"WHEN IN THE BOOK OF ROMANS, DO AS..."
A New Thought Commentary on Romans, chapters 1 to 8

© Rev. Stan Ousley, Jr., Master of Biblical Studies; Ph.D., Theology
Symphony of Love Ministries
Santa Fe, NM

I make it a point to try to understand different viewpoints, even when I disagree with them! It helps me to clarify and appreciate my own New Thought interpretations. So, I have studied the Bible through Jerry Falwell's Institute of Biblical Studies, earning a Graduate of Biblical Studies Diploma and a certificate in Advanced Studies in Biblical Prophecy. I noticed that Swaggart's Bible college in Baton Rouge actually offers college courses just on Paul's Epistle to the Romans. I have Swaggart's detailed lecture videos on the advanced focus (chapters 6 to 8). I figured it must be a VERY "important" book for all those aspiring Fundamentalist Pentecostal ministerial students to study, so of course, I decided to "investigate" for myself chapters one through eight, but from a New Thought perspective. It seems that the Epistle to the Romans provides a definitive synopsis of the Pauline theology. It also is the source of Swaggart's peculiar (but a relevant focus in my opinion!) theology on the Cross of Christ. In late 2004, the Swaggart organization compiled and issued a detailed Study Guide to Romans, chapter six. Indeed, the Swaggart ministry's emphasis on the Cross led to my own personal reconciliation with "Christianity," but in a different context of interpretation. I see The Way of The Cross as being just as central to Christian living as are the four yoga life paths in Hinduism or The Eightfold Path in Buddhism. In my opinion, they are all compatible rather than exclusive. So I would agree that "The Cross and Him crucified," plus the core teachings and healing ministry of Jesus combine to comprise the essence of Christianity. But I would interpret the doctrine of The Cross in a non-religious way. References to Paul's letters are often used by orthodox ministers as they defocus from Jesus and obscure Jesus' universal ministry while presenting to their congregations a religion about Jesus. I think we can say that the first eight chapters of the Epistle to the Romans, written sometime around 56 AD, present the "mature" Pauline theology about Jesus as the expression of the Christ.

I use, as I often do, The Hebrew-Greek Key Study Bible, edited by Spiros Zodhiates, Th.D., so the unlabeled bracketed page references [#] will be to the pages in his Greek lexical aids section of the KJV version. {The Hebrew-Greek Key Study Bible - King James Version, edited by Spiros Zodhiates, AMG Publishers} In this case, I really recommend the NRSV version for a more contemporary translation. I am using The Access Bible - NRSV, which has excellent (but liberal oriented) study notes and commentary. {The Access Bible - New Revised Standard Version, edited by Gail O'Day and David Peterson, Oxford University Press} References to the NRSV notes will also include brackets referring to the pages, prefaced by "NRSV" [NRSV, p. #]. Follow along in your own Bible.

Chapter 1, v. 3 (NRSV unless indicated) contains the statement that Jesus has been declared Son of God "with power according to the spirit of holiness by resurrection from the dead." The Greek word for "Son" is discussed in the next paragraph. A New Thought understanding is that we are all potential sons of God (not "children" as in some gender-inclusive versions), by or through the power of the anointed or "Christ" consciousness of wholeness, which is our holiness in manifestation. As we will see, the Greek "resurrection from the dead" can refer to a raising up (in consciousness) after a falling down (in "sin" or our error thinking) - we rise from the "dead" condition of our error in sin.

In chapter 1, verses 4 and 5 require clarification. It is stated (KJV) of Jesus that he was "...declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead: By whom we have received grace and apostleship, for obedience to the faith among all nations, for his name." Regarding the phrase "Son of God," the word for God in the anglicized Greek refers to theos, from a "pagan" word referring to deity as ""the disposer...placer...and former"" of all things [1722]. The word for Son is huios, which will appear in later segments as well. This word is "distinguished from teknon, child" and "primarily signifies the relation of offspring to parent and not simply the [biological] birth as indicated by teknon" [1763] - the term is "used metaphorically of prominent moral characteristics." Jesus was the spiritual offspring of God. In the phrase "resurrection from the dead," the Greek word Anastasis that is translated "resurrection" indicates "a standing on the feet again or rising as opposed to falling" [1688]. The word for dead, nekros, indicates "spiritual death, dead in sin, separated from the vivifying grace of God, or more distinctly, having one's soul separated from the enlivening influence of the divine life and spirit" [1740]. Faith, pistis, indicates "knowledge of, assent to, and confidence in certain divine truths" [1749]. "For his name" refers to the word onoma, meaning both "name" and "character described by the name" [1742-1743]. Zodhiates observes that "to be baptized into someone's name means to be baptized into the faith or confession [teaching proclamation] of that person and to be identified with his character and purpose." Likewise, regarding John 14:13 - "whatsoever you ask in my name..." - Zodhiates points out that this "means He will do, not simply what we ask, but whatever is conformable to His character and to His purpose" [1743].

