ΡΩΜΑΙΟΥΣΡΩΜΑΙΟΥΣ

1. Kitabu Kilichochochea Matengenezo ya Kanisa1. The Book That Inspired the Reformation

Miezi kadhaa iliyopita, katika mahubiri ambayo nimeyarudia mara nyingi, nilisimulia habari ya mtawa mmoja Mjerumani aitwaye Martin Luther. Alikuwa amefanya kila kitu ambacho dini ilimwambia afanye — aliweka nadhiri, alifunga, aliomba kwa saa nyingi, alitafuta shahada ya udaktari katika teolojia, hata alipanda ngazi za Praitorio ya Pilato kwa magoti huko Roma. Na bado alimwogopa Mungu kwa hofu kuu. Kisha, alipokuwa akiwafundisha wanafunzi wake kitabu cha Warumi huko Wittenberg, alianza kutafakari kwa kina kifungu kimoja kifupi cha sura ya 1, mstari wa 17: "Mwenye haki ataishi kwa imani." Polepole maana yake ikamjia kama mwanga unaopambazuka. Wokovu haukuwa kitu alichopaswa kukistahili kwa nidhamu yake. Ulikuwa zawadi, inayopokelewa kwa kumtumaini Kristo. Ufunuo huo katika chumba cha kujisomea cha Luther ndio uliofungua mlango wa Matengenezo ya Kiprotestanti.Some months ago, in a sermon I have often returned to, I told the story of a German monk named Martin Luther. He had done everything religion told him to do — taken vows, fasted, prayed long hours, sought a doctoral degree in theology, even climbed the stairs of Pilate's Praetorium on his knees in Rome. And he was still terrified of God. Then, while teaching the book of Romans to his students at Wittenberg, he began to dwell on one short phrase from chapter 1, verse 17: "The just shall live by faith." Slowly the meaning broke over him. Salvation was not something he had to earn by his discipline. It was a gift, received by trusting Christ. That revelation in Luther's study cracked open the Protestant Reformation.

Karne mbili baadaye, tarehe 24 Mei 1738, mmishonari mmoja wa Kianglikana aliyekata tamaa alikwenda "bila kupenda kabisa" kwenye mkutano mdogo wa kidini katika Mtaa wa Aldersgate huko London. Alikuwa ametumia miaka miwili ya huzuni akishindwa kama mmishonari huko Georgia, akijiuliza katika shajara yake, "Ni nani atakayeniongoa mimi?" Usiku ule, mtu mmoja alisoma kwa sauti sehemu ya utangulizi wa ufafanuzi wa Luther juu ya Warumi. John Wesley aliandika katika shajara yake, "Yapata robo saa kabla ya saa tatu usiku, niliona moyo wangu ukipata joto kwa namna ya ajabu. Niliona kwamba kweli nilimtumaini Kristo, Kristo peke yake, kwa ajili ya wokovu; nami nikapewa uhakika kwamba Yeye alikuwa ameziondoa dhambi zangu, naam, hata zangu mimi." Kutoka usiku ule ulizuka Uamsho mkuu wa Wesley, na hatimaye Kanisa la Methodisti.Two centuries later, on May 24, 1738, a discouraged Anglican missionary went "very unwillingly" to a small religious meeting on Aldersgate Street in London. He had spent two miserable years failing as a missionary in Georgia, asking himself in his journal, "Who shall convert me?" That night, someone read aloud from the preface to Luther's commentary on Romans. John Wesley wrote in his journal, "About a quarter before nine, I felt my heart strangely warmed. I felt I did trust in Christ, Christ alone, for salvation; and an assurance was given me that He had taken away my sins, even mine." From that night came the great Wesleyan Revival, and eventually the Methodist Church.

