{N}1,{/}5 THE RISEN CHRIST: HAS JESUS OF NAZARETH BEEN DISTORTED?{/}[Rom_1,5]
Jesus' figure, as it emerges from the gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke, is the figure of a rabbi, a teacher of the Law in the purest tradition of the people of Israel (Jn 3,2). Although, later on, the first Christian Community gave more importance to the conflicts with the Pharisees than actually oceurred, they did not forget that Jesus'teaching was very close to the teaching of the Pharisees on many points (Mk 2,16); (Mk 12,28); (Mk 12,32). Both disciples and opponents saw him as a self-taught master of the law (Jn 7,15). How then did we go from there to the figure of Christ as it appears particularly in Paul's letters: the Lord of history, the new Adam, the one who reccived the ineffable "Name"?
The apostles believed in the resurrection of Jesus and so did the entire Christian community who were born of this conviction. There was no doubt that he was the Messiah; people also believed that he was God's Son in a very special sense, different from what the Jews understood by this term. A long time was needed to draw all the inferences from this. This passage was undoubtedly more difficult for those who had known Jesus personally and who had seen him through the eyes of their Jewish culture, not because Jesus was not utterly Jewish, including his way of teaching, but because what they loved in him was preventing them from seeing beyond.
They certainly recognized themselves in James' letter, the most "Jewish" of the apostolic writings. While acknowledging Jesus as "our Lord," the author of the letter sees Jesus first as the teacher of a new law which included the best of the Old Testament (Rom 2,1) and (Rom 2,8). With the help of the impact of the Nazareth group, the "brothers of Jesus," the Christian communities of Palestine would grow fond of this image they had of the Galilean rabbi. He had risen, of course, but he had not set the world clock back to zero, and his heritage was first of all an example of doing good, not just teaching the Law.
Within just a few generations, these "Judeo-Christians" would find themselves like strangers to the faith of the Church whose center had moved from Jerusalem to Antioch, then to Rome. lt is there that Paul played a decisive role that he himself did not choose. He did not invent Christ the Lord and Redeerner: he was already present in Peter's first proclamations (Acts 2,32) - (Acts 2,36); (Acts 3,15). Paul, however, had not been influenced (and at the same time limited) by the image and the words of the Galilean rabbi. On the contrary, his conversion had been an encounter with God himself in the person of Jesus, and he saw the Master's itinerant preaching as the first stage of a wider destiny (2Cor 5,16).
If Jesus had not risen, he would have remained a teacher; until then, his words were perhaps more important than he himself was. But his body disappeared from the tomb; this first-ever happening, if true, did not fit into the laws of the universe. So the visions of the resurrected one conveyed but one message: Jesus, the Lord! This went far beyond Jeremiah exultant in glory or Elijah taken up to heaven. On the day of Pentecost Peter said that God had raised his holy servant (Acts 3,15) and he added: "God has made him Lord." Before long Jesus will be recognized as "the son of the woman taken up to heaven to seize the book of history" (Rev 12,5); (Rev 5,7). Paul and John have authority to speak about him because they are true witnesses; both of them were privileged to get a glimopse of the above (Rev 4,1); (2Cor 12,2).
From that moment, it was knowing who Jesus was that gave the understanding of his words, because he was God born of God. From that point on, his whole human adventure  was a new beginning.
Therefore, when Paul speaks of Christ as the "image of God" (Col 1,15), he is not primarily inviting us to find the goodness of the Father in Jesus' gestures: instead he is thinking more directly about the Son who, from the beginning, is the manifestation, the projection and the active wisdom of the forever invisible God. Christ is the one who passed through our history and our time so that, through him, all of creation including humankind would be seen as part of the divine mystery (Col 1,20).
In the gospels, Jesus chose to be the proclaimer of the Reign of God. With Paul, however, there is not just Kingdom, but our life in the risen Christ 
(Col 3,l). There we see the gap between Christian faith and the position of the non-Christian Jews who were the most sympathetic toward Jesus and acknowledged him as one of their own. Paul was not the one who built a wall of misunderstanding; the scandal was found in Jesus'resurrection as well as in his death on the cross.
These are not less scandalous for today's Christians. Although we haye faith, at times we are besieged by doubt: is all of that certain? Many books written by unbelievers, or even by educated Christians, will reinforce our doubts: "The resurrection? There is no other bases than an empty tomb - and do we even know that? Yet, all these reasons do not overcome a deep-scated conviction in the hearts of believers. Then, people interpretad; they believed; they saw.... To say that he had risen was a way of exalting him and of reasserting the hope of the community..." A sense of God tells them that truth is found in the mystery rather than in the interpretations that seek to do away with it (1Jn 2,27).
We have just said "a sense of God," because it is not a matter of human feeling: we believe, which means first of all that we receive the testimony of the apostles and of the Church, and we believe the way they did. lf we welcome faith, God will not leave us alone with our doubts, there is also an added promise: the gift of the Holy Spirit (Acts 2,18).
There can be no lasting faith without a spiritual experience (Heb 12,18) -(Heb 12,24), and this is even truer for those living in a culture impervious to faith, as we are.

