Watershed (Romans 4)

We live in a polarized world where people on both sides of contested issues are convinced they are right and the other side was wrong. Often we’re convinced that the other side isn’t just wrong, they’re evil. Nothing could be more polar opposites than God’s righteousness and our unrighteousness. But the love of God was so great that God crossed that divide, died on a cross, and rose again to save us and bring us back into the righteousness of God.  In Romans 1-2, Paul is addressing the relational divide between Jewish and Gentile Christians in the church in Rome. In these verses he’s articulating the Jewish story of the world’s rebellion, one that paints a caricature of the moral failings of everyone not Jewish. Paul then knocks the Jews off their high horse in order to give them something better. Grace. Identity in Christ. Unity in the Spirit.  In what ways have we gotten comfortable on our high horses? No matter how superior we might feel, our deep, fundamental need for mercy and grace is what unites us.