Romans: Rooted in Jesus, Boasting Excluded

Remember Steve Austin? No, not the wrestler, the Six Million Dollar Man. When I was a child, I watched that TV series. The tag line was, “We can rebuild him. We have the technology. We can make him better than he was. Better, stronger, faster.” My friends and I would run in slow motion making the noise that highlighted his powers. He was better, stronger, and faster than anyone else. Every child wanted to be Steve Austin, better than everyone else. This tapped into a common human desire and drive, distinction (partiality).

We need something that distinguishes us, that sets us apart from others and confirms how we view ourselves, our self-identity. We bring this pattern into our faith, using our religious practices or obedience to God as leverage to exalt ourselves. This reveals that we are living in a world of comparison with others. We see this played out in the Roman church as the Jewish believers hold their ethnic heritage and religious practices over the Gentile believers, exalting themselves over their brothers and sisters.

But if God is impartial, not favoring one ethnicity over another, and the law condemns everyone as sinners, and our obedience doesn’t meet the standard of righteousness, then we’ve got nothing to hold over one another. As one friend of mine said, “the ground at the foot of the cross is level.” The point is that gospel humbles us and changes our identity, fundamentally changing how we think about ourselves and how we relate to each other. Join us Sunday as we consider the ramifications of the gospel.