{N}3,{/}20 {N}THE VOCABULARY ON JUSTIFICATION{/}
Our first step in examining Paul's important texts about "justification" must be to define precisely in our language the terms that he uses in his language. This is not merely a difference between the Greek that he spoke and the English we speak. Paul uses terms from the Greek Septuagint Bible, which to some degree determined the religious language of Greek speaking Jews. These terms, however, are better understood in the light of the religious experiences of the Old Testament.
Our vocabulary about justification and grace has been strongly influenced by numerous theological controversies and by the discussions between Catholics and Protestants from the sixteenth through the eighteenth centuries. Such questions as these never occurred to our religious ancestors before Christ. Their vocabulary about redemption, sin, and righteousness was born from their social experiences between groups and persons, between a less important person and a more powerful one, who became the protector of the first. The powerful person granted a "covenant" with reciprocal obligations. If the dependent person rebelled, he was said to have sinned against his sovereign (2Kgs 18,14; Ez 17,15) and to have betrayed him. On the other hand the sovereign could recognize the faithfulness of his ally and consider him to be just.
These same terms were used in God's Covenant with Israel. Certainly they never doubted God's mercy. The people knew that God forgives, but they were also conscious of his justice. If they obeyed the commandments, they would merit God's favor. The prophets would make the people conscious of the coming judgment. Then God would {C}justify{/} his people, that is, he would declare them to be just and protect them. After some centuries, as the people continued to sin, another process was initiated. The prophets recognized that God's people needed a conversion, and that only God could work this conversion (1Kgs 18,37). Please note that the word justification is not used in this case. 
After the Exile, we see in the Psalms the growing desire of sincere believers to do their best in order to follow the precepts of the Law, knowing that those who put them into practice will live through them (Lev 18,5). Aware of their own weakness, they will not tire of asking God for a pure heart ready and willing to observe his Law. Yet when we read that God justifies, this always means that he recognizes the righteousness of someone and proclaims it.
Paul addresses believers of Jewish origin or converts to Judaism before becoming Christians, who feel and express themselves in this way. However, he asks them to make a radical reorientation of their understanding of religious words and attitudes. Until then, one's justification depended above all on the individual and his/her faithfulness in practicing the precepts of the Law. Justice was a combination of qualities of the heart and life of the believer. Believers considered justice primarily as the achievement of moral and legal perfection that deserved God's benevolence. One's relation with God was in good part juridical. The Law established a code of rights and obligations, and even when piety expected much from divine mercy, each one was made responsible for his own justification.
Now Paul discovers the universal value of the coming of Christ, meaning, as the Messiah. Through Christ, and thanks to faith, God transforms the human person. The Greek word that Paul uses means both "justice" and "the process of justification" (to become just or make oneself just or be recognized as just). Now, in the language of Paul the word {C}justification{/} signifies a re-creation of the person in the depths of his being. Christian faith opens the spirit and centers it in truth. If the word justi-fy confuses us, we should substitute other words of similar origin: recti-fy, re-habilitate, re-order, re-adjust, re-form, etc.
This adaptation of the word will be accompanied by an evolution of our understanding of the words, purchase or {C}redemption{/} (see the note on Mt 20,28). Likewise, since the new justice is an interior perfection and a work of God, it requires a new understanding of the relations between the words {C}holy {/}and {C}just.{/}
In the Old Testament, {C}holiness{/} is a characteristic proper to God, since it expresses his mystery. His holiness separates him from everything else and from all that humans can say about him. What is {C}holy {/}is opposed to what is profane. The Book of Daniel and the Psalms call those heavenly beings close to God (angels) the "holy ones" (Dn 4,10; Ps 89,6). 
In the earthly domain, the word holy is applied to persons and things that are consecrated to God and who, therefore, obey different laws than profane persons do. For example, the priests, the Temple, and the objects of worship are holy. Similarly, when God tells his people: "Be holy because I am holy," it has a different meaning than what we understand today. This command associates the idea of justice with that of being a people "different from the rest" because they are consecrated to God. The Old Testament uses the words, just and pious, to express that a person is perfect in God's eyes and pleases him: it will not call this person holy.
From the moment that justification is understood as the transformation of a person, opening him/her to communion with God, it can become a synonym of the word holiness. In two different places we find the words {C}justification{/} and {C}holiness{/} associated and each time in a different order (1Cor 6,11; Rev 22,11). This demonstrates that they are not two successive stages or two different actions of God, but rather that each complements the meaning of the other for those who were accustomed to the language of the Greek Septuagint. In the writings of Paul the word, holy, commonly has the meaning, "consecrated to God." That explains why he calls Christians, "the holy ones." Yet Paul also insists that those who are consecrated to God ought to live without fault and irreproachable, that is to say, as {C}saints{/}, and it is this word that we commonly use in our translations although it does not fit very well (1Cor 1,8; Col 1,22). This Christian holiness is an imitation of divine perfection (Mt 5,45).

