There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. 2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death. 3 For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do: by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and to deal with sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, 4 so that the just requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. 5 For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. 6 To set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. 7 For this reason the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s law—indeed it cannot, 8 and those who are in the flesh cannot please God.
9 But you are not in the flesh; you are in the Spirit, since the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. 10 But if Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. 11 If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also through his Spirit that dwells in you.
In Romans 8:1-11, Paul deals with the theme of the Spirit of life. The Spirit of Christ finds expression in modes of conduct that the law does not oppose, but for Christians, such modes of conduct rest not on the letter of the law but on fellowship with Christ by the Spirit. To discuss the new possibility of life in the Spirit, the passage considers some complicated topics, like law, incarnation, human sin, the presence of the Spirit, resurrection, trinity, and everlasting life. This portion of Romans brings into sharp focus Law and Gospel. Paul contrasts the law with the Spirit in 7:6 and 8:2. In fact, 7:10 seems to link the law to the promise of life, which contradicts other notions of the law in this part of Romans. Paul is making it clear to us that the Spirit is determinative for Christian belonging and adoption into the family of God. Paul has focused on the law in Chapter 7, but the shift focuses to Spirit and flesh in Chapter 8.
God empowers us to live out our lives in Christ, through the Spirit. Since God has delivered us, we are to live out our lives with conscious attention to the things of the indwelling Spirit (God’s ways), rather than the weak things of the flesh (our ways). We are to let God transform our lives (see Romans 12:1-2). It is possible to live a Christ like life. Spiritual transformation happens as each essential dimension of the human being transforms into Christlikeness under the direction of a spiritually regenerated will interacting with constant overtures of grace from God. Such transformation is not the result of mere human effort. One cannot accomplish it by putting pressure on the will alone.[1] We rejoice that in Jesus Christ, there is no condemnation, and we go on to walk by God’s Spirit. For God is the one who has set us free to do so.
In the tradition of interpretation concerning the law, several paths do not seem to point us in the right direction. I will mention a few of them, but only to focus attention upon the passage. We must not go down the erroneous path of saying that the moral requirements of the law are still binding, or that the apostolic injunctions are a new law. The path of binding a people to a code is always the path of self-righteousness that involves elevating oneself to a morally position as over against those who do not adhere to the code. Instead, what stands over the Christian is not law, but grace, as Paul makes clear in 6:4. Further, we need to avoid the idea of “law” as a reflection of the Stoic notion of the law of reason. We also need to move away from the idea in Luther that the law has only negative or condemning function. Most importantly, the need for law expresses the imperfect state of human society in this world in which not all accept others and do what is right on their own.
Paul will make it clear during his argument that love is the source of lasting fellowship and the basis of what is right, thus alone perfecting the law.[2] One “in Christ” is the new person who has passed from death to life.[3] This union with Christ brings liberation from the law or principle of sin and death. The Spirit at work in the one “in Christ” lifts one into the law or principle of the Spirit of life. One can embody this new law or principle through the Spirit. The point is that the weakness of our flesh reveals itself in that the law could not deal with sin, while God has condemned sin through the Incarnation. The bond of love between Father and Son is in the background of the Incarnation and therefore of our justification and redemption.
Let us see if we can put the question with which Paul is dealing in a sharper way. One might ask the question, is there only the belief of our having received pardon (justification) and the hope of our future salvation and redemption in Christ? We are right with God through what God has done rather than our observance of any law. Here is the problem. A positive answer would leave the present moment empty of the presence of God. The past would be full because of the cross, and the future would be full because of resurrection. The past act becomes full because of the theological notion of representation. The Father has condemned our sin in the flesh of the Son, doing for us what our weakness showed we could not do for ourselves. The one (the Son) has represented the whole (humanity). The vicarious expiatory death of the Son is the purpose of the sending of the Son by the Father. The Son has taken the place of sinners in order to suffer their fate. The Incarnation becomes an act of representation.[4] The innocent Jesus suffers death in the place of sinners, and therefore takes within the divine life the judgment on their sin. An exchange of place took place between the innocent and the guilty. In this sense, we have vicarious penal suffering on behalf of others. Such a notion rests upon the fellowship of the Son with humanity. His death becomes expiation for us.[5]
All of this is powerful, strengthening the awareness of the significance of that moment in history. Yet, for Paul, the significance of that moment leads him to reflect upon the transforming possibility in our moment. Thus, Paul would offer a negative answer, because the believer in the present has the advance installment of the Spirit. Walking in the Spirit will transplant the one “in Christ” into the freedom of a child of God through the power of the Spirit.[6] One “in Christ” is open to the promptings of the Spirit. The Spirit makes it possible for us to have our independent and spontaneous entry into participating in the movement of the reconciling love of God toward the world.[7] Faith draws us outside of self and therefore we can say that Christ dwells in us.[8]
At the end of chapter 7, Paul has answered his pained question (7:24b), “Who will rescue me from this body of death?” with the grateful affirmation (7:25a), “Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!” In that light, he begins Chapter 8. 1There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. Paul is obviously beginning a new topic, as he passes to this discussion of the new aeon. The aeon of sin, death, and law has ended. Paul has described the condemnation that sin and law produce in a human life. Therefore, nomos as the judge of human conduct has passed judgment on those who violate its precepts. Such a curse or condemnation was leveled by the Mosaic law itself to those who were subject to it. All law, no matter how noble its goal, will result in the condemnation of death now and in the future because of sin. We will not adhere perfectly to the code, we will elevate ourselves about outsiders to the code, and the code itself will not be flexible enough to deal with the inevitable changes our historical nature will bring. To be “in Christ” means to live as someone freed from the condemnation that sin and adherence to a code bring into our lives. The liberated person may live as one who is not condemned, and therefore ought to live with such freedom.[9] The gracious gift of God through faith in Jesus Christ is the means of being right with God. Those “in Christ” live today by the Spirit of God. Based on his discussion of baptism in chapter 6, it is reasonable to assume that when Paul speaks of being "in Christ" here, he is thinking of those who have received baptism in the name of Jesus. However, as we will see, for Paul, being in Christ involves a reality that transforms human beings from the inside out. The dissolution of the person of this world, which is revealed in Jesus as the Christ, means the establishing a new person who passes from death to life, which is the meaning of the words, “In Christ Jesus.” In saying that we speak concerning the Spirit, we have the Spirit, and we reckon with the Spirit, we must not emphasize either “we” or our own “having,” or else we enter the sphere of religion.[10] For the liberated person, the decisive consequence of this liberation consists in the fact that there is for the believer no condemnation. One may live as one who is not condemned, which then sums up what one ought to be.[11]
Most people have heard plenty of condemnation directed at them. They never quite measure up to the expectations of others. They often do not measure up to their own hopes, dreams, and expectations. When we become obsessed with the past, we have succumbed to yet another temptation to lead a self-absorbed life. We can easily become obsessed with what we have failed to do or accomplish. Many people have an internal critic that always condemns for what they do or failed doing. If our focus is upon what we can accomplish in our relationship with God, we will indeed become quite miserable.