In verse 16, Paul states that the "gospel of Christ" is "the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth." Power, or dunamis, refers to "inherent power" in the sense of "being capable" (to effect something or bring about a result) [1709]. Salvation, soteria, indicates "deliverance" and "preservation" [1760-1761]. "The righteousness of God" mentioned in verse 17 can mean justice, or "conformity with the claims of higher authority" - from the Greek dikaiosune [1343]. "The just shall live by faith" refers to the word dikalos, "that which is right, conformable to right" [1705]; the word for live refers to zoe, in reference to spiritual, not biological, life [1720].

So a New Thought interpretation is that Jesus was declared to be (in our collective consciousness) the direct spiritual offspring or full expression of the Divine Principle that forms Creation (through the Logos or Word), according to Its Divine Wholeness, by his own rising above spiritual death that was caused by sin-separation. It is a rising in consciousness that occurs through the vivifying Life of Spirit. Our faith is based on assent to Jesus' example, and our identification with his name or consciousness of at-one-ment makes us Jesus' disciples. The good news (Gospel) of Christ, the Anointed Consciousness, is that it saves us from sin or error by its inherent power to deliver us from separation thinking. We then experience right relationship with Divine Harmony and the Divine attributes (character) - we thus know "the righteousness of God." When we are in alignment or conformity with the Divine Principle, we, because of our faith or certainty, likewise have fully unfolded spiritual life, a life or state that comes to us by and through our faith.

Verse 18 of chapter 1 reads (NRSV): "For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and wickedness of those who by their wickedness suppress the truth." The Greek word for wrath, orge, can indicate "anger, as a state of mind" [1743]. Heaven, ouranos, can refer to "the residence of God" [1743]. In New Thought interpretation, we would say that the upsetting of the Divine Principle or cosmic order (law) causes dissonant conditions, and "all ungodliness" is out of sync with the Ideas of God - heaven - contained within the Divine Mind. "The wrath of God" is actually the out-picturing of The Law of Cause and Effect, "the Lord" in the Old Testament, which is both neutral and inevitable. Thus, Paul says that all, Gentile and Jew, will be judged. In quantum physics spiritually interpreted, any dissonant movement or micro-event impacts on the cosmic harmony. Judgement (correction) is neutral (applied to all that is) and inevitable.

The judgement is in relation to the "ungodliness" referred to in v. 18. This ungodliness includes "degrading passions" and "every kind of wickedness, evil, covetousness, malice." Paul describes people "Full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, craftiness." Those who "deserve to die" also include "gossips, slanderers, God-haters," and those who are "insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, rebellious toward parents, foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless" (NRSV). Regarding same-sex relations, the authors of the NRSV study notes state: "Closely associated with idol worship [in pagan religions] were sexual practices regarded by Jews as impure and degrading to the body" [NRSV, p. 224, NT section]. The "sins" of Sodom were selfishness and injustice, not homosexuality per se. In Ezekiel 16: 49-50 (NASB version) we read: "Behold, this was the guilt of Sodom: she and her daughters had arrogance, abundant food and careless ease, but she did not help the poor and needy. Thus they were haughty and committed abominations before Me [which probably included ritual, not personal, sex 'offered up' to pagan gods]. Therefore I removed them when I saw it." Paul's statement "deserve to die" refers to the ungodly deserving spiritual separation or spiritual death as the "inevitable" result of violating the law, yet as he will soon mention, "there is no condemnation" in the Christ Consciousness. Thus, Jesus as an expression of Christ Consciousness, stated that he did not come to condemn. Yet he "fulfilled" the law in the sense that he "redeemed us" from its effects, substituting a higher Law of Love. Ernest Holmes, in his book A Dictionary of New Thought Terms, wrote that "the Law of Love" is "The true nature of Reality - hence a consciousness of Its true nature supersedes all other thoughts of consciousness and heals them" {Holmes' Dictionary, p. 78}. In a convoluted context, this is also Paul's teaching. In other writings, he states "Christ in you, your hope of glory" (Col. 1: 27). In New Thought, "ungodly" simply refers to a temporary condition in which we experience the absence of spiritual realization or manifest an incomplete expression of Omnipresent God, and act intentionally in violation of The Golden Rule.

