Let me stick with Friday's quote - it is quite full of images. The word "wrath" (orge) appears ten times in Romans. Only once does it appear as the wrath of God (Romans 1:18). On the one occasion where it appears to be something inflicted by God on people as a result of our wickedness (Romans 3:4) Paul expressly indicates the mythical nature of the terminology ("I speak in a human way"). On all the other occasions where the term appears (2:5, 8; 4:15; 5:9; 9:22; 12:19; 13:4, 5) it is impersonal. Even in the first case where the "orge" is linked to theou (God) the content of the wrath of God is itself a demystification of a vindictive account of God (whose righteousness has just been declared). For the content of the wrath is the handing over by God of us to ourselves. Three times in the following verses the content of the wrath is described in terms of handing over: 1:24; 1"26; and 1:28. That is to say, the wrath rather than being an act of divine vengeance, is a divine nonresistance to human evil. However, I would suggest that it is more than that. The word "handed over" has in primitive Christian sources a particularly subtle set of resonances. For God is described as handing over his own son to us in a text no further from our own than Romans 8:32. The handing over of the son to us and the handing over of ourselves to sin appear to be at the very least parallel. The same verb (handed over) is used in 4:25, where Jesus was handed over for our trespasses and raised for our justification. I would suggest that it is the handing over of the son to our killing him that is in fact the same thing as handing us over to our own sins. Thus wrath is life in the sort of world which kills the son of God. I'd like to jump right to the last line: Thus wrath is life in the sort of world which kills the son of God. The wrath brews among the people. God is always brining into reach the shalom of God's Reign. We turn from that relationship of healing and peace and creativity for the well-being of all and attempt to make something of our own - even if it means we must put to death the ways of God's Reign of peace. Instead of a balance of life in which a variety of people can live together within relationships of mutual care and respect, the tables get tilted toward one person or another (which is also a tilting away from others). People lust after the world that pleases them (a world with many faces and many actions) and forget about the shalom of God that seeks the welfare of all. People pursue their idea of a wonderful life that gives them all they want and more of the same until they cannot even see the life of God's promises. In the middle of all our cravings that pull us away from one another and make of ourselves gods who must have what we claim we must have, we enter a life within a world which kills the son of God - or let's say all the children of God - save those who we can use for our own good. Sounds like a hell brewing - me left with me and those who go along with me. Connection: We do 'shoot ourselves in the foot' with all the ways we attempt to be the controlling agent in life and leave God's promise of shalom sitting back unattended. Who has room within the day for God's peaceable Reign to come to life when I must grab what I want to grab for myself - or be what I want to be at any cost? O God of life, you remain beside us - faithfully the God of Hope and Promise even as we become people who attempt to turn away and rule our lives. Walk with us again this day. Amen. |
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