{N}3,{/}25 {C}God has given him (Christ) to be the victim whose blood obtains us forgiveness{/} through faith. In Greek the text actually says more exactly: "He is the propitiatory, through his blood, by faith". The propitiatory is the classic term to designate the cover of the Ark of the Covenant on top of which it was thought that God resided and over which the sprinkling with the blood of the victims was made each year on the Day of Atonement. We translated it as the place of pardon, "the Mercy seat," in Ex 25,20 and in the following chapters.

{N}5,{/}2 {C}Through him we obtain this favor in which we remain.{/} The text says more precisely, "Through him we have access to that grace in which we remain." The word, "that," must not be overlooked, and the word, grace, should not be interpreted in the more precise meanings which later theologians gave it. That divine grace or "favor" is nothing other than peace with God. It was acquired by faith and it no longer has to be put in doubt.

{N}5,{/}20 {C}Grace abounded all the more.{/} Let us not forget that grace is in the first place a gift or a divine intervention in order to lift up sinful humanity.

{N}5,{/}21 The exact text is: "In the same way grace reigned through justification (or justice) for eternal life, through Jesus Christ our Lord". That justification is the work of God which straightens out and puts in order and makes just according to his own criterion those who believe: These are on the straight path of everlasting life. 

{N}6,{/}15 What inspires Paul in the paragraph from verses 15 through 23 is without doubt the fact that two words come furtively to his memory: {C}reign{/} and {C}obedience{/}. He had rarely spoken about the reign of God when addressing Greeks, because it was a concept familiar only within Israel. But here this term suggests the struggle between evil and the condition of justice or the divine work of justification. Another term, the Greek word {C}obedience{/}, also has the significance of welcome, and it was commonly used in the Church to express the welcoming of the faith and the careful attention given to the teachings. The result is a Christian transformed into an obedient slave of Justice and its reign, forming his body, actions, and gestures as weapons to combat evil.

{N}6,{/}23 This verse is more condensed in the Greek version. We translate it a bit longer in order to emphasize the two sets of opposing concepts that Paul combines here: reward and free gift; death and everlasting life.

{N}7,{/}7 The personage of {C}sin {/}enters the scene here and intervenes throughout the whole chapter. Sin is not used in the usual sense of a free act in which we do something we know is wrong. Rather it is the personification of the forces that incline us to evil, those forces that have besieged humanity in every age and that made Adam, as much the father as the symbol of the whole race, their first victim.
It would be well to meditate on verse 20 where Paul indicates that our personal responsibility is quite limited. Rooted in Adam who let himself be seduced by the serpent, we are as much victims and irresponsible as we are guilty. For this reason we are told not to judge; for the same reason we must go beyond an examination of conscience and an admission of our own sin and weakness of character in our daily life. Rather we must be conscious of a "sin of the world" underlying the great problems of humankind. We must also make a conscious Christian commitment to oppose this reality.

