On the Epistle to the Romans

1. I think you have the basic plan presented in Romans absolutely spot on - Saint Paul shows us how the grace of Christ won uniquely by His life, death, and resurrection is engrafted inwardly in our souls through Baptism and grasped by faith, which justifies us before God both by declaring us righteous and making us righteous simultaneously. According to Saint Paul we are justified by grace through faith, 'apart from the works of the Law,' which is to say, the Old Covenant sacramental system cannot save or bring us into a right relationship with God. The sacraments of the Old Law, circumcision being the most prominent, are numerous, difficult and weak - they are symbolic of man's failure to obey the will of God and point us to the need for Redemption and divine grace as a free and unmerited gift. The grace comes us through Jesus Christ, the unique Mediator and Advocate of the New and Eternal Testament, and, as it turns out, the grace is the life of God Himself, the power of the Holy Ghost, which is vivified in us by a lively and active faith, which grabs hold of the grace and makes it fruitful in the life of the believer. We are not justified by faith alone, for hope and love animate faith and bring it into action, making it powerful and effective (Galatians 5.6). Justification by grace through faith thus translates into love, into faith in action, working to the glory of God and our own salvation. Faith and works are inseparable in justification and sanctification, and may be distinguished intellectually, but are never severed or divorced from one another, just like justification and sanctification themselves. What is the Gospel according to Saint Paul? Simply that man in Christ is given grace, grace which must be received by faith, grace which finds correspondence and co-operation in the life of the believer through faith. In turn, this grace, apprehended and enlivened through faith, leads to good works and the Christian life in action: Christ in us the hope of glory.

The good news of Saint Paul's' Gospel is that although the Old Law and the Ten Commandments can never justify or save, because it is impossible on our own efforts to keep the Law, in Christ by the power of His Spirit we are not only declared righteous and accounted righteous before God for the sake of Christ, but we actually have the power through grace appropriated by faith to keep the Law in its heart, in its Spirit - those who have faith fulfil the meaning and purpose of the Law and can now actually keep the Commandments by divine grace. Regenerated man, given the risen life of Christ in Baptism, takes on the attributes and character of Christ as the Lord makes His life to be planted in us that it may grow in obedience unto salvation. As we are conformed to Christ by Baptism and faith, Our Lord reproduces His life of love and obedience in us and makes it possible for us to be holy and to obey the Law, just as Christ did. Jesus now obeys the Law in and through us by His Spirit Who works in us to will and to do His good pleasure. We can never be good or holy on our own initiative and power, and that is precisely what the 613 commandments of the Old Testament reveal: the Law is a schoolmaster, a custodian, that points us to Christ, Who alone keeps the spirit and heart of the Law and makes it possible for us to do the same. So now we can not only understand the meaning of the Law, but we can fulfil it through obedience: the obedience of faith (Romans 1 and 16). The Old Testament ceremonial law, its system of rites, ceremonies, ordinances and sacrifices, cannot produce divine grace in us or bring us to God - these are the 'works of the Law' that cannot justify. The Ten Commandments are God's righteous, holy, and true Law, but they only condemn, they cannot save, for we are subject to sin and death. But through Christ and His victory over evil, the Sacraments of the New Testament, pre-eminently Baptism and the Eucharist, are fewer, easier, and far more powerful - they justify, they sanctify and they save, because it is the glorified Christ Who invisibly works in them to bring us to grace and faith. In this enterprise of the 'obedience of faith,' Our Lord, Baptism and faith are inseparable.

2. What is Saint Paul's Gospel? It is the 'Catholic Gospel' for all men. As I understand it, the following is the ordo salutis, the plan of salvation laid out by Saint Paul in Romans:

God created the world good and in communion with Him; man sinned and fell short of the glory of God and Original Sin has corrupted all humanity; man is led into idolatry through Original Sin although he perceives the unity and goodness of God in nature and creation, natural theology; the Jewish Law demonstrates the holiness of God and its adherents claim it can save, for its manifests God's perfection, but it excludes the Gentiles, thus causing the Jews to boast in their status before God by virtue of their race, election and possession of the Law, thus sinning; the Bible itself shows that all men are under the same condemnation, Jew and Gentile alike, and therefore the Jews have no cause or reason to boast because they possess the Law, for the Law in itself is holy but only condemns sinners and cannot save; those who have faith in God fulfill the meaning and purpose of the Law, Jew and Gentile alike, for faith is the full trust and assurance in the promises of God and faith obtains what it desires; thus the circumcised are no better before God and have no higher standing before God than the uncircumcised on the basis of religion - if the circumcised rely on their ethnic origin and supposed racial superiority before God, they have nothing, for God looks on the heart of faith, not on the outward observance of the Old Covenant rites; Our Lord is the unique Saviour of mankind, both Jew and Gentile, who came to save us from sin and destroy the power of sin by His obedience; Christ alone keeps the Law and makes it possible for us to be accepted by God; only by being engrafted into Christ by faith can man lay hold of justification and be made righteous before God, and this applies to the uncircumcised and circumcised alike; by Baptism we are incorporated into Christ and we die and rise with Him, being mystically joined to Him in His victory over death and evil; once baptised, we are given grace to obey God and the fulfill the Law's original purpose of restoring communion with God - in Christ we are made a new creation and forgiven all our sins; after Baptism, although we are regenerated and united with Christ and made one Body with Him, we are still subject to concupiscence, the inclination and attraction to sin which enslaves the whole human race; the Christian therefore must struggle in this world and must be united to Christ through suffering in order to overcome concupiscence and grow into the likeness of Christ; we are the adopted children of God by grace and we must co-operate with God in order to attain lives of holiness and sanctification - Christ reproduces His obedience in us as we grow in faith; ultimately God will bring all things to fulfillment in Christ and through the New Law, Christ's obedience, Jew and Gentile will be finally reunited in one family and fellowship at the end of time.

How is that for a brief synopsis of the message of Romans!? I have no idea how accurate it is, but that it is what I glean from my studies of the Epistle over the past few years.

Please share with me your thoughts and suggestions!