Tonight at the Roman’s study there was a question regarding Romans 4:15—why is it there?
The questioner was confused about the nature of violation of Law since this entire chapter doesn’t seem to be dealing with Law at all. After all, asked the student, isn’t the nature of Law to (1) prescribe and punish; and hasn’t Paul already established the (2) equality of Jew and Gentile to enter in by faith: why go back and deal with condemnation that comes about from Law breaking?
I have taken it to heart to write to you, dear brother, what really happened and why it is important to our faith. Yes, I know you received two earlier letters but I have heard that you were confused by their content, thinking (somehow) as if those things of which I wrote, really occurred. Therefore, I have taken it to heart to write you these things, most excellent Theophilus, things I have researched so that you may fully understand.
I’ve noticed something. You’re pretty confident when you settle in to read, well, anything. You’re no slouch; you intend to grasp the meaning of the text on the page. Even if the author is difficult (somewhat tedious but good for the gray matter like St. Augustine) or beyond your everyday thinking (like Adam Smith), you go into said reading session with the certain boldness of Genghis Khan expecting a victory. You seem to (rightly) think that the author intentionally wrote the material for you (or someone—perhaps some other cultural audience) to understand. You enter the sometimes arduous task with the happy expectation that even if figurative language is employed, the author actually wants you to “get it”. Like a low hanging apple, each phrase is placed within the reader’s reach.
I must momentarily pause and allow the person in the back over there to ask their question. I see that they are a Christian, just like me (the WWJD bracelet is obvious), and I must momentarily allow it. Throughout this series I’ve been treating the Bible as any other book, maybe a great book, but just a book nevertheless. The rest of the readers likely haven’t seen the Christians shifting uncomfortably at their seat the whole time:
When someone takes to write a book they write with a purpose. Sometimes the purpose is to entertain and other times it’s to teach a theory or an observed idea and other times it is to motivate you (or someone) to act. No one writes a book just to spout words because that would be a waste of everybody’s time.