Humor of Paul’s Ranting in Romans. We are too serious.

People take the Bible way too seriously. By reading it out loud and you can see the humor . Paul was a master at using exaggeration to shake up his audience. He often uses "vice lists" where he throws the kitchen sink. Romans 1:18-32 is the famous rant against pagan worship. While its audience is not clear, it purpose is. It sets up the rest of the letter. In this fun episode, I do a dramatic reading of two passages to highlight how it must have sounded to the listeners in Rome when Phoebe read it to them. I also give a few other examples of diatribe being used in the New Testament. I also make an endorsement for Eugene Peterson's The Message, which does such a good job of making Bible reading fun. 

Romans 1:28 And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them over to an unfit mind and to do things that should not be done. 29 They were filled with every kind of injustice, evil, covetousness, malice. Full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, craftiness, they are gossips, 30 slanderers, God-haters,[g] insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, rebellious toward parents, 31 foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. 32 They know God’s decree, that those who practice such things deserve to die, yet they not only do them but even applaud others who practice them.

Romans 3:9 What then? Are we any better off?[c] No, not at all, for we have already charged that all, both Jews and Greeks, are under the power of sin, 10 as it is written:

“There is no one who is righteous, not even one;
11     there is no one who has understanding;
        there is no one who seeks God.
12 All have turned aside; together they have become worthless;
    there is no one who shows kindness;
        there is not even one.”
13 “Their throats are opened graves;
    they use their tongues to deceive.”
“The venom of vipers is under their lips.”
14     “Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness.”
15 “Their feet are swift to shed blood;
16     ruin and misery are in their paths,
17 and the way of peace they have not known.”
18     “There is no fear of God before their eyes.”

This hodgepodge comes from a scattering of cherry picked verses. This is where I will take you down a rabbit hole for a moment. I promise, it is worth it. First is total depravity.  Paul cites a grab bag of verses in Old Testament, from Ecclesiastes 7:20, Psalms 5, 14, 53, and 140 and sprinkles in a little Proverbs 1 and Isaiah 59 for seasoning. That’s an awful lot for just 9 verses.

Revelation 21:6 Then he said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To the thirsty I will give water as a gift from the spring of the water of life. 7 Those who conquer will inherit these things, and I will be their God, and they will be my children. 8 But as for the cowardly, the faithless,[f] the polluted, the murderers, the sexually immoral,[g] the sorcerers, the idolaters, and all liars, their place will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.”

Revelation 22:13 I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End.”
14 Blessed are those who wash their robes,[c] so that they will have the right to the tree of life and may enter the city by the gates. 15 Outside are the dogs and sorcerers and sexually immoral[d] and murderers and idolaters and everyone who loves and practices falsehood.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:18

