Sometimes I am amazed by what excites me these days. I am working through N. T. Wright's commentary on Romans found in the New Interpreter's Bible, Volume X. I find this incredibly fun and fulfilling. Maybe that shouldn't be surprising for a pastor, but 20 years ago I would not have thought, "Yippee! I get to spend a morning with just the bible, my commentary and my computer!" Especially the letter to the Romans, which, until I discovered N. T. Wright, has always been a bit hard to read. So, since I have this blog going, I think I will post some of my reactions here.
Today I am reading about Romans 1:16-17. This is the quote from Wright (p. 424) that struck me:
"In the gospel, God’s righteousness is unveiled. This revelation happens, not just in the events referred to in the gospel, true though that is, but in the very announcement of the gospel. . . .
The gospel message about Jesus . . . opens people’s eyes to see for the first time that this was what God had been up to all along. It enables Jews to see how the promises they had cherished had been fulfilled, quite otherwise than they had expected. It enables Gentiles to see that there is one true God, the god of Israel, the creator; that this god has purposed to set the world to rights at last; and that this god has now in principle accomplished that purpose. . . . Paul believed that the announcement of the gospel wielded a power that overcame the unseen forces, inside people and around them, that prevented them from responding in obedient belief and allegiance."
What I find interesting about this is that it is the announcement of the gospel that has power. I find myself hoping that Paul is right. Because that is what I do; I announce the gospel. And if it is the announcing that has power, that means that I can relax a little about explaining the gospel. Being who I am, I want to explain things, but I don't always know how to explain the gospel. I didn't come to relationship with Jesus because the benefits were explained to my satisfaction. I came to relationship with Jesus because somehow I met Jesus in the course of my experience with the Christian community. Can't really explain it, just know it happened!
So this word about announcing the gospel both rings true to my own experience and gives me the courage to keep on announcing in my own preaching without the burden of having to explain everything. Of course, this doesn't mean that I shouldn't make sense in what I say or that I shouldn't try to be coherent! But it does mean that I can trust the power of God working through my imperfect words to enable people to respond to God's faithfulness with faith of their own. Hallelujah!
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Exactly. The hardest part of evangelizing is that our relationship with the Word (God, Jesus, Holy Spirit, Trinity) is so personal and so unexplainable. One can work through the struggles with the words to better perfect that relationship but the relationship itself -- that is beyond words.
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