In chapter 2, Paul stresses that "it is not the hearers of the law who are righteous in God's sight, but the doers of the law who will be justified" (NRSV, Romans 2: 13). Regarding verses 1 to 11, the NRSV commentators interpret the statements as describing "God's wrath against religious people." They state that "Such people think God's kindness gives them slack rather than reason to change their lives, repentance, v. 4. ...At the final judgement, God will render impartial judgement" [NRSV, p. 225]. In New Thought, we are "judged" (experience the consequences) by our sins, not because of them. The Law of Cause and Effect, the Law of Mental Equivalents, and the Law of Attraction all operate in a neutral context. (What we see or experience is directly related, by the action of the neutral law, to what we think and do.) In the scripture verse "Justice is mine, says the Lord," we see that the term "Lord" again refers to the universal law, not to a personified deity.

For Paul, the word "law" has several connotations. It frequently refers to The Mosaic Law coupled with the Jewish religious requirements and rituals. Thus, in chapter 2, Paul emphasizes that "circumcision" is a spiritual state, not an outwardly religious physical one. He says "real circumcision is a matter of the heart - it is spiritual and not literal. Such a person receives praise not from others but from God" (NRSV, Romans 2: 29). But in another sense, "law" also can refer (as in Romans 2: 13) to a more universal Spiritual law. The Greek word Nomos can indicate the action "to parcel out, either of distributing or assigning, because the law assigns to everyone his own, or of administering, because it administers all things either by commanding or forbidding" [1740]. Zodhiates writes that "The gospel or gospel method of justification is called 'the law of faith,' opposite [to]the law of works" [1740]. It is the faith law that is our "salvation."

So the crux of chapter three is that whether with the Jewish law or without it, one's works and actions do not lead to "God's righteousness." Chapter 3, verses 21 to 26 (NRSV), present concepts that are somewhat challenging for many in New Thought:

"But now, apart from law, the righteousness of God has been disclosed, and is attested by the law and the prophets, the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction, since all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God; they are now justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a sacrifice of atonement by his blood, effective through faith. He did this to show his righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over the sins previously committed; it was to prove at the present time that he is righteous and that he justifies the one who has faith in Jesus." [NRSV NT section, page 226]

So, here is a possible New Thought understanding. Apart from the laws, there is a Higher Law of Love, a Christ Law, which reveals "the righteousness of God" or our "right relationship" to the Omnipresent Spirit. The Law of Love does not punish or condemn but reconciles. We all do indeed "fall short" of the glory of God - the Divine perfection. In her book Mysteries, Nona Brooks lamented "man's inhumanity to man" in the labor situation and sweatshop conditions of her day. She said practicing the Law of Love would end our problematic conditions. And she commented that we are at different stages of spiritual unfolding "in the schoolroom of life." To be "justified" refers to the Greek word dikaioo: "to bring out that which a person is or that which is desired. ... In the NT, dikaioo in the active tense means to recognize, to set forth as righteous, to justify, first of all as a judicial act" [1706]. If through faith, we believe that the example and teachings of Jesus as a Way-shower revealing God's Nature (Jesus as spiritual "Son of God") can "redeem" us from error or "sin," then we are "justified" through that faith belief and we recognize who we really are as sons of God. We are "declared" righteous - in right relationship with God. We are redeemed through Christ [anointed] Jesus by the "sacrifice of atonement by his blood" as by faith we share in Jesus' spiritual realization of at-one-ment with God, which he attained through the act of making his life (blood) sacred (by the sacrifice of his ego - "not my will, but Thine be done").

In Truth and Health, Fannie James wrote that: "Jesus did not make the atonement, he revealed it. He did not reconcile God to men, but men to God. He showed men their relation to the Father and assured them that they too were of the infinite and might claim all of its fullness." Mrs. James also wrote that "salvation" is: "A return to true consciousness that destroys all false conceptions of life. Being saved from erroneous opinions and beliefs. Understanding is the true salvation and Jesus' whole life was spent in opening man's thought to understanding. He said Knowing the truth shall make you free. … What truth? The truth of what I am - of my relation to the whole. This that I truly am is not subject to ills or fears; this knowledge saves from the seeming power of sin and sickness."

Yet UNITY Bible teacher and writer Elizabeth Sand Turner, in her book Your Hope of Glory, part of her trilogy on the New Thought interpretation of the OT and NT, wrote: "The Crucifixion of Jesus became the foundation of the Christian doctrine of salvation by the blood of Jesus. Christians generally believe that Jesus gave His blood on the Cross as a sacrifice for the sins of every person, and that when one accepts him as Savior one is saved by His blood. The Jews have always believed that sin was expiated through sacrifice and that the blood of the slain animal on the altar cleansed man [humankind] of sin. Jesus has been considered the 'sacrificial lamb' who was killed to bring about a reconciliation of sinful man to God." Turner continues: "Unity accepts this doctrine, but gives it a different meaning. Unity believes that we are saved by appropriating His blood, which represents spiritual life."

