Unlocking Romans Block 1 Session 1

Let's pray together. Heavenly Father, we thank you for gathering us together for the intensive class in the following three weeks. May you protect us and guide us to study well and to endure all the challenge and pressure and allow us to learn a lot and apply those we learn in the uh ministry and in our life. We ask for your holy spirit to guide us in for time. In the name of Jesus Christ we pray. Amen. Also this course is called unlocking ros. Um we will spend a bit of time to look at assignment in the afternoon because uh that was a sleepy time. Uh so we'll look at assignment and in the morning we want to look at the actual contents of the book. Uh so I organized the study in this framework 5W1H. If you study my U polling episode um course you will know this is the framework I use to approach every episode Paul has written. Uh so it's a highly uh contemporary way to look at events but by using this framework uh you can probably uh remember those points better. So we're going to look at the 5W and one H. Uh who, when, where, why, how, what. I will look at how before what. So in the whole section we're going to look at the author, the target audience and the key figures. Uh I haven't completed every slide so we will complete them together. The first thing is who uh the author is Paul and we we are going to look at Paul. So who is Paul? Uh tell me something you know about Paul. Let's enrich the content together. So who is Paul? >> He was soul and he became poor. uh so the acts chapter nine experience which he also share twice according to the book of acts so he appeared three times in the book of acts uh his experience of um being called some people may call ro uh sorry some people may call acts chapter nine the conversion of paul uh that's in the English context I I I don't know why in my home language we never call this event the conversion we always name it the calling of soul and I I I I compare these two terms and I felt conversion is actually not a very accurate term. You may feel conversion is from one religion to the other. So he left his Judaism past religion to the new one Christianity. But actually the the line the border line between Judaism and Christianity was not that clear in the first century. And especially the the early church they really had this dream and this vision uh carry in their every mission effort to uh introduce Messiah to the Jews. uh in their view uh Judaism and Christianity are not separated were not separated as how people view them today. Uh so Paul uh a a devout Jew a devout Judaism believer he was called by Jesus and he embraced Jesus as Christ and also all the mission and vision the Lord has given to them um to him. So, so to be more accurate, it was not a conversion but a calling. Uh, and what what else? What else about Paul? If we relate to Romans introduce Apostle Paul through the text in Romans. Then how are you going to introduce him? A servant, a servant of Jesus Christ or or we say duelist, duelist, the slave of Jesus Christ who surrender all his freedom, agenda and autonomy to the Lord and be submissive to all the guidance and plan of Jesus, the servant of Jesus Christ. And what else? an apostle set apart for the purpose of the gospel. the ambassador carrying a great commission um to share the gospel and what else that's in his self introduction is very direct but through the whole book of Romans how are you going to define this figure >> someone who love his people. >> Love his people. So he's actually not living his past religion or Judaism uh as many people proposed. He still carried a strong identity as a Jew and he loved his people. >> A very rigorous person. person that he teaches the doctrines of Christianity >> and >> yeah so even if we may know he didn't sit down like writing a dissertation organizing a theological book but he his personality is in him he's highly organized and systematic in many of his teaching his flaw of logic uh is is very good Um what else? >> He has a long a lot of network >> network. Yeah, you may notice a long name list. Even before he visited Rome, he already had at least at least 28 people he knew appeared in in Romans chapter 16. uh and probably more. He already had a mission network uh with many believers or many co-workers in Rome. And we can see those people uh his co-workers not merely lay believers. Many of them he mentioned about their commission, their shared uh ministry with with with Apostle Paul. What else? is a fighter. >> Is a >> the fighter >> fighter. >> Yeah. >> Fighter for the gospel and the fighter for the gospel and defend the gospel from those teachings. >> Fighter and defender of the gospel. and he clearly knew the opponent's view. Probably some of them were heard by him and some of them were his own experiences as a Jew past uh Judaism believer. Yeah, I think uh those are all very good points and uh I would like to introduce I I will switch to another uh PowerPoint introduce this book. This is not part of the reading I assign u because it's a bit daunty. I probably will assign this book to Pauling epistles in the future. Um so based on this book um ask uncle. Oh yeah. Well let me let me pause the recording. Give me one second. Uh how to enlarge the screen. Yeah. Uh so this book is called Paul as missionary and reframing apostle the identity theology and practice of Paul as pioneer missionary. and and the following slides uh basically are the key points of this book. So we'll run through the slides together and understand Paul. So it's it's larger than Romans uh but Paul's identity, theology and practice are deeply rooted in his mission. So let's look at this. Um so from one side you can see him he is a highly logical and systematic person. So you're right even if he wrote his letter with with great passion with great affection emotion even even the the letter of Galatians you can notice he's highly systematic and logic and he knows what he's talking about really well. uh but usually the traditional view of Paul only sits on this side the systematic theo the theologian the institutional light letter write writer and the founder of Christianity this is highly protestant view but if you go talk to Catholic they will say no that's Peter yeah so this is a traditional labor assigned to Paul theologically um but more and more people discover Paul's missionary identity and the the impact of mission to his theology. His theology was not generated in an academic vacuum. It was forged in the cut and thrust of cross-cultural travel and ongoing pastoral crisis. So when we study Pauling epistles, we we describe Paul's epistles as situational writings. This is highly based on context and situations, contextualized writing or situational writing and some scholar would like to call it the crisis writing strategic crisis document. So many of his writings or most of his writings came out from the response to the crisis the church has faced or the crisis in his missionary journey and to address the situation he had written his letters uh and the foundation is before he was anything else Paul was first and foremost a pioneer missionary not just a missionary but a missionary carrying a strong pioneering spirit and actively expanding the territory of mission. Together with him there are many co-workers and we may notice the early church was highly missional. The early church overall carried a strong pioneering spirits. So when the mission is stretching and especially when the church uh face the crisis within and when wi within and without uh externally and internally uh so those writings uh could be understood much better with the right side. uh the the the identity as a uh pioneering missionary po as a pioneering missionary. Um so next slides I I feel it's too much but later I will come back to my slides. I actually summarized that into two points. Um but let's let's go through what the book talked about. Uh so firstly uh the book says the f first and very identity he carries the esqueological hero. So what does that mean? What's the meaning of this word? This word >> yeah proclaimer advocator. uh so he believe his identity is related to the fulfillment of the prophecy. So what prophecy? Uh one of which is Isaiah. Uh so there is this whole concept of uh G. So what does GP mean? uh gentile escological pilgrimage. Gentiles escological pilgrimage uh GE. So why GP is so important to the point the scholar actually gave it a abbreviation GP? Let let me write it down. Let no not gentile let me >> yeah let me write it down. Uh some concept. Yeah. So some concept GP gentile isological esqueological pure grand image. So so so this this prophecy uh appeared uh in the book in the prophecy a lot uh not only in the book of prophets but also in psalm. I will give one example. For example, Isaiah chapter 2. Isaiah chapter 2. Let's turn to Isaiah chapter 2. Um verse 2 to verse 4. Verse 2 to 4. In the last days, the mountain of the Lord's temple will be established as the highest of the mountains. It will be exalted above the hills, and all nations will stream to it. Many peoples will come and say, "Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the temple of the God of Jacob. He will teach us his ways so that we may walk