Hello and welcome to the Real Bible Rob teencast. And today I'm going to talk about Paul's ranting. Paul does a lot of ranting in the New Testament, especially in Romans. And I think it's kind of funny because people take the Bible really seriously. They uh, you know, take it like uh they because they think it's the uh you know the divine word of God, and um, and it is, but you know, they think that God really doesn't have a lot of sense of humor. But if you look deep into the Bible, you can see that there's a lot of funny things in there. Uh, in a um podcast episode a while ago, I talked about the, in fact, it was the very first uh episode, I talked about the blind man in um John 9. And it's a little bit hard to see how that's funny unless you read it out loud. So that's what I'm gonna do with you today is I'm gonna read some of these places where Paul really rants a lot. Um, you know, uh kind of does what they call a diatribe. That's where, you know, he says things in anger, but he says them in ways that are way over the top. And they're kind of uh fun to read that way. Um, part of it, I think, is that when uh when he he's talking, he is trying to make a point, and sometimes by over saying things, by exaggerating, um, your point can be made better. So what what I did is in Romans 1, Romans 1, 28 through 32, there's kind of a rant there. And um, I read it to um my congregation in my at church, I read it to the church, and and uh I read it in a way and they started laughing. And most of the things that are said here are really bad and really serious, and people, you know, usually read this when they read it alone, they go, Oh, this is just terrible. But I think when you sometimes when you read some of these things aloud, you realize that they're kind of crazy, that they're they are a rant, and there's a reason. There's a reason for this. And I'm gonna tell you a little bit about that. But I'll start right off by saying this is where Paul is um talking about the Roman pagans, you know, the people who aren't Christians, and he's just talking about how they do not do anything right, and um and just how that comes. Now, there's a serious part of this, of course, because he's um talking about all these sins, all these things that they do, but he talks about it in a way that um it, like I say, it's over the top. So this is Romans 128. And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them over to an unfit mind and to do things that they should not have done. They were filled with every kind of injustice, evil, covetousness, um, malice. They were full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, craftiness. They are gossips, slanderers, god haters, insolent, haughty, boastful inventors of evil, rebellious toward their parents, foolish, faithless, heartless, and ruthless. They know God what God had said. And those who practice these things, they deserve to die. Yet they not only do them, but then they applaud, clap for the others who practice them. So um you can see by doing that, it's like it's Paul, and even before this, Paul goes on and on and on about how bad they are, and then he just lists everything. I it's like the kitchen sink, he's throwing everything into the argument, and he does that over and over again. And um, he he does that in listing bad things. They in fact, sometimes the people who, you know, uh the scholars, the people who study the Bible for a living, they call these vice lists. And what that means is these are lists of bad things that people do, and um they're really um often used. Now, you can be afraid of that and go, well, gee, Paul must be really mad or whatever, but you also need to know that that's the way Paul speaks in order to get his point across. Now, the reason why Paul uses this list of bad things is really really interesting because you notice he doesn't say you are filled with all of these bad things, injustice and evil and malice and envy. He's not saying you, you, you. He's saying they, they, they. They are filled with this. God turned them over to uh to have an unfit mind, uh, you know, a crazy mind essentially. And um, and they're doing what they shouldn't be doing. So who is he talking about? Because in the letter, he's talking to um to the churches, and that these churches have both Jewish people in them and have what are called Gentiles, the people who are not Jewish. And these are people that are following Jesus, but who are they that he's talking about? Well, he's talking about the culture around them, the pagans, the people who were not um who were worshiping all these various things. And in fact, earlier he's talking about how they know who God is, but they refuse to worship God. Instead, they worship things like animals and um and plants and reptiles and other things like that. And uh, and so he's making fun of them. He's also because these are Roman people, Roman people are very masculine, they're he men, you know, they really believe that that men are the are the best, right? Well, um, he's making fun of them too when he does that. So Paul is making fun of them by talking to this other group. So you can, in your mind, you can think who's listening to this. This is really important. Everything that you hear in the Bible, you always have to think, who is hearing this? Well, the people that are hearing this are both Jewish people and um non-Jewish people who are Christians in the church, and they're hearing this, and you can just see them, yeah, you're right, Paul. You're darn right. That it those people are bad. Those people, oh my goodness, those those pagans, they're so uh awful and evil, and they do all these terrible things. And Paul says that because the very next verse, he says, you should not judge them, because if you do, then you're you do those things yourself. You're you're just as bad as those pagan people, and you think you're better. So he does this a lot where you know he'll get people all excited and say, Yeah, you're you're you're right. Those are bad people. The thing I find really funny about this, um, about this chapter is it's uh preached about a lot. A lot of pastors talk about it, sometimes very um not very nice, too. They'll they'll preach mostly about gay people and against gay people, but when they do that, they you could just see that the people in the in the audience in the congregation are nodding their head up and down and going, Yeah, you're darn right, pastor. Those people are so evil, they're evil, evil, evil. And but the pastor sometimes in churches never goes to the very next one. You do it too. And when you condemn them, you're condemning yourself. When you say they're bad, you're saying yourself is bad too. So that's the reason why Paul does this, is he's trying to shock people, he's trying to get them to think for the think in a do a new way. Um, and um, and he does that now. He does it in another spot, too. And um, this this might also be familiar. This is also in Romans, it's Romans chapter 3, and it's um