No Substitute for Common Sense

Note: It may be helpful to read my introduction to this series in order to have some context and understand my disclaimers. You can find that post here.




“Guidelines are great, but they are no substitute for common sense.”

For me, this video was not the most inspiring in Rowe’s series, but the content is decent, and the point is well taken. Even though people tell you that your safety is their priority, it does not remove it from being your responsibility. I think this goes for a lot of other things as well, not just safety. People might say this about your education or your success — they would suggest it is their priority; however, that doesn’t mean it stops being your responsibility.

I like it. There won’t be a lot to say here. Pretty straightforward.

But one passing thought: Some of these same ideas are relevant in a culture that loves to blame others for our circumstances. We love to point fingers and talk about how our situation is brought about by our family, our employer, our government, our neighborhood, our school. We go on endless rants about how somebody else’s mistakes have created my mess.

And this may even be true some of the time.

And I’m definitely not suggesting accountability doesn’t matter or that we shouldn’t fight for justice. That is not my point at all, and anybody who knows me will know I am a big proponent of pursuing those things.

But there is a very significant line crossed when the objectivity of pursuing justice, mercy, and accountability becomes the subjectivity of blame.

People (especially leaders) should be held accountable for the worlds they create.

But we are responsible — solely — for how we respond to our circumstances. And I do get frustrated when people pick one of these sides and denounce the other. They are not mutually exclusive. I say that with all of the awareness of the comfort and privilege I bring to the conversation. As a white male, my list of circumstances working against me is horribly short. And yet, some of the people who have taught me the most about responsibility (especially in the last few years) have been people with much less privilege and comfort than I have.

So accountability does not remove responsibility. And responsibility does not remove the need for accountability. Can both of these statements be true? I certainly hope so.

What does this mean for you and your circumstances? It is not for me to say. I cannot understand what it is to walk in your shoes and I cannot apply wisdom in your life (only my own); but together, we learn from each other.

ROMANS: Whether We Live or Die

One of my favorite chapters in the New Testament comes next. I think it’s some of the most practical instruction I’ve read in the teachings of Paul. It’s probably because of how it resonates with my mentality, but I love it nonetheless.

Accept the one whose faith is weak, without quarreling over disputable matters. One person’s faith allows them to eat anything, but another, whose faith is weak, eats only vegetables. The one who eats everything must not treat with contempt the one who does not, and the one who does not eat everything must not judge the one who does, for God has accepted them. Who are you to judge someone else’s servant? To their own master, servants stand or fall. And they will stand, for the Lord is able to make them stand.

First, there are, apparently, matters of gray in our faith; despite the fact that many would have us believe everything fits into neat black-and-white categories, Paul clearly says there are such things as “disputable matters.” For some of us, this teaching alone is hard to swallow. But if we think about it, our own lives show this to be true and we know it.

Second, Paul describes a world where there are two dominant camps (not to oversimplify things, but merely as a means of example): one camp wants to abstain from disputable things, and another camp wants to live in their freedom to engage the disputable matters. Sound familiar? Of course it does. This is our world. This is our “Christian” world. We find ourselves locked in morality wars over whether we should do something, or not even touch it with a ten-foot pole.

Paul’s ruling: The one who lives out of their freedom must not look down on the one who abstains, and the one who abstains must not judge the one who does not.

Following this one paragraph of Scripture would change the entire tone of the Church universally. And I know that I myself stand convicted first.

One person considers one day more sacred than another; another considers every day alike. Each of them should be fully convinced in their own mind. Whoever regards one day as special does so to the Lord. Whoever eats meat does so to the Lord, for they give thanks to God; and whoever abstains does so to the Lord and gives thanks to God. For none of us lives for ourselves alone, and none of us dies for ourselves alone. If we live, we live for the Lord; and if we die, we die for the Lord. So, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord. For this very reason, Christ died and returned to life so that he might be the Lord of both the dead and the living.

We make the decisions we make (hopefully) because of our convictions and desires to serve the Lord. Yet this isn’t just about us as individuals and our opinions — this is about others and those around us. This is about how we treat one another. Most importantly, this is about us and God. No matter what decision we make and where we land in the larger conversation, this is about walking out our faith well with the support of and in the company of those around us. Whether we eat or drink, whether we live or die — we do it all unto the Lord.

This isn’t about a morality code. This isn’t about being right. This is about our sacrifice of worship.