in his paths. The Lord will go out from Zion, the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. He will judge between the nations and will settle disputes for many people. They will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pring hooks. Nation will not take up sword against nation, nor will they train for war anymore. So this is one of those and uh and let me find you another one. I s Isaiah chapter chapter 60. Sam chapter 60 verse 1 to verse 9. Uh Isaiah chapter 60 verse 1 to uh let let's read until verse verse 12. Isaiah chapter 60 verse 1-2. Arise shine for your light has come and the glory of the Lord rises upon you. See darkness covers the earth and thick darkness is over the peoples. But the Lord rises upon you and his glory appears over you. Nations will come to your light and kings to the brightness of your down. Lift up your eyes and look about you. All assembling assemble and come to you. Your sons come from afar and your daughters are carried on the hip. Then you will look and be radiant. Your heart will throat with joy. The wealth on the seas will be brought to you. To you the riches of the nations will come. Herds of camels will cover your land. Young camels of Midian and Eph and all from Shiba will come bearing gold and incense and proclaiming the praise of the Lord. All cattle flocks will be gathered to you. The rams of Nebath will serve you. They will be accepted as offerings on my altar and I will adorn my glorious temple. Who are these that fly along like clouds, like doves to their nests? Surely the islands look to me in the leads are the ships of bringing your children from afar with their silver and gold to the honor of the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel. For he has endowed you with splendor. Foreigners will rebuild your wars and their kings will serve you. Though in anger I struck you, in favor I will show your compassion. Your gates will always stand open. They will never be shut day or night. So that people may bring you the wealth of the nations. Their kings led in triumphal possessions. For the nation of kingdom that will not serve you will perish. It will be utterly ruined. So basically the image of GP uh some some version uh use EGP esqueological esqueologgical gentile pilgrimage. U GP carries several thing. One is Gentiles uh worship the Lord and the word of God goes to the whole world, right? and um peoples and nations gather geographically. She graphically to Jerusalem. Not only people but also resources are gathered for God's people at temple. So it's a centralized of resources uh and also uh the lord not only the lord is the light but also uh and shine his light on on you right who is this you in the context of Isaiah means the people of God but the important thing is is you. Paul really understand this is me. He believed that God has chosen him as the one who carry these esquetological news, this good news and proclaim it and actually carry the treasures from the nations to Jerusalem. So collecting uh the collections he gathered from the Gentiles was sent to Jerusalem not merely as a charitable action but also as a missional action carrying this GP meaning. So Paul really value the these collections and he he he puts his gentile pioneering plan aside and prioritized sending the offerings to Jerusalem. One is because his passion for his own people and for the church. He really placed the mother church the roots in front of his gentile mission. The other important reason is because he interpreted not merely as a charitable action but as a as a esqueological uh picture this fulfillment of GE and Paul really view himself as the light. So if you say Jesus is the light then no problem. But but here the importance is this light shines upon the people. So your face become radiant and the whole world the whole earth come to your light. So uh let's let's turn to acts um Paul's testimony in front of the his people. Let's look at ads. Chapter 22. So, so look at how Paul recall the calling from Jesus. Uh, verse 14. Then he said, "The God of our ancestors has chosen you to know his will and to see the righteous one and to hear words from his mouth. You will be his witness to all people of what you have seen and heard. And now what you are waiting for, get up, be baptized and wash your sins away, calling on his name. Uh so to all people uh and also in verse 21, then the Lord said to me, go I will send you far away to the Gentiles. So Paul really testified to his people that uh because our understanding is when Paul was called, he was called to go to the Gentiles directly. But Paul's own testimony to his own people is God didn't forsake his people. And it's not apart from his commission. Though many people understood him as the as the apostle for the Gentiles, but this commission was never excluded. his people only when his people rejected the gospel he shared the law sent him to the Gentiles. So Paul understand his commission as a missionary uh and part of the missionary identity is the esquetological herald. Um so let's come back to this slide. Yeah. And the second one is the pastoral role, a missionary pastor from hit and run to maternal paternal builder. So it's highly summarized. Uh so many of his mission field were pioneered in a short time. Um but when we look at a bigger picture of Paul's mission and his epistles, we will notice that Paul never abandoned the mission field. He pioneered when he planted a church. Uh how no matter how long he stayed there, his heart was always for the people there and the network and connection with those church he pioneer was never broken. uh indeed some church became the uh long-term supporter for Paul's mission journey. For example, the church in Macedonia and the church he spent relatively shorter time like the church in Thessalonia uh Thessalonica he address letter to them and express his love for them and he constantly sent missionaries sent co-workers to check the church and to know their situation and continue his pastoral work through the co-workers and through his epistles. Uh so in the book of Galatians he expressed his heart for the church in Galatians until the image of Christ is formed in you. I'd rather suffer the labor pain again. So he call himself as the father and he also described himself as the mother who suffered the labor pain and was willing to suffer the labor pain again. Uh so he really carried this miss missionary spirits fast moving hit and run quickly move to the uh new mission field but also he carried the image as a gentle pastor. So these days when people talk about the spiritual gift normally they try to separate the gift as missionary and the gift as pastor saying that pastor if you are gifted to be a pastor you probably will be more settled at one congregation and pastoral to the congregation. uh the world famous pastor uh pastor Rick Warren uh he actually in his book purpose-driven church he testified his experience of being called to plant a church in California and settled there for many years before that he went to Japan and he also went to Korea and he had c certain fruit in his missionary journey and plus he also did the uh spiritual gift test and his spiritual gift is martyrdom. The gift that you can use only once in your life. So he highly he was highly convinced that his gift is to do mission to go to the foreign land to do mission. But later he discovered that God wanted him to build a church as a missionary church sending church rather than he himself going out. So I certainly respected his personal calling and his vision and certainly his fruit of building the uh saddlebath church and send out a lot of uh a lot of missionaries and the church also became the model for many church to learn church planting and church growth. uh but also his testimony carry this kind of concept how people separate missionary gifts gift as missionary and gift as pastor. So if you have a gift and calling as a pastor, you settle down a bit more to pastor your local church. And if you are a missionary, you carry the missionary uh spirit and spiritual gifts, then you probably will not settle. You will travel around. Uh but actually Paul combined these two perfectly. He constantly move and travel and he didn't settle at one place. The longest settlement he took was in Ephesus for slightly more than three years, but most of the places he spent relatively shorter time. And and he he's definitely a missionary, but he is a missionary pastor. He also carried his pastoral heart always inclining to the church he planted and continue to pastor them without interfering interfering the current leadership. The third thing is the embody Jew. Uh so just now when I asked everyone about um description about apostle Paul and Kyangi mentioned about this uh he love his people. So, so he still carry an identity as a Jew. Um, but in Philippians chapter 2, we also notice all the things he boasted in the past as a devout Jew, he see them as as rubbish because he valued Jesus Christ as the as the uh as the treasure. That doesn't mean that he totally throw away his ethnicity as a Jew. Later you will see a slide the misunderstanding about Paul. One typical misunderstanding is he broke from his past belief. He broke from his Judaist