uh verse 9. Now, this one um you could really feel that that's very different. He he goes, uh, but anyway, it's the same idea. He's gonna go over the top, and I'm gonna tell you what he does with this too. So, Romans 3, he goes, What then? Are we any better off? No, not at all, for we have already charged that all, both Jews and Greeks, meaning Jews and not Jews, are under the power of sin, as it is written. And then here's his rant. There is no one who is righteous, not even one. There is no one who has understanding, there is no one who seeks God, all have turned away. Together they have become worthless. There is not one who shows kindness, there is not one, even one. Their throats are like open graves, they use their tongues to deceive, the venom of vipers is on their lips, their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness, their feet are swift to shed blood, ruin and misery are in their paths, the way of peace is they have not known. There is no fear of God before their eyes. Who's he talking to? Now, a lot of people read this and they go, Oh, he's talking about all people. You know, everyone's like this. No one is good. The interesting thing about this is Paul is also saying this for the same reason is that you're not better than anyone else. You're not better than any that other guy. He is doing it to show that there's a quality, that all people are capable of evil, that all cake all people have um sin in them and do sinful things. So you can't think you're better than another person. That's the really interesting thing. And he does talks about that more. There's a really interesting thing about this, though. Everything that Paul is writing here, where it says, as it is written, comes from the Old Testament. And um he uses, oh gosh, he uses parts of Ecclesiastes, parts of Psalms, Psalms 5, 14, 53, 140. He also uses Proverbs 1, he uses Isaiah 59. So what is that? That's seven different verses he uses, or uh is seven different um parts of the Old Testament to make up these verses here. And you go, What's he doing? What does that mean? You know, um, he he's like what we call cherry picking. So sometimes you'll hear that where people say, Oh, well, you're not reading the whole Bible, you're just reading the parts that you like or you don't like. Um, well, Paul does it in a way. He's going back to the Old Testament, he's just picking this one, that one, this one, this one in order to make a point. Well, um, the interesting thing about this is that each one of these verses that he uses from the Old Testament has good things around it to say about people. And Paul, on purpose, just picks the bad ones to say that all people are like this, all people are like that. He doesn't use any of the verses that say, well, and all people are loving and all people care about each other, and all people are honest, and all of that. It's because you and I know that that's the way people are. People are both. They're both um, they're both uh do evil things and say evil things and um deceive, meaning, you know, lie to people and stuff like that. But all people also are kind, love other people, they tell the truth, they are bold, they're they're wise. So, and that's what these verses say too, because that's the way we are created. We're creat we we are created um to be full people, and um, we choose bad stuff and we choose good stuff too. So you go, well, then why is Paul doing this? Well, he's doing it for a purpose, for a reason, because he doesn't want one group of Christians that were Jewish uh uh to treat the other group of Christians who are Gentiles um badly. In the same way, he doesn't want the gentile people to treat the Jewish people badly. He wants these people to be a piece and work together and and be one church. In the same way, you can even go back and say maybe they shouldn't be so arrogant about the people who aren't Christians that are pagans and just realize, you know, we need them to be truthful and we want to bring them in too and have them be part of us. So it's not so much that this idea that people are just um totally bad, totally bad. It is that instead of Jesus replacing that, um, Paul is saying that Jesus walks alongside of us and none of us is better than others. We all need to be forgiven, and that Jesus is for all people. That's really what his message is. Isn't that a lot more positive? Sometimes you're gonna hear these verses in a very negative way. So I just want you to understand that sometimes these really negative uh verses, first of all, you can read them out loud and they do sound kind of funny, and but secondly, also read them and goes, Paul is making a point. He's saying this in order to uh have a purpose. So that and that's what he's doing. So I'm gonna tell you about another one. There's a uh another one that's really interesting, and this is from Revelation. So um, you may have listened to my other episode about how crazy revelation is, and revelation is crazy. That is also what makes revelation fun. Um, it took me my like uh most of my life uh to understand that revelation can be read in a way that's fun rather than scary, because most people talk about revelation is in a scary way. Well, there is this part that really gets used a lot to make people scary, and it's another rant. Now, Paul didn't write this rant. We think that John, John, you know, John who wrote Revelation is the one that comes with this rant. But the interesting thing is he does it in a for a weird purpose and in a weird way. So this is Revelation 21 um six and uh six through eight. And um I let me tell you where this is. Uh this is after all of the um things that happen in Revelation, after the beast, after the the scrolls, after the trumpets, after all of these, after the um the war, um, the warfare and everything. So all of all of that is past. So now we have the new Jerusalem. We have this new earth, new heaven, new earth. Um, things are peaceful, things are good. Jesus is there, and we should be happy, right? But listen to what he says. So he says, It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega. So this is Jesus talking. It is done. Everything's done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, which means the beginning and the end, the beginning and the end. Uh, to and to those who are thirsty, I will give water as a gift from the spring of the water of life. Ah, those are great. Those who conquer will inherit these things. So those who have conquered evil, in other words, and they're they're good. And uh I will be their God and they will be my children. Ah, so comforting. But then listen. But as for the cowardly, for the faithless, for the polluted, the murderers, the sexually immoral, the sorcerers, the idolaters, all those liars, their place will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death. That sounds terrible. Wait a minute. So why is he talking about this? Everything's already over with. Already, everything's already done. Why is he talking about