First let's get something clear about erroneous notions of Paul and his founding a new religion, which he didn't. True, the halakhah of his Judaism switched from the Pharisaic oral law to the Ruach Hakodesh, but his religion was still one of the Judaisms of the time, not a new non-Judaism Gentile religion.

MOSHIACH'S LETTER THROUGH THE SHLIACH SHA'UL TO THE BRIT CHADASHA KEHILLAH IN ROME

It is C.E. 56/57 in Corinth, Greece. Shliach Sha'ul knows he may

be killed shortly in Jerusalem, but he feels compelled,

especially for the sake of the Moshiach's Shul world-wide

to risk the trip to Jerusalem anyway.

Therefore, if he may never make it to Rome personally, as had

been his ambition for many years, the next best thing to going

there is to send a complete summmary of his Besuras Hageulah. A

Greek-speaking deaconess from a nearby congregation named Phoebe,

was on hand and willing to make the perilous journey to deliver

the letter to the believers in Rome.

Because we know that Aquila and Priscilla were in Ephesus around

C.E. 55 (I Cor. 16:19) and in C.E. 65-68 (II Tim. 4:19), we do

not know for sure whether Rom. 16 is intended for them in Ephesus

(Phoebe stopping there along the way to Rome, delivering a copy

of Romans to the Ephesians) or in Rome, though many scholars,

perhaps lacking sufficient evidence, believe this couple is back

in Rome where they originated (Acts 18:2). In any case, Shliach

Sha'ul of course has no way of knowing that he himself will be in

Rome in less than three years and as a prisoner. This happens

just a little over four years before Nero has his famous fire set

in Rome (C.E. 64) and then blames the Roman believers for it and

starts his notorious persecution, in the course of which Shliach

Sha'ul and Shliach Kefa are eventually martyred according to

reliable tradition.

Some of the things Shliach Sha'ul says in the letter to the

Romans he has probably already said around eight or so years

before when he wrote Galatians (compare Gal. 3:6-9 to Rom.4).

However, when he wrote to the Galatians (probably from Antioch,

Syria around C.E. 48/49 just prior the Acts 15 Jerusalem

Council), Shliach Sha'ul was dealing with other matters.

Galatians was very likely the earliest of his canonical epistles,

and it had to be very polemical and self-defensive because

Judaizers were preaching a false Besuras Hageulah and were

calling Rav Sha'ul's status as a Shliach into question.

Therefore, a calmer exposition of the Besuras Hageulah itself was

needed, especially one that took a more comprehensive look at the

Jews and Gentiles as heirs of Abraham, in view of the fact that

Jews were already showing (in the more than twenty-five years

since the resurrection of the Moshiach) an amazing resistance to

the Besuras Hageulah, an unbelief that seemed to throw the

veracity of the Tanakh's promises to them into question. In fact,

their amazing unbelief seemed to throw doubt as well on the

credibility of Moshiach Yehoshua as the Moshiach of Israel and

even on the salvation of Israel itself. Shliach Sha'ul had to

explain all of this in terms of the Shluchim's authoritative

Besuras Hageulah he preached in all the Brit Chadasha kehillot.

Since some Gentiles were beginning to lose patience with the Jews

because of the persecutions caused by unbelieving Jews in the

synagogues, Rav Sha'ul needed to explain the fidelity of G-d, the

wrath of G-d, His righteousness as an unearnable gift, His

awesome election, and the need, therefore, to fear G-d in utter

humility rather than get proud and arrogant against those of the

Jewish people who were unbelieving.

For Rav Sha'ul's Besuras Hageulah proclaims that salvation is a

work that is G-d's work from first to last. The call of G-d's

unmerited favor, the mercy of his forgiving love, the gift of

aquittal and righteous status before his judgment throne, his

regenerating us by calling a new creation forth out of nothing

(see Rom. 4:17; 9:7-8), all this--in short, the Besuras Hageulah

--springs from G-d alone, disclosed to us in Abraham's faith (Gn.

15:6; Rom. 4:3,9,20-22), and revealed to us through saving faith

alone (Rom. 3:21-31). G-d's salvation is the work of G-d and not

of man and is altogether by emunah (faith) (Rom. 1:17; 3:28).

Romans 9:11-12 argues that G-d's salvation is a work solely of

G-d that leaves man with nothing to boast in. G-d's purpose in

alerting Rebecca that Jacob was chosen beforehand and selected as

a "vessel of mercy was to show that the basis of salvation is

unmerited favor rather than by "works of the law" (mitzvot or

ma'asim), which is a rabbinic expression. Works of the law were

not mere self-selected good deeds or acts of charity but were the

statutory works (supposedly 613 commandments by a later count),

the doing of which legalists among the Jews assumed would fulfill

the law and become the basis for justification and salvation (see

Rom. 9:31-33). Apparently this was Rav Sha'ul's "Besuras

Hageulah" when he was Saul the the persecutor (Phil. 3:2-9)

before he was regenerated on the Damascus Road and made into a

new creation as a gracious act of the One who was his enemy. Rav

Sha'ul's salvation and acquired righteous status before G-d's

judgment throne was completely apart from any priniciple of

deserts, wages, reward, debt, or obligation placed on G-d by

human effort (Rom. 3:28; 4:2-8) since Rav Sha'ul was a culpable

persecutor with a blind heart and a darkened understanding.