Life is about the destination. In fact, the moral tensions in human lives often have a close relationship to our sense of destination. For example, God has already won the victory over sin and death in Jesus Christ. Yet, we still need to consider seriously how this fact influences our lives today. We need to know the direction in which we have placed our lives. Are we still obsessed with self? Alternatively, have we devoted ourselves to allowing the Spirit to direct us? Life is about focus. Do we focus upon self? Do we focus upon the Spirit of God? If we are to find a reasonably happy and meaningful life, it will be because we have focused upon the Spirit of God. The Spirit of God wants to find a home in our lives. Although the full healing of our lives awaits the future, the dwelling of the Spirit in our lives can bring the healing of emotional and moral diseases that infect our lives and free us to be the person God wants us to be.
2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus, a law internalized and written on the heart has set you free from the law of sin and of death, leaving those in Christ undefiled by that which inevitably brought frustration. The Spirit is the culminating theme of the argument that began in 6:1. The Spirit is the seal of the resurrection and the sign of the new age. To belong to the Spirit is to admit the believer into the community of believers, which is in the Spirit, and thus gives partial freedom from sin and death. The authority of the Spirit operating in the believer brings union with Christ, and thus freedom. Part of that transformation involves a new ability to embody the law of the Spirit in one's life. This part of Romans introduces the formal treatment of the influence of the Spirit of God in Christian life. Paul has mentioned the Spirit so far only three times in this letter but will mention the Spirit nineteen times in Ch. 8 alone. Yet, those who entrust their lives to Christ receive exhortations from Paul to live in a Christ-like and Spirit empowered way (Romans 6, Galatians 6, and Philippians 2:12b-13). We need to work through and understand this paradoxical double emphasis.
In Chapter 7, Paul deals with the problem suggested by his view that God has acted in Christ to save humanity. If God has acted in a new way in Christ, how do we understand what God has done in Israel? God gave the Law to Israel. If God gave Christ for salvation, it must follow that God could not give the Law for that purpose. Is the Law then against the purpose of God? No, for the Law ended up revealing the power of sin at work within us. We keep repeating the decision of Adam to turn from God, life, and righteousness. The Law reveals its goodness in that it shows that salvation must rest upon the grace of God in Christ. For Paul, “in Christ” would be those who receive baptism and therefore belong to the Body of Christ. In Chapter 8, Paul deals with the eschatological tension and fulfillment of the purpose of God through the Spirit. If the law, whether the Jewish Law or the code of any culture that reflects the desire to achieve the best for humanity, could not heal the human estrangement we see in sin and death, then we are open to seeing that God has healed the estrangement in Christ and through a life in the Spirit.
“In Christ” means participation and fellowship with Christ and therefore with the Body of Christ. Paul will disclose the Spirit as the key to the eschatological tension in the life of the believer. The Spirit of life is the first fruit of the purpose of God. The Spirit is at work moving individuals toward a sense of belonging and adoption into the family of God. Yet, the text forces us to consider the moral tension of this life. Paul will draw some sharp contrasts. One outlook on life is hostile to God, while the other is a dwelling in the Spirit. Our bodies are dead because of sin, but an inner transformation has already begun. In other words, being “in Christ” is a reality that transforms human beings from the inside out.
3 For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh (σαρκός), could not do, for the law depended on sin-saturated persons to bring the law to life in this world. Human frailty corrupted the divine, good, and life-giving potential of the law. Human weakness brings the good counsel of the law to nothing. The law reveals its weakness in its failure to overcome the power of sin. He regards the Mosaic Law as incapable of putting human beings in a state of rectitude before God or of freeing them from sin or death. Although the law supplied the knowledge of sin and told human beings what to do and what not to do, it supplied no power to surmount the opposition to it coming from the human inclination to evil and sin. Paul sees that the problem is not with the law as such, but with human flesh dominated by sin.
However, God has acted in a new way by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh (σαρκός). Paul is saying that God has done what humanity could not. Paul indulges in a kerygmatic assertion, insisting that God himself has brought about what the law could not do. Paul readily admits that God has been able to bring about through Christ what the law could not do in bringing human beings into a status of rectitude before God. It all depends, then, on God’s initiative and intervention, and in no way on mere observance of the law. Implied is the unique bond of love between the Father and the Son that is the source of human justification and salvation. This is the closest expression in Pauline writings to the idea of incarnation, which is otherwise a Johannine way of expressing the coming of Christ. God sent the preexistent Son in the form of human sinfulness in order that God might execute judgment upon sin on the form of this earthly existence of his. We need to think of the theological notion of representation here. To do something for others what they ought to do is to do it on their behalf, that is, “for them.” Such an act does not have to mean entering the conditions of their lives. We have here a co-human solidarity in which some represent others. Here the vicarious expiatory death of Jesus Christ is the purpose of his whole sending by God. In addition, at least implicitly, the entering of the preexistent Son into the conditions of earthly existence that sin governs acquires the meaning that he took the place of sinners in order that he might suffer their fate. The incarnation thus becomes an act of representation.[12] Not in his counsel alone does God let the innocent Jesus suffer death in the place of sinners. Instead, we read that in the Son, God took the place of sinners and took within divinity the judgment on their sin. In the condemnation and execution of Jesus he bore death as the consequence of our sin, thereby effecting representation in the form of a change of place between the innocent and the guilty. This vicarious penal suffering, which one aptly describes as the vicarious suffering of the wrath of God at sin, rests on the fellowship that Jesus Christ accepted with all of us as sinners and with our fate as such. This link is the basis on which the death of Jesus can count as expiation for us. It is a step toward what theologians call a Christology from above, even though the historical development of Christology is from bellow.[13]
In the sending of the preexistent Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and to deal with sin, he condemned sin in the flesh (σαρκί), explaining how and in what respect God issued the decisive verdict against sin, in that realm where sin reigned and dominated. The phrase does not mean that only the effects of sin found in the flesh itself were condemned. By the death Christ underwent on the cross, the death he underwent as a human, he executed the sentencing of sin, which could only touch him as human. In this way God destroyed the force that Adam’s sin unleashed in the world. Commentators part ways in explaining how, but Paul means that the Father has thus broken the dominion of sin and its consequence over human beings.