belief and so he became a Christian. That's why a lot of people call him uh Paul's conversion uh in name Paul's name chapter nine acts Paul's conversion and the second view was another extreme uh people felt he basically never left his past belief he just added something upon his past belief so both are misunderstanding so we'll see that slide later uh his ethnicity was embodied in him and and was transcended because of the mission he carried. He revalued his identity as a Jew. Not to separate the Jews from the Gentiles as most of the Jews did, but rather he understood the commission of the Jews. How the Lord chose them and became and become the witness for the nations. So he is the Jew who who carried the rights of view and commission about himself and that Jewish identity in him also allow him to cherish his people to love his people and see the esquetological es esqueological uh uh meaning in the Jews. uh and also he made the union and unity in the church between the Jews and the Gentiles and he crossed the cultural bondage not by uh devalue the Jewish identity uh but by valuing the gospel even more uh navigating situational ethnicity. uh so I will explain that in a in a in another slide. Uh the fourth one is a priestly servant subordinating the ago to Christ the high priest. We may notice this priest priesthood this identity as priest uh was carried also by Peter and Peter called the believers the lawyer priesthood. So the early church really carried this identity as everyone serving the law as priests. So what does priest do? Priest bridge the people with God. The people who cannot go to God, the priest slaughter the animal, give the sin offering and guilt offering and all kinds of offering to bridge the people to God. And in the first century uh priest was never a quiet image but a highly physical and violent uh not really violent but the image is quite violent. They slaughter thousands of animals in every season of the the festival and offer to god. So priest is highly um how to say phys it's a it's a role carrying a lot of physical work and highly sacred. So it's very different from the image of Catholic priest quietly standing in a in a in a in a cathedral. Uh that priest priest priestly image uh is is this active bridge between the people and God. So people really value this commission and in the Old Testament this commission can only be carried this role can only would could only be carried by the uh the tribe of Levi plus a clear genealogy. So if someone was born in Levi Levitic family but couldn't find clear genealogy they will not be part of the priesthood. So it has a high requirement for a person to become a priest. But in the New Testament uh Jesus Christ was honored as the high priest. Moreover, all the believers in Jesus Christ carry the role as the priest. So Paul really understood himself as the priest offering his people to God. Uh so let's turn to one passage in Romans chapter I think Romans chapter 15. Romans chapter 15. Let me find this verse. Yeah. Chapter 15 verse 16. Let's read from 15- 16. Romans chapter 15 verse 15- 16. Yet I have written you quite boldly on some points to remind you of them again because of the grace God gave me to be a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles. He gave me the priestly duty of proclaiming the gospel of God so that the Gentiles might become an offering acceptable to God, sanctified by the Holy Spirit, the priestly servant. And then the fifth, the collaborative agent. So we may have the impression Paul was like a heroic figure. He's a giant of the first central mission and some early uh scholars articles describe Paul as the founder of Christianity. Uh but actually he had a vast missional network and he is basically the coordinator. So the central role as leadership was was uh not that strong in the contemporary understanding of Paul. when we look uh closely to his epistles and his uh his mission journey described in the book of acts. Uh so moving Paul from uh moving from Paul's mission to God's network mission. So it's not Paul's mission. It's not Paul's own invention or his own ambition but God entrusted him and many coworker this commission. So Paul understood himself more like a collaborative agent. Peter's role in the Jewish church was similar. Uh the early view about Peter and about James was that they were like like bishop or or some people even describe Peter as the first pope. If you have certain Catholic background or network, you you will not um be unfamiliar with this concept. Paul as the first pope uh I mean uh Peter as the first pope. But actually uh when you pay attention to the Jerusalem council when Peter gave the close statement to seize the de the the debates he was not uh standing at a point as a central figure or now I concluded I made the decision so don't fight accept the Gentiles. It was never like that. Somehow James carried more of that conclusive speech. So Peter's role was to give the testimony and when the church listened and pay attention to his testimony of how the Gentiles were given the Holy Spirit, they were convinced that they should also involve the Gentiles in a bigger circle of love. So the early church showed us this uh leadership more in the collaborative form rather than in a hierarchical form. Uh this is next one. Yeah, that's what I say. Not a conversion but a cosmic commission. Uh so GE I mentioned earlier some of the uh things mentioned in GE uh so Isaiah chapter 6 uh understanding Israel's present hardening uh Isaiah chapter 6 let's turn to Isaiah chapter 6. So those those prophets Paul was familiar with highly influenced his writing in the book of Romans. verse 8 to verse 13. Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, "Whom shall I send and who who will go for us?" And I said, "Here I am. sent me. He said, "Go and tell this people, be ever hearing but never understanding. Be ever seeing but never perceiving. Make the heart of these people closed. Make their ears dull and close their eyes. Otherwise, they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts, and turn and be healed." Then I said, "How long? For how long, Lord?" And he answered, "Until the cities lie ruined and without inhabitants, until the houses are left deserted and a few ruined and revaged uh ravaged uh until the Lord has sent everyone far away and the land is utterly forsaken. And though a tenth remains in the land, it will again be laid waste. But as the terabits and oak leave trumps when they are cut down, so the holy seed will be the strums in the land. Uh so their hearts will harden but God remain let the the storms remain. uh so that that was related to Paul's understanding of harden Israel's heart is for the expansion of the saving grace and eventually the strums will sprout the Israel will be restored um Isaiah chapter 42 and 49. Uh so I I read one of the verse already. uh so the light of the gentiles the servant to be a light to the gentiles so we may say oh the servant is Jesus Christ uh but Jesus Christ also made us the light uh so Paul's self understanding is he will be the person who fulfill the prophecy and also Isaiah chapter 61 the passage Jesus read when he opened the scroll in front of the synagogue uh indoor the spirit to herald the good news. Um, so Isaiah chapter 61, let's read from verse one to verse verse two. Verse one and verse two. Isaiah chapter 61. The spirit of the sovereign Lord is on me because the Lord has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor and the day of uh vengeance of our God to comfort all who mourn. So Jesus read this um passage the spirit of the sovereign lord is on me. So the role of the spirit of the lord in proclaiming the gospel and Paul uh wrote quite a significant part about the work of the holy spirit in regeneration of the believers and in maturing the believers and sharing of the gospel. Paul didn't abandon his scriptures. He reread them. He realized the long awaited reign of God had been inaugurated through the sun. Uh this is a GP flow chart according to uh to the scholar who contributed uh he's not a soul writer but the contribution contributor of this book Paul's missionary. Uh so the Old Testament prophecies in Isaiah, Micah, Zechariah expect the nations to stream to Zion in the last day. And Paul while he was called by God in on the road to Damascus, he had his realization the Messiah has arrived. So which means the time for GP has come. That's the ending end time. The esque esqueological clock has started. So he carried this urgency and that that was not so solely carried by Paul but also by many in the early church. So while the church was in spiritual slumber, God uh actually got Paul tried to call them and awake them by this ticking clock. The urgency of now, the time for the Gentiles to return, to turn from idols and enter the kingdom is currently happening. And the apostolic agent Paul understood himself as as the one who fulfilled this calling. Uh Paul realized that he is the specific instrument chosen to bring the Gentiles to God. And I also mentioned that previously the collection from the gentile church to Jerusalem was understood not merely as a charitable action but also a cosmic induct enactment. Uh so the action so uh you can you can