You, then, why do you judge your brother or sister? Or why do you treat them with contempt? For we will all stand before God’s judgment seat. It is written:

“ ‘As surely as I live,’ says the Lord,‘every knee will bow before me;    every tongue will acknowledge God.’ ”

So then, each of us will give an account of ourselves to God.

Therefore let us stop passing judgment on one another. Instead, make up your mind not to put any stumbling block or obstacle in the way of a brother or sister.

So why do we pass judgment on our fellow brothers and sisters when we’re all just trying to do our best? I think there are some great answers to these questions, but I will leave that to the psychologists and sociologists, and I will recognize it as being beyond the scope of this conversation and my expertise. I do know from life experience that tearing others down gives us a false feeling of being built up. However, we have learned how to trust the story, as we’ve said a hundred times before in this series — it allows us to stop worrying about ourselves and enables us to worry about others. If we worried about others more than ourselves, we would strive to help others toward their own success. We would work hard not to put stumbling blocks in front of others that would have tripped them up in their pursuit of offering their lives as an act of worship to God.

I am convinced, being fully persuaded in the Lord Jesus, that nothing is unclean in itself. But if anyone regards something as unclean, then for that person it is unclean. If your brother or sister is distressed because of what you eat, you are no longer acting in love. Do not by your eating destroy someone for whom Christ died. Therefore do not let what you know is good be spoken of as evil. For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit, because anyone who serves Christ in this way is pleasing to God and receives human approval.

Please notice that this “stumbling block” conversation has too often been co-opted by the abstinence crowd mentioned above. In our day and age of pop-Christianity, the “stumbling block” has become a buzzword used to justify our evangelical morality codes. That is not what Paul speaks of here. He speaks of making sure that our lifestyle and decisions have an awareness of the people around us and a desire to help them enter and experience the Kingdom of God.

Let us therefore make every effort to do what leads to peace and to mutual edification. Do not destroy the work of God for the sake of food. All food is clean, but it is wrong for a person to eat anything that causes someone else to stumble. It is better not to eat meat or drink wine or to do anything else that will cause your brother or sister to fall. 

So whatever you believe about these things keep between yourself and God. Blessed is the one who does not condemn himself by what he approves. But whoever has doubts is condemned if they eat, because their eating is not from faith; and everything that does not come from faith is sin.

Paul says that at the end of the day, in these “disputable matters,” we all have to do what we are convicted is the best decision. If we feel like doing something is wrong, we ought not do it. And apparently, according to this teaching, if we do engage it, it has become sin because we are acting against our conscience and what we believe is best. We have to follow the convictions we hold between ourselves and God.

But we also have to make sure we help others do the same. We cannot impose our convictions in these disputable matters onto others. We have to be concerned about their pursuit of a God who loves and accepts. Earlier, Paul said that if this God justifies, then who condemns?

Woe to us if we become the condemner. If God is the one who justifies, who are we to condemn? And why in the world should people experience condemnation because of matters that are as silly as food and drink, holidays and hobbies, entertainment and…

“Let us therefore make every effort to do what leads to peace and to mutual edification.”

Amen.

ROMANS: Grafted (part one)

We left off as Paul was concluding his warning to his Jewish audience about the ways they had missed God’s mission in the past. Paul has already mentioned that this certainly does not mean the Israelites were cast off or forsaken by God; he now takes the time to say it again:

Again I ask: Did they stumble so as to fall beyond recovery? Not at all! Rather, because of their transgression, salvation has come to the Gentiles to make Israel envious. But if their transgression means riches for the world, and their loss means riches for the Gentiles, how much greater riches will their full inclusion bring!

Paul expresses great optimism in the people of God and their ability to learn from the path God has them on to correct their trajectory. Only this God who is in the business of redeeming broken things could take their mistakes and turn them into glory. Paul points out that God used their stumbling to bring the Gentiles into the family. If this is true, how much more could — no, not “could,” Paul says “will” — their repentance bring? When the people of God see His goodness and His plan and decide to partner with what God’s doing in the world, just imagine all the things that could be accomplished with that group of people!

NOTE: I hate the translation of “inclusion” here. The NIV84 used to translate it “fullness,” as does the KJV. The translation of “inclusion” only heightens the misconceptions of replacement theology, since the “they” in the passage is clearly the Jews. The Jews aren’t being “included” in anything; it’s their story to begin with. It is the Gentiles who are being included and that very inclusion is what drives the writing of Romans. But indeed, that’s where the passage heads next.

