In the Epistle to the Romans, how did Paul understand Jesus’ Passion?

At the very opening of Romans, it is already said that “this gospel [is that] which God had before promised by his prophets in the holy scriptures concerning his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, who was descended from David according to the flesh, and was declared with power to be the Son of God according to the spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead. Through him we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith among all the nations for his name” (1:2–5). We can see that Jesus’ death and resurrection are, first, the “promise,” second, the “declaration,” third, “grace,” and fourth, what teaches people to “believe.” Below, taking these keywords as my thread, I will discuss Paul’s understanding of Jesus’ suffering in Romans.

First, although in Romans Paul severely criticizes the Jews who take pride in possessing the law and are smug about it, Paul clearly, like the other New Testament authors, emphasizes the continuity between the New Testament and the Old Testament: Paul quotes a great many passages from the Old Testament in an effort to show that the gospel is precisely the fulfillment of God’s promise, that Christ did not come to abolish the law but rather to “establish the law” (3:31), that he is the “end (fulfillment) of the law” (10:4). Although Israel had turned away from God, God never left them; when the Gentiles are redeemed, “all Israel will be saved” (11:26). This necessarily brings up the question of what the law actually is, and what its meaning is.

In the first two chapters, Paul sharply criticizes, even mocks, the self-righteous Jews who “boast in the law and dishonor God by breaking the law” (2:23): they know how to use the law to judge others, but they do not know self-discipline, and cannot recognize their own sin.

Paul says with fierce rhetoric: “You who judge those who do such things and yet do them yourself, do you think that you will escape the judgment of God?” (2:3) God revealed the law to the Israelites, but its meaning was not to make people into judges; unquestionably, only God is the ultimate judge. Only God is entirely without sin, whereas human beings are sinners from birth. How, then, can one rely on the law to condemn the sins of others while forgetting one’s own sins? Paul believes that the true meaning of the law is “to make sin known” (3:20)

Paul points out that although the Gentiles did not receive an external law, “When Gentiles, who do not have the law, do by nature the things of the law, these, though they do not have the law, are a law to themselves. They show the work of the law written in their hearts, while their conscience also bears witness, and their conflicting thoughts accuse or else excuse them” (2:14–15). In such a case, Gentiles who follow “their own law” — that is, the “conscience” of “nature” — are, compared with Jews who have the external law always on their lips yet do not truly obey it, such that “not the hearers of the law are righteous before God, but the doers of the law who will be justified” (2:13)

Notice that Paul then goes on to say: “For no human being will be justified in his sight by works of the law” (3:20). This does not contradict the foregoing. In 2:13, Paul is speaking in terms of the contrast between Jews and Gentiles; here, “doing the law” means believing in the moral law within the heart (which is also given by God) and thereby doing things that accord with the law. Ultimately, “faith” is still the prerequisite. But Paul also emphasizes at the same time that, in order to receive salvation, merely believing in the moral law within one’s heart, without knowing “the righteousness of God,” is absolutely not enough. And Jesus’ suffering is precisely what “makes manifest” God’s righteousness to the world — “the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith” (1:17). That is to say, “faith” is both the prerequisite and the goal; Jesus’ suffering is precisely meant, through a real, living event, to make God’s righteousness plainly manifest to the world, to awaken people’s self-awareness of their own sins, and to make them firmly believe in the truths they already knew all along.

Here we can see that what Jesus’ suffering reveals is certainly God, sin, and the law, but Jesus’ mission is not to let people “know” knowledge about these things. In fact, Paul says: “since the creation of the world his invisible qualities, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, being understood through the things that have been made, so that they are without excuse” (1:20). And those Jews who dishonor the law are by no means ignorant; rather, they are “not willing to acknowledge God” (1:28). Therefore, Jesus did not come to help people understand something; he came to reveal to them that they should believe in, and obey, the truths that had already been made manifest in their hearts.

At the same time, Paul also sees the suffering Jesus as a kind of “model,” teaching people to “be conformed to Christ Jesus” (15:5). Jesus’ death and resurrection correspond to humanity’s death and resurrection — “For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his” (6:5). Paul believes that, just as Jesus offered up his own body as a sacrifice, believers also ought to “present your bodies as a living sacrifice” (12:1). But here the meaning of the model is by no means merely to provide a pattern of action for people to imitate; its fundamental significance still lies in human “faith” — “if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him” (6:8). Jesus, by truly rising from the dead, plainly revealed resurrection to the world, so that people might firmly believe in eternal life. Jesus also teaches people “not to be conformed to this world, but to be transformed by the renewal of your mind” (12:2).

Jesus’ sacrifice is even more God-given “grace” — “they are now justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus” (3:24). For although the gospel is promised by God, it is not something humanity is entitled to enjoy (God’s promise is itself grace in the first place) — “Now to one who works, wages are not reckoned as a gift but as something due” (4:4). But human beings have no wages that they deserve; on the contrary, it is human beings who are indebted to God — “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (3:23). Jesus’ death was not for the righteous or the kindly, but “while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (5:6). This represents God’s great forbearance toward the sins human beings had previously committed (3:25), and even more, it reveals God’s love to people (5:8). Through Jesus’ sacrifice, people “are saved from the wrath of God” (5:9), and thereby are “reconciled” with God (5:1). Only then can they “be saved by his life” (5:10)

Paul compares Jesus with Adam and points out that just as the fall of one man, Adam, brought sin and death to all humanity, now the suffering of one man, Jesus, also bestows great grace upon all humankind — “For just as by the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous” (5:19). Jesus’ suffering is a sacrifice on behalf of all humanity; his sacrifice has already won redemption for all people. Therefore, there is no need for human beings to do anything further in order to seek salvation: God has already forgiven everyone through Jesus’ suffering — “through the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous” (5:19). The only question is whether people will sincerely receive this grace freely given. That is to say, only by believing in God’s grace can one be justified; and as long as one believes in God’s grace, one can be justified. God’s righteousness is “for all who believe in Jesus Christ, for there is no distinction” (3:22).

December 4, 2006

A Zhudan

Translated from the Chinese original with AI assistance. The original text is authoritative.