Tell Them

As I remember seminary, I remember spending a good bit of classroom time in preaching classes.  Some who remember my preaching might suggest that I should have stayed after school for extra classes.  Regardless of how it turned out, I am grateful for the opportunity to sit in the classroom of a preaching professor who was skilled both in the mechanics of preaching as well as in communicating the supreme urgency of good preaching.   

As I was reading the early verses of Romans, I was reminded of an oversimplified definition of preaching which my preaching professor never would have offered, but still carries a certain amount of merit.  While I have forgotten the source the definition went like this:  "Tell them what you are going to tell them, tell them, tell them you told them."   In some ways this fits the letter Paul wrote to the Roman Christians.  In the first half of first chapter he tells them what he is going to tell them.  In many ways it is a summary of what is going to follow.  Many of the theological themes mentioned in the early verses receive elaboration and a more precise handling deeper in the letter.  The only part which might be omitted is the part about telling them they have been told.  Most likely they figured that part out by themselves.    

Certainly the letter to the Romans can be read through the lens labeled and defined in verses 16-17 of the first chapter.  Powerful words such as the power of God, salvation, faith, and the righteousness of God are cast out in those early verses.  There is also a word which declares that all that God has done through Christ is not just for a few, but for everyone.  It is not a gospel that bears the imprint of exclusiveness, but inclusiveness.  There is much to ponder long before we find ourselves walking in the chest deep theological waters created by the pen and the spirit of the Apostle Paul.