Paul now shifts his attention to the Gentiles and is kind enough to let all of his readers know:

I am talking to you Gentiles. In as much as I am the apostle to the Gentiles, I take pride in my ministry in the hope that I may somehow arouse my own people to envy and save some of them. For if their rejection brought reconciliation to the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead? If the part of the dough offered as firstfruits is holy, then the whole batch is holy; if the root is holy, so are the branches.

Paul says a large part of his ministry is done in the hope that his own brethren would see the story of God correctly and join him in blessing all nations. Paul isn’t just in this for the Gentiles — he’s in it for his own Jewish family, as well. He wants all people to understand the story of God and His plan to restore all of humanity. The phrase “arouse my own people to envy” in the Greek definitely carries the idea of provocation. It is Paul’s desire to prod and provoke his fellow Jews to do the right thing in the way they interact with the Gentiles in their world.

Paul also reminds his readers that God’s story is a Jewish story. If God has chosen to work through the Jewish people, then this Jewish story must be the right one and it must be enough. If this story is based on the right ideas — if the lump of dough is holy and if the root of the story is holy — then the rest of the story is going to share in that goodness.

If some of the branches have been broken off, and you, though a wild olive shoot, have been grafted in among the others and now share in the nourishing sap from the olive root, do not consider yourself to be superior to those other branches. If you do, consider this: You do not support the root, but the root supports you. You will say then, “Branches were broken off so that I could be grafted in.” Granted. But they were broken off because of unbelief, and you stand by faith. Do not be arrogant, but tremble. For if God did not spare the natural branches, he will not spare you either.

Paul tells his Gentile readers to make sure they check their arrogance at the door, because a proper understanding of the story they are part of will lead them to speechless humility. Paul points out that if Israel was a cultivated olive tree (a common image in the Scriptures for Israel), then the Gentiles were a wild, uncultivated olive tree. To the ancient world of the Middle East, the contrast would be a stunning one. A cultivated olive tree is a beautiful sight to behold; with light green leaves and big beautiful olives, the cultivated olive tree is incredibly pleasing to the eye. The olive tree gone wild, on the other hand, is stunted in its growth, producing pitiful leaves and virtually no fruit. It is not very attractive to look at and useless for production.

Wild olive branch on left; cultivated on right

Yet Paul says the story of God works in such a way that when the people of God stumbled, He pruned His cultivated olive tree, chopping off some of the branches that didn’t bear any fruit and preparing it for new growth. God then took wild olive tree branches and grafted them into His cultivated tree. Now, I’m no botanist, but I did have one tell me once that such an idea would be craziness. The wild olive tree branches would have a negative effect on the purity of the cultivated olive tree once the grafting process was complete. As wild branches drew off of the nourishing sap of the main tree, the rest of the trees’ productivity would be drawn back.

And yet, Paul says this is what God does. 

God’s gospel is foolishness. God’s love is scandalous. God’s forgiveness is complete.

As this lesson gets longer and longer, I can see that we’ll need to break it into two parts. So this is a good place to stop. We have much to consider. Most of my readers will be Gentiles and Paul gives them all a lot to ponder about the story of God and how He’s been at work. God has been at work for thousands of years trying to bless all nations. Way back in the beginnings of Genesis, God selected a partner and built a nation He desired to put at the “crossroads of the earth” and help Him restore the world — a kingdom of priests who would show the world what God is like.

But God’s people (Jew and Gentile alike) have often lost the plot of the story. We forget the scandalous nature of the God we claim to serve and worship and we begin to serve self. Throughout this story, God has always corrected, sometimes gently and sometimes with great discipline. God has pruned his tree when necessary and invited His children to new levels of fruitfulness.

And somewhere along the way, the Great Gardener decided in His infinite wisdom that it was time to graft into this cultivated tree some of those wild olive branches He loves so much. He decided it was time to display the beauty of inclusion in this tree that is His people. God’s tree has become His masterpiece.

You will say then, “Branches were broken off so that I could be grafted in.” Granted. But they were broken off because of unbelief, and you stand by faith. Do not be arrogant, but tremble. For if God did not spare the natural branches, he will not spare you either.

ROMANS: Nothing

It is this struggle that so many of us can find exhausting. It is this challenge to walk according to the Spirit and to shut out all of the other voices screaming for our attention that causes us to scream on our insides. Paul moves on to tell us we are not alone in these struggles, for we are part of an entire creation groaning for redemption — the restoration of Genesis 1 goodness.

