For not the hearers of the law are justified with God but the doers of the law shall be justified. Romans 2:13

Doers – This is a nearly impossible verse for Augustine and Luther (and those who follow their lead). It’s impossible because Paul unequivocally says that those who do the commandments of God are justified. Actually, it’s even worse than that. Paul says that those who merely hear God’s commandments but do no do them are not justified. This is about as strong a statement about the necessity of following God’s instructions in Torah as you will find in the New Testament. And it comes from the apostle of “grace.” What can we say?

A quick look at the Greek confirms the dilemma. The word is poietes, from the verb “to make” (poieo). It clearly means someone who performs the required commandments. There’s not much wiggle room here. Paul says it plainly: justification comes from keeping the commandments.

This conclusion is so antithetical to the long-standing Christian doctrine of sole fide, sole gratia that we are apt to do whatever we can to reinterpret Paul’s statement. Unfortunately, we don’t take Paul seriously. We retain the paradigm rather than recognizing that something doesn’t make sense. It isn’t Paul who is confused. It’s our interpretive scheme. Thanks to Augustine, the early church fathers, the Reformers and the evangelicals, we would rather believe what we want to believe than listen to the apostle. Paul doesn’t see conflict. Grace and works form a covenant together. We are the ones who split them apart – and we have struggled with this text (and others) ever since.

So, Today’s Word is not about this text. The text is clear enough. Today’s Word is about the paradigm that causes us to read the text as either a problem for our theology or a confirmation of Paul’s unity of law and grace. This paradigm is based on an association between the general pagan religious requirement to placate the gods and the Jewish idea of works of righteousness. Pagan religions often view men as victims of the gods. In order to survive in this world, paganism requires that men offer sacrifices to appease the gods and gain their favor. We find this thinking in all kinds of pagan religions, from the worship of Ba’al and Moloch to the Greeks and native Americans. When thinkers read passages in the Bible that described sacrifices and worship rituals, they connected these with pagan appeasement. Therefore, they thought that Israel practiced a more sophisticated version of appeasement theology. This association became the opposing idea to Christian grace. In other words, according to this paradigm, Judaism developed from prior pagan rituals but was still connected to the basic idea of placating YHWH, an ancient god of anger.

Christianity takes a significant step forward by rejecting this ancient pagan idea. According to this paradigm, Christianity rejects any connection between “earning” God’s favor and prescribed religious rituals. Therefore, Christianity stands opposed to Judaism.

This paradigm is not based on Scripture. It is based on a general concept of religion, independent of the actual prophetic tradition of Israel. Therefore, it reads the Hebrew Scriptures within the paradigm – and ignores or reinterprets contradictory passages to fit the paradigm. The biggest problem is really right in front of us: How do we take off the blinders?

Unfortunately, many wonderful and devoted believers will not be able to take off the blinders. The paradigm is so much a part of their way of looking at the world, and has been reinforced by the Church for so long, the very idea that there might be another way is so frightening they refuse to consider it. They are sure of their beliefs, so forget the problems and the text. This is the way it has always been. It takes enormous patience, gentleness, yes, and sometimes shock, to remove the fear of examining the text. For some, it just isn’t going to happen.

But here’s the caution. We can’t make it happen either. This is God’s arena. We live according to our understanding of His unity, and He uses us to bring about awareness and truth. Insistence will not turn the tide. Love will. It is important to be aware of the paradigm shift that brought about this unwarranted chasm. It is important to know that Scripture is consistent in its grace-Torah perspective. But “love your enemies” is still the authorized way of life. Seek truth. Live Torah. Hope in His faithfulness.

Topical Index: paradigm, law, grace, Romans 2:13