Mabadiliko yote mawili — la Luther na la Wesley — yalikuja kupitia kitabu kile kile kidogo. Augustino, muda mrefu kabla yao, alihusisha kuongoka kwake mwenyewe na mstari mmoja wa Warumi 13. Katika karne kumi na sita Warumi kimekuwa kikifanya kazi hii. Sababu ya barua ya Paulo kuendelea kulipuka ndani ya mioyo ya wanadamu ni kwamba inafanya jambo ambalo hakuna kitabu kingine kinachofanya kwa namna ile ile kabisa: inaieleza Injili, mstari kwa mstari, katika hoja moja ndefu inayoendelea. Ukikielewa kitabu cha Warumi, umeuelewa moyo wa Ukristo.Both transformations — Luther's and Wesley's — came through the same little book. Augustine, much earlier, credited his own conversion to a verse from Romans 13. Across sixteen centuries Romans has been doing this. The reason Paul's letter keeps detonating in human hearts is that it does what no other book does quite the same way: it lays out the gospel, line by line, in a single sustained argument. If you understand Romans, you understand the heart of Christianity.

2. Mtu Mwenyewe: Paulo wa Tarso2. The Man: Paul of Tarsus

Barua hii iliandikwa na Mtume Paulo — Paulo yule yule ambaye wakati mmoja alishika nguo za watu waliokuwa wakimpiga Stefano kwa mawe. Alizaliwa yapata mwaka 5 B.K. huko Tarso, mji wa Kirumi katika nchi ambayo leo ni Uturuki, kwa wazazi Wayahudi waliokuwa na uraia wa Kirumi — fursa ya pekee sana ambayo baadaye ingeokoa maisha yake. Karibu mwaka 10 B.K. familia ilihamia Yerusalemu, na Sauli (jina lake la Kiebrania) akiwa kijana alipelekwa kujifunza chini ya Rabi Gamalieli, mwalimu aliyeheshimiwa kuliko wote katika Israeli. Akawa Farisayo — kwa maneno yake mwenyewe baadaye, "kwa kufuata madhehebu iliyo kali kuliko zote za dini yetu, niliishi Farisayo" (Matendo 26:5). Gamalieli alikuwa mtu wa wastani; Sauli hakuwa hivyo. Pale mwalimu wake aliposhauri uvumilivu kwa vuguvugu jipya la Wakristo, Sauli alikuwa mkali kupita kiasi. Alisimama akiridhia kupigwa mawe kwa Stefano. Alikwenda nyumba kwa nyumba akiwaburuta waumini na kuwatia gerezani. Alikuwa, kwa maneno yake mwenyewe, "mwenye wivu mwingi sana" — na aliamini kwa hakika kwamba alikuwa akimtumikia Mungu.The letter was written by Paul the Apostle — the same Paul who once held the coats of the men stoning Stephen. He was born about AD 5 in Tarsus, a Roman city in modern-day Turkey, to Jewish parents who happened to possess Roman citizenship — a remarkable privilege that would later save his life. Around AD 10 the family moved to Jerusalem, and as a teenager Saul (his Hebrew name) was sent to study under Rabbi Gamaliel, the most respected teacher in Israel. He became a Pharisee — in his own later words, "according to the strictest sect of our religion I lived a Pharisee" (Acts 26:5). Gamaliel was a moderate; Saul was not. Where his mentor counseled patience with the new Christian movement, Saul was rabid. He stood approvingly at Stephen's stoning. He went door to door dragging believers off to prison. He was, in his own words, "exceedingly zealous" — and convinced he was serving God.

Kisha katika njia ya Dameski nuru iliyong'aa kuliko jua la adhuhuri ilimwangusha chini, na sauti ikasema, "Sauli, Sauli, mbona waniudhi?" Alipouliza ni nani aliyekuwa akinena, sauti ikajibu, "Mimi ni Yesu unayemwudhi." Siku tatu baadaye alibatizwa, macho yake yakafunguliwa kimwili na kiroho, na mtesaji mkali kuliko wote wa kanisa akawa mmishonari wake aliyefanikiwa kuliko wote.Then on the Damascus road a light brighter than the noonday sun knocked him flat, and a voice said, "Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?" When he asked who was speaking, the voice answered, "I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting." Three days later he was baptized, his eyes opened both physically and spiritually, and the most ferocious persecutor of the church became its most effective missionary.

