Objective of this lesson: to set a context for this quarter's lessons: How do people who belong to God through Jesus Christ who exist in an evil environment also live for God?
The likelihood is that if you have been a Christian for several years, you have heard a number of lessons on these verses.
Romans 12:1,2 Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.
Much of the time today's Christians consider those statements in light of today's realties. Paul did not live in the 21st century when he wrote those statements. The Christians at Rome who received those statements did not live in any nation in the 21st century world. The concepts were not about existence in the 21st century world.
To establish a context and to thereby establish some contextual insight, we will begin by looking at their situation. First, recognize the book we call Romans is actually a letter Paul sent to Christians who were living in the city of Rome, the capital of the Roman Empire. If a person wished to live 'where everything is happening', he went to Rome. There is where the Roman emperor lived. There is where the Roman senate met. There is where the laws for the Roman Empire were made. There is where the Imperial Guards, the troops who protected the emperor, were stationed. There is where you would see the empire's military victories celebrated. There is where you would see the latest innovations in the pursuit of 'the good life'. There you could be involved in and witness the pursuit of pleasure by the western world's most important people. There was the center of the western world's imports, business dealings, slave trade, etc. Rome was home to powerful people 'who made things happen'. If that was the environment a person wished to live in, Rome was the place to be! It was a living display of the latest innovations of power and the latest pursuits of pleasure! In the western world of the first century, Rome was the prominent place with great access to power and money.
That certainly does not mean everyone in Rome was wealthy or a part of the privileged. As continues to be true of most populous cities, there were more poor people in Rome than wealthy people there. As continues to be true, most only 'saw' what was happening, but never 'was' an important part of what was happening. This same city also was an excellent climate to nurture and sustain envy and all the evil forces that are companions to envy.
Generally speaking, Jews who lived in Palestine did not care for gentiles, and gentiles living anywhere did not care for Jews. Though there were different perspectives among Jewish people [for example, Palestinian Jews {Jews living in the Jewish homeland} and Diaspora Jews {Jews living outside of Palestine} often held different perspectives with differing contacts with gentiles]. Also different perspectives existed among gentiles {any none Jewish person} [for example, gentiles who were God fearers were quite distinct from idol worshippers].
Generally speaking, the chasm between Jews [a small group of people] and gentiles [the greater majority of people] was enormous and deep. As an example, the diet of Jewish people was quite distinct from the diet of gentiles. The house guests of Jews were often only other Jews. The Jewish people did not work at all on Saturday. Eating differently, socializing differently, and working differently produce some enormous, basic differences.
Such differences made their way into church practices. Most of us in congregations of the Church of Christ in America are gentiles. Most of us have never been in an orthodox Jewish worship setting. Most of us have never attended an orthodox Jewish synagogue. In places where the congregation is primarily Jewish, Jewish Christians today still do things in ways that is different to the traditions of us gentile Christians.
Rome was basically a gentile city. Christianity began in the Jewish city of Jerusalem with all Jewish or Jewish proselyte converts.
Distinctions in the 'how' things were done created significant problems among Christians. Jewish people including most Jewish Christians could not comprehend how non-Jewish people could approach the God the Jews worshipped from the time of Abraham without doing things the way Israel did them. The tension between Jewish Christians and gentile Christians was often real and stressful. Each group was just too different! Those differences were quite evident when Paul wrote his letter to Christians in Rome!
This tension was one of the primary reasons Paul wrote the letter to the Christians in Rome. Discarding the introduction and the conclusion, the bulk of the letter falls into two emphasis sections. The first focuses on the question, "How does God save people?" Paul addressed that question by noting salvation was a universal human need that definitely included gentiles. The second addresses the question, "If a Christian lived in Rome, how would he or she act?" Or, "What would it look like for a person to follow Christ in the environment of Rome?"
Paul introduced the second emphasis or section with today's text. If a person is to be a Christian in the environment of Rome, he or she must have a basic understanding. The basic understanding: the Christian belongs to God. He or she does not belong to the pursuit of power, or the pursuit of pleasure, or the pursuit of the latest innovation, or the pursuit of wealth. He or she belongs to God. Conflicts in the Christian life's focus would occur. Yet, the one settled realty was this: "I am a Christian, and as a Christian I, by choice, belong to God. The one living God Who gave me Jesus first and foremost benefits from my existence." Paul discussed what that fact meant in the environment of Rome. He urged Christians in Rome to give allegiance to God--no matter what occurred in that city's environment! Though many gods were worshipped in Rome, the Christian would worship only the God Who gave them the resurrected Jesus.
For Discussion:
Link to Teacher's Guide
Lesson 1