Missions, Nations, and Churches.

 It was not your typical missionary appeal letter. It was long, very long. The English translation is more than 10,000 words covering 17 standard size pages.

In addition to being long, the letter did not “cast a compelling vision” of all the wonderful things the missionary planned to do. There were no pictures, stories, or promises of future fruitfulness.

Rather, this appeal was a densely written theological manifesto of how God has uprighted a fallen world through Jesus Christ. This revelation of the righteousness of God is to include everyone, even the unreached peoples at the ends of the earth.

The missionary was Paul, the recipients were in Rome, and we know the appeal as “Paul’s Letter to the Romans.”

The year is AD 57. Paul is in Corinth. He has almost completed his third apostolic journey. He is anticipating the completion of his current assignment and now casting his eyes upon Spain, the final frontier (Romans 1:1-17; 15:14-33).

The Rock of Gibraltar, one of the Pillars of Hercules, was thought to be the ends of the earth. Spain was the land of the “barbarians”, a pejorative term referring to their language that sounds like “bar-bar-bar-bar”. These were people on the edge or perhaps even outside of humanity. They were hardly worth considering. Yet Paul knew that Christ had “died for all” and that all included these barbarians.

Romans is primarily a missionary document bridging the gap between the “apostolic mission” and the “pastoral ministry” of the people of God.

By “apostolic mission” I am referring to the “missionary work” of the people of God. “Apostolic mission” is focused on the call of Jesus to go “into” the world and proclaim the Good News and to make disciples of all nations.

By “pastoral ministry” I am referring to “shepherding” work of building up the people “called out” of the world: the church, the ecclesia: those called out. The “pastoral ministry” is focused on the call of Jesus to build up the body of Christ.

The apostolic and the pastoral have different focuses but they serve the same purpose: the Mission of God to form One New Humanity through Jesus Christ.

Both the apostolic mission and the pastoral ministry are vital. If we lack either one the Mission of God suffers. This is a binary tension, a dialectical strain that needs resolution. The Letter to the Romans provides the resolution.

The apostolic and the pastoral are not competitive: they are complementary. Without the apostolic mission the church would not exist, without the pastoral ministry the apostolic mission would not exist. We are an “apostolic people” because we are “sent to” the nations and “sent from” the church.

Paul demonstrates in Romans that without the local Church he would not be able to do his work as an “apostle to the nations”. Paul, this great apostle, missionary, and theologian needed the spiritual sustenance that can only come through the local church. Paul longed for their fellowship, for ministry to one another, for their prayers, and their material support to reach the barbarians of Spain. Paul is inviting them to a partnership in global missions. Listen to him in Romans 10:14-15,

 How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news! (ESV)

The Letter to the Romans also models for us how the local church benefits from the ministry of the apostolic mission. It was by rallying the Romans to global missions that Paul was able to address such pastoral issues as how we are made right with God, how we should treat one another, and how the Christian should live in this present age.

Romans has been called the greatest letter ever written. It is considered Paul’s most profound writing and the most influential letter in Western history. John Chrysostom, the great patriarch of Constantinople, considered Romans so important he would have it read to him every week. Augustine became a follower of Jesus Christ because of Romans. Martin Luther discovered “justification by faith alone” through reading Romans and the Reformation was launched. John Wesley was converted while reading Luther’s commentary on Romans. Wesley would go on to lead the Methodist revival that transformed the Church. In the early 20th century Karl Barth was radically transformed by encountering God in Romans. His 1918 commentary would be described as a “theological bombshell”. Barth became one of the leading voices of the Church as it stood against Nazi madness.

Today the Church needs to hear afresh the message of Romans. We need to hear again the Good News of God Uprighting the World in Jesus Christ and the Apostolic Invitation to join the Mission of God. Only by partnering together can we reach the world and build up the church. Let’s do this together.