“The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. The grace of our Lord Jesus be with you.” – Romans 16:20
Over the past two weeks, I’ve been developing a spiritual warfare perspective of this verse. (Here are the links to the first and second posts.) But this isn’t spiritual warfare as many Christians view the subject. The battle at issue concerns relationships in the church.
When believers recognize their unity in Christ, and care for each other, the plans of the devil are thwarted. Unity is the basis of victory God promises us.
But the relationships Paul focuses on weren’t generic; he was concentrating on the interactions between Jewish and Gentile Christians. Why were these parties in the Roman church at odds with each other? It wasn’t a matter of ethnicity; it concerned theology.
The book of Romans is Paul’s attempt to explain his gospel to an important church he hadn’t started and hadn’t yet visited. The good news is that through Christ’s death and resurrection, the way is now open for anyone, Jew or Gentile, to become a child of God. The way to salvation is faith in Jesus, not obedience to the Law of Moses. The Law is important, but it’s not ultimate: “Christ is the culmination of the law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes” (Romans 10:4).
For contemporary Christians, statements like this are unremarkable. We know the ropes. We’re saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ. We can’t earn our salvation, but we can receive it when we yield ourselves to the Lord.
But for the early church, this message was a big deal. The church began in Jerusalem with 3,000 Jews trusting in Jesus as the Messiah (see Acts 2). And for years, it was majority Jewish.
And why not? Regarding “the people of Israel,” Paul says that “theirs is the adoption to sonship; theirs the divine glory, the covenants, the receiving of the law, the temple worship and the promises. 5Theirs are the patriarchs, and from them is traced the human ancestry of the Messiah, who is God over all, forever praised! Amen” (Romans 9:4-5).
The Jews were God’s people, Jesus was their Messiah and Redeemer, and the gospel is good news for them.
But Paul isn’t naive; he knows from personal experience that many of the Jews rejected Christ.
“It is not as though God’s word had failed. For not all who are descended from Israel are Israel. 7Nor because they are his descendants are they all Abraham’s children. On the contrary, ‘It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned.’ 8In other words, it is not the children by physical descent who are God’s children, but it is the children of the promise who are regarded as Abraham’s offspring.” – Romans 9:6-8
In light of the gospel, Paul redefines the people of God. Not all Israel is Israel. Put another way, Paul treats Israel as spiritual, not physical. Biological descent doesn’t matter; what counts is faith in the God who established the covenant with His people.
And the gospel welcomes the Gentiles into the fold.
Israel was God’s people; the Gentiles were not. But now through Christ, the Gentiles can enjoy a place at the table.
Paul develops this idea by using the image of an olive tree which represents the people of God (see Romans 11:17-24). Out of all the nations of the world, the Lord chose Israel as His own. Salvation consists of being a loyal member of that family.
The apostle compares believers to branches, explaining that unfaithful ones (disbelieving Jews) were pruned from the tree. This enables wild branches from other trees to get grafted in. These wild branches are the Gentiles who believe in Jesus Christ.
This means that neither group is superior to the other. Jews can’t boast about their heritage or their fealty to it.
“A person is not a Jew who is one only outwardly, nor is circumcision merely outward and physical. 29No, a person is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is circumcision of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the written code. Such a person’s praise is not from other people, but from God.” – Romans 2:28-29
And likewise, Gentiles can’t disrespect the Jews.
“Do not consider yourself to be superior to those other branches. If you do, consider this: You do not support the root, but the root supports you. 19You will say then, ‘Branches were broken off so that I could be grafted in.’ 20Granted. But they were broken off because of unbelief, and you stand by faith. Do not be arrogant, but tremble. 21For if God did not spare the natural branches, He will not spare you either.” – Romans 11:18-21
What’s crucial is being connected to the tree. Again, this olive tree symbolizes God’s people. Regardless of one’s background (Jew or Gentile), anyone who desires can be joined to the tree. Membership in the family of God is open to all who believe in Jesus Christ.
And this is what the devil opposes. He hates the offer of salvation to Gentiles. Satan tolerated God forming the nation of Israel for Himself, but he has no interest in losing any other people group to the Lord Jesus Christ.
Yet that is what the gospel offers humanity–the opportunity to escape bondage to sin and evil spiritual forces and find freedom and new life in Christ.
So the devil aims to hinder the spread of the gospel. He wants as few as possible to hear the good news of Jesus’ death and resurrection. To frustrate the evangelization of the world, he provokes disputes and disagreements among believers about the implications of the gospel. Are Jewish Christians superior to Gentiles believers, or is it the other way around? How much of the Mosaic law must Christ’s followers observe? How do we treat brothers and sisters who have different opinions than we do about such matters?
These look like theological arguments, but at root, they’re battlegrounds. But we’re not fighting with each other; we’re contending with principalities and powers who fear the power of the gospel. When we stand together in Jesus Christ, we trample the enemy as more and more souls break free from his grasp.
Let’s do all we can to foster the unity of the Spirit which God’s already given us. When we love one another, we build up the church and strengthen our witness to the world. And if we encounter blowback from the devil, by God’s grace we’ll win those battles. We’re one in Christ!
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