see the myth right? Let's look at the myth first. The myth is it was merely a charitable relief fund for a political bribe. So that was the misunderstanding many Jewish believers had towards Paul. But it was also a misunderstanding of many scholars thinking it's merely a charitable action or Paul had this intention to bribe not exactly in the bad sense but try to breach uh the gentile church with the Jerusalem church by showing this kindness uh and so he he had to go by himself but actually Paul's understanding of this action why he valued this so um because he view it as a fulfillment of the prophecy. In Paul's letter, we may notice that he really disregarded people's comment on him. There are many comments and opinion on him and attack on him and his personal testimony only appear in the occasion he tried to carry the doctrinal teaching in his personal statement and testimony. Uh so it was never for his self-defense alone. He talked about who he is and his commission. Uh so I believe that uh he was not trying to please the the Jerusalem church by doing that action. And there's no point for the gentile church to bribe the the church in Jerusalem because somehow they develop much faster and stronger. Paul risks his life to deliver money from gentile church in Macedonia and Akaya to the Jewish mother church in Jerusalem. Uh so reality is it was the literally physically inact in enactment of the GP. Paul was bringing the first fruits of the Gentiles to Zion. So together with the collections there are representatives from different regions going together with him traveling together with him. So he consider those uh leaders leadership from the gentile church as the first fruit. So people and their treasure heading to Jerusalem. That was the image pictured by the book of Isaiah to provoke Israel to jealousy and fulfill fulfill the prophecies of Isaiah. Uh so this one also pastor mission hit and run. So the myth is u purely non-Christian audience. Uh he because he's the apostle for the Gentiles. But the reality is he targeted both the unreached and established churches and also every station he traveled he went to the synagogue. Uh when Paul says I would like to share the gospel to you who are in Rome. Let's look at Romans chapter 1. Romans chapter one verse 15. Verse 15. That is why I'm so eager to preach the gospel also to you who are in Rome. When we say a person preaches the gospel to certain group of people, we usually had a impression that this people this person is proclaiming the gospel to the to the non-believers and try to convert them, try to teach them the foundations. But Paul is actually preaching to the established church. So the Rome church, the the church in Rome already had four years of history and uh uh a relatively big amount of numbers and different ethnicities in the church. But he wanted to preach the gospel also to the believers in Rome. Uh some scholars interpret it as Paul merely say hey let's do a Bible study. So you talk to the believers let's do a Bible study. Um but uh many scholars actually rejected this notion saying that this preach of the gospel is part of Paul's commission. He really understood preaching not merely as a beginning or changing non-Christian to Christian or changing Gentiles to the believers but as a long-term nurture nurturing of the church until they fully understand and carry the spirit of the gospel. The second myth is uh Paul preach convert and move to the next city. Um but he actually had extended stays. He revisited many places and the places he couldn't visit, he wrote letters to pastor them and he also sent the co-workers to constantly visit them to check their situations and to bring back the reports um and to send the co-workers again to deal with the issues in the church. A third myth is uh his goal is initial conversion. Um but his goal is the communal transformation until the church is blameless at the day of Christ. Uh the engine of transformation we'll just read through the slides simply. Um transformation is not just behavioral adjustment. It is communities act active participating in the story of the cross. Believers abandon self-seeking behavior sharing in his sufferings and become the righteousness of God. I don't know why he picture in this way but anyway uh Paul's goal is for the believers to carry the Christ likeness in them. So that was revealed in many of his letters and in Romans when he described the glorious states of the believers he used adoption to the sunship sharing the suffering and glory together and we are the co-airs with Jesus Christ. And this is another image Paul pictured about the church. He doesn't just want to build converters. He want to build a community and family. Uh share memory root rooting gentiles convert converts in Israelite story and the death and resurrection of Christ. So let's read this verse in 1 Corinthians chapter 15. 1 Corinthians chapter 15. Verse three, for for what I received I pass on to you as of first importance that Christ died for our sins according to the scripture. Uh so the Gentiles can just understand Christ died for my sin. But Paul always tried to testify not to the Jews by quoting the prophecy saying that Christ is the fulfillment of the scripture but also to the Gentiles telling them that the coming of Christ and his death and his resurrection all the salvation work got elaborated in Christ is recorded in the scripture. So it was a misunderstanding that only when the authors in the New Testament tried to address to the Jews, they quoted the scripture to testify them that Jesus was the fulfiller. Um but also we notice that Paul towards the Gentiles. He tried to bridge them to the Old Testament. You shouldn't just read the New Testament. you need to understand the whole history, the whole line and connection with God's word in the Old Testament. And uh he doesn't want to just make a superficial union between the Gentiles and the Jews. Uh you make friends to each other, you treat each other well. No, but he tried to link them as how he graft uh the the branch to the tree. So connected as one body and part of the central role in uh part of the center of the the life of the uh Jews is the one is the holy temple the other is is the word of God uh the law. Uh so Paul sort out the misunderstanding among some uh Jews. uh some attack the Jews had towards him that he tried to cut off Moses' law and try to create the totally new empire of the Gentiles, Gentile believers and steal their blessings. Uh but that was a total misunderstanding. Paul actually understood his identity, his commission and also the identity of the gentile believers uh with a strong uh link uh with the Old Testament. the scripture. The second is the shared behavior uh in inculating in incucating siblings ethics rejecting vice lists and ensuring the building up of the community taking precedence over individual rights. Uh yeah why it was described such a complicated way. So his term to call the uh believers as brothers was also used in Peter in in the uh general epistles in the Catholic epistles. So that word brothers is the brothers like siblings from the same mother's womb. The Greek really carried the nuance brothers not from the same mother and a brother from the same mother. And Paul used the term brothers with the same mother. So if you say Jews call each other brother, probably you can still feel the blood relationship. But Paul call all the believers as brothers. So he really made this family in Jesus Christ. Uh so for him salvation is never just a individual's blessing or rights but always involve this communal side. Uh the third thing is intense uh parental care. His image as mother and as father Paul utilizes deeply effective metaphors. He's the nursing mother and disciplining father agonizing until Christ is formed in that. So not only first Thessalonians just now I also gave the example of Galatians. So both ma uh father and mother uh so he is the pastor who carry this role as parents. Uh so so this metaphor was not uh commonly used by Jews. Uh Jews may describe themselves as the servant of God and as the pastoral figure as the pastor, the shepherd tending the flocks. So this is gentle and caring enough. But Paul really made this relationship spiritual and described the role of pastor of the leadership of the the the people of God as as parent, father and mother nurturing the church. Uh and this image was not merely carried by Paul. Paul actually expected uh the church leaders to carry the same image to parent the church. So he really built the church not as a individuals um a a a group of people banning not as a I would say not as a club but as a community as a family and next slides we'll look at the ethnicity of Paul uh so some misunderstanding the disc continuity view uh so Paul abandoned his a particularistic Jewish religion for a new universal religion which is Christianity. So it ignores Paul's fierce claims to Israelite heritage in Romans chapter 11. The second view is the continuity view. Uh Paul remained firmly within Judaism completely unchanged. Uh so and this view struggles to explain his fierce rejections of the law as a requirement for Gentiles the ceremonial law uh circumcision and food and festival if he is a unchanged