Legalistic religious merit-earning is impossible anyway, for no

one will be justified (acquited of guilt and pronounced

righteous) by deeds prescribed by the law (Rom. 3:20-21) for the

law only increases the knowledge of sin (3:20).

Romans 9:11-12 says that we are not saved by works but because of

Him who calls us. However, Col. 3:12 says, "As G-d's chosen ones,

clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, meekness,

and patience." So G-d's call and election does require a human

response (II Shimon Kefa 1:10; Phil. 2:12), and man is

responsible before G-d for his own decisions. The Jacobs of the

world may have been chosen, but the Esaus of the world did sell

their birthright, "which is also what they were destined for" (I

Shimon Kefa 2:8). Therefore, Esau could not say to G-d, "Why have

you made me thus" (Rom. 9:20)? The Pharisees did "reject G-d's

purpose for themselves" (Luke 1:30) so G-d's gracious invitation

is not irresistible. Remember the rich young ruler? G-d desires

everyone to be saved (I Tim. 2:4) and takes no pleasure in the

death of the wicked (Ez. 33:11). Nevertheless, if anyone is

puffed up and thinks he is something because he has come to

salvation, through faith, let him be humbled in the fact that "as

many as had been destined or ordained (tasso meaning belong to,

be ordered among) for Chayyei Olam (Eternal Life) became

believers" (Acts 13:48). A man's salvation is not his own doing,

it is all of G-d (Yochanan 1:13; Rom. 8:29-30) and all of grace

(Eph. 2:8-9). Rom. 8:30 speaks of G-d's calling us, his summons

to us. It also speaks about his deciding beforehand (proorizo, to

meaning to predestine) which has to do with the eternal divine

determination of salvation. (See Ps. 139:16; Jer. 1:5; Gal. 1:15;

Eph. 1:4-5; I Th. 5:9; II Th. 2:13; Rev.l3:8; 17:8; Yochanan

6:44; Rom. 11:5). This doctrine should not lead us to boast

against those who lack faith, but rather to fear (Rom. 11:18-21)

and examine ourselves to see if our faith is real and alive and

active in love. True faith will compel us to witness, even if our

witnessing makes us suffer for the sake of the elect (Col. 1:24;

II Tim. 2:10), since how can they believe without a witness (Rom.

10:14)? This doctrine should not lead us into libertinism and

lethargy, since these very g-dless sins would themselves throw

our salvation into question (I Cor.6:9-10; Gal. 5:19-21; Mt.

24:42-51).

Shliach Sha'ul begins his Besuras Hageulah by placing everyone in

the world, Jews and Gentiles alike, guilty and condemned already

before the divine bar of justice--without excuse (anapologetous,

1:20; 2:1). Shliach Sha'ul declares that the Creator in his

creation is rationally knowable, capable of being known (gnoston

1:19) because his eternal power and divine nature shine forth to

the eye of reason (noeo to understand, 1:20) from His creation of

the cosmos (1:20). Moreover, man has an intuitive moral

awareness, not written down at the hand of Moses, but a nomos

agrafos, an unwritten law written on the heart. G-d has not left

himself without a witness of his will, because the existence of

this G-d-given moral law written on the heart is attested by the

law-regulated conduct of Gentile nations who don't possess the

law of Moses, and is also attested by the conscience, and by the

accusing or excusing thoughts of man (2:14-15). Therefore,

mankind knows he is worthy of death (1:32) when he refuses the

Creator the thanksgiving and service which is His due (1:21) and

instead knowingly (1:19,21, 28,32) affronts the divine majesty

with idolatrous acts of vileness (1:21-32) in the bondage of the

power of sin, even while he suppresses the truth in

unrighteousness (1:18).

The religious person is also under the power of sin (3:9). So

anyone, even a Jew knowledgeble enough to teach the ethics of

Torah, who condemns lesbians, homosexual offenders, and the whole

array of evil-doers in ch. 1, sure that these evil-doers, and not

he himself also, is lost--any religious person such as this--is

condemning himself as well (2:1), because knowing the good and

the proper thing to do is not enough. One must do the good (2:13,

25-27), something which is impossible for the aggregation of the

old humanity fallen from its original glory (3:23), also

impossible for anyone (3:9-23), Jew or Gentile, enslaved by the

law of sin (7:23) unless the effecting will (7:18) of the new

humanity in Moshiach Yehoshua the Moshiach is received from the

Father by means of the Ruach Hakodesh in a new birth (6:4) from

one humanity to the other (see chs. 5-7), with the result that

the power of sin is broken (6:1-7:25).

One must decide which cosmology to believe, Rav Sha'ul's or

modern evolutionists. Shliach Sha'ul says that sin entered the

world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way

death came to all men, because all sinned (Rom. 5:12).

