During yesterday’s sermon in Romans 16, I was struck by two verses that appear to be unrelated and random. My mind wandered and wondered. Is the Apostle Paul carrying a thought through this passage I haven’t seen before? Do I see a connection? Or am I trying to force together puzzle pieces from two different boxes?

Does Paul’s exhortation in verse 16, to “Greet one another with a holy kiss …”  have anything to do with what he says four verses later: “The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet.” (16:20)?

I think there IS a connection. And I believe their relation to one another is not only profound and powerful, but pertinent to what Paul is doing throughout his letter to the house churches in Rome.

Before I share how I think they are connected, let’s go back to the beginning of the letter. As Pastor Jeff mentioned yesterday, Paul ends Romans as he began — with a reference to the gospel.

Paul says in Romans 1:16, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile.” And then says that we see God making things right through this gospel.  

This is a familiar verse to us. And for me growing up, it was all about me possessing a certain fervor that would enable me stand up for my faith, no matter who stood against me. The stronger my faith in God, the more emboldened I would be in telling others about him. “Always be prepared to have an answer,” as the Bible verse says. 

For a long time, that’s what I thought Paul was talking about. But I don’t think that’s what he is doing here.

I think that when Paul says he is not ashamed of the gospel, he is saying that he is not ashamed of the gospel that invites both Jew and Gentile into Christ, no matter their backgrounds or how they pursue and practice this faith in Jesus. 

He is not ashamed that God would reveal his righteousness in this way and he is not ashamed to live in THAT gospel. At the same time, he is unashamed to tell the Roman house churches they aren’t living out that gospel.

So, to Paul, the gospel is not necessarily about what Jesus did for him. It’s about what God is doing in the church through Jesus. 

What does Jesus do? Through his life, death and resurrection, Jesus delivers his people from the power of sin. This power of sin that is having its way in Rome by propping up the division between the house churches, and between the strong and the weak.

It’s also the power of sin that creates division among us. Between us and our neighbor. Between us and our enemy. Between genders, races and classes. It brings division between … us.  

So, Paul is unashamedly declaring this gospel to the house churches in Rome to help them get on the same page. To help them see they are all sinners (stop pointing fingers, you sin, too!) and all of them are justified (stop leaving people out, Jesus didn’t do that!)

As 3:23-24 says: “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.”

No one is privileged to this mercy. Or, as 2:11 says, “God does not show favoritism.”

As 3:9 says: “What shall we conclude then? Do we have any advantage? Not at all! For we have already made the charge that Jews and Gentiles alike are all under the power of sin.”

In receiving this gospel, they will understand that there is “no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” (8:1) When they are set free from the power of sin they will “offer (their) bodies as a living sacrifice” (12:1) so they might freely “please (their) neighbors for their good.” (15:2)

So,I think that this gospel, the one that tears down divisions through the power of Christ, is what Paul is unashamed of and writing about to the Roman house churches.

In this gospel, Jesus delivers us from the power of sin and creates a justified community that is unified in Christ. In Jesus, we cannot be at war with one another (or our neighbor, our enemy or the other), rather, we are to live in and make peace with one another as Christ has done and is doing in us. 

So, what does “greeting each other with a holy kiss” and “the God of peace crushing Satan under OUR feet” have to do with each other?

First, we must get past the giddy response that kissing each other isn’t an option. It might not be for you and that’s fine. It’s a different day and a different place. But getting past the plain reading will help us see the clarity of what I think Paul is instructing. That is, live in such a way that your everyday interactions with one another demonstrate the peace and unity that you have with each other in Christ.

Second, we must get past the impassioned response that the crushing of Satan involves a white-bearded old god-man in the sky. You know, the one we imagine stomping his foot on a pitchfork holding, horns on the head, demon figure. When we understand what Paul is talking about in Romans, we will see that Satan is a personification of the power of sin and darkness. The power that is intent on dividing us. And if we can get past this, we can, with a childlike curiosity, see the foot crushing Satan is not described as God’s foot, but ours.

Until we get past the childish readings and move toward a more childlike response, we will remain stubborn in our immature adultness. It’s in that settled immaturity that we tend to rejoice in the crushing and recoil in the kissing.

And this is where we must consider the violence. At first glance we are struck with its blatancy. It’s hard not to see it with a word like “crushing”. But the violence we naturally see in the crushing of Satan is not the actual violence that occurs in us. It’s not the violence we feel in our souls happening underneath the surface.

In what might feel like an abrupt realization, the truest violence occurs not in the metaphorical foot stomping of the power of darkness, but in our opposition to the meaningful kissing that takes place between one another. It’s the violence we feel when we are resistant to loving the other.

After all, under the power of sin it is natural to rejoice in the stomping of our enemies. We love this kind of violence. But the most painful violence, the kind we often don’t desire, is the attack on our souls. We feel it when we know we should be loving the other but refuse to kiss them or, in some cases, refuse their offer to kiss us.

We may not be called to actual kissing, and I’m OK with that. But, we are called to behaviors that live out the truth of God’s peace. It may be a hug, it may be a handshake, it is likely a meal. Whatever it is, it must be intimate and good and loving. Because, as Dr. Chris Green says, the violence that God brings never violates. The violence that we may feel from the Holy Spirit’s work in us is God’s love shaping us to be more like Jesus. That is another example of “God working all things for the good of those who love him.” (8:28)

I think the verses that are set between our two puzzle pieces make greater sense when we see the whole picture. After the whole bit about kissing, Paul says in verse 17, “I urge you, brothers and sisters, to watch out for those who cause divisions and put obstacles in your way that are contrary to the teaching you have learned.” In that verse and in those that follow, we understand that those teachings that are contrary to what they learned are teachings that foster division. Yet, another reminder of the power of sin and how our unity pushes against it.

So, because of the gospel we can live as a liberated people. People who are no longer slaves to division but set free to practice peace with those who aren’t like us. People who are growing out of childish things and becoming childlike, joyfully kissing the stranger and rejoicing in the love shared between enemies.

A behavior that demonstrates this unity with one another is an application of the gospel that Paul is preaching and is a practice in which God, through us and by our peace, is actively crushing the power of sin and division under our feet.

So, if you have to kiss, kiss. But if that’s not your unity language, do what you need to do to make peace. In our peace-living and peace-making, we will crush the divisions that are all around us.