Jew. Uh so he must have imposed all these rituals to the gentile believers because he himself somehow in the book of acts we saw that he kept those festivals and he valued those very well and he also made vow had his hair cut you know he he he went through this but he didn't impose the same thing to the gentile believers it's just a repetition uh and and third view I'm not fully accepted but it's a very new view to look at Paul's identity and explain why at the same time he's a strong Jew and both and also a strong Christian. This is a sociological view. Uh ethnicity is not a static static it's highly postmodernist actually it's not a static essence but a negotiated continuous social process. Paul negotiates his Jewish identity dynamically in the face of the new esquetological age. How to understand that sociologically? Let's jump out from the lecture today. So think think about your ethnicity. So I spent my first uh 20 years in China, my home country, and the second 20 years I spent in Australia. So if you want to ask me who I am, probably I would still say I'm a Chinese. But this this progress this builds identity as an Australian start to grow stronger in me not simply with my uh biological background but the value system I'm soaked in with. And when I ask my children, which ethnicity are you? They will immediately say I'm a Australian. I'm a Australian. But they also understand they are Chinese. And when they try to pin the or put a pin on the map about their ancestry, their origin, they they know they they they originally or or their parents or grandparents are in China. And then and then they even try to figure out where does their grand where do their grandparents live. So so they actually biologically they are pure Chinese but actually the identity this ethnicity they carry is highly built by the environment they stay and by the education they receive. And I believe if I stay longer in Australia or if I'm more connected to the native culture uh whether through my um social experience or ministry experience that view about who I am ethnic eth ethnically will will vary will will progress will will change. So it's a negotiated uh non-static essence negotiate non-static process. Oh so so Paul he he understood himself as a Jew. It was highly related to his blood his biological background and also his uh his keeping of the law uh his tradition and his gratitude towards his his own people the root but also shaped by his new identity in Jesus Christ. So in his teaching about the family of God, this analogy, this image, he define a much bigger circle uh in Christ. For example, the circumcision, the Jews in Romans chapter 2, it's a typical example. He called the the ones who inwardly a Jew, the true Jew. And in Romans chapter nine, he also described the true Israelites as the one who who uh hold on to the blessing of God by faith. By faith, you can be the descendant of Abraham. So this this is really uh revolutionary and Jews were highly offended by his view. How could you call a non-biological Jew a a Jew? How could you call a person who physically never received circumcision as the person who was circumcised? But Paul argue that this view was not invented by him but deeply rooted in the scripture. He reread the prophecy and he looked at the word of God. God talked about this circumcision in the heart. When he was a Jew, he probably read it as in a way the Jews, the physical Jews physically receive circumcision need to be circumcised in their heart, right? Then no problem because hourwardly is not counted also inwardly. Your heart need to change. But in Romans chapter 2, he actually wrote it in a way not simply as a biological Jew physically receiving circumcision needs to spiritually also transform but as a person who never received physical circumcision who was never a physical Jew can be counted as the circumcised and the Jew. And the recent study of uh uh anthropology also noticed that the the boundary between different nations and ethnicities was not as as clear as people proposed. I want to find you a a YouTube video. I used that in my uh crosscultural uh mission class. Let me try to find it. I haven't put down the let me see what's the title let me try to search if not I will I will find it in the lunch break uh I will check my I haven't prepared that beforehand but I suddenly re remember this it will be good if you can have a look at this um crosscultural ministry. Try to find it for you. Where is this? Ah, DI. Uh, there is a really long one, but let me find the version, the small one. There we see shorter version of it's a five minutes shorter version. Hey, they did this first one. I'm proud to be English, but my family have served and defended this country and been to war for this country. >> I'm I'm really patriotic about Bangladesh. >> Well, I am I am 100% Icelandic. Yeah, definitely. >> This is Kurdish wedding with my mom in traditional Kurdish clothes. >> We're just proud black, so that's it. Yeah, I think we are probably the best country in the world if I'm honest. >> Think about other countries and other nationalities in the world. Are there any that you you don't feel you you get on with well or you you won't like particularly >> Germany? I'm not a fan of the Germans. You might think they're a little bit >> particular India and Pakistan probably because of the whole the conflict >> because I have this side of me that's like that hates Turkish people not people but the government but French >> no >> we just left you know it's fact >> I'm more important than you >> I don't know you but in my opinion I am strong and I am I am more important than a lot of How would you feel about taking a journey based on your DNA? >> Um, yeah, I feel very uh intrigued. >> What could you possibly tell me about that? >> So, do you know how DNA works? So, you get half from mom and half from dad. 50% from each of them and they get 50% from their parents and back and back and back and all those little bits of your ancestor they filter down to make you you. I need you to spit in this tube for me. We spit up to the little black line. >> That's a lot of spit. >> The story of you is in that tube. What's it going to tell me? >> It's going to be Yeah, you're French. And wait, your grandparents are French. And wait, >> 100% Bengali. >> Sorry about Cuban. >> Tell me that I'm English. No, I told you. >> Jay, you come down and join us. >> I'm a little bit nervous, I have to say. >> So, you ready to find out your results? Will you read it up to us, please? >> Look at me. >> Oh my god. Wow. I didn't expect that. >> All of them. >> Whoa. >> No. No >> car castles which was Turkish. >> Yeah. >> Eastern Europe, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Greece. >> I'm 32% British. >> What? Great Britain. You say 5% German. >> I'm Irish. >> Yeah. >> So I'm a Muslim Jew. Great Britain 11%. >> Eastern Europe. >> Iceland has definitely moved closer to Europe. >> I'm going to go a bit far right now, but this should be compulsory. There would be no such thing as like extremism in the world if people knew their heritage like that. Like, who would be stupid enough to think of such thing as like a pure race? In a way, we're all kind of cousins in a broad sense, >> in a much more direct sense. You have a cousin in this room. Turn around and guess who it is. >> What's up? Why don't you come down to your amigo cousin booth? >> I did not know I did this. My heart's pounding right now. straight from everywhere. >> I'm a real man of the world. >> Wow, that's beautiful. Thank you. >> So, would you like to travel to all of these places? >> Oh, yeah. Okay. Quite interesting. There's a long documentary about this. If you're interested, you can Google that and have a look. Uh so we're talking about this ethnicity of poor, this identity. uh even though the video we watched just now is not highly related but I want to show you this sociological view of the contemporary anthropology research has found and people's psychology of defining their ethnicity actually is not as static as people thought it can be reshaped so just now the document actually in this two week uh in this one event of checking DNA people's thought about who they are changed changed drastically. So then greater change is taking place in Paul who held on to his who used to hold on to his identity as a devout Jew uh from the tribe of Benjamin, the Pharisees, you know, very pureb blood Jew and to drastically change and and transform into the new identity in Jesus Christ. And that transformation taking place by a power of the Holy Spirit allow him in his heart and in his mind to be opened to the Gentiles. So this is not something can be done by man's education and power. Uh so until now between different cultural groups, different ethnicities, there are conflicts and wars. But in Paul's letters and in his mission action, we can see that he really devoted his life to make this unity between the Jews and the Gentiles because of the love of Jesus Christ and because of this esquetological vision given to him by the word of God. Uh next slide. Let me to this ethnicity as persona. Uh performance is not a correct is not a accurate description. Persona, you know the meaning of persona. When we study