Luther emphasized the penal character of the passion of Jesus. Luther recognized the meaning of the death of Jesus in the fact that the punishment for our sin happened to him. To be sure, Luther also justified the substitution not from the human course of the event but based on the incarnation. Further, he did not see the fate of Jesus in the cross in the context of his pre-Easter ministry, not as consequence of his pre-Easter claim, at any rate not in connection with his statements about the cross as penal suffering. The description of the penal suffering as affliction of conscience comes remarkably close to an understanding of the cross of Jesus in the context of his human path. Yet, we have good reason for abstaining from such statements about the psychical aspects of the path of Jesus unto death. Rather, we have restricted ourselves to the description of the objective situation of the death of Jesus in the context of his fate.[14]
We can see here the failure of religion and all adherence to a code in identifying their failure with that of the Law. All religion can do is expose the complete godlessness of human behavior. Religion neither overcomes human worldliness nor transfigures it. Barth sees Zwingli as providing nothing more than insipid bourgeois way of life, Kierkegaard providing the poison of a too intense pietism, and Dostoevsky a hysterical world-fatigue. The point is that religion casts us into the deepest of all prisons. The history of religion, including church history, is a history of weakness. However, in Jesus we find the scandal of an eternal revelation that criss-crosses every form of rationalism. In Jesus, the love of God breaks through all types of rational analysis. This means that one can recognize the mission of the Son only by revelation from God. As an observer, one may see in Jesus many different interpretations. One could see ethical idealism, a political program, the romanticism of religion, and so on. We stumble in all these discussions when we suppose that we can treat of Christ, speak and hear of Christ, without being scandalized.[15]
Thus, God condemned sin in the flesh 4 so that the just requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us. Here the requirement of the law is the Pauline way of expressing the goal or purpose of the law. God brings about the fulfillment of the law through Christ and the Spirit. The law proposed an ideal but did not enable human beings, weak creatures of flesh, to achieve it; now all that is changed. The Spirit vis-à-vis flesh contrast or interplay does not originate with Paul. We see it in the Old Testament.[16] We can also see it in Gospel passages.[17] Of course, we see it elsewhere in Pauline literature.[18] Paul expected that those who are dead to self-seeking in Christ would keep by the Spirit the righteous demands of the law, so that at least implicitly there is agreement with its moral requirements. Thus, the just requirements of the Law find their fulfillment in those who walk (περιπατοῦσιν)[19], a metaphor meaning living out our lives characterized not according to the weakness of the flesh (σάρκα)[20] but according to the Spirit ˆ(πνεῦμα), who transplants Christians into a sphere of power in which behavior is no longer subject to one’s own decision, but which one experiences as freedom rather than compulsion. The Spirit transplants the Christian into the freedom of being a child of God.[21] “Walking” on the part of Christians does not involve only a new ethical standard to which the individual would have to adjust behavior. It is not a matter of course that people will sow the Spirit and reap eternal life. The possibility of living by the flesh is always present.[22]
When we broaden our vision to the context of Romans 8:1-25, although hidden behind the circumstances of earthly suffering and tribulation, Paul presents us with a clear picture of the sharp contrast between those who live in the flesh and those who choose to focus on their life in the Spirit. Those fixated on the flesh endure suffering without hope. Those who have glimpsed the truth of their life in the Spirit know that the glorious rewards reaped in their future inheritance of resurrected life in Christ dwarfs present suffering. To live after the flesh is to contain the seeds of death. Paul refers to the general thought and motive. While Paul can say that Christ dwells in us, this can happen only because of the ecstatic structure of faith. By faith, believers live “outside” themselves, and therefore, one can say that Christ dwells in the believer.[23]
5 For those who live according to the flesh (σάρκα) set their minds on (φρονοῦσιν) the things of the flesh (σαρκὸς), but those who live according to the Spirit (πνεῦμα) set their minds on the things of the Spirit (πνεύματος).They “set their minds” accordingly, with contrasting results. (A significant passage elsewhere in Pauline literature is Colossians 3:2-4. Also, see Matthew 16:23.) It all relates to the focus of one’s life: Is the listener attuned to and ruled by “the flesh” (the listener’s own frequently sinful inclinations or attempts to live God’s life by one’s own impoverished strength — see also Galatians 3); or is the listener attuned to and ruled by “the Spirit” (to be God-led and God-empowered in life)? The listener’s life reflects the listener’s focus, in association with significant contrasting consequences for this life and beyond — life and peace vis-à-vis spiritual death. Those who are truly “in Christ,” Paul avers, are attuned to the Spirit rather than to the flesh.
You should not be too hard on yourself if you found your mind wandering during the reading of these verses. The passage is difficult to get your mind around quickly. However, the gist of what Paul’s talking about is that there are two possible ways of being in the world. One our human nature guides and the Spirit of God guides the other. We have a decision to make. It will involve whether the fruit of your life is one in which your focus is yourself and your way, or the way the Spirit guides you. Even though Paul is writing about the Spirit living in you, he wants our center of gravity to shift from a focus on what we want and what pleases us, to a focus on what pleases the Spirit.
