12 So then, brothers and sisters, we are debtors,
not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh— 13 for if you live
according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the
deeds of the body, you will live. 14 For all who are led by the
Spirit of God are children of God. 15 For you did not receive a
spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received a spirit of
adoption. When we cry, “Abba! Father!” 16 it is that very Spirit
bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God, 17 and
if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ—if, in fact,
we suffer with him so that we may also be glorified with him.
18 I consider that the sufferings of this present
time are not worth comparing with the glory about to be revealed to us. 19
For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the
children of God; 20 for the creation was subjected to futility, not
of its own will but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope 21 that
the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and will obtain
the freedom of the glory of the children of God. 22 We know that the
whole creation has been groaning in labor pains until now; 23 and
not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the
Spirit, groan inwardly while we wait for adoption, the redemption of our
bodies. 24 For in hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not
hope. For who hopes for what is seen? 25 But if we hope for what we
do not see, we wait for it with patience.
In Romans 8:12-25, Paul focuses
upon the Spirit making people children of God. This formation occurs through
the pain, struggle, and suffering of a human life. This portion of Chapter 8
reminds me of a basic human reality. The
life-journey of every human being involves pain. We may wonder why. We may
rebel against it. However, the harsh reality is that living things struggle and
suffer to maintain life. Often, such pain deepens the experience and
appreciation of life. A statement by Henry Wordsworth Longfellow gives me
pause.
If
we could read the secret history of our enemies, we would find in each man's
life sorrow and suffering enough to disarm all hostility.
Life
has hurt everyone. No one receives an exemption from the pain that comes in
living a human life. Paul is not going to offer what philosophy and theology
would later call theodicy. He will not explain suffering. Suffering and pain in
life is part of the training we experience that will reveal who we are. If the
person remains oriented toward God while life pierces the person with the nail
of affliction, the nail pierces a hole through creation, through the thickness
of the veil that separates the person and God.[1] Could
pain deepen our character, help us appreciate life, and even enable us to go
deeper with God? We learn in this passage that Paul answers Yes.
Paul
encourages those whom the Spirit has freed to participate in the life of the
Spirit. The believer continues to struggle in this age with the ancient problem
of the flesh. The flesh is weak. It exerts its power over humanity by
introducing a form of bondage to it. The weakness of the flesh shows itself in
enticing humanity away from the life-giving Spirit. It shows weakness in its
reliance upon finitude and the self. The flesh represents the totality of our
life decisions to rely upon the isolated self. Yet, the life in the Spirit Paul
is discussing in Chapter 8 offers a new possibility. Recalling Genesis 2, Paul
reminds us that the Spirit of God gave life to a lump of clay. Paul himself
could refer to his own physical disability as a sign of the weakness of the
flesh. Life lived passionately within this weakness is life under the shadow of
death. The edifice of human life, defined by the weakness of the flesh, is
questionable. Living within the weakness of the flesh is still a possibility
for those in Christ and in the Spirit. Yet, to do so is a form of slavery when
living in the freedom of the Spirit is also a possibility.[2]
Paul
affirms that the Spirit will lead believers personally without extinguishing their
unique personality. The Spirit will lead them to a life that finds fulfillment
and completion that involves freedom, faith, and love.[3] Paul
will use the contrast between being a slave and being part of a family. As believers,
the Spirit adopts us into the family of God. The Spirit is the seal and
guarantee of participation in the family of God. One has authentic freedom in
this family.[4]
The idea of adoption has in the
background the notion of the chosen quality of Israel and the Jewish people. Paul
reaffirms this chosen status of the people of God, but focuses upon the Spirit
as the active agent who brings this special place in the heart of God into
effect.[5] A sign
of this adoption is that we can refer to God in the same way Jesus did. Jesus called
God Abba, Father, and we can do so as well. In this way, the Spirit bears
witness to us that we are children of God. If so, as part of the Body of
Christ, as one “in Christ,” one has this personal experience of the Spirit. Such
experience has an emotional quality, a form of ecstasy, illumination,
inspiration, or intuition. Paul will part company with those who seem to
suggest a purely intellectual faith. The Spirit integrates emotion, reason, and
will. The Spirit transplants the Christian into a sphere of behavior one
can characterize as freedom of the children of God. In that sense, the Spirit
becomes a personal center of action residing outside the individual. The Christian
lives outside the self as weakened by the flesh and thus lives in the power of
the resurrected Jesus and in the Spirit. The Spirit living within believers has
its basis in believers having the ground or foundation of their lives outside
the weakness of self and flesh and therefore in the Spirit.[6] Of
course, as I John 4:1 reminds us, this personal experience of the Spirit does not
absolve us from testing the spirits.
