Romans Lecture 4: Imperialistic Claims of First Century Christianity

[Rebbe]

PAUL'S LETTER TO THE ROMAN CHRISTIANS [4]

Analytical Commentary on Romans
The Imperialistic Claims of First Century Christianity

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Copyright © BRI 2016 All Rights Reserved Worldwide by Les Aron Gosling,
Messianic Lecturer (BRI/IMCF)

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"The great Rabbi Gamaliel had among his disciples one who, according to a passage in the Talmud, gave his master a good deal of trouble, manifesting 'impudence in matters of learning.' But his name is not given; he is remembered simply as 'that pupil'" (F.F. Bruce, The Spreading Flame, 1958, 81. See also J. Klausner, From Jesus to Paul, 1944, 310f; Babylonian Talmud, Shabbat 30b).

WHAT'S COMING IN OUR NEXT LECTURE
The Pharisee, Rav Shaul, hated all for which the Nazarene Yeshua stood. Rav Shaul hated even the very name of Yeshua. So much so was this the case that he received letters of authority from the Sadducean High Priest commissioning him to prosecute to the death all followers of what was known then as "The Way." Early extra-biblical, non-canonical sources explain that Shaul went after this sect with a vehement rage, killing and destroying in his wake anyone connected to the disciples of Yochanan the Immerser and the disciples of Yeshua the Nazarene. People are under the misguided impression that Stephen was the first martyr of the Christian Faith. But in Paul's own words he confessed to many more victims than Stephen.

As Shaul neared Damascus, where our sources inform us thousands of both the Immerser's followers and the disciples of Yeshua had fled, on the Road to Damascus Shaul encountered Yeshua. We all know of the account.

But it is this account that hangs heavily over each one of us who has had an encounter with the Messiah. In our next lecture, following this one, we shall look at the vital importance of the Damascus Road experience and what it teaches us about our own calling and election and choice in Grace.

For now, lets consider the first seven verses of the Introduction to the Letter to the Roman Christians.

THE TEXT
"Paul, a slave by nature of the emperor Yeshua the Messiah, a called apostle [ambassador], permanently set apart for the gospel of God, which he promised beforehand through the intermediate agency of his prophets in the holy scriptures, the gospel concerning his Son, who was descended from David according to his humanity and was demonstrated in the sphere of power to be Son of God relative to his divine essence by his resurrection from the dead, Yeshua the Messiah our Lord; through whom we have received Grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience to the Faith among all the Gentiles for the sake of his name, including yourselves who are also divinely summoned ones belonging to Yeshua the Messiah.

"To all God's beloved in Rome, who are divinely summoned saints: Grace to you and Shalom from God our Father and the Lord Yeshua the Messiah" (Romans 1.1-7 Tentative BRI/IMCF Version).

THE GOD PAUL SERVED
Paul was not called to be an apostle (really, ambassador) any more than a Christian today is called to be a saint. A Christian IS a saint , a consecrated and sanctified individual who locates community among other believers. The Greek informs us that in his own words he was a called , a divinely summoned , ambassador. There were many occasions when this divine right of Office was ridiculed or questioned or outright rejected by early Christians (and which error is being repeated in this EndTime day and age by a growing number of Messianic Christians who desire to remain loyal to a defunct and torn-up Sinai marriage contract) and we find Paul emphasising the authority of his Office on a number of occasions at the start of his letters. He was assuredly justified in so doing.

Certainly Paul saw himself as inseparably bound as a slave by nature to his Lord Yeshua, implied in the Greek text, and as I have mentioned previously, he exalted his Lord in terms of pronouncing him emperor (an act in writing that brought the sword of treason , beheading , into a perilous reality). But so sure was Paul of his vision of the Messiah, he threw caution to the wind and recklessly pursued his ambition to witness to Christ in Rome one way or the other. While he was a man seized with headstrong ruthless ambition, and on some occasions refuted the will of the holy Spirit, and at other times showed himself to be arrogantly presumptuous, he was one of the most humble men in my opinion who ever walked the surface of the earth. For the Christ he served so well was a kenotic Messiah, a self-emptying Lord, a self-offering Lord, a self-limiting Lord, a self-giving Lord whose Spirit "graciously continues to invite, prod, push, pull, lure, the heart [of humankind] into relationship" (Elizabeth Johnson) with him. May I remind my students it was Paul who was Christianity's first theologian because (unlike the other apostles) he looked at the bloodied tree of Golgoleth and asked the question, "Why?" It was Paul, too, who reflected on the nature of the babe born in a Bethlehem stable and pondered the probability, and fact, that "God [as Absolute Deity] was in Messiah, reconciling the world unto Himself" (2 Corinthians 5.19).