I would like to focus on this image of life as a walk. Many professionals would suggest that walking around is good for body and soul. It will aid us in a desire for better health, if we feel as if we are about to flip out, if the baby will not stop crying, if we are stressed, depressed, or anxious, if we need to work through a problem with a friend, if we lack inspiration, if age is catching up on us, and even if we are spiritually dry. I like to think that the seemingly unsolvable problem with a friend begins to narrow enough so that we can build a bridge over it if we just walk and talk long enough.[24] Granted, “pedestrian,” one who walks, is also a synonym for dull and ordinary. Yet, walking is beneficial for mind, body, and soul.[25] We will walk to visit natural objects or visit a friend. We may walk alone to visit ourselves and discover our own thoughts.[26] It may be true that all genuinely great thoughts have their conception in walking.[27]Only a few people may understand the genius contained in the art of walking, of taking walks, or of sauntering. Some people seem to think legs are for one to sit upon. Such is not the case. Some would suggest the importance of walking several hours a day in or der to preserve mind and body.[28] The walk is the body in motion. Motion arises from freedom, change, hope, scope for decisions, and vitality, all of which suggest rising of newness.[29] For Paul, walking refers to the whole round of individual activities that involve personal life. Walking in the Spirit is the way that leads to the gift of life God wants to give us. this life is not a matter of attaining godliness, but of becoming godly, not of being healthy but of the process of becoming well, not in being but in becoming, and definitely not so much rest as exercise. We are not now what we shall be, but we are on the way when we walk in Spirit. The process never reaches its conclusion. It continues each day. The most important decision we will make is to be on the right road.[30]
Paul will contrast two ways of life, one in accord with human nature, always feeling the tug of Adam and the old way of life of disobedience to God, self-serving, and having the fruit of death at work in us. We are living only what we think best.
Paul calls the other way of being as “walking according to the Spirit.” He is of course referring to the Holy Spirit, the indwelling power of God, and the biggest difference that makes is that the overriding motivation and guidance the person in the Spirit receives is not from his or her human nature but from God.
Sometimes, when we speak of being “converted” or “born again” or “deciding to follow Jesus,” we are thinking only of a moment in which we change direction, but of course, that is but a beginning. Paul here talks about walking in the Spirit as allowing that moment of change to blossom into a way of life.
I have never been to St. Mark’s Square in Venice. According to an article I read, if you do, it has a dress code and Venice expects people to behave with courtesy and respect. The area has great architecture and sits of historic importance. Some people do not get it. Some people have too much skin showing, drop litter, and eat their lunch. City leaders post signs. However, they also have a squad of women as stewards of the square to make sure people are not taking unwarranted liberties. They wear special T-shirts to identify their role, and they do their work in a friendly way. They are there to remind people of the specialness of this place.
We can characterize walking in the Spirit, as listening to the internal steward/Spirit.
Our spiritual ancestors understood this need. Years ago in the church, members often urged one another to “go on to perfection.” They spoke of seeking “holiness” or “sanctification,” of “total surrender” or of receiving “the second blessing.” These terms essentially meant the same thing, but the reality to which they referred was what Paul means by “walking according to the Spirit.”
Or, to use our current metaphor, they had a steward in the square of life to guide them in how to walk in the Spirit — not to keep them from having a good time, but to show them how to conduct themselves in ways that recognize the sanctity of being in God’s presence.
What I would like to stress is that walking in the Spirit involves a relationship. The Spirit dwells in you. Christ dwells in you. You are in Christ. This involves each of us seeking to be part of that new humanity, not guided by Adam, but guided by Christ. Such a life is one of freedom and peace.
Maybe we need to ask God to send the Spirit into the square of our lives, to show us how to walk the walk, and to experience deep, life-giving joy in doing so.
Ultimately, as the old spiritual says, "You've got to walk that lonesome valley. You've got to walk it by yourself. Ain't nobody gonna walk it for you. You've got to walk it by yourself." We have responsibility for the course our lives take. Your parents, your children, your friend, or your pastor, cannot walk this path for you.
First, let us consider flesh-walking. Sounds like something out of Fear Factor. Truth is, if we saw the ugliness of sin as God does, we would never “walk in the flesh” again. Here, Paul uses the term “flesh” or “sinful nature” to describe the mindset of rebellious humanity — a mental and spiritual habit of choking that pulls people and communities deeper and deeper down the spiral of failure that makes them “hostile to God” (v. 7). The “flesh” is not a reference solely to immoral behavior or excesses of “fleshly passions,” like lust, gluttony, drunkenness and so forth. “Fleshly” sins can also be sins of the spirit, if you will, that is, greed, envy, bitterness, holding a grudge, spitefulness. These sins emerge, not from the Spirit of God, but from “walking” in the flesh, that is, feeding and nurturing our base human desires.
If you think you are going to miss the putt or slice the drive, or shank the serve, or whiff the pitch, you probably will. If you think about gratifying your own desires and serving yourself, you probably will. That, says Paul, is the kind of thinking that leads to spiritual “death” (v. 6).
I like the story Richard Carlson tells in chapter 22 of What about the Big Stuff? Imagine the following scene. The baseball game is in bottom of ninth inning, two outs, and the final game of the World Series. Your favorite star comes to bat with the bases loaded. Your team is behind by one run. If he gets a hit, your team wins. If not, they lose. The count is three balls and two strikes. The next pitch decides the outcome of the game. All fifty thousand fans are on their feet, along with millions watching on television. Suddenly, we see a halt in the action. A man runs onto the field and pulls the batter aside. He reviews the personal history of the batter. He reminds the batter that he has been in four previous nerve-wracking sports scenarios. When he was in little league, he struck out and let his team down. His parents expressed their disappointment, and the girl on which he had a crush walked away with someone else. In high school, at a key moment in the game, he lost a fly ball in the sun and became the laughingstock of the entire school. In college, he tried to steal a base, but the catcher threw him out, and the team lost first place in the division. Because of his team losing, his best friend ended up losing his scholarship. People in the school speculated that it was his fault. The man encourages your favorite star to meditate upon these facts from his past. He insists that these mistakes of his past are of primary importance at this moment. The question is, does the star hit the ball and win the game?
If we focus our attention upon what we have done wrong in the past, the focus is still upon us instead of living the game of life. We begin to make more and more mistakes until we find ourselves way off the mark, out of bounds, and in deep spiritual trouble. Who can be happy when totally self-absorbed and critical, and undisciplined and unforgiving and living with envy, disappointment and resentment all the time? We are talking lifestyle choices here.
Studies of happiness conclude that teens that have a strong religious faith are happier and more fulfilled than those who do not. They also conclude that adults who attend church regularly are more content, more satisfied than those who do not and feel that their lives have meaning. Why?