For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.

And now I am also forced to consider the “sufferings” Paul mentions here in the eighth chapter. Is it a simple reference to the internal and personal struggle with sin he has been talking about? Likely, and at least. But is he also referencing the struggle of first-century Christianity in Rome? As I study this letter, I am reminded of the struggle to survive the persecution, the ridicule, and even, at times, the executions.

To put it simply, things were not as they should be and they knew it. Things are not as they should be and we know it. There is a struggle to endure, a battle that wars inside each of us, and there are wars that battle around us, some of them literal and many of them metaphorical. But things are not as they should be.

Paul says this is true for all of creation. The entirety of creation finds itself in bondage to a curse that works against everything it is supposed to be. Paul encourages his readers to fight the good fight and engage the daily struggle because of hope. We have a deep, fundamental belief in the redemptive work of God and the restoration of all things. Though we cannot see it and experience it in its fullness now, we get tastes of it. It is this hope which helps us endure and hold out for what we do not yet see.

It’s worth noting the world that Paul speaks of — the world groaning for redemption — is this world. It is not that we sit around waiting to be beamed out of here to some other place where everything is made right. No, Paul tells us this struggle is worth it because it is this world that groans for redemption, it is this world that will be set free from its bondage, and it is this world that we hope will be made right. Not only this, but our hopes for this world can often be skewed by our limited, finite perspective. Paul conveys that when we think about this struggle and our longings, as we cry out for redemption and rescue, we don’t even know what we ask.

Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.

It is this same Spirit who helps turn our longing and our groaning into something that rises before God — a God who hears the groaning of His creation.

It seems like all of this talk about the struggle and a new righteousness that comes by faith and the hope of a God who is making everything right launches Paul into a benediction of sorts. It ends up becoming one of my favorite passages in the New Testament:

What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? Who shall bring any charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us.

Even though this struggle is hard and the temptation to give up is incredibly real, we have a God who hears the struggle and responds to the cry of His creation. Even though there are voices inside of us that scream for condemnation, the truth of the matter is there was and there is no condemnation, for it is God who justifies. And this God justifies because of faith, not because of our ability to prove ourselves. This justifying God is for us. And if this God is for us, then who could possibly be against us? At least, who could be against us that could matter when they stand against the acceptance of God? If God is the justifier, who is the condemner? No one — at least no one whose condemnation matters.

And then I am reminded that, in fact, maybe it is a physical and literal suffering this audience was enduring. It only makes Paul’s point stronger:

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? As it is written,

“For your sake we are being killed all the day long;    we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.”

Can even literal persecution and physical suffering separate us from the love of Christ? Paul laughs off the idea.

No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

If this is even remotely true for the first-century believers of Rome, how much more (kal va’chomer?) should it be true for us today? If the condemnation of Caesar himself and the point of a Roman sword can’t separate us from the love of God, then what about our circumstances? If the voices that rage around the believers in Rome couldn’t condemn them, how much more helpless are the voices that rage inside of our own selves?

Simply put, if God is for us, who could be against us? What is it in our lives that could possibly separate us from God’s love?

Could our failures and our past mistakes and our horrible decisions? Could our insecurities? Could the expectations of our parents? Could the expectations of the world? Could the expectations of ourselves? Could our daily struggles? Could our addictions? Could our desires?

No. Nothing could separate us from the love of God.

Nothing.

Paul said this truth makes us more than conquerors. How true that is.

Sigmund Freud once said, “How bold one gets when one is sure of being loved.”

You, brother or sister, are loved. And nothing could ever change that about you.

Nothing.

ROMANS: According to the Spirit

“For it is not through a standard of morality or a system of rules that we will ever experience freedom from the struggle Paul describes, a struggle you and I know all too well. No, it is only through trusting in the promises of God, following in the example of the Christ, and displaying the faith of Jesus that we find a unique kind of victory and freedom — a life where this ongoing struggle does not lead to condemnation.

“Wouldn’t that be nice? Wouldn’t it be great if this struggle with our sarx didn’t always end with our own guilt and shame and the weight of the cry of rescue from our wretched selves?”

These were the closing words of our last conversation. And in fact, not only would it be nice, but according to Paul, it’s actually the way it really is. Paul tells us this struggle does not lead to condemnation, because if the promises of God — which we looked at earlier — are true, then there isn’t anything to hang over our heads.

