Mar 21 2019 Romans 2: 12-24

There is something deep within [outsiders] that echoes God’s yes and no, right and wrong. Their response to God’s yes and no will become public knowledge on the day God makes his final decision about every man and woman.

This translation from The Message speaks to me, as someone who’s surrounded by people with varying degrees of faith. 

This is from Paul’s letter to the Romans, and he’s basically telling the good Jews of the community that they cannot rely on simply saying they’re good Jews, or by hearing the word of God. To be clear, being a Jew at the time was what all good religious people were. Gentiles was a term used to describe all non-Jews, and this passage is one place where Paul’s trying to explain that it’s not whether you’re Jewish or not that matters, it’s whether God’s law is written on a person’s heart and as a result, whether they act in a way that reflects that. 

To good Jews of the time, Gentiles or outsiders, were doomed, as they weren’t part of the prevailing community of faith – they weren’t part of the community of good Jews. Paul isn’t condemning good Jews, but rather pointing out that that particular club is not the end-all. Even people with no faith can live according to God’s ‘right and wrong’, and that’s what matters. 

I’m surrounded by people of with varying degrees of faith. In my day job, I’m surrounded by people who profess and practice a deep religious faith. I live with people who don’t practice any religious faith. When my husband and I were working to get licensed as foster parents and ultimately adopt a child, we were using a nearby evangelical Christian adoption agency. After case histories and lots of time with the case worker, she asked me privately how I could be married to someone who didn’t profess Jesus Christ as his personal lord and savior. In hindsight, I wish I could have rattled off this section. 

But my answer then, as now, is that first of all, he’s more faithful to God’s right and wrong than many who make such professions of faith. Secondly, with my understanding of God’s power and action in the world, it’s not up to me singly to convert anyone. I walk through my life with the people in my life, as I am, a flawed and imperfect person of faith. God is the converter. And besides, it’s adherence to God’s law, God’s sense of right and wrong that matters. Not membership in my particular type of religion. 

In the book, the Count of Monte Cristo, this is summed up well. Edmond Dantes, framed and in prison meets Abbe Faria, an Italian priest also imprisoned. Faria teaches him and eventually leads him to great riches, and near his death, gives Dantes directions to hidden treasure. Dantes, in talking to his dying friend says, “I don’t believe in God”. And his priest friend responds, “That doesn’t matter. God believes in you”. 

It’s not up to me. I’m not the personal savior of anyone. I love seeing how God’s sense of order, God’s right and wrong, shows up in the hearts and actions of people I love. Regardless of their professed faith. I love to see God’s faith in all of humanity appear – God’s law and God’s sense of love for neighbor – especially when it’s a one-sided relationship. That’s some loving faith in us, for people to act on God’s law and because of God’s love, regardless of whether they’re religious insiders or outsiders.