Second, let us consider Spirit-walking. In Romans 12, Paul says that a winning attitude involves a “renewing of your mind[s]” (12:2). That means shaking off the self-defeating spiral of living in the sinful mindset and living instead “in accordance with the Spirit [having your] mind set on the things of the Spirit” (8:5). Rather than simply focusing on the mistakes, the goal according to Paul is to reorient the mind toward the target — the person of Christ. We get out of ourselves and allow the Spirit of Christ, who lives in us, to direct us. When we are self-absorbed, the errors multiply. The invitation is for us to play the game of life by emptying ourselves and allow Christ to fill us, for he “will give life to your mortal bodies also through his Spirit that dwells in you” (v. 11). Truth is that if we are “living in Christ” unforced errors will still plague us, but they can become less and less of an issue. “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (v. 1), says Paul. The Spirit of Christ does not beat us up for our mistakes but rather encourages us to live more assertively and purposefully. Our confidence is not in our own ability, but in Christ whose Spirit dwells in us.
We are walking, but let us ask ourselves what kind of walking we are doing, and where we are doing it. Is it flesh-walking — self-absorbed, narcissistic indulgence? Is it Spirit-walking? If it is, we are following a path that leads to happiness, and a meaningful and fulfilled life.
Romans 8:6-11 is part of a larger segment that begins in verse 1, where Paul deals with the theme of the Spirit of life. In a larger context that extends to verse 27, Paul is dealing with the theme of the eschatological tension and fulfillment of the purpose of God through the Spirit. His language opens a discussion of what we might think of as our mindset or set of assumptions or methods that creates a powerful incentive to continue to adopt or accept prior behaviors, choices, or tools. We develop such paradigms because of what we have learned in life, but the problem is that in learning them they can create a form of mental inertia when faced with new possibilities or experiences that should put such assumptions into question.
6 To set the mind (φρόνημα) on the flesh (σαρκὸς) is death. Paul continues to unpack the loaded message he presented in verse 4, where he contrasted those who walk according to the flesh and those who walk according to the Spirit, the latter fulfilling the just requirements of the Law. The mode of contrast Paul makes now concerns the result of aspirations. All the strivings and orientation of the flesh focus on death. Paul brings the relation between sin and death closer than ever before. Not only does death follow sin, but also to live in the weakness of the flesh is a form of death already. To live after the flesh is to contain the seeds of death. Paul refers to the general thought and motive. Flesh is that side of human nature is morally weak, the physical organism leading people to sin. The death is present and future. But to set the mind (φρόνημα) on the Spirit (πνεύματος), radically opposed to the flesh, is life and peace. The strivings and orientation of the Spirit is life and peace, which is life and friendship with God. If the Spirit dominates the strivings, orientation, and life of a person, one has more than a hope of life and peace. The person experiences life and peace in the present. In that sense, the leading of the Spirit is not a blind force of nature, but rather, is of a personal sort. The Spirit is a personal reality by not extinguishing the personal character of human action through the activity of the Spirit, but by letting personal life come to consummation through willing dedication. It is to possess those qualities now, although partially.[31] The life of which Paul writes is at the same time present and future. Thus, peace is not simply forensic here, but applies to the whole person. Peace is reconciliation with God and a feeling of harmony and tranquility over the whole person. Those who receive baptism, live “in Christ Jesus” (v. 1) and are therefore open to the promptings of the Spirit, receive life and peace now. Their aspirations receive their inspiration and take the side of the Spirit. The direction of the interests of the spiritual person are toward the Spirit. This includes the affections and will as well as reason. Because Christ lives in Christians, the things of the flesh no longer dominate them, even if they must daily decide to allow the Spirit to control their aspirations and orientation. The tension between death and life is a war carried out in the believer between living a life oriented to the self and living a life oriented by the Spirit. To live by the self (the flesh), to live out of our weakness, is death. While one can “crucify” this type of life with Christ, crucifixion of it lasts a lifetime. At times, it will be painful. The center of your life is outside you and therefore in relation with others and with God. Such a life is “in the Spirit.” Such a transformation is life and friendship with God. Such a realization and transformation is not an easy process. Such leading by the Spirit has a personal character by bringing our personal lives to their fulfillment. Living by the Spirit is to possess such qualities in a partial way today.[32] Thus, the Spirit makes this moment full of possibility. True, the past moment of our justification in the cross through faith and the future moment of our redemption that we hold in hope contain their fullness. Yet, the present is not empty. Rather, the present is full because of the eschatological gift of the Spirit, who provisionally imparts life and peace now. The past act and the hoped-for future have a middle term in the advance installment of the Spirit. A thoroughgoing change has taken place in the Christian’s whole existence because of faith and baptism. Sin may still try to dominate the flesh, but it does not dominate the self, thanks to the indwelling Spirit. God’s Spirit now personally directs such a person toward individual fulfillment. The Spirit is the pleasure that God has in people and goodwill people have toward God. The Spirit is existential meaning and sense. Spirit admits no other possibility. However, flesh is also a decision in time by God against people and by people against God. We cannot decide between the two. Nor are these two classes of people, those in the Spirit and those in the flesh. We are in death and in life, rejection and election, condemnation and justification. Christ in us helps us apprehend our existential freedom.[33] 7 For this reason the mind (φρόνημα) that is set on the flesh (σαρκὸς) is hostile to God. Those living "according to the flesh" are incapable of seeing beyond the limitations and inabilities of the flesh. Those whose motivation in life is a self-centered interest; their aspirations are all self-oriented. The person directs emotions, will, and mind on the flesh. Such a one cares not for God or for others but is self-centered. The possibility of living in a way that is hostile to God is always present.[34] It does not submit to God’s law, the concrete expression of God’s will —indeed it cannot, Paul implies that the tendency of weakened humanity is toward enmity with God. We learn why a life dominated by the orientation of weak flesh is death. Flesh, weak as it is, is hostile to God, and thus a turn away from the source of life. Paul is turning toward another mode of contrast, one that concerns one’s attitude about God. Flesh-oriented humanity, weak as it is, finds itself in the condition of hostility, enmity, and estrangement in God’s sight, hence opposed to the life that has its source in God. 8 And those who are in the weak flesh (σαρκὶ) cannot please God. Verse 8 restates verse 7 in more personal terms. The root of the problem is that weak flesh is not open to the promptings of the Spirit. Paul chooses a neutral way of expressing the goal of human life: to please God. It is a goal aspired to by both Jews and Christians, yet one whose life receives its direction and orientation by weak flesh cannot attain it.