At this juncture let me share some thoughts from one of my all-time favourite authors Elizabeth Johnson, Distinguished Professor of Theology at Fordham University, NY. She writes, speaking of the Creative God in Christ, and contrasting a spiritual Nature with that of rabid carnality: "In controlling, manipulative, fearful, narcissistic, and egocentric relations, one party seeks to gain advantage by bending the other to his or her own will. The core integrity of the other is disrespected by ploys that intend to dominate. Mature love moves in the opposite direction. Parents rejoice when their child walks, talks, shows interest in the world, grows into a functioning, contributing person. Teachers rejoice when their students learn skills, pose questions, and begin to think for themselves. Friends, including those partnered in marriage, rejoice when the beloved grows in ability, confidence, power to be uniquely themselves. In our fractured world love is never perfect, always mixed with other forces. On balance, however, its effect is so life-giving because its unifying bond brings about profound growth toward genuine autonomy. In similar, yet dissimilar fashion, creating a universe capable of its own evolution is precisely an expression of the living God who is love, mature divine love" (Elizabeth A. Johnson, Ask the Beasts. Darwin and the God of Love, 2014, 159. Emphasis mine).

Johnson goes on to brilliantly articulate the Divine love of God that was so manifested in Christ while he was here on earth. In my recent series on the Biography of God (and to some extent also in my The Gospel of John series) I attempted to speak of Yeshua the Messiah in terms that glorified the secret God, Anochi I-Source , the whole, total, Undifferentiated and Unborn Being In Itself, our All-Good loving lavishly generous Deity in whom we "live and move and have our own being" (Acts 17.28) and who completely self-emptied in that awesome passion for a lost universe in a final demonstrative act of UNCONDITIONAL LOVE.

It was the apostle John, the writings of whom were not considerably welcoming of Paul, who spoke of Our Lord Yeshua as God entering the world in human "flesh" (Greek, sarx). It is intriguing that in his Prologue to his Gospel, John does not say that God as Word became a human being (anthropos) or even a man (aner). Rather he opts to utilise a word which in the Greek language often has negative connotations such as that which is sinful and selfish and opposed to everything that is spirit. In so doing, John has Anochi casting off HisHer Godhead and humbly incarnating in flesh (Gk., sarx; John 1.14). Here again in exposition Johnson displays a rare insight into the Mind of God, particularly in His intention of becoming human. She notes,

"Taking the ancient theme of God's dwelling among the people of Israel a step further, it [the becoming sarx] affirms that in a new and saving event the Word became flesh, entered into the sphere of the material to shed light on all from within" (ibid, my emphasis).

This is a most valid and important issue. To expose that which exists in reality from within flesh, Yeshua had to experience in what way being human in fragility, vulnerability, weakness, and contamination actually consisted in order to identify with a lost humanity. It was one thing for God to "know" from afar (in transcendence) what Israel was suffering in the concentration camps of Egypt (Exodus 3.7) and quite another to enter (in immanency) human flesh, to go without sustenance for long periods of time, to be treated with disdain, heckled into a subjected forced humiliation, tortured by brutal Roman antagonists who never understood the meaning of "love," have his pure unadulterated love spurned in the worst of ways, and finally be nailed writhing to a tree to be brought to the very brink of a frightening point of death over and over continuously, while experiencing his bruised, slashed and broken body assailed with sharp flint and rocks cast by those who hated and opposed him at every turn, as he struggled to catch his next excruciating breath into heaving, bleeding lungs. Again, as our Professor of Theology takes pains to express, God suffers. God does so in that which is new in the cross event namely "divine participation in pain and death from within the world of the flesh. Now the incarnate God knows through personal experience, so to speak" (ibid, 203).

It is THIS Creative Infinite Intelligence and Everlasting Love THAT we preach , our FatherMother God Anochi whom Paul understood and grasped and held close to his heart of hearts. Paul was in a word "in love" with his God, comprehended through His Son the Lord Yeshua the Messiah. Indeed, I have taught about this God for decades, the ONE who incarnates in everything HeShe creates. My writing attests to this as a fact. Yet, while God is a TRAUMA, God IS Love. And, love can be very traumatic indeed. Whatever the case, God (while Transcendent) is in no way differentiated from His Creation (in His immanence) for ALL is ONE with God.