There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. 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 for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.

This is actually the very promise we trust in when we trust the story. By witnessing the life of Jesus, we see the unadulterated love of God made flesh. His life showed us many things about the flesh: It showed us how to live with victory over the flesh; it showed us what really matters in God’s economy and what doesn’t. And his life even showed us an awful lot about God. It showed us God is not angry, full of wrath and judgment; instead, this God is full of love and recklessly pursues the outsider, the unloved, and the screwed up.

If we believe this to be true — if we have faith and trust in these promises — then we are set free from any cloud of condemnation (self-imposed or otherwise). This freedom allows us to see things and call things what they are and walk in truth.

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. For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God's law; indeed, it cannot. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.

It’s what we set our minds on that seems to make all the difference in the world. If we set our minds on the things of our sarx (our animal appetites and our beast-like nature), then we reap that paycheck of death. However, if we set our minds on the things that are most true about us, it sets us free to lay down our lives for others. Our lives become a practice of self-sacrifice instead of self-preservation. It is this self-sacrifice that pleases God, not because of His system of rules, but because it’s who He is.

You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.

It is this very truth of Christ that gives life to our mortal bodies, which seem to be driven by the sarx. It is the power of the resurrected Christ that takes something which seems so dead and breathes so much life into it.

So then, brothers, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. 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. 

Paul says that because of this truth we are debtors; by this term he speaks primarily of being bound up in relationship. In our culture, we see debt through the lens of bondage and slavery. While this was true in some ways in the world of Rome, debt created much more of a covenantal and relational connection. Paul is saying we are all bound up in a relationship as a debtor. And yet he also wants it to be clear, it is not a relationship of harsh slavery.

For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.

Paul says God would not have given this Spirit for the purpose of slavery, but the purpose of sonship. It is this relationship with the Father, this debtor-patriarch relationship, that paves the way for our adoption. I think of how we spoke in Galatians about being adopted into the family of God as children of Abraham. Paul says it is this Spirit of God, this way of love and forgiveness, this free gift of grace that allows us to be adopted into the family as daughters and sons. (While in Galatians we were speaking of Gentiles, here in Romans I think he speaks of Jew and Gentile alike.)

But Paul also speaks of suffering being a necessity in our walk with the LORD... 

ROMANS: A Dead Husband

In a very similar fashion to the book of Galatians, Paul begins to explain his theological premise “in human terms” and use an experience from their everyday context:

I am using an example from everyday life because of your human limitations. Just as you used to offer yourselves as slaves to impurity and to ever-increasing wickedness, so now offer yourselves as slaves to righteousness leading to holiness. When you were slaves to sin, you were free from the control of righteousness. What benefit did you reap at that time from the things you are now ashamed of? Those things result in death! But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Paul realizes the limitations of his metaphor (is slavery really the best way to understand our relationship with God?), and yet he also understands the metaphor’s ability to speak in the context of first-century Rome. We could certainly expand on this idea, but it would be beyond the scope of our work. Suffice it to say most scholars estimate that one out of every three people in the Roman empire were under some form of slavery.

Paul says when we live under fear and insecurity and the constant awareness of not “measuring up,” it is like being a slave to a horrible taskmaster. He asks, what benefit did you reap at that time…? Those things result in death! Paul continues to use this idea of working and wages, an idea started in chapter four, and it will culminate in Paul’s discussion here. It is in this very context our famous prooftext appears (“For the wages of sin is death…”). It becomes clear how often we rip that verse completely out of context and use it for purposes never intended by Paul.

Paul’s case is that when we live according to the lie of sin, the only thing we get in return is death. The paycheck earned at the end of a hard workday in the world of sin is paid from the Order of Death. But Paul has just finished saying we died to that old way of thinking! We don’t work for that old slave driver anymore! We have been raised to walk in a fresh, new light and with a new understanding — God desires to give us a gift, not a paycheck. This free gift is eternal life! This gift is accessible to all.

To make sure we understand that this slave nature — this old slave driver called Sin — has been put to death, Paul uses an additional example from their context:

Do you not know, brothers and sisters—for I am speaking to those who know the law—that the law has authority over someone only as long as that person lives? For example, by law a married woman is bound to her husband as long as he is alive, but if her husband dies, she is released from the law that binds her to him. So then, if she has sexual relations with another man while her husband is still alive, she is called an adulteress. But if her husband dies, she is released from that law and is not an adulteress if she marries another man.