In Romans 8: 9-11, Paul personalizes the way the Spirit and the Christian relate to each other. Early Christianity quickly came to relate baptism to the eschatological gift of the Spirit, and we see this throughout verses 9-15.[35] 9 But you are not, declarative rather than imperative referring to the status of the justified Christian is not that of the unregenerate human being. Here Paul formulates the indicative of Christian existence. On it, he will base his imperative: Live like a Christian. The imperative of the call to new obedience is a summons to demonstrate the indicative of the new being in Christ, but it also has its eschatological presupposition in the future that God has promised and that one can expect. Yes, become what you are, but even more, become what you shall be.[36] Thus, you are not in the flesh (σαρκὶ); you are in the Spirit (πνεύματι). "Spirit" may mean the human spirit. Just as a person may take their life orientation from the flesh, they may also take it from the spirit, which has an affinity to God. It may also be that Paul can pass almost unnoticed from the human spirit to the Spirit of God. There is a settled influence of God's Spirit on the human spirit. The influence from the Spirit of God is inseparable from the higher Christian life. You are in the spirit since the Spirit of God (Πνεῦμα Θεοῦ) dwells (οἰκεῖ, present and progressive tense) in you. God's Spirit needs permanent residence within the believer, must "dwell" there, and not be evicted‑‑like a seed snatched away. The Spirit must stay put, just as a seed must stay put to grow and be productive‑‑as in the life of St. Paul and others. The one “in Christ” also abides, resides, and dwells in the Spirit. The Spirit grants the immediacy of relationship to the Son and the Father, granting the believer freedom of the children of God. Such living by faith brings one into fellowship with Christ and therefore lifts one beyond the self. The Spirit also relates the one “in Christ” to their personal and common future of salvation. God's Spirit needs permanent residence within the believer, must "dwell" there, and not be evicted‑‑like a seed snatched away. The Spirit must stay put, just as a seed must stay put in order to grow and be productive‑‑as in the life of St. Paul and others. The Spirit who indwells believers lifts them above their own particularity, the quintessence of the ecstatic movement of the divine life. By the Spirit, creatures are capable of independence in their relation to God and at the same time integrated into the unity of the rule of God. The imparting of the Spirit as gift characterizes the distinctiveness of the soteriological phase of the work of the Spirit in the event of reconciliation. The form of the gift does not mean that the Spirit comes under the control of creatures, but that the Spirit comes into them and makes possible our independent and spontaneous entry into the action of God in reconciling the world and our participation in the movement of the reconciling love of God toward the world.[37] Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ (Πνεῦμα Χριστοῦ) does not belong to him. Augustine understood this term as justifying his notion that the Spirit proceeded from both Father and Son. It shows the fluid way in which Paul could refer to the Spirit, depending upon context: the Spirit, Spirit of God, Spirit of Christ. Christ has given his name to the new order, which is rapidly replacing the natural world, which is doomed. To have the Spirit is to belong to this new order and to allow God to bring one into the living fellowship of the church, of knowing, that is, the love of God. Attachment to Christ is not only possible through the “spiritualization” of human beings. This is no mere external identification with the cause of Christ, or even a grateful recognition of what he once did for humanity. Rather, Christians who belong to Christ are those empowered to “live for God” in 6:10 through the vitalizing influence of his Spirit. Early Christianity quickly came to relate baptism to the eschatological gift of the Spirit.[38]
The mention in verses 10-11 of Jesus Christ and the opposition between sin and righteousness that dominates the first sentence, the saying obviously has in view the dispensation of the covenant of grace, the threat of death by sin on the one side and the promise of life by righteousness on the other. Christ is between and looking forward, his back to the one and his face to the other. However, the second sentence points beyond the present into the future, and therefore just as clearly also includes the creaturely reality of humanity. For the Spirit of God, who is also creative Spirit, there is a mortal body quickened maintained in its mortality.[39] 10 But if Christ is in you, having a close relation to 6:11, in which the believer is in Christ. These are for Paul different, generic ways of expressing the basic union of Christians with Christ. Christ dwells in Christians, as the Spirit becomes the source of the new experience, empowering them in a new way and with a new vitality. Even here, Barth concludes that “Christ in you” does not refer to a subjective status inaugurated and someday fulfilled, but an objective status already fulfilled and already established.[40] I think Barth is simply not wanting to read with clear eyes what Paul is saying here. Though the body (σῶμα) is physically dead because of sin, the Spirit (πνεῦμα) is eternal life, in union with Christ that causes the human spirit to live, because of the gift of righteousness s the justifying act of God rather than human ethical achievement, thereby redeeming the body in resurrection. 11 If the Spirit (Πνεῦμα) of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells (οἰκεῖ, abode, residing, staying) in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will give life to, the future tense expressing the role of the vivifying Spirit in the eschatological resurrection of Christians, not only now, by supplying new life to mortal bodies, but also in the eschaton. God will give life to your mortal (θνητὰ) bodies (σώματα) also through his Spirit (Πνεύματος) that dwells in (ἐνοικοῦντος, inhabits) you. Paul is taking up a theme in this letter of the role of the Spirit as abiding, residing, staying, inhabiting within the believer. This indwelling Spirit is thus the driving force and the source of new vitality for Christian life. The life-giving Spirit has an OT background. The believers receive the eschatological earnest of the Spirit who has Christ from the dead and will quicken our mortal bodies, for the word that leads the believer into the truth is promise of eternal life, but not yet that life itself.[41]
The discussion of life “in the Spirit/spirit” takes up much of the passage. I want to spend some time discussing its theological significance.