trinity, we talk about person. Person in lat Latin is persona. Persona is the way you change your mask and you play different role. So ethnicity as persona doesn't mean that oh when I carry this mask I forget about the the other role. I'm who I am but in different scenario I carry different understanding about who I am. So Paul the embodied Jew how do I explain myself to these people in this situation. So scenario one defending his heritage. Romans chapter 11 verse1 are they Israelites so am I. Paul maintains inherited boundaries against arrogant Gentiles. And in Philippians chapter 2, we also could see that he he remember who he's from. And also in first Corinthians, so in front of the people who was boasting, he took out his identity as a Jew. He didn't forget it. And if they want to boast about their deeds, their rituals, their traditions, I could boast even more. Uh so that's scenario one. Scenario two, uh, countering super apostles. Second Corinthians, uh, Paul matches the ethnic boasting of his opponents to dismantle their authority. And scenario three, rejecting ethnic exploitation. So what does that mean? So using the Jewish identity to boast, he actually says, I I cast them as the rubbish. Paul treats his ethnic markers as lost to model Christlike humility. And Paul actually had this humility in him to be what kind of person uh to become what kind of person? Uh to be what kind of person towards what kind of person? Towards those who have law, he carry the image as the lawbearer, a a Jew. and towards the people who do not have uh these traditions and Jewish identity uh the people who had no law he became a person without law it doesn't mean that he break the law but he humbled himself in order for the gospel to be heard by one more person so when he traveled to Jerusalem the church actually gave him this soft landing strategy to deal with the tension between the Jewish believers and and the ones the co-workers he brought. So he gave um Timothy circumcision but also that circumcision was given because he understood that in the Jewish tradition if the mother is a Jew then the son is considered as a Jew. So in that sense Timothy can be considered as a Jew not just a half Jew. His father is a Greek his mother is a Jew. uh but he didn't give circumcision to Titus who was a pure gentile. Why? And for the purpose of defending the gospel he didn't allow the gospel to be diluted. So culturally he had a lot of soft landing strategy and and his humility uh but doctrinally he never tolerate. So we see Paul carry this um multifaceted image when he comes to the identity of when he comes to the issue of ethnicity. Uh so Philippians chapter 3 circumcision on the eighth day 8th day of the people of Israelites I regarded them as garbage trash rubbish in order that I may gain Christ. Um, annotation one, the context, Paul is countering Jewish Christ followers who want to force circumcision to the Gentiles. And annotation two, Paul is not saying Judaism is garbage. He's molding Christ, refusing to exploit his rightful ethnic privilege for personal advantage and power against his gentile converts. So this passage usually the first understanding is how he cherish his new identity in Jesus Christ. How he take Jesus as the treasure so that everything else was considered as garbage. So this is a personal testimony. But this book also find another layer of his testim testimony that was the layer of his resembling of Christ's humility because of the mission and the people I need to share gospel with. They are non-Jews. I don't want to boast about my Jewish identity and posting this for force them to keep all these Jewish law that I used to be proud about. So Christ is the center. He's the central message and he's everything. Uh so that's the missional uh layer of his message. Romans chapter 15 verse 16. Uh so we read this verse just now about his priestly service, priestly identity. Um is this the ultimate sign of Paul's agania? What does aganomania mean? So in the later sentence you you can guess what it means. Is he claiming >> uh is he claiming to be the sup supreme high priest of a new religion preciding over the nations? So what does that mean? Um okay recently there is Iranian war right uh Hmania was Humeni was killed and the reason somehow I I I'm not sure whether that's the true reason or it was a presented reason the presented reason given by American army is this guy considered himself as the very one related to the 12 IM. So if you know a little bit about Islamic belief, you will know they really had this this end of day figure, >> escalological fe esological figure, the 12 iman who was hidden. And that that iman was not merely the teacher of the law in the in in the in the mosque, but the imam who carried the prophets the prophets prophetic role. And once this figure appeared, that's the start of the end of time, the ending of the world. And this political figure was set to interpreted himself not as the 12 iman himself, but as a person closely related to this hidden im. I'm not sure whether that's true or not, but but but try try to understand this ago. I'm the center. I'm the one. I'm the only one. The one this h capital letter high priest. Christ is the high priest. But I'm the high priest who was the only one. The very one chosen to carry this commission to bring the Gentiles, the people, and the treasure to Jerusalem. So that's that's a that's a misunderstanding. Paul actually never understood himself as the only one but he actually share this priesthood with the early church believers and he want to involve more people in he's actually making a radical claim of submission. So, so you can tell the difference. This the capital letter high priest is I'm the only one. Uh but but I'm the only light. But he that that was never his understanding. this strong identity and strong sense of commission was never because he understood himself as the the only one but because his his calling and his conviction uh of his identity in Jesus Christ and his radical submission to the calling uh and and that also appeared to many writings in the New Testament uh the church should all carry the strong identity and calling to be the lawyer priest or to bring people to God. uh and and and this this agia image is carried by many uh force second coming >> right if we apply that to today a lot of people felt I'm the I'm the one I'm the one either some people says I'm the second coming some people say I'm highly related to the second coming I'm c certain kind of prophetic role related to the second coming that's what moment believe Joseph Smith is the prophet. So we say prophet prophetic ministry those who receive the revelation carry the spirit as prophet uh should should should utilize the spiritual gift to benefit the church but their understanding is this figure is the prophet highly related to the second coming or some people say I am the second coming some people even call themselves the comforter the holy spirit I don't know why people had this the this kind of view and this Agoman mania. Agomania is the syndrome of mental disorder. I'm the chosen. I'm I'm the the prophets. I'm the very special one among many uh can't be replaced. So I carry this commission. And people are drunk by that kind of identity. Agooomania. I have really uh psychosis illusions and and and they felt if you are against me you are against the the second coming. So, so that was not the image of the any apostle in the early church and that should given us a very different understanding of second coming because a lot of people they understand second coming is highly related to some special figure individually the something their prophet or their servant or somebody who is highly linked to second coming. Then when that figure appear as the leadership of a ministry of a church then people need to come to that person in order to come to the second coming or that person will name himself or herself as the second coming so that people worship her will go to God. But but the teachings in the New Testament about second coming, about preparation for the second coming was never individualistic. It's a call to the community. The cloud of witness should be the cloud the Lord descend, right? The church should play the role to welcome the coming, the return of the Lord. So some people may be awakened to that calling uh but they also carry the commission to share to the church community and involve them all into the same priestly role >> uh community. community. >> Yeah. So it's like Jesus Christ is the living stone, right? Jesus but but Peter says you are made the living stone. You are like the living stones >> and Jesus Christ is the high priest. Yes, he is the high priest but we also carry the identity as the lawyer priest. Jesus is the light and Jesus also said you are the light. So the identity of Jesus Christ should be carried by all those who are in Christ. >> But the agia is I'm the one or somebody is the one. And that that's the really wrong image to understand the esquetological idea of of the history of God. So this slide is related to Romans chapter 15. Let's quickly go through that. Um Christ became a servant. So which is related to Isaiah the prophecy in Isaiah and the nations praise