Daily Liturgy and Scripture

Life in the spirit is more than just a new way to do things, it is a new attitude toward eternity. Eternal life is not something we have to wait for after death, it is a style of life that starts now. Because we are part of the eternal plan of an eternal God, our life is in his hands.

Having previously talked about the bond in Christ between Jews and Gentiles, Paul now talks about the life that both share: life in the Spirit. This is more than a connection based on heritage and culture, it is a new shared heritage and a new shared culture. Life in the Spirit redefines life now, and leads us in walking with God.

Paul unpacks the significant difference between the Law and life in the Spirit: the Law points to sin, but the Spirit brings freedom away from sin. The awareness to see those flaws in our lives is one of the works of the Spirit, and it is always the work of God to bring restoration.

If all are covered by grace and one in faith through Jesus, what is our part? To fully realized the life in the Spirit and walk in that way. This isn't rooted in the law, as if we had to carefully keep ourselves from condemnation. It is rooted in love and the life we have been given.

Moving on past the harmony between Jews and Gentiles, Paul now introduces a more critical idea: the undoing of the power of sin through Adam, courtesy of the righteousness of Christ. That power has always been part of the life of being human, but now Jesus has redefined humanity by bringing God into our world in the flesh.

Unifying his Jewish and non-Jewish audience further, Paul draws on Abraham: that circumcision (a tradition of the Jews) isn't their birthright, but faith is. Faith is something that everyone can have, and so the patriarch of the Jewish faith can be the father of all who believe in Jesus.

There was some pretty wild history between Jews and non-Jews from Paul's time in Rome. For a while, the Jews had been expelled from the city. If there were some returning now to be part of this new body of Christ, there were probably some leftover tensions. Paul aims to harmonize those two groups by pointing out that all are equal in the Kingdom of Jesus, and that faith is required of both Jews and non-Jews in equal parts.

Having opened talking about how worship keeps our mind in the way of God, Paul now turns again to those who consider themselves righteous, just in cast that list at the end of the last chapter makes us think we're okay as long as we're better than someone else: obvious sins are not the only thing that distances us from God, there is a lengthy list for those who consider themselves to be holy. Our justification is before God alone, and any effort of our own is failure.

As Paul opens Romans, he emphasizes the importance of worship, glorifying God. It's the thing that keeps our heart set on the things of God instead of our own way, pursuing paths of darkness when left to our own devices. God does not force us to do so, and our choice to worship him is our first step of faithfulness.

How do we determine those who should be in authority, in a Kingdom of Jesus that is about submitting to one another? Those who have wrestled with the reality of that Kingdom might be good choices. For Paul, that came in the form of physical struggle. For others, it may be working past easy answers to find the truth of Jesus's message.