First, such a life “in the Spirit” seems an invisible, altered state of existence entered by the Christian believer that places the believer beyond the reach of earthy sin, death and suffering. Such a notion is far from what Paul intends. Our weakness is that we turn away from the source of our life. In other words, our temptation every moment is to do what Adam did. One who keeps living this way is not pleasing to God. The Holy Spirit is the medium of the immediacy of the individual Christian to God as the Spirit lifts them up to participation in being children of God even as Jesus is the Son and grants them the Christian freedom that enables them to call confidently on God as their Father. Paul personalizes the relation for those “in Christ” by saying that Spirit of God/Christ dwells within them. This reminds us that for Paul, the context determined how he referred to the Spirit. Such persons are no longer living in accord with the self, but outside themselves in the Spirit. Persons “in the Spirit” belong to Christ and therefore to the new order. Those “in Christ” are not just committed to the cause, as if to an external religious, political, or economic ideology. They have an internal relation to Christ and to the Spirit. Through the Spirit of Christ/God, Christ is in them, as well as them being “in Christ.” We see here his way of discussing the union between Christ and the follower. Contrary to Barth, Paul is not just referring to an objective status, but to a subjective and transforming possibility for the Christian.[42]
Second, Paul will show that the fellowship of believers in the church is a fellowship that by the Spirit they have beyond themselves in Christ, just as faith lifts each of them to fellowship with Christ and therefore is beyond the self in Christ. Conversely, by the Spirit the future of Jesus Christ is already present to believers as their personal and common future of salvation. Thus, the fellowship of the church can be a sign that prefigures the eschatological fellowship of a humanity that is renewed in the kingdom of God.
Third, I hope that as we read this passage, we sense the tension Paul sees in Christian life. The reason for the tension in Christian life between flesh and Spirit is the introduction of our future redemption into our lives through the Spirit. The pardon we have received in the cross, the righteousness that God showed in that moment, means life in the Spirit will triumph over the death of the body. Paul emphasizes the eschatological dimension of the Spirit in saying that the Spirit “will” give life to our bodies. Thus, Paul makes it clear that the union of the believer with Christ is a promise of eternal life that includes the body. Paul does not envision a non-bodily life in eternity. The resurrection of Jesus is a promise to us, who must pass through judgment and in the body. The Spirit who dwells within the believer and in whom the believer walks is the driving force and the source of new vitality for the follower of Jesus. The hope for such redemption and eternal life has its basis in fellowship with Christ. The hope for eternal life is a consequence of fellowship with Christ.[43] Yet, we know God through Jesus Christ, who is the ground of all reality about whom humanity inquires in both open and concealed ways. Thus, Paul is also not afraid to trace the life given to the Christian to the resurrection of Christ. The Spirit who gave life to the Son also gives life to the Christian.[44] The life that those “in Christ” receive now is an anticipation of the life they shall receive in eternity. The Spirit who dwells within them lifts them above their particularity and toward unity with the rule of God. The Spirit makes possible our participation in the reconciling love of God toward the world.[45]
Fourth, the Spirit who indwells believers lifts them above their own particularity, the quintessence of the ecstatic movement of the divine life. By the Spirit, creatures will be made capable of independence in their relation to God and at the same time integrated into the unity of the rule of God. The imparting of the Spirit as gift characterizes the distinctiveness of the soteriological phase of the work of the Spirit in the event of reconciliation. The form of the gift does not mean that the Spirit comes under the control of creatures, but that the Spirit comes into them and makes possible their independent and spontaneous entry into the action of God in reconciling the world and our participation in the movement of the reconciling love of God toward the world.[46] While Paul can say that Christ dwells in us, this can happen only because of the ecstatic structure of faith. By faith, believers live “outside” themselves, and therefore, one can say that Christ dwells in the believer.[47]
Fifth, at one level, Paul is indicating to us that we do not have access to the essence of God without Jesus Christ. We do not first know who God is and then something about Jesus, but only in connection with Jesus do we know the ground of all reality about whom humanity inquires in an open or concealed way, consciously or unconsciously. The event of Christ in the past, especially his death and resurrection, have supreme importance in opening the pathway for humanity to see the reality of its condition. However, as important as that event is, at another level, Paul makes a direct link between the resurrection of Christ and the resurrection of the Christian. Paul traces the power vivifying the Christian to its ultimate source, for the Spirit is the manifestation of the Father’s presence and life-giving power in the world since the resurrection of Christ and through it.[48] Hearing the message of Jesus places one in the sphere of the working of the Spirit, who may open the heart and life of the hearer to embrace its life-giving message. This event in the believer in his or her historical moment connects with the historical moment of the death and resurrection of Jesus through the presence of the Spirit.
Sixth, the Spirit of God that raised Jesus from death already dwells in Christians. The significance of this is that in early Christianity the Spirit had eschatological significance. The word designated nothing else than the presence of the resurrection life in the Christians. Note that Lord and Spirit belong together. Wherever there is a reference in any way to the reality of the resurrected Lord, as established through hearing the message of the resurrection of Jesus, there one is already in the sphere of the activity of the Spirit. Whoever believes the message of the resurrection of Jesus has thereby already received the Spirit who guarantees to the believer the future resurrection from death because he has already raised Jesus. The Spirit guarantees the participation of the believers in the living Jesus Christ. The close connection that existed for Paul between the Spirit and the reality of the resurrection that appeared in Jesus and is hoped for by Christians is demonstrated by the Old Testament understanding of the Spirit as the power of life.[49] The “in Christ” listeners can infer that this resurrection life begins now within their lives, in an anticipatory manner. There is a settled influence of God's Spirit on the human spirit. The influence from the Spirit of God is inseparable from the higher Christian life. Just as a person may take their life orientation from the flesh, they may also take it from the spirit, which has an affinity to God.
The tension introduced by the Spirit in the life of the believer is a tension that arises because the Infinite embraces the finite, that transcendence embraces our immanent experience of the world. if we close ourselves off from transcendence, if we do not feel its pull, then we will not have the type of tension of which Paul writes. Some people can rest with an objective description of the world. They are content with that. Yet, human language itself pushes us beyond such mere description, seeking to express thoughts and feelings that are beyond words. Life is more than what a collection of atoms and cells concoct. For Paul, Christ is the answer to that which we find so difficult to name and for which we have difficulty to hope for humanity and for our world. the Infinitude and transcendence that embraces us is the presence of the Spirit, who will dwell within us and walk with us if by faith open our lives to this power. Paul could write this way because he was one of whom God blessed with a powerful experience of the grace of forgiveness and the vision of the peace and reconciliation God intends in Christ. Most believers may have a far more ordinary account of the indwelling and guiding work of the Spirit in their lives that will suit the uniqueness of their lives.
[1] Dallas Willard’s Renovation of the Heart: Putting on the Character of Christ, 41-42:
[2]
[3]
[4]
[5]
[6]
[7]
[8]
[9] Barth Church Dogmatics, II.2 [37.3], 592.