God's name. Uh let's read Romans chapter 15. You know Romans chapter 15 used to be amputated by manion amputate amp cut. Uh we may we may say a lot of manuscript of John always contain John chapter 21 but the manuscript of Romans chapter 15 many of them had no chapter 15 and 16. So what happened? So it was a very dark history. Uh if you study the history of church and also uh maybe you haven't studied the systematic theology system uh the the the church history you you will know this person named Nashian. I'm not sure whether you remember him. Uh let me try to type down some idea. When we talk about Romans chapter 15, we need to talk about this person. Romans chapter 15- 16, uh we may treat it as the ending greeting and ending of the the the letter, but actually this chapter contain a lot of important information about Paul's mission uh his vast network and also his understanding about the GP. Uh so it's highly missional and isological and it also contains the visions for the Jews and you need to know this person who call Martian the heretic. So who is he? Do you remember? You definitely came across his name. He's a guy who was very rich. He lived in the middle of the second century. And he had his understanding about God. And he had his theory of two gods theory. The God of the Old Testament and the God of the New Testament. and he believed the god of the old testament is a wrathful god who created the material world. So his understanding of the material world is incompleted and somehow evil. But the god of the new testament is the god of mercy and grace. So he totally cast the old testament god the wrathful lawful and the god who created the material world and highly value the new testament god. So if he cut off the Old Testament, he had to cut off the Jews. So he actually chopped off a lot of books in the New Testament. For example, Gospel of Matthew, highly Jewish, Gospel of Mark and Gospel of John. And his gospel only contain Gospel of Luke and Luke's other writing or the other writing, the book of Acts. and he kept only 10 of Paul's epistles. But he felt hard to cut off the whole Romans. So he chop off Romans chapter 15 and 16. My understanding is he need to chop off Romans 14 as well because he talked about the unity between the Jews, Jewish believers and Gentiles. Probably when he chopped it off, he felt that's too much. He chop of amputated chapter 15 and 16 and installed a final doxology to the end of chapter 14 which is odd but because he was so rich and powerful he actually burned a lot of scripts and a lot of manuscripts and he promotes his amputated New Testament. So how that was found that Romans was amputated because it was a odd connection. Paul was highly logical and systematic that when you take away some of his chapters you immediately felt that was not well connected. So by just reading Marian's manu mian manuscript people already discovered that was not right. So Romans actually went through the crisis nearly chopped amputated part of a very important part of it. Uh but later the complete Romans was restored and reinstated in the church. Uh so that that was what happened to Romans chapter 15 and and ma mian couldn't accept Romans chapter 15 because it talked about G. He talked about how the Jews will be offered uh to God will be brought to God. So, Romans chapter 15 uh verse verse 8. Romans chapter 15:8 For I tell you that Christ has become a servant of the Jews on behalf of God's truth so that the promises made to the patriarchs may be confirmed. promise made to the patriarchs and Christ became a servant of the of the Jews in Greek in the original text become the servant of the circumcised >> of the circumcision so the the circumcised the Jews so Matian absolutely didn't want this to affect his theological uh building his his his empire that he built these two gods theory. So he chopped off Romans chapter uh 15 and then he also discovered Romans chapter 16 contain Paul's vast network and also his intention to support the church in Jerusalem. So he also felt that was against his belief. So he chopped off Romans chapter 16 to almost the end. So and and we see Romans chapter 15 and 16 actually contain this highly missional and and Jew Jewish and esquetological uh vision. Let's come back to this slide. Uh so verse 8 verse 9 the nations praise God's name uh and Romans fulfilled a Romans filled with the spirits there verse chapter 15 verse uh 13 may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. uh and Paul's boldness in verse 15. Um we've read that verse quite boldly uh on some points and reminds you of them again about his priestly identity. Uh so that was related his teachings related to his uh mission practice uh in uh which echoes with the old testament prophecy and also his action described in the book of Romans. Uh so it all points to his priestly identity, priestly service. Paul perfectly sandwiches his priestly service inside the ultimate frame of Christ as the servant. And next one uh his priestly image he's from the tri tribe of Benjamin but he carried this Levitical uh priest priestly image. The true servant is Jesus Christ according to Isaiah chapter 16. the ultimate high priest who inaugates the year of Lord's favor and Jesus Christ is not from Levitic Levitic the tribe of Levi he's from the tribe of Judah right so so that's what Hebrews argues and by that reason people also felt uh the book of Hebrews is highly polite even if he didn't openly with big uh writings big amount of writings in his his polling epistles about the priestly image of Jesus Christ but he mentioned about the priestly duty and service he carried. Uh so as a Jew he deeply understood not just from the physical tribe of Levi comes the priest. Jesus Christ is the high priest and he is the Levitical assistant. He's also the priest. Paul is not claiming the high priesthood the agania. He views himself as a humble subordinate Levite whose only job is to assist the true priest in the Gentiles offering. Paul's specific task is to is preparing the nations to be presented as a pure acceptable sacrifice to God. Oh, so ultimate agent is not Paul himself. So it's also related to to this to this slide not the the priest uh but God's mission not his mission but God's mission featuring through Paul in Romans Paul pipes up tiles slaves called set apart not to boast of his sit uh institutional authority but to prove he entirely on the receiving end of the divine action. God is actively rescuing the world from the powers of sin and death. Paul is merely a participant who has been drafted into God's grand narrative. Uh he's the proclaimer of the news. the term uh well the event evang evangelize it that the proclam uh why does Paul say he's eager to preach the gospel to the Romans when they are already established believers because the gospel is news not just an entry right it is the ongoing announcement of God's cosmic victory The Romans needed to be re-eangelized to fully grasp the massive universe altering scope of what God was doing moving beyond their local disputes. So from local to global to global to universal to cosmic vision of God. So this is uh also revealed deeply and strongly in the book of Ephesians. Paul talked to the church in Ephesus about this cosmic salvation plan of God. Christ came not just as a liberation of individuals from the bondage of sin but sin is understood and interpreted in Paul's writing as the cosmic power enslaving all the people. So breaking from breaking free from this power is the cosmic victory gained in Jesus Christ and also should be participated by all the believers. So we need to embrace this cosmic victory uh in Jesus Christ and fulfillment of God's kingdom his kingdom come and Christ is the fulfiller of this commission uh collaborative network. Uh so there are many names mentioned in Romans chapter 16 and throughout the whole Romans. 