Paul is envisioning a struggle. The
struggle unites humanity with the rest of creation. Yet, the struggle is no
longer an indication of futility. Because of Jesus Christ, the struggle has
meaning and significance. As children of God who participate in Christ,
believers share in the destiny of Jesus as defined by his cross and
resurrection. The struggle is a sure sign that something new is happening. Paul
makes it clear that believers suffer with Christ. How does this happen? For many
believers, we prayerfully reflect upon the cross, its suffering, pain, and
judgment, recognizing that one innocent man died for us, who are weak and
guilty. For some followers of Jesus, the suffering extends to receiving
persecution from the hands of governments who fear followers of Jesus. Further,
each of us has our pain to bear simply because we lead a human life. If we love
God, aware only of the roughness of the divine hand, we have indeed gone deeper
in our walk with God. Such personal pain and affliction is a reminder of the
sufferings of the present time. While this life may bear a hint of eternity, it
always remains debatable and ambiguous.[7]
Paul
makes clear that salvation in Christ means undoing the work of Adam, restoring
humanity to the purpose of God. What God has in view, beginning with the call
of Abraham, is the reversal of the fall of Adam and of its consequences. The
analysis of the human condition as in Adam that began in 1:18 has its
culmination in the restoration of humanity as children of God. Redemption is
the completion of creation, and humanity is part of that creation. We see our
present suffering in the shadow of the Day of Jesus Christ. The time in which
we live and suffer is the present time. The future will reveal the glory. In this
sense, Christianity is “thoroughgoing eschatology,” as redemption remains a hope. The believer will
live by this hope.[8]
We have seen in this passage that Paul
moves from the concept of slavery to adoption and from passive, futile struggle
to active participation. Those who are in the Spirit experience, in their own
being, the labor pains of the birth of the new age within. However, Paul does
not divorce the personal from the cosmic. He invites believers to see the big
picture. When Paul writes of the suffering or travail of creation, he finds
some support in a modern theory of the development of early earth. The early Earth
may have been "an interrupted Eden" -- a planet where life repeatedly
evolved and diversified, only to be sent back to square one by asteroids 10 or
20 times wider than the one that hastened the dinosaurs' demise. For Norman
Sleep, the travail of creation is very real. The Stanford University
We
properly conclude our discussion with some reflections on hope. In the present
time of suffering and pain, the believer lives by hope. Such hope waits
silently for the Lord. It restrains faith from expecting too much. It refreshes
faith when it becomes tired. For believers, such hope has its basis in the One
for whom the Christian hopes. Christ defines that future.[10] Such
hope reaches beyond the present to something not yet visible. We have
dissatisfaction with the frail and perishable quality of this life. Christians
believe they are on the way to a future fulfillment that transcends the
weakness and suffering of the present. We vacillate between hope and despair
for that reason. The basis of such hope could be the natural processes of life
and its anticipation. For Jews and Christians, its basis is in the promise of
God.[11]
[1] Weil, Simone. "The love of God and
affliction." Waiting for God. New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1951.
[2] Romans, 291-95.
[3]
Pannenberg, Jesus God and Man, 176-77,
Systematic Theology, Volume II, 316.
[4] Systematic Theology Volume III, 130.
[5] Romans, 298.
[8] Romans, 302-314.
[9] Systematic Theology, Volume II, 136-37,
138-39, 231.
[10] Church Dogmatics, IV.3 [73.1], 913-4.
[11] Systematic Theology Volume III, 175.
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