A Study of the Underlying Narratives in Romans 1:1-8

My last post highlighted some of the smaller narratives present in Romans that situate the main narrative within time and space. I mentioned briefly the features of the first 8 verses of Paul’s letter. I will now examine them more fully, looking specifically for six things:

The main biblical narrative underlying Paul’s thought.

1. The Trinitarian overtones of the biblical narrative.
2. The Old Testament sub-narratives that enrich the main narrative.
3. The personal narrative of Paul’s conversion and ministry.
4. The personal narrative that documents the formation of the Roman community.
5. The ultimate global concern of the narrative as lived out by Paul.

I will argue that all six of these features are clear in the first 8 verses, and that they provide us with a “model” for reading the rest of the book with narrative concerns in mind. As I work through the five features, it is important to remember that they are all woven together, not separately stated. They work together to provide a beautiful picture of the story of the Bible that changed Paul, changed the Roman believers, and will ultimately change the world.

The Main Biblical Narrative

Driving Paul’s thinking in the first 8 verses is the Christocentric narrative of the Scriptures. This doesn’t mean that Paul includes every major movement of the Biblical narrative in these verses. But it does mean that Paul has the mainline narrative Scripture girding up his opening thoughts. Consider the following features of the verses:

• Verse 2 sets the gospel in terms of the big picture of promise/fulfillment: “which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy Scriptures.”
• Verses 3 and 4 deal with the coming of Christ, both his incarnation and his resurrection, which brings about redemption for the people of God.
• Verse 5 gives a hint of the restoration motif, in that the “obedience of faith” will be going to all the nations. Christ is restoring the whole world, and will one day finally bring about the new creation, in which everyone will confess Him as Lord.

Obviously nothing in these verses is said about creation or the fall specifically. But what is being argued is that underlying all of Paul’s thought is the main story. And everything in a story is dependent on what happens before it. So when Paul talks about the Son, and David, and the resurrection from the dead, it assumes a beginning to the history in which all this happened, as well as some problem (sin) that happened in the world that Christ came to resolve. So even though not every feature of the mainline story is there, the structure of biblical history is still retained.

The Trinitarian Overtones of the Biblical Narrative

Consider the explicit mentions of the persons of the Trinity in these verses:

• Christ was declared to be the Son of God (so this explicitly refers to the Father and the Son).
• The Spirit of holiness worked in the resurrection of Christ from the dead.

These are very explicit references to God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. It even reveals to a certain extent how Paul views their respective roles in the outworking of the biblical narrative. For example, it shows (implicitly) that God the Father sent the Son, for He it refers to the promises He made about the coming Savior through the prophets. It also demonstrates that the Spirit is the source of life-giving power, especially through the resurrection of the dead. Verse 6 assumes the work of the Spirit, for it refers to those who are called to be the people of God. The calling of God is through the Spirit, who changes men’s hearts so that they will respond with the “obedience of faith.” The Trinity is thus inextricably intertwined with the story of the Bible which shapes the Christian worldview.

The Old Testament Sub-Narratives Which Enrich the Main Narrative

These 8 verses contain two primary allusions to Old Testament narratives which support the main narrative. Verse 2 talks about the promises being made through the prophets in the Scriptures. That sentence is loaded with meaning for one who has read the Old Testament prophets. The prophets were those who declared the Word of God to His people, who warned of God’s judgment and promised God’s mercy to those who were faithful to the covenant. There is story after story about the prophets, as they struggled with the unfaithfulness of the people, and at times, their own hearts. Yet they all proclaimed the mercy and faithfulness of God even in the most difficult times. This mirrors the main story of Scripture, for God is working in the world to save His people, bringing it ultimately to the restoration of all things. But it localizes the big story in specific situations in which servants of God experienced God in their lives.

Verse 3 refers to David being the one from whose line the Christ was to come. David was a main character in the history of God’s people in the Old Testament, and his story abounds with tales and faithfulness and faithlessness. This one who committed adultery was the one who established the kingdom of God, and whose kingdom the Christ was to inherit forever. David was moved by the promise of the biblical narrative, for he expected a descendant who would right everything that went wrong in his life and kingdom. He experienced God in a powerful way. This story, which is assumed in Paul’s prologue, also helps to localize the big story of Scripture.

It is important to realize that the big story is not an up-in-the-clouds kind of story. Graeme Goldworthy says,

Since the Bible does not consist of a lot of abstract ideas or philosophical thoughts, but rather emphasizes the acts of God within creation and in history, it is necessary for biblical theology to avoid the merely abstract and to concentrate on the actual events and their interpretation as given in the Bible.[1]

So when one reads Romans (both the whole book, and the prologue specifically), it important to see that this big, wonderful narrative happened in the lives of real people, emphasizing the “acts of God within creation and in history.” That is where the power of these verses lies—everything that Paul says is rooted in a story that makes sense of all of history because it really happened in history.