So, my brothers and sisters, you also died to the law through the body of Christ, that you might belong to another, to him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit for God. For when we were in the realm of the flesh, the sinful passions aroused by the law were at work in us, so that we bore fruit for death. But now, by dying to what once bound us, we have been released from the law so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit, and not in the old way of the written code.

Paul says when a woman is married, she is bound to her husband legally, but when that husband dies, she is no longer legally bound. In very similar fashion to the taskmaster analogy, Paul says that old “husband” we were married to is dead. We are not bound to him anymore; we are free to marry a new husband. Of course, how silly it would be to try to be married to two husbands — one who is alive and another who is dead!

It is this old way of thinking — a way of thinking that says we have to work for our justification — which led to our sinful behavior. It’s an understanding built on fear. Whether we are a bunch of pagans who are afraid we might not experience all life has to offer, so we build ourselves up to be gods; whether we are “good people” who recognize a certain standard for morality; or whether we are deeply religious people who have been entrusted with the Law — if we think we are in need of meeting some standard of righteousness, it is this very standard that bears witness against us, reminding us we are not enough. It is this fear that drives us to a pervasive sinfulness (or at least an awareness of it).

But we have to let that way of thinking die.

Again, it will be important for us to realize that when Paul says these Jews (clearly Paul’s audience, again made obvious by the reference in the first line above) “died to the Law,” he is not saying they stopped observing the Law. What he is saying is that they stopped trying to find their justification in observing the Law, which was Paul’s argument back in chapter three. It’s the only interpretation consistent with Paul’s current argument, New Testament application, and Pauline theology as seen in the other letters.

But of course, as Paul usually does, he’s anticipated our question and is headed there next.

ROMANS: Buried Alive

We were left wondering if Paul’s assertion of the supremacy of grace was a dangerous license to sin. Paul now turns his attention to that nagging question:

What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We are those who have died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?

Paul takes this fallacious line of thinking and shows it to be flawed. This amazing grace cannot be construed as a license to sin, for the very awakening to that grace was also a death to the kind of worldview that leads us to sin in the first place. Once we truly come to grasp and embrace this gospel of acceptance, we die to that former way of thinking — acting out of fear, preservation of self, and our unharnessed desires are replaced with a spirit of peace and a life of self-sacrifice. We die to that old way of thinking.

Paul then uses baptism as his picture and teaching point (to understand why Paul might use baptism at this point in his argument, I would recommend reading Elementary Principles by D. Thomas Lancaster; we will study this further in our upcoming look at the book of Hebrews).

We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.

For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly also be united with him in a resurrection like his. For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin— because anyone who has died has been set free from sin.

Paul says that this baptism we undergo is a physical picture (among other things) that teaches us about the transformation taking place. Just as Jesus died, was buried, and then brought back to life, so there is a part of us that has been put to death so the truest part of us might live on. Baptism is this watery grave, an image of burial and resurrection, teaching us about this new life.

Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him. The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God.

We left our “old self” in the watery grave; it died a death and can be put to rest. We, however, live on. The part of us that lives on is the part of us being shaped into the image of Christ (and you might notice all of the language of “joining” and “with him” and “united”).

In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. Do not offer any part of yourself to sin as an instrument of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer every part of yourself to him as an instrument of righteousness. For sin shall no longer be your master, because you are not under the law, but under grace.

This is where it really starts to sound like we are reading the culmination of one single narrative. This exhortation from Paul is nothing new at all. It takes us all the way back to the beginning of the story, where we meet Adam and Eve in the middle of the garden and are told about their temptations, their desires, and their invitation to demonstrate they are made in the image of God. They are invited to know when to say enough.

And so are we. Paul makes sure we know our invitation has not changed since the dawn of time; the language is incredibly similar to the language of Genesis. We are invited to trust the story, to master our desires, and to demonstrate self-control.

What then? Shall we sin because we are not under the law but under grace? By no means! Don’t you know that when you offer yourselves to someone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one you obey—whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness? But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you have come to obey from your heart the pattern of teaching that has now claimed your allegiance. You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness.