In chapter 4, Paul goes back to Abraham, who "trusted" God and "Therefore his faith was reckoned to him as righteousness" (NRSV, Romans 4: 22). And likewise (verses 24 - 25) "It will [also] be reckoned to us who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead, who was handed over to death for our trespasses and was raised for our justification." A New Thought understanding would be that we realize our eternal state of at-one-ment as we believe in the Omnipresent Universal Christ that raised Jesus from the "death" of sin, defined as the absence of an at-one-ment consciousness. Jesus was physically crucified because "fallen" humanity rejected him, but in his justification (as "Son of God"), we by faith and repentance (changing our thinking) through following his example and appropriating his realization of the Christ within can be "raised" from our state of death.

In chapter 5, the idea is that we are "justified" (made right with God) through faith. But beginning in verse 12, Paul digresses into his theological idea of "original sin" and the need, in verse 18, for Jesus to rectify Adam's disobedience. The liberal-leaning NRSV commentators comment, unconvincingly, that "Both events are alike because they show how one person can affect many people. But they have very different effects. Adam's trespass brought condemnation (v. 16) and death (v. 17), whereas God's free gift of Christ brought justification (v. 16) and life (v. 17)" [NRSV, NT section, p. 229]. In Truth and Health, Fannie James wrote that "Men have but one source. God only is the Father of the race, so Jesus taught. Original sin originated with the belief of separation from God, hence is the claim of another life and another power, all of which is erroneous. It is the false claim of a source and a self apart from God."

Chapters 6 through 8 present the foundation of Paul's theology or religion about Jesus. In verses 5 through 11 of chapter 6, Paul asserts that "if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his" (NRSV). The Swaggart organization and other Fundamentalist and Full Gospel groups make "The Cross and Him crucified" the foundation of their doctrine, within the context that "Christ is the Source, and The Cross is the Means." They interpret this as referring to Jesus' "finished work" on Calvary, and it is believed that The Cross is actually more important than the Resurrection, as it was the "means" by which we are redeemed. In New Thought, we could also say that The Cross is our "means of salvation," but we would deny that Jesus was a "sacrificial lamb" or "blood sacrifice" demanded by God "to atone" for Adam's transgression in the mythical Garden of Eden. But in New Thought, we would interpret Jesus' (ego) death on the Cross as his attainment of full Christhood - the state of "at-one-ment" with God that is the completed or fully realized culmination of the process of transformation. The "death" is to selfishness, outer sense-based perceptions of reality, and to the negative aspect of individuated ego. The "resurrection" is defined by Fannie James in the book Truth and Health as: "Evolving mentality. Unfoldment in consciousness of truth." In New Thought, the Cross must always symbolize and lead to Resurrection.

In chapter 7, verse 4 (NRSV) Paul writes that "you have died to the law through the body of Christ..." The NRSV Access Bible commentators tersely observe that "V. 4 is difficult" [NRSV, NT section, p. 231]. A symbolic analogy might be that we die to the law of cause and effect and consequences of our sin or error thinking as we identify vicariously with the crucified body of Jesus that was resurrected as the spiritual body of Christ. It is not a vicarious atonement, but a vicarious at-one-ment. In verses 7 through 25, Paul comments on what the NRSV Access Bible commentators refer to as "the struggle to do good." Some, especially in orthodoxy, refer to this section as a description of "The Sin Nature" in humankind. Paul states that his mind wants to be spiritual, but his flesh is in opposition, "sold into slavery under sin." Paul laments "I do not understand my own actions" (Romans 7: 15, NRSV). A less critical view that is more predisposed toward positive mental health was advanced by Nona Brooks. We are all at different stages in our individual soul unfoldment.

Jesus also taught us to "make friends with thine adversary," which in New Thought means that we do not "wage war" with a condition or fight against our incompleteness, but rather we affirm our reality and wholeness, in the context of "Christ in us, our hope of glory." Paul's struggle with his inner demons need not become an example we wish to emulate! He "owns the problem" of his duality thinking and self-condemnation -- we do not need "to fix it" for him or assume ownership of his problem.