The Personal Narrative of Paul’s Conversion and Ministry

As is typical of Paul in the prologues to his letters, he describes himself as a servant of Christ who was called to be an apostle by the grace of God, in order that he could bring about the “obedience of faith” in the nations. Paul realizes (as he does in Galatians 1) that he was set apart for the gospel of God. His own salvation is recorded in Acts 9, and that story shapes his thinking, which is demonstrated in his letters. Further, the book of Acts chronicles how God called Paul to be an apostle and to take the gospel to the nations, and that sense of identity that Paul has in his calling further shapes his letter. The biblical story deeply confronted Paul on the Damascus road, and his calling in life from that point on was to bring the biblical narrative to others. So not only does the narrative of the Scriptures gird up Paul’s writing, but his own experience shapes it. This further strengthens the reality that the biblical story works in actual history, changing the lives of real people.

The Personal Narrative of the Roman Community of Faith

While no details are given as to how the believers in Rome came to faith, underlying Paul’s letter is the understanding that the believers were changed by the Spirit (being called to belong to Christ). There is a story behind their formation as the community of faith at Rome. Paul knew that story, and he writes to them as a community of people changed by the Spirit of God for the mission of God in the world. Again, this shows that the biblical narrative is not a series of abstract principles, but a living story that takes place within human history.

The Ultimate Global Concern of the Narrative

Paul understood that the story was always meant to go to the ends of the earth. His particular calling as an apostle was to take the story of Christ to where he had not yet bee named (15:20). This global concern is fundamental to his understanding of the biblical narrative. The story of the Scriptures is one of God’s mission in the world. God created the world perfectly, but it fell and He promised redemption in His Son, which changes the lives of people by the Spirit. This story is missional in nature, and the mission is global, looking forward to the time when all the nations will confess Christ as Lord.

Searching for Integration

I would suggest that the above understanding of the first 8 verses can provide a model for working through the rest of the book of Romans. If Paul is writing with the big narrative (which is ultimately a global narrative), the sub-narratives, his own narrative, and the Romans’ narrative in mind, then we should expect to see those features underlying the whole book. The following diagram helps to explain how all of what was presented above can work together as a model for the rest of the book.

At the heart of the prologue (and the whole letter) is the main biblical story. This roots all of Paul’s teaching in reality and in the power of God. This story radically changed the course of Paul’s life, and his experience of the risen Christ shapes his thoughts in the letter as well. Paul’s letter is also thoroughly community-minded, for he writes to the Roman believers with the story of their coming to faith being foundational to his letter to them. All of this is rooted in Paul’s mission in life: the expansion of the Lordship of Christ to the whole world. So when one reads the book of Romans, these “narrative circles” can provide a model for understanding. The big story shapes everything, but it comes to life as it is experienced by Paul and other believers.

I would like to suggest further that not only does this provide a sound framework for understanding Romans, but it also gives a sober call for the community of faith in the 21^st century to embrace its calling in the world. James Smith says, “Crucial for our discipleship and formation is being able to write ourselves into the story of God’s redeeming action in the world—being able to find our role in the play, our character in the story.”[2] With the above model in mind, Smith’s words are helpful, because they urge the community of faith in the 21^st Century to “write itself into God’s story,” which means taking part in God’s mission. The community of faith, in its worship and teaching, is centered around the biblical story, but this story has come to its own communal life, and sends it out to embrace the mission of God in the world. So the church must be involved in the expansion of the gospel to all the nations, because that is its place in the biblical story.

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[1] According to Plan, 77.

[2] Who’s Afraid of Postmodernism?, 75.

“Sub-Narratives” in the Letter to the Romans

The last post was spent examining the main underlying narrative in the book of Romans. That narrative is the storyline of the Bible, concisely seen as a drama with four acts—creation, fall, redemption, and restoration. However, there is much more under the surface of the book of Romans than simply the main storyline of the Bible. There are sub-narratives that reinforce and help to explain the big narrative. Those smaller stories will now be examined in order to enrich my examination of the main underlying narrative in Romans.

Sub-Narratives in Romans

The sub-narratives in Romans can be divided into two categories: Old Testament stories, and the personal stories (which include two sub-categories, the stories of Paul and of the Roman community of faith). These two categories can be observed even in the first 8 verses of the letter. I will be examining the beginning of the book in my next post, but suffice it to note here several features. One, Paul relates part of his own narrative, how he was called by Christ to be an apostle to be a witness to the nations (a typical epistolary feature for Paul’s writing). Two, he relates some of the big-picture story of the Bible, that Jesus came in the flesh, but was the Son of God, and died and rose from the dead. Three, the Trinity is interwoven throughout the verses, referring to God who sent His Son, and the Spirit of holiness. Four, the narrative of Paul’s witness to the Roman believers is assumed as he refers to their community of faith. Because Paul is writing a letter to the Romans, there is a great deal of narrative background that must be assumed in order to understand what he is talking about. Indeed, the full impact of the letter on the Roman community of believers can only be felt when one realizes that Paul is writing to them with the story that changed their lives in mind, and he is writing to them as their friend, brother, and spiritual mentor, because of the story played out in history in which God used Paul as his witness to those people who are now formed into a community of faith that is called to be like Christ.