{N}7,{/}25 Paul does not divide the human person into two mutually adverse beings: a good spirit and a sinful body. Rather he says that sin, as a force present in the world and in society reaches us through the body, and it is our spirit or our reason, that recognizes the law of God.

{N}8,{/}3 Analysis of the original text.
Paul clarifies principles and conditions that must be recognized to understand the magnitude of God's saving initiative.
- {C}The law was without effect{/}: to establish harmony between humankind and God.
- {C}because flesh was not responding{/}: because of our human condition, we were prisoners of the forces hostile to God acting in the world.
- {C}God sent his own Son{/} "in the likeness of the flesh of sin": that is, subject to the sinful fleshy condition in which sin has power. 
- "because of sin", or: {C}planning to destroy sin{/}: in order to respond to the dominion of sin in the world.
- {C}God condemned sin in this human condition{/}: God exposed its lies and false justifications through the passion and resurrection of his Son made flesh,

{N}8,{/}5 According to Paul, human nature is not divided into body and soul, which is the classic Aristotelian pattern commonly accepted within our theology. Rather, the human person begins to sense a distinct dynamism and activity within himself from the moment he becomes aware of having received a call of the spirit. Paul makes the distinction here between those who are "according to the flesh" or "in the flesh", and those who are "according to the spirit" or "in the spirit." This is his way of expressing the opposition between different callings and projects of life according to how we may have responded to God after having welcomed and experienced the action of his Spirit. Christian morality, even when it recognizes the moral bases of the ancient law, is Christian insofar as it is the faithful and creative response to the invitations of the Spirit. Paul does not enter here into the problem of the discernment of spirits.

{N}8,{/}20 The created world is a reflection of God only up to a certain point. By only considering how we interact with nature, we discover there many contradictions and tragedies. Look, for example, at animal suffering. If we reflect on the evolutionary process that embraces the whole history of the universe, it is difficult not to recognize that whole process with its incalculable waste seems to be searching for meaning. And Paul tells us: Its meaning will only be discovered when the children of God have reached the Glory that awaits them.
{C}The created world was unable to attain its purpose-{/} The original text says: "was subjected to vanity" (or: "to deception").{C}
That{/} comes from the one who subjected it. This is probably not referring to the devil who would have destroyed creation, nor to humans who recklessly manipulate the ecology of the world. Rather, it refers to God who governs nature and its future transformation with the same wisdom that he does humankind and its redemption. God's guidance gives rise to all those manifestations observed by science that there is some internal causal force or impulse responsible for ordered development in cosmic alchemy and in the evolution of living beings.

{N}9,{/}5 The original text says: "And one of them according to the flesh is Christ, he who is above all things. May God be blessed forever, amen." Here, Paul follows the Jewish custom of expressing a spontaneous doxology or exclamation of praise whenever they mentioned the name of God. By expressing it in this context, Paul indicates that he is offering divine praise to Christ. That is, after having just classified him as a descendant of the Patriarchs according to the flesh, Paul expresses Christ's divine filiation. As God, He is above all things (or more correctly: his divine nature is above all). Since the word, God, does not appear here with the article, it refers to the divine nature, not to the person of the Father.
At the beginning of Romans in 1,3-4, the divine filiation of Jesus Christ is inferred, but here in 9,5 Jesus is so directly called God (or having the divine nature) that it disturbs all those who are of the opinion that the apostles were not aware of Christ's divinity. Rather, they say, this belief only slowly developed in the primitive Church as the myth of Jesus was being created (which goes beyond reasonableness). Even some, who do not agree with this critical rationalism, believe that such a direct affirmation of divinity is foreign to Paul's thinking. They prefer to translate this text either: "... Christ, he who is above all: Blessed be God forever!" or: "-Christ. He who is above all, God, (be) blessed forever!" 

{N}9,{/}13 The text says: "and I hated Esau." Let us not forget that the verb, "to hate," in Hebrew has a very ample meaning. When one thing is preferred over another, they say: I love this and hate that (meaning: I reject it or do not take it into account) ... See Lk 14,26 and 16,13.