In chapter 8, Paul summarizes the two "laws" in operation as he describes Life in the Spirit. "There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death" (NRSV, NT section, p. 231). We in New Thought have no problem with that statement. But Paul continues (NRSV): "For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do: by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and to deal with sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, so that the just requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit." This statement requires interpretation. In Paul's theology, and in orthodox Christianity, the Mosaic law was seen as designed to keep us from "sin" or to keep us aligned with the Divine Norm or Holy Standard, as we in New Thought might say. But "in the flesh" and in selfish ego not fully aligned with God or "incompletely unfolded" in New Thought terminology, the "law of holiness" could not fully operate. So God through the consciousness of Jesus the Son or spiritual offspring of God-Mind, as a human being, dealt with sin and as a human, "condemned" its claim over us. Then the higher realization the law was intended to help us attain could be fulfilled (revealed) in us. We then can walk not in ego or error, but in the fullness of Spirit.

A New Thought interpretation of these chapters from Paul's Epistle amplifies and clarifies the Nature of the Christ as the universal Spiritual Consciousness of humankind, and offers an alternative to orthodox and Full Gospel Fundamentalist interpretations. Along with a New Thought understanding of the "core teachings" of Jesus of Nazareth and his healing ministry, we can see the deeper metaphysical meaning of the statement "Christ is the Source, and the Cross is the Means." It is a process of at-one-ment, not a description of a vicarious atonement. The Christ Consciousness is our Source, and we realize the Resurrection Consciousness by "taking up our Cross" and following Jesus' universal, non-religion specific teachings and healing methods as we also "crucify" personal selfishness, lusts, ego-centered separation-from-Oneness thinking in our mind (Golgotha: "the place of a skull" or our inner thoughts and perceptions). We are then uplifted, reborn, resurrected into the Higher Consciousness, The Mind of Christ. It is "The Way of the Cross" as a transforming process.

CONCLUSIONS:

From reading and studying Paul's Epistle to the Romans, I can conclude that it is historically interesting, theologically useful for developing a "religion about Jesus," but, in my humble opinion, not absolutely necessary for one's identification as a disciple or follower of Jesus! Paul's concept of The Christ has been central to "Christian" New Thought, and we do not need to "throw the baby out with the bath water." For many decades, those identified with the "Christian" wing of New Thought or Divine Science have been either defensive or apologetic in some matters concerning orthodoxy. So it may burst people's bubbles, kill sacred cows, or cause cognitive dissonance when the writer of this essay sincerely concludes that one can fully appreciate Jesus' teachings and practice his healing ministry, and also accept him as Savior (from error thinking) and Way-shower (the "Great Example," not the "Great Exception") without getting bogged down in Pauline theology about Jesus as Christ. Indeed, in Romans 14:1 (NRSV), Paul wrote: "Welcome those who are weak in faith, but not for the purpose of quarreling over opinions."

One can interpret Paul's statements in a New Thought context, but this is not necessarily either academically accurate or useful. In addition, we have to remember that Paul's "historical context" was different from ours. Paul had to "develop and sell" a "religion about Jesus" (before the synoptic Gospels were even written) as he "walked a thin line" between hostile Jesus-hating Jewish religionists and apathetic Greek-Roman "pagans" whose religious practices, sensuality, ethics, and polytheism ran counter to the high monotheism and Universal Spirituality proclaimed in Jesus' teachings and in his example as Way-shower.

Paul was essentially a dedicated and effective missionary, the Apostle to the Gentiles and hence an apostle to to us, but he was also a theologian (trained under the great Rabbinical teacher Gamaliel) and a religionist. Jesus, in contrast, was a populist practitioner of Universal Spirituality, not religion. His ministry was non-religion specific, although he was a Jew, and his practical spirituality was decidedly non-institutional, inclusive, and egalitarian. As a populist prophet who was closely identified with "the commoners," Jesus was not a theologian. He did not intellectualize God; he revealed God.

As New Thought and Divine Science have become more identified with Universal Spirituality and less aligned with specific religions, its practitioners are free to embrace the Universal Truth that is beyond dogma, the Truth that is expressed in various degrees of completeness within many world religions, but is not exclusive to any one creed. We are under no obligation to try to "reconcile" the entirety of Pauline dogma or doctrine with New Thought understandings. Nor do we need to link and cement Paul's religion about Jesus with the Spirituality of Jesus the Way-shower. New Thought "christianity" is broader in interpretation than is orthodox or Fundamentalist "Christianity." Yet without Paul, we probably would not have the "religion about Jesus" that led those early New Thought religious reformers to initiate what in essence is a "reformation" of Christianity that has led us to the "religion of Jesus" that is beyond labels such as "Christian" or "Christianity."

By Stan Ousley Jr.

* * * * *

On-line essays on New Testament Bible Studies are linked to page one of our SOL WEB, direct links on left hand side:

Symphony of Love
Home