AUGUST 2021

    The D minor returns in the fifth measure, but it contorts into a D minor diminished fifth with a sustained sixth (referred to as a diminished seventh cord, or Ddim7), a haunting cord that consists of playing every third half-step on the scale. A brief reprieve is provided in the next measure as an A Major cord takes over. But this, too, descends into an A minor diminished fifth with a sustained sixth (Adim7). These sublime and tortured patterns, often utilizing the splendor of the brass instruments, continue in one form or another throughout the first part of the overture. 

    A low undertone of sixteenth notes by the second violins begins in measure thirteen; it is dark without being creepy; it bespeaks a firm and righteous indignation, a holy, terror to which one would not want to subject himself. Much of this first part of the overture is resurrected toward the end of the opera, in Act 2, scene 5, where a supernatural statue of the Commendatore, whom Don Giovanni had killed in Act 1, scene 1, returns from the grave to confront his murderer. Don Giovanni remains unrepentant and continues to defy the Commendatore, and is eventually surrounded by demons and dragged down to hell, to the regret of nobody. Indomitable justice finally captures its prey.

    The second part of the overture, beginning about two minutes into the piece, takes a decidedly more playful turn. This transition, is sharp, but not awkward, and a welcome break after the near-maddening intensity of the first part of the overture. If that first part portends Don Giovanni’s dark fate, this next part evokes the title character’s casual conquests. He is confident and he exhibits a triumph over life, and notably, over women. His immoral and womanizing ways are epitomized by the aria in Act 1, scene 2, “Madamina, il catalogo è questo,” a country-by-country catalog  sung by Don Giovanni’s servant Leporello of his master’s multiple conquests.

    The rest of the overture reflects this confident lightheartedness, and we are now very much in Mozart’s wheelhouse. The composer takes us on an escapade of lively melodies, racing scales, and a brilliant use of strings, woodwinds and percussion. Yet, the occasional pulsing lower notes and minor cords suggest an ominous feeling even as the light woodwinds carry the melody.

    One stands amazed at the quality and depth of this overture and of the rest of the opera that follows. But there’s a historical note that make Mozart’s magnificence that much more apparent. It is widely believed that the overture for Don Giovanni, was not completed until October 28, the night before the premier of the opera. In fact, it is probably more accurate that he finished the score for the overture in the early hours of the morning on the day of the premier, just in time for copyists to provide pages of the score to the members of the orchestra. And if this sequence is accurate, the musicians had to sight-read the overture on the night of the premier, though, helpfully, they would have been familiar with much of the overture because it shows up in other parts of the opera.

    In summary, the overture to Don Giovanni demonstrates Mozart’s brilliant ability to create tones both ominous and playful and weave them into one sublime, musical tapestry.

ROMANS: Jettisoning Boasting, Romans 3:27-31

    This article is originally from the February 2019 edition of The Eclectic Kasper. This is one of many articles in our ongoing verse-by-verse commentary through the Apostle Paul’s magisterial epistle to the Romans, and you can see the other articles in this series in our Eclectic Archive.

    One of the greatest obstacles to today’s spread of Christianity is the arrogance of Christians. Even though our message is about how we are sinners saved by grace, nonetheless we perhaps forget that our status as “children of God” was given to us, not earned by us. Grace is powerful and potent, but sometimes it goes to our head.

    I believe that Christianity would be far more successful and would be perceived as far more valid if more believers were more humble.

    Romans 3 contains a beautiful discussion about how fallen sinners can be justified and declared righteous before a holy God by placing our faith in the sacrificial death and literal resurrection of Christ. Paul makes clear that even after that, we need to have the humility to avoid boasting and embrace the implications of grace for our life.

    In Romans 3:27, Paul asks where there is any place for boasting or bragging about our spirituality or our religious efforts. Well, if it is by grace through faith, then there is none! Grace excludes boasting. The issue of boasting was apparently problematic enough in the Roman church that Paul mentions it in 2:17, 23, here in 3:27 and also in 4:2, and it is used more positively in 5:2, 3 and 11 and 15:17. One wonders if boasting and confidence was just so central to Roman culture and to Rome itself, that a wrong mindset about boasting or what to boast about had crept into the Roman church. Paul makes this connection between salvation and not boasting elsewhere (1 Cor 1:29; 5:6; 2 Cor 1:12; Eph 2:9; See also Jas 4:16). As a result of the reception of salvation, the ability of a believer to boast is “excluded.”