[10] Barth, Romans, 272-74.
[11] Barth, Church Dogmatics, II.2 [37.3], 592.
[12]
[13]
[14]
[15]
[16] Genesis 6:3
Then the Lord said, "My spirit shall not abide in mortals forever, for they are flesh; their days shall be one hundred twenty years."
Isaiah 31:3
The Egyptians are human, and not God; their horses are flesh, and not spirit. When the Lord stretches out his hand, the helper will stumble, and the one helped will fall, and they will all perish together.
Ezekiel 11:19-20
19 I will give them one heart, and put a new spirit within them; I will remove the heart of stone from their flesh and give them a heart of flesh, 20 so that they may follow my statutes and keep my ordinances and obey them. Then they shall be my people, and I will be their God.
Ezekiel 36:26-27
26 A new heart I will give you, and a new spirit I will put within you; and I will remove from your body the heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. 27 I will put my spirit within you, and make you follow my statutes and be careful to observe my ordinances.
[17] Mark 14:38
Keep awake and pray that you may not come into the time of trial; the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak."
John 3:6
What is born of the flesh is flesh, and what is born of the Spirit is spirit.
John 6:63
It is the spirit that gives life; the flesh is useless. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life.
[18] I Corinthians 3:1-3
1 And so, brothers and sisters, I could not speak to you as spiritual people, but rather as people of the flesh, as infants in Christ. 2 I fed you with milk, not solid food, for you were not ready for solid food. Even now you are still not ready, 3 for you are still of the flesh. For as long as there is jealousy and quarreling among you, are you not of the flesh, and behaving according to human inclinations?
I Corinthians 5:5
you are to hand this man over to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord.
Galatians 3:3
Are you so foolish? Having started with the Spirit, are you now ending with the flesh?
Galatians 4:29
But just as at that time the child who was born according to the flesh persecuted the child who was born according to the Spirit, so it is now also.
Galatians 5:16-25
16 Live by the Spirit, I say, and do not gratify the desires of the flesh. 17 For what the flesh desires is opposed to the Spirit, and what the Spirit desires is opposed to the flesh; for these are opposed to each other, to prevent you from doing what you want. 18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not subject to the law. 19 Now the works of the flesh are obvious: fornication, impurity, licentiousness, 20 idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, anger, quarrels, dissensions, factions, 21 envy, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these. I am warning you, as I warned you before: those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. 22 By contrast, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against such things. 24 And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. 25 If we live by the Spirit, let us also be guided by the Spirit.
Galatians 6:8
If you sow to your own flesh, you will reap corruption from the flesh; but if you sow to the Spirit, you will reap eternal life from the Spirit.
[19] Paul frequently uses “to walk” metaphorically to mean to live out our lives characteristically as the Spirit of Christ would live them in us and through us. Significant parallels are Romans 6:4 (“walk in newness of life”) and Galatians 5:16 (“Live [walk in Greek) by the Spirit, ... and do not gratify the desires of the flesh.”).
[20] Paul uses “flesh” in a variety of ways. It is a misrepresentation of Paul’s thinking to understand “flesh” invariably to mean “lower”/sinful human nature. In Romans 1:3 and 9:5 “flesh” refers to Jesus Christ’s physical nature or line of descent. In Galatians 2:20, Paul speaks of his own life “in the flesh” in the neutral sense of his life on earth. However, when Paul contrasts “flesh” with “Spirit,” “flesh” does have a strongly negative connotation. Even there, “flesh” does not mean simply what some might call “bodily immorality.” This is clear from the extended passage in Galatians 5:19-25 where Paul contrasts the “works of the flesh” to the “fruit of the Spirit.” Most of these “works of the flesh” are not body-oriented at all, but are associated with heart, mind and spirit. (Compare Jesus’ words in Matthew 15:19.)
[21] Pannenberg, Jesus God and Man, 177.
[22] Barth Church Dogmatics, IV.3 [69.3], 210.
[23] Pannenberg, Systematic Theology, Volume III, 200.
[24] Jesse Owens, runner, in an interview in 1975.
[25] McKay. Brett & Kate. "Solvitur Ambulando: It is solved by walking." Travel & Leisure, April 22, 2013, but posted on The Art of Manliness Website, artofmanliness.com.
[26] Alfred Barron, writing in his Foot Notes, Or, Walking as a Fine Art, 1875.
[27] --Friedrich Nietzsche.
[28] --Henry David Thoreau, Walking. "Walking" began as a lecture, delivered at the Concord Lyceum on April 23, 1851, and many other times. It evolved into the essay published in the Atlantic Monthly, after his death in 1862.
[29] --walkingand.org/literature/brian-massumi. Retrieved October 29, 2013.
[30] Martin Luther
[31]
[32]
[33]
[34]
[35]
[36]
[37]
[38]
[39]
[40]
[41]
[42] Barth, Romans, 285.
[43] Schleiermacher, The Christian Faith, 158.3. For Schleiermacher, the specific Christian hope of a future life with God had its basis in fellowship with Christ, which undoubtedly fixes attention on the right basis. We see here that for Paul, the hope of eternal life is a consequence of fellowship with Jesus Christ in general, but especially with his death, as in baptism.
[44] Pannenberg, Jesus God and Man, 130, Systematic Theology, Volume I, 266.
[45] Pannenberg, Systematic Theology, Volume III, 12.
[46] Pannenberg, Systematic Theology, Volume III, 12.
[47] Pannenberg, Systematic Theology, Volume III, 200.
[48] Pannenberg, Jesus God and Man, 130, Systematic Theology, Volume I, 266.
[49] Pannenberg, Jesus God and Man, 67, 171-72.
Good thoughts. Without a doubt these chapters are the key to the gospel and christian life. I liked the way you dealt with the tension of the christian life and the application of Taylor. Codes are always a bad thing. As a church and a people of God we need to be welcoming to people all people and by His love and grace displayed in us draw people to Him. This time in our society this truth is even more important.
ReplyDeleteThank you. I think that as we move through Romans, Paul will lay out an alternative to adherence to a code, especially in 12-15. If we do not have a code, we still have to deal with becoming the people God wants as witnesses in this world. They still need to look like something, in other words, even if we cannot define the something in the form of a code.
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