The elephant in the dark room.
Romans in a Dark Room
Imagine entering a dark room and at the center of that room a small table, an open book with a single sentence in view. The words are from the Bible, Romans Chapter 10 verse 9. There is a single ray of light shining down on the words and through the darkness, you can make out the following:
“for if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.”
My youngest son memorized this verse at the age of 5 in Bible school. It was cute that he could recite it on command. My family loved hearing him say it. My family believes in this statement with such fervor, that one might confuse this to be the single focal point of the Gospel. It’s a powerful statement. My Protestant belief system was built upon this passage as a foundational pillar.
What does it take to be “saved”? Confess with your mouth (speak aloud) and believe in your heart that God raised Jesus from the dead. The “believing in your heart” action was confirmed through an “alter call” where one could declare in a step of faith or action to believe in Jesus Christ. This was the doorway to accepting the Lord Jesus Christ into your heart as your personal Lord and savior. Once this had been spoken and action had been taken, you were born again (through Spirit), and as a new creation in Christ, you were saved forever more. Once saved always saved. You could never go back. This is salvation through faith alone. The authority is from scripture alone.
There is truth in all of this. It would be enough if only the spotlight remained on that passage in the dark room.
As you stand in this dark room, with your eyes fixed on the illuminated scripture, your hands wander to the outside of the table. In the darkness, you feel additional pages. Through the darkness, you sense there is more.
The blind men and the elephant
There is an old folk tale about blind men and an elephant. There are a few versions of this story but the main premise goes like this:
There were once six blind men who stood by the roadside every day and begged from the people who passed. They had often heard of elephants, but they had never seen one; for, being blind, how could they?
It so happened one morning that an elephant was driven down the road where they stood. When they were told that the great beast was before them, they asked the driver to let him stop so that they might see him.
Of course, they could not see him with their eyes; but they thought that by touching him they could learn just what kind of animal he was.
The first one happened to put his hand on the elephant’s side. “Well, well!” he said, “now I know all about this beast. He is exactly like a wall.”
The second felt only of the elephant’s tusk. “My brother,” he said, “you are mistaken. He is not at all like a wall. He is round and smooth and sharp. He is more like a spear than anything else.”
The third happened to take hold of the elephant’s trunk. “Both of you are wrong,” he said. “Anybody who knows anything can see that this elephant is like a snake.”
The fourth reached out his arms and grasped one of the elephant’s legs. “Oh, how blind you are!” he said. “It is very plain to me that he is round and tall like a tree.”
The fifth was a very tall man, and he chanced to take hold of the elephant’s ear. “The blindest man ought to know that this beast is not like any of the things that you name,” he said. “He is exactly like a huge fan.”
The sixth was very blind indeed, and it was some time before he could find the elephant at all. At last, he seized the animal’s tail. “O foolish fellows!” he cried. “You surely have lost your senses. This elephant is not like a wall, spear, snake, or tree; neither is he like a fan. But any man with a half of sense can see that he is exactly like a rope.”
Then the elephant moved on, and the six blind men sat by the roadside all day and quarreled about him. Each believed that he knew just how the animal looked, and each called the others hard names because they did not agree with him.
I am in the dark room with the book and I am holding the elephant’s tail. The tail of the elephant is unique. It can be used to keep balance. It can be used to keep insects away from the elephant. It has a purpose and is amazing in its own regard. I could write a 60-minute sermon about the tail of the elephant. It would be moving and contain truth. What about the rest of the elephant?
We flip the light switch and the room is illuminated. The elephant stands in the room.
Paul was writing to the Church in Rome which would have been a mix of Gentiles and Jews. Like in Galatians, Paul is addressing Jesus as the center of the faith. He is advising, teaching, and guarding those Gentiles against taking up justification by works under the Mosaic law.
We see examples of faith being received through preaching and teaching the Gospel. The call to preach the Gospel is highlighted as an “act” or work of faith and is required.
Turn the light on in the room to see all that is in there. A much bigger picture of scripture surrounds this passage. The context of whom Paul is speaking is very important to the text. The reference to the book of Acts and Galatians. We look at tradition to understand how teaching was delivered to believers in the church. We read firsthand historical accounts from those that learned directly from Paul and the other Apostles. These are the legs, the trunk, and the tusks of the elephant.
The Call of Andrew and Peter
We see Jesus call Andrew and Peter to be fishers of men. Jesus teaches them to fish and then gives them the authority to go out and fish themselves. These are all actions. We are called to spread the Gospel. We are called to be fishermen as well (works).
The liturgy of the day, Nov 30th, 2022. The NT scripture will fulfill the prophecy of Ezekiel (Ez 47:8–9)
For this water goes thither, and it shall heal them, and every fish on which the river shall come shall live.
The water is symbolic of baptism as it always is in scripture. This is revealed in the NT. The preaching of the Gospel is the fishing by which believers are restored to life. The river flows from the south side of the east gate and from the temple (Jesus). The water flowed from the side of Jesus at the cross (water and blood, baptism, and the blood of Christ as the new covenant).
The feast day of Saint Andrew, the first Apostle called to follow Christ. The disciple whom we hear very little about in the Gospel. Andrew is mentioned 12 times in the Gospel and 4 of those mentions are in a list with the other Apostles. Is it by chance that Andrew, first called, is a fisherman?
The front end of the readings on the day is about the feast of Saint Andrew (works). Paul highlights the faith through preaching the Gospel (works). The end cap of the readings is the call of Andrew and Simon Peter by Jesus to become fishers of men (works).
The Church uses Romans 10:9 as additional context to the call of faith by bringing the Gospel to others. We must give up our lives and carry our own cross to follow Christ.
Immediately they left their nets and followed him.
Andrew and Simon left their way of life and followed Jesus.
How did St. Andrew and St. Peter die? They also carried their own cross in the most literal sense.
Tradition holds that Andrew was martyred by crucifixion in the Greek city of Patras around 60 AD. Like his brother, Peter, Andrew allegedly didn’t consider himself worthy to die in the same way as Jesus, and tradition claims he was bound — not nailed — to a cross that was hung in an X shape instead of a T.
However, the earliest origin of this narrative that we can identify today comes from Acts of Andrew, an apocryphal text which also includes numerous supernatural accounts of Andrew’s miracles that are recorded nowhere else — including a claim that he preached for three days straight as he hung on the cross — and it didn’t emerge until decades, possibly centuries after his death.
According to Acts of Andrew, as he hung there dying, Andrew praised the cross as a symbol of Christ’s beautiful redemption:
Hail, O Cross
“Hail, O Cross, inaugurated by the Body of Christ and adorned with his limbs as though they were precious pearls. Before the Lord mounted you, you inspired an earthly fear. Now, instead, endowed with heavenly love, you are accepted as a gift.“Believers know of the great joy that you possess, and of the multitude of gifts you have prepared. I come to you, therefore, confident and joyful, so that you too may receive me exultant as a disciple of the One who was hung upon you…. O blessed Cross, clothed in the majesty and beauty of the Lord’s limbs!… Take me, carry me far from men, and restore me to my Teacher, so that, through you, the one who redeemed me by you, may receive me. Hail, O Cross; yes, hail indeed!”
When the light of Christ is added to the room, there is so much more to see and understand. The Church has been teaching in this manner for a thousand years. While it is essential to highlight and elaborate text in scripture, I believe it is equally important to do this with the lights on. This is the only way to address the elephant in the room.