Because God is in all things which HeShe has brought forth , and, hence, we possess a panentheistic view of Godhead ,  intelligence is ALIVE (if not in some cases temporarily dormant) in the Creation Itself for God has, by virtue of His BE-ing in that same creation, richly blessing our universe with its own determinations and evolving will to create of and by Itself bringing forth over hundreds of millions of years THAT diversity which the Lord God (as Creative WORD) has intended. This is evident from the first chapter of Genesis itself in the Torah, for God said: "Let the waters bring forth" and "Let the earth bring forth" AND THEY DID SO in a progressive, lengthy, wonderful way.

Our Gospel is a Gospel of PEACE, of an authentic SHALOM, and that Gospel of Peace is the story of a God who (in an acute disposition of kenosis) became human to die for His enemies. It is the dying God who evokes within a spiritual humanity a desire, not to avenge, but to equally love our enemies. In fact, in light of a recent massacre in Orlando Florida in the mighty USA, we can quote the late Martin Luther King Jr from his insightful book Where Do We Go From Here: Chaos or Community? (1967) , King's last book prior to his assassination. It is reverently and appropriately utilised by me at this point in this series. He wrote,

"The ultimate weakness of violence is that it is a descending spiral, begetting the very thing it seeks to destroy. Instead of diminishing evil, it multiplies it. Through violence you may murder the liar, but you cannot murder the lie, nor establish the truth. Through violence you may murder the hater, but you do not murder hate. In fact, violence merely increases hate... Returning violence for violence multiplies violence, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that" (64,65).

Paul was in love with the God of love. This fact is evident all through his epistles, and it surfaces continually throughout the journeys of Paul in the Lukan Acts. Paul was driven. But so is everyone (I must assume) who is associated in an intimate way with the BRI/IMCF. THIS GOSPEL MUST be evangelised throughout the world BEFORE the parousia of the Son of Man becomes an ultimate reality.

So in love with this kenotic God was this first century radical Pharisee, that in his exalting of the Mashiach as the DIVINE IMAGE of the Creative Intelligence that brought forth the universe only out of love, Paul extracted from the extant Roman empire the language tools of Roman government and superimposed them over and onto the Messianic Movement of the late Second Temple Period.

PAUL CREDENTIALED AS AN APOSTLE & AMBASSADOR
Paul firstly denies Nero Caesar the title of emperor for the true and valid emperor of the world is the crucified Jew and Davidic Pretender, his Lord Yeshua. Secondly, Paul speaks of his election and calling as a divine summons to represent this Jewish Christianity as an ambassador. We have seen in his opening introduction Paul speaks of himself not as one called to be an apostle as so many versions wrongly translate the Greek. Rather Paul attests to the fact that he was "a called apostle." God called Paul to be that which he already and authentically was... and what he agreed to with God before entering our world.

The term used by Yeshua himself in training his twelve (at that time) loyal disciples was "apostle" (Matthew 10.1,2). Knowing this preference of the Lord for this terminology (apostolos meaning ambassador: equivalent in Aramaic/Hebrew, sheliach) from existing oral traditions about Yeshua circulating at an early period, Paul felt justified in drawing on the word in his explicative narrative. Of course, an ambassador is attached to an embassy, and the early ekklesias (congregations or assemblies) were viewed by the apostle as just that , local embassies of the Kingdom or Government of God.

But not every disciple in Paul's estimate was an ambassador or apostle. God's Spirit of ambassadorship was limited to only a few diligent disciples of Christ who were equipped to evangelise the nations at a level of governmental service. They were directed by God to be "sent forth." For, scholars Dr. Ron Cottle and Dr. John P. Kelly have observed that as with Timothy with Paul, the chosen disciples of Messiah "took on the isopsuchos , same soul or DNA of their Lord" (Philippians 2.20). Early in his ministry Yeshua had previously led them to the top of a mountain in Syria associated from ancient times with the gods from outer space and there poured himself into them. "He did not release them until they were thoroughly filled with His vision and values."