Miaka ishirini na mitatu ilipita kati ya kuongoka kwake na kuandikwa kwa Warumi. Katika miaka hiyo Paulo alikuwa ameuvuka ulimwengu wa Kirumi mara tatu, amepanda makanisa, amepigwa mijeledi, amevunjikiwa merikebu, na amepigwa kwa mawe, na alikuwa ameikuza teolojia yake katika moto mkali wa huduma halisi. Kufikia wakati alipoandika Warumi, fikra zake zilikuwa zimekomaa kabisa. Hili si jaribio la kwanza la mtume kuieleza Injili. Hili ndilo tamko lake kuu na la kilele juu yake.Twenty-three years passed between his conversion and the writing of Romans. In those years Paul had crossed the Roman world three times, planted churches, suffered floggings, shipwrecks, and a stoning, and developed his theology in the white heat of real ministry. By the time he wrote Romans, his thinking was fully matured. This is not the apostle's first attempt to explain the gospel. This is his crowning statement of it.

3. Lini, Wapi, na kwa Nani3. When, Where, and to Whom

Paulo aliandika Warumi mwishoni mwa majira ya baridi au mwanzoni mwa majira ya kuchipua ya mwaka 57 B.K., kutoka mji wa Kigiriki wa Korintho, karibu na mwisho wa safari yake ya tatu ya kimishonari. Alikuwa karibu kusafiri kwa merikebu kuelekea mashariki hadi Yerusalemu akiwa na sadaka ya msaada aliyoikusanya kwa ajili ya watakatifu maskini huko. Baada ya Yerusalemu alipanga kusafiri kuelekea magharibi hadi Roma, kisha kuendelea hadi Spania. Safari hiyo ya nne haikutokea jinsi alivyoipanga — alifika Roma akiwa amefungwa minyororo miaka michache baadaye — lakini wakati wa kuandika, Paulo alikuwa mtu huru akitumaini kukutana na waumini wa Roma uso kwa uso kwa mara ya kwanza.Paul wrote Romans in the late winter or early spring of AD 57, from the Greek city of Corinth, near the end of his third missionary journey. He was about to sail east to Jerusalem with a relief offering he had collected for the poor saints there. Beyond Jerusalem he planned to sail west to Rome, and then on to Spain. That fourth journey never happened the way he planned it — he arrived in Rome in chains a few years later — but at the moment of writing, Paul was a free man hoping to meet the Roman believers face-to-face for the first time.

Barua ilipelekwa Roma na mwanamke mmoja aitwaye Fibi, shemasi wa kike wa kanisa la bandari ya karibu ya Kenkrea. Ametajwa mwishoni kabisa mwa barua, katika sura ya 16, na Paulo anamsifu kwa moyo mkunjufu. Inafaa kutulia na kutafakari ukweli kwamba hati muhimu kuliko zote za kitheolojia katika historia ya kanisa ilikabidhiwa kwa mkono na mwanamke aliyeaminiwa kuisoma kwa sauti katika makanisa ya nyumbani ya Roma.The letter was carried to Rome by a woman named Phoebe, a deaconess from the nearby seaport church of Cenchrea. She is named at the very end of the letter, in chapter 16, and Paul commends her warmly. It is worth pausing on the fact that the most important theological document in church history was hand-delivered by a woman entrusted with reading it aloud in the Roman house churches.

Makanisa hayo ya nyumbani nayo yenyewe ni ya kipekee. Paulo hakuwa ameanzisha kanisa la Roma. Hakuwahi kufika huko. Tofauti na barua zake kwa Korintho au Galatia au Thesalonike, Warumi hakishughulikii kashfa au mafarakano mahususi — kinashughulikia yale ambayo Paulo anataka kila Mkristo kila mahali ayaelewe. Kanisa la Roma huenda lilianza na Wayahudi walioamini siku ya Pentekoste katika Matendo 2 kisha wakaipeleka Injili nyumbani kwao. Kufikia siku za Paulo lilikuwa mtandao wa ushirika midogo, wa Wayahudi na wa Mataifa, uliokutana majumbani na kutawanyika katika mji mkuu wa dola, na uliojulikana ulimwenguni kote kwa nguvu ya imani yao.Those house churches are themselves unusual. Paul had not founded the Roman church. He had never been there. Unlike his letters to Corinth or Galatia or Thessalonica, Romans does not address specific scandals or schisms — it addresses what Paul wants every Christian everywhere to understand. The church in Rome had likely begun with Jews who came to faith at Pentecost in Acts 2 and then carried the gospel home with them. By Paul's day it was a network of small fellowships, both Jewish and Gentile, meeting in homes scattered across the imperial capital, and known throughout the world for the strength of their faith.