{N}10,{/}4 The text says: "Christ is the aim of the Law for the righteousness of all believers." Paul does not deny that countless believers who served God by observing the Law have been sanctified and saved, both before and after Christ. The whole revelation of the Old Testament was already the bearer of salvation. It forged persons and a people, and gave them a mission. Notwithstanding this, faith in Christ gives us access to a new order (definitive reconciliation or justification) which those who experience it are able to recognize in us without even becoming personally acquainted with us, a condition that is very precious in the eyes of God. A new reality has been planted in the world because even our minimal gestures are bearers of the Spirit. 

{N}10,{/}6 Paul's quotation of Dt 30,12-13 in no way implies a prophecy of the Ascension of Jesus or of his "descent into the world below." Scripture is an instrument of the Spirit and when Paul lets himself be led by his convictions, the words of Scripture naturally come to his mind and he takes them or transforms them as he wishes. Paul does not quote Scripture for the purpose of argumentation, but rather he chooses words that convey strength. We should also be aware that in Dt 30,13, the Hebrew word, "abyss," means "the ocean." Translated into Paul's Greek language, it takes on the meaning of the world below, the dwelling of the dead.

{N}10,{/}9 This paragraph is like a commentary on the prophecy of Joel that Peter quotes on the day of Pentecost. Notice how Paul attributes purely and simply to Christ the Lord what in Joel's text can be said only of Yahweh God.

{N}11,{/}25 The destiny of the Jewish people exceedingly interests us since their ancestors are also ours. The Apostles and the first Christians never considered that they had renounced that people (Acts 13,26-32; 26,22). On the contrary, Christians were the ones whom God had chosen and who had welcomed the Savior that their whole race was waiting for. Although Christians formed a new people of God (Ps 22,32), they were in reality a continuation, the "small remnant of Israel."
Our faith is rooted in the events of both the Old and New Testaments, this is why the Gospels emphasize the national catastrophe that occurred with the destruction of Jerusalem in the year 70 AD, just as Jesus had announced. Luke related this tragedy to the Jews having rejected the Savior, implying that it will also mark their destiny until the end of the time of the nations, meaning, until the end of history (Lk 21,24). The Gospel says no more.
Yet Paul asks us not to confuse God's choice of the Jews as his people and his personal call to those he wants to know the Savior. God calls whomever he wishes anywhere in the world; to these God entrusts his greatest and most secret works. He might even multiply his calls within a specific people for an extended period, as he did for ten centuries in the lands of Christianity, and later leave them out of the main stream of faith. In this sense the majority of Jewish people missed their calling. Their rejection, however, does not nullify God's promises to them, that made them his special chosen people with a unique mission, which they continue to fulfill for the salvation of the world.
This reality also invites us to reconsider our experience within the Church. Although Christians who are conscious of their calling by God and of their vocation to evangelize are not very numerous, the Church nevertheless continues to fulfill its mission as a Christian people. Its mission is necessary for the salvation of the world and "the forces of death will not prevail against it."

{N}11,{/}28 How can God be seemingly indifferent with regard to something that disturbs us so much, namely, that so many people around us abandon the true faith? Since we were chosen by God to be the people to testify in the world about his astonishing love and his coming among humankind, we must feel the urgency of communicating that revelation to others. What a joy it was for Paul and is for us now, when a Jew or a non-believer recognizes the only Savior! And what a treasure it is for the person receiving that gift! Nevertheless, God continues to be present in people's life and to act among them in many ways so that neither his plan of salvation nor the riches he wants to distribute to families or to the entire world will not be diminished by the failures of his Church. Having said this, we must regretfully recognize that everyone is capable of losing both the talents entrusted to him and the corresponding "extra" happiness that was destined to be his in eternity. Somehow others will take advantage of that unused talent, here as well as under other heavens. In the next world this will be a cause of joy for us, even if the one who lost out is one of our acquaintances, and he who knew how to take advantage of the talent was a stranger.

{N}12,{/}3 The precise wording of the original text is: "I can tell each of you not to intend more that what must be thought (or intended), but rather think (or intend) as it can be done wisely, according to the measure of faith (or the spiritual gifts) that each has received."