Throughout his writings Paul also draws from Rome another word which is more representative of "ambassador" and which was used widely in Greek literature (Greek was the language spoken by the Romans). The other Greek word Paul uses for the term "ambassador" is presbeuo. It is used of the emperor's legate: the one empowered to actually speak on behalf of the emperor. And isn't this how Paul uses it? "As though God did beseech by us: we urge on Messiah's behalf , Be reconciled to God" (2 Corinthians 5.20b). Keep in mind also that Paul takes liberty by applying to Yeshua the term "Saviour" which was an expression always intended to speak of Caesar, and he resorted to write of our "citizenship" which was equally a Roman-oriented word. Further, Paul spoke of "my Gospel" which subverts the imperial gospel (euangelion) of Caesar.

On the basis of Paul's Ruach HaKodesh-inspired pen alone we can ascertain that presbeuo is much more expansive in application than apostolos when it comes to being actualised by Christians. Paul's teaching is straightforward when it comes to Christian participation in this present world system, and on this matter he is joined by both John and Peter. Modern Messianic believers are not to be involved at all in the present evil world system , rather, they are to consider themselves exclusively to be Ambassadors of the Government of God (2 Corinthians 5.20a).

We are OFFICIAL spokesmen on behalf of the Messiah. We speak on HIS AUTHORITY. We may not be "sent forth" to the nations in the one sense of apostolos, but in our daily capacity in seeking "holiness" (the sanctified character of Christ) we can and ought to be included in the category of presbeuo. Let me explain this further. In other places this word is used in reference to imperial service on behalf of Caesar (Ephesians 6.20; Luke 14.32). Recall my earlier suggestion, that Paul takes the language of Imperial Rome and utilises it as a Messianic parallel to that of pagan Rome. And again, early documents reveal that the Imperial secretary of Caesar used the term pepisteumai ("I am entrusted") and Paul again takes this common usage of Rome and applies it to himself, as an Imperial secretary to Yeshua the Messiah in writing to Mashiach's embassies, the ekklesia of God (Galatians 2.7 "committed"; 1 Corinthians 9.17 "committed"; 1 Thessalonians 2.4 "put in trust"; 1 Timothy 1.11 "committed to my trust"; Titus 1.3 "committed"). Once more for emphasis, the opening statement in Paul's Letter to the Roman Christians refers (in Greek expansion) to Yeshua as the Emperor , a real slight against Nero if ever there was one. There can be no doubt that we are Ambassadors of Messiah, representing the Government of Almighty God.

Christians today, by and large, have LOST the essentials of the original Gospel. They have replaced those essentials by insisting on their going to heaven when their "Jesus" returns. To them, he is returning to take them to heaven and (at the same time) to destroy what's left of the earth. The precise opposite is in fact what will take place. The Bible informs us that the Lord Yeshua is returning to "destroy them that destroy the earth" (Revelation 11.18). Yeshua does not want to destroy the earth , he wants to SAVE the planet from greedy, grasping, grubby, gluttonous little politicians and other ravenous, rapacious morons.

Moreover, Yeshua said, "In my Father's house are many stations [abodes, offices]. If not I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself: that where I am" , where will Yeshua be? In Jerusalem, ruling the earth from a restored Davidic throne , "there [in that place] you may be also!" (John 14.1-3).

THE NINE REQUISITES OF AN AMBASSADOR
Its an amazing fact that the qualifications and requisites of a Second Temple period Roman ambassador (or, emissary) were fundamentally the same as those acknowledged and accepted in today's world. Remember, if we are familiar with our very important Discipleship lectures, there are nine vitally important requisites of an Ambassador of this world's governments. How much more do these requisites apply to those of us who take our calling seriously?

[1] An Ambassador represents his government and/or sovereign in a foreign country.

[2] An Ambassador is attached to the Embassy of his nation in a foreign territory.

[3] An Ambassador must be loyal to the Constitution of his government or nation.

[4] An Ambassador must be aloof of the corrupt values and the attractions of the alien state in which he resides.

[5] An Ambassador must obey the laws and meet the expectations of his own government.

[6] An Ambassador must possess a passport and be familiar with the terms and demands of the passport.

[7] An Ambassador must report back regularly to his headquarters and to his chief of state.

[8] An ambassador must attract good will to his State.

[9] Any act of (a) flagrant disobedience, any act of (b) gross incompetence, any act motivated by (c) effeminate behaviour could result in immediate termination of office as an Ambassador and instant recall to answer charges brought against him. If the charges are substantiated an Ambassador can be tried for treason.

Clearly, an Ambassador of the Kingdom or Government of God CANNOT allow himself or herself the privilege of "mixing it" with the Kingdom of haSatan! To do so is tantamount to treason.

