Jesus is the power source for discipleship. He is the teacher, those who follow and devote themselves to his teaching are Jesus Christ's disciples. Jesus is the power source that supports transformation in his disciples. Those who learn and follow Jesus Christ's teachings do so to find life in him.
The writer of the Gospel of John wrote Jesus is life, that life is the light of people, and the darkness of evil cannot overpower (quench, destroy) that light (John 1:4, 5). The writer also wrote that Jesus, prior to physical existence, had a unique relationship with God that no other being had (has). Therefore, Jesus is God's gift to humanity as an expression of God's enormous love for humanity. The result was and is that the human who places confident trust in Jesus will receive life which will not end (see John 3:16). The writer said Jesus told a woman who had multiple divorces that he could provide her unending life (John 4:13, 14). The writer said Jesus declared that the disciple who placed confidence in him would experience a transformation that allowed the person to pass from death into life (John 5:24). The writer said Jesus declared to his twelve disciples that he was the way, the truth, and the life--the access to God (John 14:6).
The book of Romans, written by the disciple Paul years after Jesus' resurrection, dealt with a basic problem in the church. That problem expressed itself in the community of disciples (the church) in Rome, the capital of the Roman Empire. There was a sizable Jewish community in that city. The Jewish community likely argued among themselves (with strong emotion) about Jesus being the Christ. They created so many problems in Rome with their emotional conflict that the Emperor Claudius expelled them (see Acts 18:1, 2). Claudius' edict of Jewish expulsion was in force only as long as he lived--it ended upon his death.
When Claudius died, Jewish people (including Jewish Christians) returned to Rome and its economic opportunities. The Jewish Christians found a very different situation as compared to the situation when they left. Whereas the Jewish Christian community was the backbone of the ekklasie (church) when they left, the ekklasie thrived under gentile leadership in their absence. The tension between Christians in a community of disciples that had a Jewish heritage and a gentile heritage reached destructive proportions. Romans 14 is an evidence of that destructive tension.
Romans 1-11 focused on God's intent to bring salvation to the world by using Judaism and physical Israel as a vehicle. Romans 12-15 focused on what a Christian looked like and how Christianity expressed itself in cosmopolitan Rome. God did not deny His purposes by reaching out to gentiles. However, gentiles were deeply indebted to Jewish awareness of God.
Yet, the point was not the ekklasie having "a Jewish way of doing things" or "a gentile way of doing things," but having the ekklasie reflect Jesus Christ. The point of being Christian was not preserving Jewish traditions or gentile traditions in the ekklasie, but preserving the values of Jesus Christ in the ekklasie. Those values would be projected in the behavior of those who belonged to Jesus Christ.
The objective was transformation of those in Jesus Christ. What is transformation? It comes from a Greek word that is seen today in the process in which a caterpillar spins a cocoon around itself to later emerge as a butterfly. Thus, it is a change process (metamorphosis) in which the physical form of what was ceases to exist in order to produce a physical form entirely different.
In regard to discipleship (Christian) existence, it involves (a) a refusal to live by the values and objectives of those who focus on physical existence, and (b) a basic change in the way we think. The disciple's dedication is to understand God's will by defining what is "good, acceptable, and perfect" by God's revelation rather than by physical objectives (Romans 12:2).
What did that look like among those dedicated to being Jesus' disciples who lived in Rome? It affected the way Jesus' disciples functioned together as a community in Jesus and the way they treated each other. They were to be law-abiding people who refused to function out of the obligations created by a patronage system. They were to live in the understanding that human life is not measured by physical indulgence, nor is it measured by dedication to one's cultural values, but by Jesus Christ's values. It was understanding that the purpose of strength is not subduing or exerting control, but serving each other.
Note the reality of transformation is demonstrated by and expressed in difficult relationships. "My" relationship with "you" is a powerful evidence of "my" transformation, and all the more when "I" find "you" difficult to relate to and "get along" with. Transformation would not erase the problems between Jewish and gentile Christians, but it would provide disciples of Jesus a means of coping with each other in difficult moments.
Most (if not all) New Testament writings are known as "occasional." That means the writing (a letter) occurred because of a specific situation. Thus, the letter exists as the writer's means of addressing the existing situation. (Remember that the New Testament is a collection of letters that were written independently.) The likely situation that caused Paul to write Romans was the tension/conflict between Jewish Christians (who were convinced that God worked primarily through physical Israel [the Jewish people]), and the gentiles who were a collection of non-Jewish national backgrounds. (The first century division of people among Israelites was rather simple: there were Jewish people and non-Jewish people.)
For Thought and Discussion
Link to Teacher's Guide
Lesson 3