Almsgiving Revealed in the Mystery of Salvation
Rev. Sam Giere, PhD
When pondering the giving of alms, I am mindful of the fact that this practice is shared by adherents of many, if not all, of the world’s major religions. While practices and the meaning of practices varies, there is something beautiful about this resonance among people across time and space and language and religion caring for those in need. Such an observation is not meant to jeopardize Christianity’s distinctiveness but to locate it within a global horizon in this neighborhood we call earth.
As I ponder what a distinctly Christian take on this practice, I find myself drawn to Romans 5. As we wander together the path from Ash Wednesday to Good Friday, from a clear look into our own death to the reconciliation of our humanity in Christ’s death, consider that the giving of alms (a.k.a., charity) is rooted in the very mystery of salvation flowing from the Triune God into the cosmos.
Romans 5 begins: “Since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (5.1). Paul introduces the Romans and us to the heartbeat of the mystery of salvation: faith (trust) in Jesus Christ by which the person is made righteous, by which the person is at peace with God. Lest his readers misconstrue this justification by faith as a practice dependent upon the human being, Paul clarifies. For today, I want to focus on the emphatic parallels between vv. 6 and 8, wherein Paul articulates the greatest of all almsgiving.
“While we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly” (v.6). Two key words here are weakness and ungodly, both of which have stronger connotations than translation captures. The latter (ἀσθενής) describes one helpless, sickly, feeble; and the former (ἀσεβής) is more along the lines of spiritual wretched, irreverent, sacrilegious. After the parenthesis (v.7) wherein Paul invites the hearer to imagine just how radical this justifying movement of God is, he writes, “But God shows God’s love for us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us” (v.8). Paul further clarifies that this is a Kairos moment (v.6) is not dependent upon the creature. “While we were still sinners (ἁμαρτωλός)” might also be heard more graphically: while we were failures. Somewhat uncomfortably for this writer who in an academic world has been known to rest on or find identity in accomplishment. Nope. Paul leans into the idea that it is our being as being that is failure. It is against this stark backdrop of helplessness, irreverence, and failure, that God shows us God’s love in Christ’s death.
Consider that the Christian’s almsgiving is an imitation, albeit it imperfect, of the Triune God’s movement of charity towards creation revealed in Christ’s death on our behalf, helpless, irreverent, failures that we are. On behalf of the dust that we are. There is no judgement that accompanies this charity, as God’s almsgiving comes from love.
The word (συνίστημι) that the NRSV renders “proves” and the RSV “shows” is a challenge to capture. Both translations are sufficient, but they miss that συνίστημι suggests a dynamic coming together, a gathering of evidence. When I visualize this the cross of Christ becomes the center to which all roads lead. The many glimpses of God’s love and mercy and forgiveness and deliverance and release converge in Christ’s death on the cross on behalf of us. All of us, helpless, irreverent, failures that we are. Love reaches its completion hidden in and under Christ’s death for us – not because of who we are, but because of who the Triune God is.
Charity is revealed here not as pity but as love. Love for all. Love without judgment. Love without strings or obligation. Love for all in need.
Rev. Sam Giere, PhD
Professor of Homiletics and Biblical Interpretation
Wartburg Theological Seminary