If we belong to Mashiach NOW is the time to grow. TIME REALLY IS RUNNING OUT!

WHY YOU ARE PARTICIPATING IN BRI/IMCF
Our precious Lord Yeshua promised his original disciples AUTHORITY over the nations of the world. That's why he chose 12 apostles, for each of them was to lovingly rule over one of the 12 tribal divisions of the restored Israeli State at his return (Matthew 19.28; Luke 22.29,30). So it is that Messianic believers who overcome are promised positions of authority in God's Government (Luke 19.12-19; Revelation 2.26,27; 3.21). We are in training now to learn the principles of RULERSHIP for later. We must learn now to rule. We must learn now to be disciplined. We must learn now to inculcate the characteristics of Messiah's loving and mature ways, learning now to grasp God's knowledgeable understanding, and to self-release into the Divine Nature (Galatians 5.13-25). We have the golden opportunity now to overcome the unrighteous proclivities of the natural dark nature. If we are Messianic believers , LITERAL sons and daughters of God the Father , this is our last life before we partake of a quantum leap into the Glory of Mashiach. This is not a dress rehearsal. It's the main event!

There can be no doubt where the Christian Community, especially those who dwelt in Rome, saw their allegiance. It was decidedly not to the Roman State. To the mind of the first century Christian (and let us not be ashamed of using this term) the Messianic Community was the EMBASSY of the alternative GOVERNMENT OF MASHIACH , the representative nucleus of the KINGDOM OF GOD , which God the Father was creating through a period of intense qualification of His obedient and loyal servants to attend Heaven's interests. It is essentially for this reason that I often utilise the appellation, when speaking of the scroll of the Apocalypse, "War Scroll of the Yeshua School."

This manuscript IS John's response to Nero's aggressive order to exterminate the Christian masses. It is John's declaration of WAR on Rome. We must never lose sight of this perspective as we read the Apocalypse, and most certainly as we progress through the Letter to the Roman Christians. The first century believers, whether Jew or Gentile, were not going to their deaths because they believed in a set of doctrines! They were on Nero Caesar's "hit list" precisely because they constituted a movement which Nero feared would eventually topple him, and Nero could see that it could, left unopposed, even pose an ultimate threat to Rome itself. As it turned out Nero was quite correct in his assessment.

We shall see as we continue on in this series that Nero's reactionary policies toward Christians came largely as a result of Paul's confrontational Letter to the Roman Christians which not only denounced Nero Caesar and his government, but which spelt [sic] out an outright invitation for one of the Christian ekklesia to take matters into his own hands and to kill the emperor!

Shocking, but true.

The bottom line is that we are dealing with the late Second Temple period when the aroma of Jewish revolution hung heavily over the Mediterranean region, and many of the Christians (along with the Zealot revolutionary arm of the Qumran sectarians who were aligned with them), were agitating for the revolution against Rome to become a reality. Remember this: the original Jewish Yeshua Messianic Movement was not in any way to be compared with what we see about us today as "the Christian Church." In no way can there be a comparison! The Messianic Movement was entirely an agitation within the existing Judaisms of the late Second Temple period. It was nationally, culturally, ethnically and politically a powerful Jewish force governed until 62 CE by James (Yaakov) the alternative High Priest of Jerusalem (via Qumran), head of what is today known as "the Jerusalem Church," and half-brother of the Messiah Yeshua. Indeed, in the Messianic Scriptures we have stark internal evidence in letters from two apostles that are replete with both warnings of the coming doomed insurrection against Rome and replete with descriptions of the essential carnal characteristics of the Zealot war machine , the major source of agitation that would spark the fiery inferno that would utterly engulf and conflagrate [sic] the entirety of the land of Judaea. The two letters? 2 Peter and Jude. Both apostles penned their works on the very eve of the rebellion and warned Christians against participating in it. Intriguingly, almost identical comparisons can be made when considering these letters with the verbal descriptions given of the Zealots by Josephus in his War of the Jews , in almost word for word fashion.

After all, Rome was the prophesied EndTime empire expected to rule the world before the Second Advent of Yeshua the Messiah to reign in God's Kingdom over the entirety of the earth. Early Christianity was a stark statement of Messianic defiance against Rome , and ought not be interpreted as a Catholic or Protestant conglomeration as it is today. To see things in this light is to devalue the authentic inclusions of the New Covenant Scriptures.

Paul must be read wearing Second Temple period garments, not 21st century western dress.

THIS CONCLUDES LECTURE FOUR

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