4. Salamu Zikifafanuliwa (1:1-7)4. The Salutation Unpacked (1:1-7)

Katika mstari wa kwanza Paulo anajiita "mtumwa wa Yesu Kristo." Neno la Kigiriki doulos lina maana zaidi ya "mwajiriwa" au "mfuasi." Mtumwa huyu amenunuliwa kabisa. Hamiliki kitu chochote isipokuwa kile ambacho bwana wake anamruhusu. Mwanatheolojia mwenye ushawishi mkubwa kuliko wote katika historia ya kanisa anaanza kazi yake bora kwa kujitambulisha, kwanza kabisa, kama mali halali ya Yesu Kristo.In the opening line Paul calls himself "a bondservant of Jesus Christ." The Greek word doulos means more than "employee" or "follower." A bondservant has been purchased outright. He owns nothing apart from what his master allows him. The most influential theologian in church history opens his masterpiece by identifying himself, first, as the legal property of Jesus Christ.

Angalia jinsi Paulo anavyomtaja Bwana wake. "Yesu" ni jina Lake la kibinadamu; "Kristo" — Yeye Aliyetiwa Mafuta, Masihi — ni cheo Chake. Katika salamu hiyo hiyo Paulo anamwita "Mwanawe, aliyezaliwa katika uzao wa Daudi kwa jinsi ya mwili, na kudhihirishwa kwa uweza kuwa Mwana wa Mungu, kwa jinsi ya roho ya utakatifu, kwa ufufuo wa wafu; Yesu Kristo Bwana wetu" (1:3-4). Mwanadamu kamili na Mungu kamili, wote katika Mwokozi mmoja. Paulo ni "aliyeitwa kuwa mtume, na kutengwa aihubiri Injili ya Mungu." Kutengwa maana yake ni kuwekwa wakfu, kutengwa kwa ajili ya kusudi mahususi la Mungu. Paulo hakujitolea mwenyewe kwa kazi hii. Aliitwa na kuandikishwa.Notice how Paul names his Master. "Jesus" is His human name; "Christ" — the Anointed One, the Messiah — is His title. In the same salutation Paul calls Him God's "Son Jesus Christ our Lord, who was born of the seed of David according to the flesh, and declared to be the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead" (1:3-4). The complete man and the complete God, all in one Savior. He is "called to be an apostle, separated to the gospel of God." Separated means consecrated, set apart for a specific divine purpose. Paul did not volunteer for this. He was drafted.

5. Mstari Mkuu: Mwenye Haki Ataishi kwa Imani5. The Theme Verse: The Just Shall Live by Faith

Kisha unakuja mstari ambao kitabu chote kinaning'inia juu yake. Paulo haionei haya Injili kwa sababu ni uweza wa Mungu uletao wokovu kwa kila aaminiye — Myahudi kwanza, na Myunani pia. Na ndani yake, haki ya Mungu inadhihirishwa toka imani hata imani.Then comes the verse the whole book hangs on. Paul is not ashamed of the gospel because it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes — for the Jew first, and also for the Greek. And in it, the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith.

