Read: Romans 1:8-17 - STEP Bible, Bible Gateway
Isn’t it interesting how St Paul begins his letter in earnest by thanking God for the Roman Christians’ faith? Paul rejoices! He praises! He gives thanks! And he encourages. That is really remarkable. Remember, Paul doesn’t know the Roman church in person. But what he has heard of them is sufficient to fill him with joy and gratitude for them.
That joy and gratitude prompts Paul to want to come and visit them. He hopes, he says (v. 12) that in visiting them, his message and preaching might encourage them in their joy, and that witnessing their faith in person will encourage him in his. Paul clearly believes that other people’s faith builds up our own (and vice versa). But he also believes that the power of the Christian faith is itself demonstrated in the fact that very different people – people separated by culture, background, geography, or even epoch – are united by it. And in their unity, they declare that all that matters now is faith in Christ. This last point, in Paul’s theology, is the good news itself, and it forms the basis of all Paul will go on to say in his letter.
There are three things for us to take away from this passage, then. The first is the value of thankfulness for our friends in Christ. The second is how important it is to encourage other Christians. And the third is to rejoice that we share this gospel: faith in Christ is all that matters. If we do just three things this Lent, let it be these.
These devotions were originally written for the parish of All Saints, Ascot and we are grateful for permission to republish them on Fulcrum.
Patrick is curate of All Saints’, Ascot in Berkshire. A musicologist by training, he is married to Lydia, a university lecturer, and dad to Madeleine. He writes (sporadically) at benedixisti.wordpress.com and tweets (even more sporadically) as @patrickgilday.
Yes: three good points.
Phil Almond