I have finished my initial look into the underlying narratives of Romans. I read through it once without stopping, and then read through it again, making notes along the way. As I attempted to read it in light of Paul’s experience of Christ and the underlying redemptive-historical narrative of Scripture, several first impressions have been impressed upon me.
- Paul is a follower of Jesus writing a letter to the community of Jesus’ followers in Rome.
- Paul drenches his thought with the Old Testament, both in allusions and citations.
- Paul writes in light of his experience of the risen Christ to people who have also been changed by Him.
- Paul isn’t writing a theology textbook–he is relating the communication of God to his people.
These are my initial impressions of Romans after reading it with community and narrative concerns in mind. Following this will be posts dealing with three topics. First, the underlying, big-picture narrative in Romans. Second, the smaller underlying narratives that enrich the bigger one. Third, seeing the big-picture and the smaller picture in the first 8 verses of the book.
In comparison to Paul’s other letters would you say that there is more of a community emphasis here in Romans or elsewhere. I ask that because as I’ve been reading through Philippians, solidifying my choice of passage for our exegetical paper, I’ve been surprised to see home much of it shows the same emphasis.
Great thought, Rick. While I couldn’t begin to give a full answer to that, a few thoughts come to mind as I have been studying some of these things.
Paul, the apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, is the same man that wrote each letter. As one of my posts talked about, what is Paul’s starting point? His fundamental starting point for each letter is the same: the Judeo-Christian worldview/narrative and his experience of the risen Christ. Not only that, but he is writing each letter to an individual congregation. So there will be great similarity between all of his letters, although obviously his focus is different in each of them. And if we are talking about coming to Scripture with community in mind (because Paul had it in mind), then both Philippians and Romans should evidence some of the same communal features.
Well, I really don’t have much to say…… so I’m glad to see that you’re reading your Bible.