Paulo ananukuu Habakuki 2:4, ulioandikwa zaidi ya miaka mia sita kabla, katika wakati wa kukata tamaa katika historia ya Israeli. Habakuki alikuwa amemwuliza Mungu kwa nini waovu walionekana kufanikiwa, na Mungu akajibu, kwa sehemu, "mwenye haki ataishi kwa imani yake." Mstari huo mdogo ulisafiri mbele katika karne nyingi hadi Paulo akauokota hapa katika Warumi, na Luther akauokota kutoka kwa Paulo, na Wesley akauokota kutoka kwa Luther. Mstari mmoja mfupi wa kinabii, uliowashwa moto mara tatu tofauti katika karne tatu tofauti, na kila mara ukaipanga upya ramani ya kiroho ya ulimwengu.Paul is quoting Habakkuk 2:4, written more than six hundred years earlier in a desperate moment of Israel's history. Habakkuk had asked God why the wicked seemed to prosper, and God answered, in part, "the just shall live by his faith." That little verse traveled forward through the centuries until Paul picked it up here in Romans, and Luther picked it up from Paul, and Wesley picked it up from Luther. One short prophetic line, lit on fire three different times in three different centuries, each time rearranging the spiritual map of the world.

Mstari huu una madai matatu yatakayoumba kitabu chote. Kwanza, haki — yaani kuwa sawa mbele za Mungu — si kitu tunachokitengeneza wenyewe. Inatoka kwa Mungu Mwenyewe. Pili, haki hiyo inapokelewa "toka imani hata imani." Imani ni mahali pa kuanzia na pia mstari wa kumalizia, njia na lengo pia. Tatu, matokeo yake ni uzima. Si kuepuka hukumu tu, bali uzima — hali ya maisha ambayo Mungu aliwaumbia wanadamu waifurahie pamoja Naye.The verse contains three claims that will shape the whole book. First, righteousness — being right with God — is not something we manufacture. It comes from God Himself. Second, that righteousness is received "from faith to faith." Faith is both the starting point and the finishing line, the means and the goal. Third, the result is life. Not just escape from condemnation, but life — a quality of existence God designed humans to enjoy with Him.

6. Kwa Nini Warumi Bado Kinanena6. Why Romans Still Speaks

Karibu miaka elfu mbili imepita tangu Fibi alipobeba gombo hili kuingia Roma. Augustino katika karne ya nne, Luther katika karne ya kumi na sita, Wesley katika karne ya kumi na nane — Warumi kimewafungua wote. Katika kila kizazi Mungu amekitumia kitabu hiki kimoja kifupi kuwaongoa wenye dhambi, kulitengeneza upya kanisa, na kuwasha uamsho. Bado kinafanya hivyo.Almost two thousand years have passed since Phoebe carried this scroll into Rome. Augustine in the fourth century, Luther in the sixteenth, Wesley in the eighteenth — Romans has cracked them all open. In every generation God has used this one short letter to convert sinners, reform the church, and ignite revival. It still does.

Sababu ni rahisi. Warumi hakidhani kwamba tayari unaamini. Hakianzi na hatua kumi za kupata ndoa bora au funguo tano za ushindi wa kiroho. Kinaanzia pale ambapo kila moyo wa kibinadamu ulio mnyoofu huanzia — kwa swali la jinsi mtu mwenye dhambi anavyoweza kwa namna yoyote kuwa sawa mbele za Mungu aliye mtakatifu. Paulo atatumia sehemu iliyobaki ya barua akijibu swali hilo. Hatakwepa habari mbaya, wala hataipunguza nguvu habari njema. Kufikia wakati utakapofika sura ya 8, utaijua Injili kutoka ndani. Kufikia sura ya 12, utajua jinsi ya kuiishi. Kufikia sura ya 16, utakuwa tayari kuubeba ujumbe huo huo hadi katika mji wako mwenyewe.The reason is simple. Romans does not assume you already believe. It does not start with ten steps to a better marriage or five keys to spiritual victory. It starts where every honest human heart starts — with the question of how a sinful person can possibly be right with a holy God. Paul will spend the rest of the letter answering that question. He will not flinch from the bad news, and he will not water down the good news. By the time you reach chapter 8, you will know the gospel from the inside. By chapter 12, you will know how to live it. By chapter 16, you will be ready to carry the same message into your own city.

Karibu katika kitabu cha Warumi. Safari iliyo mbele ni ndefu na yenye changamoto inayoburudisha. Jiandae na utulie.Welcome to Romans. The journey ahead is long and bracing. Settle in.