toward all”). Such is the Spirit's grace: it surpasses the pangs of childbirth in the flesh and expresses a more intense longing. We see this especially in Paul's soul. As if love had given him wings, he constantly traveled around to everyone, staying nowhere and never standing still. He had heard Christ say, “Peter, do you love Me? Feed My sheep” (John xxi. 15), setting this out as the greatest test of love; and he displayed it to an extraordinary degree. Let us imitate him: even if we cannot bring the world, or whole cities and nations, into good order, let each of us at least do so for his own household, wife, children, friends, and neighbors. Let no one tell me, “I am unskilled and uneducated.” No one was less educated than Peter, no one less polished than Paul. Paul himself admitted it, unashamed to say, “Though I am unpolished in speech, I am not in knowledge.” (2 Cor. xi. 6.) Yet this unpolished man and that uneducated man overcame countless philosophers, silenced countless orators, and did it all through their own willingness and God's grace. What excuse will we have if we cannot care for even twenty people and are not even useful to those who live with us? This is only a pretext and an excuse. Lack of learning or instruction does not prevent us from teaching; drowsiness and sleep do. (Acts i. 15; ii. 41.) So let us shake off this sleep and hold diligently to our own members. By ordering those close to us in the fear of God, we may enjoy great calm even here, and afterward share in countless blessings through the grace and love for humanity of our Lord Jesus Christ, through Whom and with Whom be glory to the Father, with the Holy Spirit, now and always, forever and ever. Amen.