and making a list of um of bad stuff here? And on top of that, he's threatening them. Well, he is, you know, he's telling you kind of like um, you know, be good, don't be bad. That's part of what he's doing. And um, and he's he's talking to us. He's not talking uh Jesus in this isn't talking to the people, you know, sometime in the future. He's talking to the people who are reading this, like you and me. So you think, well, okay, that's good. That's a little bit hard to hear, right? Um, this the reason why I bring this first is because people use this a lot to talk about hell and and um and things like that. And it's really um not exactly what it means. So and I and I can talk about that in the future. You don't have to worry if you're you know, God wants to save people, right? God wants to reward people, God wants to um uh to love people, so um he he uh God hasn't uh uh it isn't going to threaten you, okay. So this is just saying, look, for those people who really, you know, the those are bad people, right? So then, and you might think, okay, well, this is done. But then in Revelation 22, a whole chapter later, he says, I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last. He says it again, the beginning and the end. Okay, why is he repeating himself? Now, this is even later. So not only is it that um the new Jerusalem and everything's great, but those people that he is against, they're already gone. Why is he bringing it back? So, but then he goes, So blessed are those who wash their robes, so that they will have the the right uh to the tree of life and may enter the city by the gates. Okay, but outside are the dogs and the sorcerers and the immoral and the murderers and the idolaters and everyone who loves to practice falsehood. So he's ranting again. Again, the reason why he's doing this is not about sometime in the future. He is for his audience, for the people who read Revelation, remember that the people who read Revelation, they were people who were really um being treated badly, being treated badly by the Romans, by being um persecuted or you know, being um shunned and being mistreated or having being you know things stolen from them and things like that. So he's saying you're okay, and he's also saying, but don't be like them, don't be like the people who are persecuting you, don't be uh faithless and polluted, and don't go murder people, and don't do don't be sorcerers, which you know, don't be like uh, you know, um casting spells on people and things like that. So again, this is a device, it's not something for you to be afraid of as much as you have to understand why they wrote this the way they did. And you there's a big clue here in that he repeats himself and he does it twice because he wants the people who are reading the book of Revelation to you know stay in line. And uh, so that that's important. So the last thing I'll tell you is that um a Bible that has the kind, and I was reading all of these from a certain kind of Bible called the New Revised Standard Version, which is the standard Bible that a lot of um scholars use, a lot of churches use it, use, other churches. Maybe the church that you, if you go to one, we might use the English Standard Version or other versions like that. And these tend to sound very formal and very, you know, um, like uh, and you could kind of hear that in what I was reading. There is another Bible, and there are other Bibles that are a little bit easier to read that I like a lot. Um, some are called like the New Living, uh, the TLV, the New Living Version. Um, that's pretty good. Um, the um there's another one called the C E B. So a lot of the Bibles that I've read, a lot of the verses I read to you in uh in this podcast and these episodes come from the CEB because it's a lot easier to read. Um, I really recommend it for you um because it's easier to read. But there is one version of the Bible that I like a lot too, called the message. And this was written by somebody who's really scholarly and um really understood uh the Hebrew and the Greek, the original languages. Um his name was Eugene Peterson. And some people don't like this Bible because they don't think that it's um, you know, uh true enough or not true to the language enough. But um most people who really know the Bible, like you know, like biblical scholars and people who really study it, do like it because even though it sounds very informal, um uh uh they get it is much closer to the feeling. So even though it's the words aren't exactly the same as in Hebrew and Greek, it gets close to the feeling in a way that we can understand. So I'm gonna read a little bit of Romans 5, and he says, like, you know the story of how Adam landed us into this situation, you know, the situation that we're in. First sin, then death, and no one can uh is exempt or can put away either sin or death. That sin does disturb the relationship that we have with God in everything and in every one. But you see how easy it reads? So it that's why I think that one way that you can, and he does this in a way that you can see more humor in the Bible, and he does this in a way that is um easy. So um Eugene Peterson will say you shouldn't use the message if you're like doing really serious Bible study, if you really want to do the words, but for reading, reading out loud, reading it um in church, for just reading it to get um a good feeling for what's going on, but especially to get the mood, whether is this a funny passage, is this a really serious passage? Is this passage um uh something that uh is sad, or is this something that's joyful? Uh, you get a much better feeling about that um with the message than you do with most other Bibles. So, you know, it's it's it's something that could help. Um, like I said, it's usually good not to just have one version. You could have a message and then you could have another Bible, like an ESV or an RSV or a or a C E B, and that's fine. Uh that's that's what serious Bible studyers do, is they use this and they helps them understand kind of that background, you know, about what the um what the verses are really like and why they were written the way they were written. So um I hope that you're as excited about this as I am. I look at these and I just go, this is this is fun. Even the hard passages, even the ones that, oh, you know, that feels like Paul's really angry, sometimes he's just he's just being dramatic. And in fact, most of the time, Paul is really dramatic. Um, I talked about him in Athens and the way how clever he was uh in another episode, and he is really dramatic in that too. So if you read it that way and you read it instead of it being about you or that like Paul is talking about you in a really um, you know, judgmental way, just realize what Paul is trying to do, and maybe see a little humor in it, too. So, with that, I thank you so much for listening and uh hope you listen more and subscribe and share this with friends and family. And um thank you and God bless you.