Evolutionists say that the first hominids evolved over five

million years ago in Africa and that one branch of hominids,

called homo erectus, spread across the globe some time after 1.6

million years ago. Homo sapiens (the name given to the subspecies

we think of as modern humans) is said to have come from Africa

some time in the last 500,000 years. These scientists can't agree

as to whether the Neanderthal brutes are evolutionary

grandparents or only distant cousins of modern man. Of course,

these kinds of speculations are presented with more dogmatic

certainty than the evidence warrants. But the point is that in

such an unscriptural cosmology "Adam" didn't exist, much less sin

or introduce death. But if Shliach Sha'ul were wrong about the

first Adam, how can we trust what he says about the second Adam?

It is better to trust in the L-rd and not lean on one's own

understanding. None of the fossil remains of subhuman or hominid

species give infallible proof that these animals possessed a

complex culture or complex language or moral awareness or

awareness of G-d's glorious presence or any of the other

characeristics of Biblical mankind as depicted in Genesis 2-3.

And since the fossil record can by no means corroborate the

speculations of evolutionary theory (the fossil record lacks

transitional forms between the major kinds of living things), it

is folly to put one's trust in fantasies that try to pose as

scientific fact. However, since the Genesis account does not fix

the exact antiquity of either the universe or mankind, we cannot

be dogmatic about when the first man was created. However, we

must be dogmatic that there was a first man and that he did fall

from the goodness with which he was endowed at creation. Man did

not accidently come into existence nor is he gratuitously

evolving upward from the brute. Rather, in the Fall, man is

devolving inexorably downward toward the brute, and the number of

the Beast is 666 (Rev. 13:18).

The watery grave of Moshiach's tevilah is described in ch. 6.

Shliach Sha'ul says we must consider our old life of sin dead (a

deed man can't sin) and our new life risen in the newness of our

existence in the One who rose not only from the water but also

from the grave. Shliach Sha'ul emphasizes here that since it is

true that we are delivered from sin, we must act delivered (6:2).

The Besuras Hageulah is that G-d has provided a way for faith to

reach out and appropriate both release from condemnation (Rom.

8:l) and peace with G-d (Rom. 5:l). The law brings "knowledge of

sin," provides an occasion for disobedience, causes sin to be

"counted," and so results in death (3:20; 4:15; 5:12-14; 7:7-11)

but the free gift of G-d is Chayyei Olam (Eternal Life) through

Moshiach Yehoshua our L-rd (6:23).

No less a prestigious scholar than Ernst Kasemann (who is by no

means a Pentecostal) says in his exegetical commentary on Romans

that 8:26 is referring to speaking in tongues (see p. 240-242,

Commentary on Romans, Eerdmans, 1980).

In chs 9-11, Shliach Sha'ul deals with the problem of Israel's

unbelief, showing that a vast remnant of the Jewish people will

at last believe, and that it is only because of their unbelief

that G-d has dealt serverely with them. This should sober any

"believer" who thinks he has a privileged religious status and

can live any way he wants and "once saved always be saved." It

was precisely this presumptuousness that led to Israel's mining

out with G-d and Shliach Sha'ul specifically warns believers to

avoid this error (11:23). Shliach Sha'ul had learned only too

well that the proud religious Pharisee, certain of his election

to the point of presumption, had better not trifle with a G-d who

hardens or quickens whom He pleases according to His sovereign

choice (9:6-29).

The purpose of Moshiach's world shlichut is to provoke the

Gentiles to faith and the Jews to jealousy, so that by the

inclusion of the latter in the body of Moshiach will come the

resurrection of the dead and the fulness of the new age

(11:14-15). Therefore, a carnal hatred of Jews and Zionists

rather than a zeal for their salvation is the attitude of someone

so lost and in darkness that the very trigger of the new holy

age, the salvation of the Jews, is totally lost sight of.

Shliach Sha'ul concludes his letter by exhorting believers to

excel in the graces of a believer and to know and use the

spiritual gifts given, making real friends with the poor

(ch. 12), being obedient to duly constituted civil authority

(ch. 13), and showing mutual love and forbearance in regard to

disputed items like unkosher food, wine, etc (14:1-15:13) for the

sake of unity and the salvation of those for whom Moshiach

Yehoshua died. An important theme in Romans has to do with the

great peril of death threatening mankind, since death is not just

a natural phenomenon but the wages of sin and the wrath of G-d

that is revealed from heaven. It is impossible to preach with

power the deliverance of Moshiach Yehoshua who rescues us from

G-d's wrath/death sentence (I Thes. 1:10) unless one fully

understand this theme. See Rom. 5:12,15-19; Rom. 1:18,32; Rom

2:5,8; 3:5; 4:15,25; 5:9-10,14,21; 6:2-5, 9-10,13,16,21,23;

7:4-5,10-11,,13, 24; 8:1-2,6,13,36,38; 9:22; 12:19 13:4; 14:7. It

is the death of the Moshiach that absorbs the wrath against us

and reconciles us to G-d (5:10) so that death is gain and to

depart and be with Moshiach is far better (Phil. 1:21,23).