C.S. Lewis once said that we are like children who insist on making mud pies in the alley because we cannot comprehend the offer of a holiday by the sea. The idea seems ridiculous until you stand in your garage and consider the precious time that you traded for the stuff that hangs on hooks, clutters shelves and lays scattered on the floor. How many evenings did you work late to pay for something that you won’t be able to give away at your next garage sale? You laboured hours for things that you will one day be glad to be rid of. This is only one symptom of a larger human problem. The man in one of Jesus’ parables sold all that he had so that he might lay claim to a treasure of inestimable value. We will give up things of inestimable value for all manner of shiny stuff. If we are paying attention, the great exchange that Paul describes in Romans 1 sounds awfully familiar.
He describes people who have seen the glory of God choosing to not only let it go, but to trade it in for shame. This great exchange begins with a fundamental reality. Paul makes the unblinking claim that God is revelational. Yes, Scripture speaks of times when God seems to be far off or even when he hides himself, but these are the exceptions that prove the rule. It is not in God’s nature to retreat to his room. He takes centre stage. He is revelational– constantly seeking to make himself known. The heavens declare his glory and the sky proclaims his handiwork. Day to day pours out speech, and night to night reveals knowledge. His people are to shine his light among the nations. As the kids say, God flexes. All. The. Time. Paul would be disturbed by Christian spirituality that removes experience of God to a quiet time and a prayer because God is to be seen everywhere! Since the beginning of creation the heavens and depths, the mountains and plains have been thumping out a message, “Our creator is glorious! Oh, he is so glorious!” The message is so loud and clear that people are without excuse for what happens next, and what happens next would be unbelievable if it weren’t so familiar. People– a specific group of people to whom Paul refers with the third person “they,” take this glory and trade it in for something less. The truth of God for a lie. Worship for idolatry. Something greater for something less.
The consequences of this great exchange are devastating. God is remember, revelatory by nature, and when people reject the revelation of his glory, he responds by revealing his wrath. That’s an uncomfortable idea for us. The “wrath of God.” Maybe in some place and time people were comfortable talking about the wrath of God. Maybe the Biblical prophets. Maybe the old time preachers who would leave their congregations fearful and weeping. Maybe, but probably not. I don’t think that people have ever been particularly comfortable talking about the wrath of God, but there is one trick that makes the concept of God’s wrath more palatable. The trick is as old as time, and it is as simple as it gets. When you talk about the wrath of God it is best to talk about other people. If you’re an Israelite talk about the Philistines. If you’re a preacher talk about the sinner squirming on the front bench. If you’re a Christian talk about “the world.” If you make use of this trick you will suddenly find that talking about the wrath of God is a lot more comfortable and on occasion– even fun!
This is the very practice that Paul engages in here in Romans 1. Who is the wrath of God revealed against? Them. Why? Because they participated in the great exchange of God’s glory for shame, of truth for a lie and now they must face the consequence of their sin. Look over the second half of chapter one and begin to count up the the “theys,” the “theirs” and the “thems.” So, who are they? Who is this deviant group of people? Most importantly “they are not us,” but there’s more to it than that. Everybody in Paul’s audience knew exactly who he was talking about. It’s the gentiles! It’s the gentiles who have rejected God. It’s the gentiles who worship idols. It’s the gentiles who have given up the truth of God for a lie! For at least a portion of the Roman congregations the finger is pointing comfortably outward. God’s wrath is for them.
From this comfortable distance, let’s take a moment to examine God’s wrath because it does not seem to work the way that we might expect. There are no lightning bolts. People do not being to smoulder. Instead we read repeatedly, “God gave them up.” This is the way Paul describes the wrath of God, but what does it mean? There is some debate about this phrase. It could be passive. God has been holding onto a boat and now he simply lets go of the rope and lets the boat drift down stream. It could be active. God pushes the boat out into the stream and maybe knocks a hole in the bottom before he does so. What is clear is what God gives them up to– sin. This should disrupt our understanding of sin. It is not something that people get away with until they are eventually caught and have to pay the piper. Sin can be a punishment for sin. This is not as counterintuitive as it might seem. Imagine one who frequently blows his top. His day are often punctuated by red faced, spittle flying shouting. His rage is no doubt miserable for everybody around him. It is also miserable for him. The more he tries to use his anger to control other people, the more he finds his anger is controlling him. And the less he experiences peace. Or you might imagine someone who cannot control his lusts. The more he gives in, the less control he has, the greater his enslavement. And, the less his satisfaction. The scenario plays itself out with anyone of a multitude of sins. Could there be anything worse than being allowed to continue in sin? Anything more terrifying than God giving us up?