Finally, Paul circles back to the question at hand. If grace is this good, should we just continue in our sin? Absolutely not! The truth is we will offer ourselves to one of two realities. We can live out our lives in service to fear or we can live out our lives in the service of trust, faith, and love. But a life of bland neutrality is not an option available to us. This gospel has come to rescue us and set us free from a life of servitude to fear and self-preservation; it has come to set us free to tzedekah — to righteousness, generosity, and self-sacrifice.

GALATIANS: Set Free to Be Free

After four chapters of pretty direct argument for these Gentile believers, we have taken a visual look at Paul’s arguments. While the context of Galatia is incredibly foreign to us, hopefully we have a better understanding of the argument Paul is making. Whether or not the Jews should follow the law is not up for discussion. This was never a problem for the New Testament community. It was obvious to them that Jews would carry the miqsat ma’asay haTorah — that was their role in the world and had been for generations.

The fiery debate was whether or not the Gentiles were free from that calling. Paul has made it quite clear to the Gentile believers in Galatia that if they cave into the pressure of converting to Judaism, they would be destroying the gospel (particularly for that region at that point in time). They needed to be walking billboards for the good news of Jesus and the inclusion of all people into the family of God. Now that we have this understanding for the book of Galatians, listen to one of the more popular passages from the letter:

It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.

Mark my words! I, Paul, tell you that if you let yourselves be circumcised, Christ will be of no value to you at all. Again I declare to every man who lets himself be circumcised that he is obligated to obey the whole law. You who are trying to be justified by the law have been alienated from Christ; you have fallen away from grace. For through the Spirit we eagerly await by faith the righteousness for which we hope. For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value. The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love.

You were running a good race. Who cut in on you to keep you from obeying the truth? That kind of persuasion does not come from the one who calls you. “A little yeast works through the whole batch of dough.” I am confident in the Lord that you will take no other view. The one who is throwing you into confusion, whoever that may be, will have to pay the penalty. Brothers and sisters, if I am still preaching circumcision, why am I still being persecuted? In that case the offense of the cross has been abolished. As for those agitators, I wish they would go the whole way and emasculate themselves!

Suddenly the ending of the letter swings into context and has clarity that we didn’t appreciate before. Paul’s argument through the whole letter has been that they, as Gentiles, have been called to be free from the miqsat ma’asay haTorah; it is this very freedom that shows the world what the gospel is. In the same way that the Jews have been called to be set apart for the work of God in the world, the Gentiles have been set apart in freedom to make clear to the world that everybody is invited! If they let themselves be yoked to a system of rules, the Gentiles lose the essence of their call.

For many of my readers (Gentiles), it is important to realize your freedom from the “works of the Law” is essential to the body of Christ putting the gospel on display. You must observe that freedom, celebrate that freedom, and use that freedom well — use that freedom to show the world what God is like!

But some will cry that this freedom is just a license for sin; it’s a free-for-all promoting a “nothing-really-matters-and-everybody-is-invited” universalism. But this isn’t the case and it’s where Paul turns his attention next.

You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love. For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” If you bite and devour each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other.

So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever you want. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.

Paul says that in order to use your freedom to show the world the risen Christ, you cannot use it for self — you must use it for others. This, by the way, happens to be (according to Jesus) the very essence of the Law itself. This is what the “pedagogue” was supposed to teach us from the beginning. Torah showed us how to walk according to the Spirit and not our own fleshly desires.

Of course this raises a question: Fine, Paul, but how do I know if I’m doing that right? If there is no law for me to follow and I’m to walk in freedom, how do I know if I’m walking according to the flesh or the Spirit? Paul will say (sounding strangely like Jesus when he does) that the test case for your walk is the fruit it produces.

The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other.

Paul says it’s obvious to know when you are walking in the Spirit. If the product of your walk is anger, rage, debauchery, division, and a lack of self-control, you are using your freedom for yourself. But if what’s coming out of your life is love and joy, peace and patience, kindness and goodness… well, those can only come from one place.

Jews, we have been called to show the world what it means to walk according to the Spirit of God; not according to the flesh and our every desire, but how to use our desires appropriately to “bless all nations.”

Gentiles, you have been called to freedom later in the story; now that we all know what faithfulness looks like, you are invited to take those principles of grace and extend them to everyone that you meet.

But in Christ, neither one of our calls is a call for self. Jew or Gentile, slave or free, male or female — we are all called to lay our lives down for the other. To pray for our persecutors. To love our enemies. The world could use a model of grace, love, forgiveness, mercy, and hospitality. 

And I think it should start with a group of people who do that — Jew and Gentile — together.