34 names were mentioned and 28 was mentioned as the co-workers Paul had located in Rome. The mission was never solo. God's mission required a vast infrastructure of coasts, co-workers and and missies. So Phoebe was one of them. uh in Romans chapter 16 verse 1-2 his her name was mentioned as the deacon bearing the letter to Rome Phoebe is not just a courier courier means the carrier of the letter he is the letter's uh very first interpreter and a vital theological agent in God's ongoing rescue of humanity so Paul described her as the benefactor uh and she also served served many. So he was the deacon. He had money and he served uh Paul and Paul's coworker and the church missional network financially. But those who were entrusted the letter, if you look at other epistles, uh for example, the Philippians, Philippians talked about uh you you p you you you puffer the Titus and Paul actually described him as a close coworker, the co-soldier and the one who was willing to risk his life for the Lord. And he was actually the leader of uh of the church of the church. So so the carrier of the letter was not any person or you run fast you can travel so you carry the letter. No the car the carrier of the letter should read the letter in front of the church and somehow also interpret and preach. So Phoebe was understood as this figure who not only read the letter out loud, not just carry a letter and pay the money for the road fairs, but also as a theologian, as a as a teacher who who explained to the church about Paul's intention and his theology and his teaching though her her name was mentioned very briefly uh but we could see this woman. Actually also people discover in the later church history Phoebe was a person who not only carried Romans but constantly uh travel among churches and was a benefactor of Apostle Paul. Uh so Paul had his network of Bible teachers, deacons, church pastors and missionaries uh who together carry the same uh mission to be the priest and to be the uh es esqueological herod and to be the missional pastors together. almost the end uh postmissional nexus uh vision identity method and role uh I actually don't like this way summarize it just because it has multiple uh contributor so it just summarize different uh contributors uh view but I think they have uh overlapping part so later in my slides I actually summarize them only into two uh let's read the last slide u Paul was not merely the founder er of churches nor a solitary theological genius abandoning his heritage. He was a participant in a cosmic esqueological rescue mission initiated by God executed by the servant Christ and sustained by a vast network of co-workers. So come back to this slide who Paul is. Um so we need to see the deal layer of Paul's identity as a missionary. So his identity shaped by his calling to be the apostle for the Gentiles uh to share the gospel. Uh so the understanding of grace of how the nations will uh be united in Christ shaped his identity and also his identity as a Jew. his understanding of the scripture, his understanding of the preciousness of his people and also his understanding of his people's uh commission in the whole plan of God's universal or cosmic salvation uh shaped his self understanding. So this identity is shaped in the process of mission. When we study in Pauling epistles, we talked about the development of Paul's theology and the growth of his his personal journey. So we easily approach scripture as the word of God which is everlasting and unchanging. But we also need to approach the scripture as the co-working between God and man. So God didn't illuminate the role of man and just reveal his word as a dictated document. But God cowork by breathing into man. So a individual the author of the Bible their experience their growth their struggles their being shaped uh understanding of their identity also contributes in the uh writing of the scripture. So knowing this part is important. uh this one doesn't uh devalue the authority of the Bible but rather allowed us to see the the temperature to sense the temperature of the Bible and see how God's predestination and co-working with man uh works. So he breathed into man. Uh the Muslims understanding of their cannon the Quran uh is in a dictated form. God is controlling and strong enough to fully control man and deprive man's understanding and free will and man's limitation of theology and fully review his will. So it's a it's a t static static uh view of the cannon of their book. But our understanding of the scripture is not static but a more dynamic view. The co co-working cooperation between God and man yet is perfect. is flawless. So Paul's personal growth and his understanding of mission, his identity being shaped in the process of the mission uh is quite important. So if we put Paul's letter in a chrono chronological view, chronological order, we may notice for example his understanding about about the about his cathology also evolves from first and second Thessalonian to his last books uh the imprisonment letter u to Ephesians um and and to to to uh Galatians uh Romans and also to Ephesians. There is this development and deepen understanding and I believe that his identity as a missional pastor also is shaped in this process. You may be interested in digging the detail of this and that would be a quite interesting topic to research about. Besides Paul, uh we also need to see Titus not Titus t churches. Some some people pronounce as Tertiius. Some people call Tersius. Tersus Ters a scribe. Uh it's it's also called emances. So someone who reads and speak and someone record it down. But the scribe we also need to understand the scribe's role is not only writing down everything uh Paul said but also polish grammatical correction and slightly polish. So after writing down everything and the the the scribe will present the polished version to the original author and the original author need to approve that. This is like AI or Grammarly correcting your grammatical mistakes, re uh uh reparagraphing and polish your writing um to unify the styles. So this is what the the scribe will do. So tit ters certainly contributes into the writing of Romans and he also put down his name and to greet the church. So we believe that he is also a devout believer. So Paul didn't just choose whoever as the scribe but a scribe who will share the same affection who contribute to this important writing. Phoebe we look at her already. So this is Romans chapter 16. uh we will revisit chapter 16 uh in the next block but we we want to look at this vast network. Uh as a summary there are 8 to nine uh women's name named as leadership as leaders in a church in Rome and also uh some notable figure for example Junior Prisca is actually Priscilla Aquilla Prisca some Russian translated as Prisca Junior Junior. In which verse? Let's turn to verse chapter 16. Chapter 16 verse six and seven. Verse seven. Greet Andronicus and Junior, my fellow Jews who have been in prison with me. They are outstanding among the apostles and they were in Christ before I was Andronicus and Junior. So who are they? They are Jews and they are imprisoned and they are apostles. So female apostle Junior. Junior is the female name. And um scholar highly suspected they they they are uh couples. They're families. Andronicus and Junior. Yeah, probably couples uh being a woman. Uh so so this this is a woman's name likely the wife of Andronicus. So apostle is not merely the title given to the 12. There are 12 apostles but Paul was also called as apostles and also Andronicus and Junior. And Paul wrote in this way because it's a common commonly accepted fact in the church. So church actually embraced more more apostles than the 12 uh and also early church embrace the female apostle. It's a interesting discover uh discovery. So 34 total individuals name 26 located physically in Rome. Uh it reveals a highly organized tight-knit Mediterranean network. Uh what insight we can get? Paul had never visited Rome yet possessed profound relational intelligence about its fractions and leaders. That that was the reason Paul could know Rome really well. know their situations and the uh the problems, the issues, the tensions in the church. Well, so if you want to group those names, um there are co-workers and companions with Paul and located in Corinth. Uh so those people includes Timothy. Um so So the end of chapter 16 Timothy verse 21 Lucius Jason Suspatter and and Gaus who's g was mentioned in third John uh and John commented on his hospitality. Here Paul also affirmed his hospitality whose hospitality I and the whole church here enjoy sends your uh sends you his greetings. So Gaus was the host of the house and Paul stay in his house while he was writing the book of Romans. So Gus was a believer uh or was a church leader in Corinth and Phoebe was the deacon in S Korea. S Korea was just next to Corinth and also verse 24 who is the city's director of public works. Um so public works it's a very indirect ways it's actually uh he his public work is to take care of the the bank. Uh some version translated as as the the the bank and our brother quot you their greetings. Yeah. city treasurer. Some version translate as city treasurer. Uh he is the city treasurer of Corinth. So very uh high position. It's like the uh leader of the city, the finance person of the city. uh he was also part of Paul's closed network um probably sponsoring the trip uh to to send a letter to Rome. So Paul's missional network and close net uh co-workers network reached even powerful uh civic of officers. And when we come to chapter 16, we will also look into the detail of those u the the various hierarchies in the societies, ethnic ethnicities among the network of Paul. It's highly diverse. Uh so that's Paul's missional network and they together uh allow the book of Romans to be written and to be sent uh and to reach Rome. And next slides we are going to I will take a break. Let's pray uh briefly and take a break and come back or to study when. Heavenly father we thank you for uh the detailed study of uh the authors of Romans, Apostle Paul and also all those related co-workers. Uh father as we deepen the understanding of who he is, we also reflect upon our own life. Uh father may you shape our understanding of ourself and lead us not to be confined by the physical identity but let us root our identities in Jesus Christ and in the calling we receive from you. Oh father we thank you for the time we can spend together to study your word. In the name of Jesus Christ we prayed. >> Amen. Let us take a uh 10 minutes break and we'll come back.