Engaging Scripture Book Club
If you want to follow along, I am reviewing Dr. Beverly Gaventa’s new Romans commentary (New Testament Library, Westminster John Knox).
If you want to learn about the book and the club details, click HERE.
Reminder: I will give general thoughts and summary of the week’s reading for free; I will also add my own critical thoughts and reflections for paid subscribers. So, feel free to follow along and hopefully you’ll enjoy the book club. There is no formal sign up, just check your email inbox for each week’s review, and if you haven’t subscribed yet to Engaging Scripture, you can do so now.
Romans 12-13 (NRSV)
The New Life in Christ
Rom. 12:1 I appeal to you therefore, brothers and sisters,a by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritualb worship. 2 Do not be conformed to this world,a but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God—what is good and acceptable and perfect.b
Rom. 12:3 For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of yourself more highly than you ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned. 4 For as in one body we have many members, and not all the members have the same function, 5 so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually we are members one of another. 6 We have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us: prophecy, in proportion to faith; 7 ministry, in ministering; the teacher, in teaching; 8 the exhorter, in exhortation; the giver, in generosity; the leader, in diligence; the compassionate, in cheerfulness.
Marks of the True Christian
Rom. 12:9 Let love be genuine; hate what is evil, hold fast to what is good; 10 love one another with mutual affection; outdo one another in showing honor. 11 Do not lag in zeal, be ardent in spirit, serve the Lord.a 12 Rejoice in hope, be patient in suffering, persevere in prayer. 13 Contribute to the needs of the saints; extend hospitality to strangers.
Rom. 12:14 Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them. 15 Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. 16 Live in harmony with one another; do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly;a do not claim to be wiser than you are. 17 Do not repay anyone evil for evil, but take thought for what is noble in the sight of all. 18 If it is possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. 19 Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave room for the wrath of God;a for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.” 20 No, “if your enemies are hungry, feed them; if they are thirsty, give them something to drink; for by doing this you will heap burning coals on their heads.” 21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.
Being Subject to Authorities
Rom. 13:1 Let every person be subject to the governing authorities; for there is no authority except from God, and those authorities that exist have been instituted by God. 2 Therefore whoever resists authority resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment. 3 For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Do you wish to have no fear of the authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive its approval; 4 for it is God’s servant for your good. But if you do what is wrong, you should be afraid, for the authoritya does not bear the sword in vain! It is the servant of God to execute wrath on the wrongdoer. 5 Therefore one must be subject, not only because of wrath but also because of conscience. 6 For the same reason you also pay taxes, for the authorities are God’s servants, busy with this very thing. 7 Pay to all what is due them—taxes to whom taxes are due, revenue to whom revenue is due, respect to whom respect is due, honor to whom honor is due.
Love for One Another
Rom. 13:8 Owe no one anything, except to love one another; for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. 9 The commandments, “You shall not commit adultery; You shall not murder; You shall not steal; You shall not covet”; and any other commandment, are summed up in this word, “Love your neighbor as yourself.” 10 Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore, love is the fulfilling of the law.
An Urgent Appeal
Rom. 13:11 Besides this, you know what time it is, how it is now the moment for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we became believers; 12 the night is far gone, the day is near. Let us then lay aside the works of darkness and put on the armor of light; 13 let us live honorably as in the day, not in reveling and drunkenness, not in debauchery and licentiousness, not in quarreling and jealousy. 14 Instead, put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.
Gaventa on Romans 13
We are going to focus our attention in this post on Romans 13. Gaventa rightly devotes extra space to talking about the use and misuse of Paul’s call to respect and submit to governing authorities, so we will take time to process her excellent discussion.
Here is how she expresses the importance of 13:1-7:
These seven verses rank among the most difficult in a letter that overflows with interpretive challenges. A major reason for their difficulty is the burden imposed by the widespread, varied, and often pernicious use of this passage (355).
Gaventa is often at her best when she draws insight from the history of interpretation, as she does here. Some of the Church Fathers caution against an absolute reading of this passage, and balance it out with Acts 5:29, where it says, “We must obey God rather than human beings.” Gaventa also notes how Karl Barth compared Romans 13 with Revelation 13, the latter portraying Roman rulers as sea monsters! (pg356).
Gaventa notes how texts like Romans 13 can be easily weaponized to call for blind conformity to a dictator (like Hitler). And in recent American history, this text was used by then US attorney general Jeff Sessions as a call for support for Trump’s policies on border control.
So—what is the correct way to interpret Romans 13:1-7, especially in the context of Paul’s letter? Gaventa admits it is difficult to discern. In fact, in some ways, this passage goes against the grain of earlier parts of the letter, where Paul is emphatic about “the inability of the human to do good” (356). Yet, she dismisses attempts at somehow reading this as subtly subversive (a “hidden transcript”). And she also rejects the argument that this is an interpolation, added later by someone else.
While Gaventa admits that Romans 13:1-7 appears sort of out of the blue, there are some factors that limit it from being a call to complete political submission. First, Paul is not talking to the authorities, only about them (357). Second, Paul explains that all worldly power and authority is “derivative,” that is, given by God’s power and can be withdrawn (357). Authorities should be respected, but never worshipped (360). And in terms of connecting ch13 to ch12, Paul had been talking about protecting the vulnerable and weak, so perhaps 13:1-7 is addressing the temptation to resist governing power, perhaps by opposing taxation (357).
This is one of the best discussions of Romans 13 I have seen in a commentary, and now one of my favorite sections of Gaventa’s commentary thus far.
[next reading for week of Sept 23: Romans 14-15
My Critical Reflections
There is nothing in Gaventa’s work here that I strongly disagreed with. I do think…
Keep reading with a 7-day free trial
Subscribe to Engaging Scripture (with Dr. Nijay K. Gupta) to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.