{N}12,{/}6 "If you are a prophet, then share the insights of faith." The exact text is: "If it is prophecy, (let it be) according to the analogy of faith." The word, {C}analogy{/}, appears only here in the entire Bible. The word, analogically, is found in Wis 13,5 in the sense of "by induction" (arriving at a general principle from several particular ones). In other words, prophetic statements should proceed from a vision of faith, or better said, from an intuition or an impulse of faith that the prophet has received (1Co 12,9).

{N}13,{/}3 The text of this verse was found in the administrative office of the regional Roman government in Cesarea from around the fifth or sixth century after Christ. Could it be that a Christian ruler of the Byzantine Empire edited Paul's text in order to encourage Christian citizens to pay taxes? Or could it be that perhaps Paul himself was quoting an ancient Roman directive in his letter? 

{N}14,{/}9 {C}Lord of the dead and of the living{/}. Whatever may have been the logical value of such an argument, Paul is only expressing the apostolic faith contained in our Creed, namely, that the redemptive work of Christ goes far beyond merely saving those who believed in Him and call upon him. Humankind in all ages and among all religions will one day discover that the way in which God has directed their life and saved them has been intimately linked to the coming of his Son into our universe.

{N}14,{/}16 This is the same idea expressed in 1Co 10,20, but in a different way.

{N}14,{/}23 The exact wording of the text is: "All that does not come from conviction is sin." The Greek word means both conviction and faith. Therefore, in the past, some preferred to ignore the context and translate the verse: "All that does not come from faith is sin." A conclusion sometimes drawn from this could be that as long as a person does not have faith, he can only sin.

{N}15,{/}8 Paul sees in this double attitude of God, with respect to the Jews and to the "nations," meaning to the non-Jews, a manifestation of the two great qualities that the prophetic tradition attributes to God: his free gift (grace) and his faithfulness. What Paul says here goes further surely than the case of the Jews and the non-Jews. This text gives us a further insight into the belief that God made creation as his plaything (a Hindu would say his dance), and that he wanted to express in time what He is and does in eternity. That is to say, that God may have revealed himself only to a minority and that the majority of humankind will be saved without having known about the Jewish-Christian revelation.
With the chosen minority he creates a mutual relationship whereby they already experience in time what will be their relationship in eternity. The word, {C}faithfulness{/}, appropriately describes this initiative. In this process God makes promises; we respond to him, we challenge him, and we love him freely. What will be for eternity is already totally present, although it is not perceived. It is precisely what the eternal Word of God lived in Galilee. That history was no more than an instant in the time of humankind, but it enclosed the whole redemptive action of God.
We do not have sufficient perspective to say what God does with the rest, with those who have not known God made flesh. However Paul speaks of {C}grace{/}, and under that word, which is so elastic, he places all that is unforeseen within divine fantasy. It is probable that our passage from time to God's eternal life carries with it a disconcerting overturning of all values. When God draws all of the happenings of human history back to himself, we may be surprised to discover that all of us misunderstood what had been asked of us and that the feast is purely and simply the result of the fantasy and generosity of God. And the happiness will be even greater if humanity is stirred forever with the surprise of "those to whom he had not been announced" (Ro 15,21).

{N}16,{/}7 {C}Greetings to Andronicus and Junias-apostles{/}. Paul called both Andronicus and Junias "apostles." Was Junias a woman and wife of Andronicus? Were they one more married couple, like Philologus and Julia in v. 15, among the man-wife leaders and ministers of local churches, meeting in the house of each particular couple mentioned? The noble name of Junias, that has both masculine and feminine forms in Greek, would normally not have been given to a male child. Therefore it is possible, and even probable, that Paul is calling a married couple, "apostles," a title reserved for founders of churches. Must we understand that he gives this word its official signification and that they were apostles in a strict sense? At that time, the apostles were the first in the hierarchy of ministers. As such, we can presume that they would have also presided at the community Eucharist!
The majority of commentaries on this text after the Middle Ages followed the opinion of twelfth century Aegidius who said that the name Junias must have been masculine, since we know that it was impossible for a woman to have been an apostle. Contrary to this, the fourth century St. John Chrysostom, who knew Greek and the letters of Paul better than anyone else of his day, praised Junias. She must have been a marvelous woman for Paul to have named her an apostle, he commented. Chrysostom's statement has even more weight, since he was in general an antifeminist!