    Here the word “law” is probably more a reference to a principle rather than to the formal Mosaic Law. The Apostle is not establishing a separate law here, though there are references in the NT to the law of Christ (1 Cor 9:21; Gal 6:2; see also Rom 8:2; Jas 2:12). We are not saved by the law of Moses, but only by the rule that we could never earn our salvation, but can only receive it through faith.

    There is always a temptation to boast. Even when I have done absolutely nothing to contribute to a single win in any professional sport, I still boast about my team, a group of people I am only loosely associated with and only by virtue of geography. How much less could we boast when we receive salvation that we could not earn, and when we are delivered from God’s wrath that we fully deserve, but could never turn away on our own.

    Paul reasserts a point in 3:28 that is central to Romans. The word logizomai, from where we get the word “logic,” means “to count” or “to consider.” Nineteen of the forty occurrences of this word in the NT are in Romans, including 11 occurrences in Romans 4. Apparently many early believers still considered that the Law and that human works had some effect on salvation. Paul refutes this and “maintains” and “affirms” that justification is by faith and not law.

    The word dikaioö means, “to put into a right relationship” or “to declare and treat as righteous.” The verb is already somewhat passive in connotation, meaning that someone is placed into a right relationship with someone else. This idea is verified by the fact that the verb is passive: people are being justified by God. And, in a statement of Pauline theology, he continues that this justification is appropriated “by faith,” and “without works of the Law.”

    In v. 29, Paul again undermines the notion that God is only of the Jews or only wants a relationship with the Jews. He is the Creator of both Jews and Gentiles, and therefore, it is right for Gentiles to be integrated into the family of God. This can be done without the Gentiles first becoming Jews in order to be children of God. God’s concern for the Gentiles is not unique to the NT; God has always wanted to extend His grace and truth throughout the world, since the Abrahamic covenant in Genesis 12. But the point again is that neither Jews nor Gentiles have the right to boast about their salvation because for both, salvation is a gift that is received entirely by faith.

    The concept that God is over both Jews and Gentiles from v. 29 is continued in v. 30. This verse affirms that there is one God. Part of His oversight and sovereignty is the fact that He – and by implication, He alone – provides justification. The fact that there is one God who oversees all justification means that there is only one way to be justified. There are not many paths to the same God, or many modes of approach to God; that would make God unfair and inconsistent.

    As Paul discussed in Romans 2, justification does not depend on human works, such as performing the law, nor on whether or not one is circumcised. God justifies both the circumcised and the uncircumcised through faith. “Paul is not saying that all the circumcised are justified, but that all the circumcised who are justified are justified in this way” (Leon Morris, Romans, 188).

    Finally, in v. 31, Paul answers a logical question that may arise in the reader’s mind at this point. The Mosaic Law provided an all-encompassing identity for the Jewish race, and an encouragement for them to walk humbly in compliance with God’s expectations. If the Law was not necessary for salvation, and indeed, it never had been, and if Gentiles can now freely be justified in the same manner that the Jew is justified, what then is the value of the Law? Do the apostles abolish the Law, render it null and useless, and leave it behind?

    Paul’s emphatic response to this sentiment is “May it never be!” This phrase is a strong negation that is used fifteen times in the NT, fourteen times by Paul (Luke 20:16 is the only non-Pauline instance) and ten times in Romans alone. Paul emphatically rejects the notion that the Law is no longer valid, important, or foundational for our faith. Of course, the NT is clear that the rituals, ceremonies, and dietary regulations are no longer binding for Jewish or Gentile Christians (see Acts 10 and 15 and Galatians). Paul’s emphatic negation of the idea that the Law is no longer important should perhaps be heeded by modern evangelicalism, which tends to ignore the first five books of the Bible with the exception of Genesis 1-3 and some isolated stories about Moses.

    The law is not nullified, but rather, “we uphold” the law through faith. The verb here is histemi and it is probably better to take the NIV “uphold” rather than the curious NASB rendering “establish.” Faith does not nullify Mosaic law or any other law or standard; as Paul will argue later, the opposite of law is not faith but lawlessness. The only way to truly understand absolute morality, to appreciate transcendent and universal laws, and to obey divine expectations is through faith. But we then understand God’s holiness and high expectations through the Law, even though there are specific parts or regulations no longer binding upon NT believers. When we are living out our faith in truth, kindness and compassion, we are not voiding the law, but accomplishing it (Gal 5:18, 23).

    Christianity is a faith of humility, not arrogance. Christ humbled Himself to a profound extent in His suffering and death so that we could be justified (Phil 2:1-11). Those who have experienced and truly understand that salvation is by grace through faith in Christ will carry that humility with them as they share the faith with unbelievers and encourage believers.