Of course, neither of these are the examples to which Paul turns. Instead he chooses something that fits his argument more closely, but seems horribly out of step for us. Those who participate in the great exchange of God’s glory for shame are handed over to a similar exchange of what Paul calls natural for unnatural relations. Various attempts have been made to make Paul’s words here more palatable to us. The first is to suggest that Paul is condemning clearly abusive practices. The second is that Paul knew nothing of the kind of loving, committed relationships we see today. The third option hangs on the use of the phrase “contrary to nature.” Perhaps what Paul is describing is people who behave contrary to their own nature. As in straight men who for some reason or another behave as gay men. Each of these attempts to make the example Paul chooses more palatable to us fail for their own reasons. Paul had language to condemn abusive practices. He did not use it. There is a chronological arrogance in assuming that only now do we know of loving, committed same sex relationships. Paul knew of these as well. To make the phrase contrary to nature mean one’s own nature and not the created order is to twist its meaning. The most honest approach is simply to say that Paul does not know what he is talking about. He is an ancient man, writing of ancient standards and his views here can be safely disregarded. My view of Scripture prevents me from doing this, but at least it does not try to make Paul say something he is not saying.
We must acknowledge that the finger that was comfortably pointing outward– at them is for some of us at least a little closer to home. When Paul begins to talk about sexuality he is– if not for his original audience, for us at least, talking about people we know. He is talking about our classmates, neighbours, friends, sons and daughters. He is talking about us. This makes the conversation more difficult! So, before we go any further, a word needs to be said. Near the end of this same letter Paul writes, “Therefore welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you.” In the grander context of the book of Romans what Paul is saying is something along these lines– Christ welcomed you when you had nothing to offer him. He welcomed you when you were far off, weak, and sinful. Now, you treat each other with that same generous hospitality. What broken sinners of all shapes and sizes and orientations need is a community of welcoming. In fact, they need more than that. They need to experience Christ’s welcome. God forgive us for falling short of that and help us to continue to become that community of welcome.
I am, at this point stepping quite gingerly. Which is, a problem because Paul doesn’t want, or expect his readers to be cautious. He expects that some of them at least will be in a frenzy, angrily (or perhaps gleefully?) pointing their fingers outwards at them. They are are filled with all manner of unrighteousness. They are evil. They are full of envy. On an on the list goes. There are 20 descriptors of them (verses 28-32). Paul has done everything but invite us to stand on a street corner with a sandwich board sign and a megaphone announcing that they are all sinners.
Just when we’re good angry about all of them, we turn the page and read the second chapter. “Therefore you have no excuse, O man, every one of you who judges.” That change in pronoun from they to you is the sound of the trap snapping shut. By prompting his reader to condemn others he has challenged them to condemn sin– and by condemning sin to condemn themselves. “You do the very same things.” We shouldn’t put too much weight on the phrase ‘the very same things.’ The trap Paul has set is not dependent on his readers committing the exact same sins in the exact same ways as those they are condemning. It is, nonetheless, an astute observation about human nature, isn’t it? Sometimes those who make the loudest judgements, are guilty of the very thing they condemn in others. The university president who proclaims himself the leader of a moral majority, is felled by a sex scandal. The politician who condemns tax evasion, has for years evaded paying his own taxes. But there I go again using the wrong pronoun. Condemning them and forgetting that I am condemning myself in the process. It happens all the time. The sins I most loudly condemn in my children are often the very ones I have shown them how to commit. The specks I see in the eyes of others are often made of the same stuff as the beam protruding from my own eye. Publicly and privately, Paul says all of our condemnations are judgements passed on ourselves. It is tempting here to take Paul’s meaning as something like, “We’re all sinners so don’t judge anybody,” but that cuts the heart of what he is saying. Sin is real and its effects are catastrophic. It cannot just be ignored with a shrug and the pronouncement that “We are all sinners.” We are facing a huge problem. We have rejected God and chosen a lie. We are sinking ever deeper into that lie. The solution is not simply to greet the problem with an everybody does it shrug. To do so would be to “presume on the riches of God’s kindness.” Instead we are to repent.
This may all sound rather familiar, but it makes a radical difference to the kind of community that the church is. Too often the church becomes a community that looks out at the world and says, “Oh what a mess! They really should repent.” I believe Paul would tell us that every time we say that we should be reminded to us look inward. There we will see that we should repent as well– or better first. Recognizing that the gap between they and us is not nearly so wide as we like to pretend, we are to lead the way in fearless repentance. We are called under the grace and kindness of God to acknowledge our sin and turn from it.