Old Testament Stories that Support the Main Underlying Narrative

In this section I am simply going to catalogue the OT stories that jump out from the text when one reads it with narrative in mind. The references cited are not meant to indicate that it is simply the one verse that suggests an underlying OT story, for often Paul goes on extended discourses that require understanding of a particular OT narrative. I will include the mainline narrative that was already discussed in the last post. This list is not exhaustive. Paul is so thoroughly biblical—meaning that he is grounded in the stories and teaching of the Old Testament—that his letters ooze with the Old Testament (the 16 uses of “it is written” alone would be enough to indicate this).

 

• 1.3 David and his royal line leading to Christ
• 1.20 The creation narrative in Genesis 1-2
• 2.12 The law given to the Jews in the Old Testament (especially through Moses)
• 2.25 Circumcision, especially the narrative of God’s covenant of circumcision with Abraham in Genesis 17
• 3.23 The Fall narrative of Genesis 3
• 3.24 The redemption narrative that starts at Genesis 3:15
• 4 The faith of Abraham narrative in Genesis 12-22
• 5 The Fall narrative of Genesis 3 (and correlation with the redemption narrative that starts in Genesis 3 by interrelating the first and last Adam)
• 7 Law narrative (provides background for Paul’s discussion of the struggle with doing right when one’s heart is evil)
• 8:19 Creation and Fall narrative of Genesis 1-3
• 8:23 Restoration narrative that is a theme throughout the OT
• 8.26-30  Pre-creation narrative of Triune intention to save
• 9:1 The narrative of the Israelites leading to the birth of Christ
• 9:6 Abraham and Isaac narrative from Genesis 17, 21 and following
• 9:10 Jacob and Esau narrative from Genesis 25 and following
• 10:21 The recurring theme in the OT of the Israelites breaking covenant with God
• 11.1-4  The Elijah narrative
• 11:17 The narrative of God’s building of his covenant people through the symbol of an olive tree
• 15:8 The expectation of the OT regarding the salvation of the Gentiles (expected narrative in promise/shadow form)
• 16:25 Reflects the big narrative of promising Christ, who finally came

It is important to not simply view the underlying sub-narratives as background information. They are more than that—they are the acts of God in history that reveal Himself to His people. Thus the sub-narratives give the divine context of the big narrative. The biblical story—creation, fall, redemption, and restoration—was (and is) acted out in space and time, through the covenants with Adam, with Abraham, with Isaac, with Jacob, with Moses, with the nation of Israel, with David, and through the deliverance God provided for his people continually. This then further reinforces the understanding that the truth of the book of Romans is rooted not in timeless propositional statements, but rather in the reality of God’s revealing of himself in history through the biblical narrative.

 

Personal Narratives in the Book of Romans

What I am calling the “personal narratives” in the book of Romans includes both the story of Paul’s conversion and ministry and the conversion and life of the community of faith in Rome. The first 8 verses contain the underlying conversion and call narrative of Paul, as well as the calling of the Roman believers. However, this continues throughout the book. What follows is another listing of these personal sub-narratives, though again, it is not an exhaustive list.

• 1.1 Paul’s conversion and calling to apostleship
• 1.5 Paul’s call to preach the gospel to the nations
• 1.6 The Roman believers were called to be God’s people
• 1.8f Paul’s desire to travel to see the Roman community
• 12.3-13 Narrative of life in the community
• 13.1 Representation of how the Christian community’s story should play out in relation to government
• 15.22 Paul’s personal travel narrative, with his desire to travel by Rome on the way to Spain
• 16.3-16 So many stories of individuals who came into contact with Paul (by name)
• 16.17 Stories of division in the body by divisive people
• 16.21-23 More stories relating to individual people

So not only is there a host of OT allusions that enrich our understanding of the biblical story, but there are personal stories that shed light on how the biblical story crashed into the stories of individual people and communities. To know the stories of every person mentioned in chapter 16 would be a wonderful testimony of the working of the grace of God in history. The biblical story is not something that relates only to “biblical” figures (which for the NT believers would have been the OT saints). The biblical story includes the present aspect of the story, which is the building of the church of Jesus Christ. And the biblical story is truly experienced when the old man is put to death, and the new man in the image of Christ is built up in one who has trusted in Jesus.