Speaking In Tongues (part 28)

The assembly in which none go hungry and in which the needs of all are met, with a conscientious and attentive eye cast towards the wider community for the purpose of meeting the needs of those outside their association, and not for the purpose of gaining honor for their assembly but because of the example of their God that went to a cross and was said to have suffered on behalf of His people and to establish His kingdom, and as a component of their expressed desire to go to the lowest places and people in order to share in their suffering and shame (taking it upon themselves in a sense, as such an association would cause them to be viewed more shamefully as well), would certainly serve to bring a level of conviction. 

Such a person, witnessing the activity of the gathered church of the Christ, could very well be called to account by all, especially if that calling to account is not a condemnation of his or her sin as some tend to think of it (those things referred to as “activities of the flesh”), but rather a calling to account that causes that person to reflect on what it means to be truly human and one’s obvious failures in this area. 

The heretofore uninstructed observer would be witnessing that which the Creator God has intended for His divine image-bearers.  The true working of the Spirit, rather than being seen as something that results in a personal display of Spirit-led activity, takes place as the covenant God’s Spirit flows through the kingdom-modeling activities of His body and calls one more person to conviction and account.  As the Spirit works, gifting a man or woman to participate in the kingdom of their God, re-shaping mindsets and transforming the heart so that it stands in opposition to the values of a fallen world, while also being ready to engage in ways to effectively impact and re-shape the values of those that inhabit a fallen world, “The secrets of his heart are disclosed, and in this way he will fall down with his face to the ground and worship God, declaring ‘God is really among you.’” (1 Corinthians 14:25) 

That deep-seated knowledge of the responsibility to bear the divine image, along with the failure to do so, springs to life.  Without doing so as a means of proof-texting, one can borrow from the letter to the Romans in order to buttress the statement and the ideas that stand behind verse twenty-five to possibly understand Paul’s thinking, as there he writes “because what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them.  For since the creation of the world His invisible attributed---His eternal power and divine nature---have been clearly seen, because they are understood through what has been made.  So people are without excuse” (Romans 1:19-20).  The Creator God is put on (puts Himself on?) display through His kingdom community.

As part of this same process of understanding this portion of Paul’s communication, it is possible to look to one of his speeches recorded in Acts, as he speaks about the “Unknown God” of Athens, and about His power, His presence, and His purpose of revealing Himself in the manner in which He has revealed Himself (His Christ and His church), “so that they would search for God and perhaps grope around for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us” (Acts 17:27).  Through the gift of His Spirit, which is meant to shape an ever-increasing portion of humanity into conformity to His own image, with this occurring by certain but not limited manifestations of that Spirit that can be referred to as individual gifts, conviction is brought about, and the Creator God receives the glory that is due to Him.  Bringing this about has always been part of the required role of His people. 

Galatians & Giving (part 7)

The bottom line for this and every Jesus community was that “through love,” they were to “serve one another” (Galatians 5:13b).  Though this can be heard in the general sense of Christian service, it can also be taken more literally as Paul can be heard insisting that all were and are to take the opportunity to be servants at the meal table.  Just because somebody was responsible for serving at meal tables (women, slaves) outside the church gathering, that did not automatically mean that they were to be the servants at the church gathering.  In fact, the church and the Gospel may very well have insisted upon the opposite.  Regardless of that possibility, Paul insists that the appropriate attitude is “You must love your neighbor as yourself” (5:14b); and just as their service was not some generalized service, so too this “love” was not some general, undefined love. 

To that end, Paul quotes from the nineteenth chapter of Leviticus, making allusion to all that surrounds the specific quotation.  Further insight into the social dynamic that is at work can be gained by looking to that passage in Leviticus and finding “You must not deal unjustly in judgment: you must neither show partiality to the poor nor honor the rich.  You must judge your fellow citizen fairly.  You must not go about as a slanderer among your people.  You must not stand idly by when your neighbor’s life is at stake.  I am the Lord.  You must not hate your brother in your heart.  You must surely reprove your fellow citizen so that you do not incur sin on account of him.  You must not take vengeance or bear a grudge against the children of your people, but you must love your neighbor as yourself.  I am the Lord.  You must keep My statutes” (19:15-19a).  It would seem clear that Paul has this in mind when he appends his thoughts, adding “However, if you continually bite and devour one another, beware that you are not consumed by one another” (5:15).  Interestingly enough, it would seem that talk of biting, devouring, and consuming can be understood as language that is connected to a meal table. 

Bearing in mind the Levitical allusion, and even though there is some intervening material dealing with the operation of the Spirit and the subsequent contrast between the works of the Spirit and the works of the flesh, does one not hear the Levitical pronouncement heavily informing the introduction to the sixth chapter, when Paul speaks and says “Brothers and sisters, if a person is discovered in some sin, you who are spiritual restore such a person in a spirit of gentleness.  Pay close attention to yourselves, so that you are not tempted too.  Carry one another’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ” (6:1-2)? 

Certainly, the words that lead into the opening statement of the sixth chapter could be brought into service here, as Paul writes “Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, being jealous of one another” (5:26).  When these words are heard at a mixed meal table, where all are cognizant of the wide range of potential sources of divisions and classifications and groupings that would be a natural component of every other meal gathering that would be known and even participated in on a regular basis by those that compose the church of Galatia, they should take on an even more profound meaning.    

Galatians & Giving (part 1)

Now the one who receives instruction in the word must share all good things with the one who teaches it. – Galatians 6:6  (NET)

The sixth verse of the sixth chapter of Galatians.  It is a verse that has been held up as the basis for giving to one’s church, or specifically, one’s pastor.  More than that, it has been used as a veritable theological brickbat for many years and by many people, justifying the demand that Christians pay the people that instruct them in the Christian faith, presuming that this was the Apostle Paul’s demand as well. 

More than that, verse seven is brought into play, adding the insistence “Do not be deceived.  God will not be made a fool.  For a person will reap what he sows” (6:7).  Presumably then, if one gives to his or her pastor and thereby demonstrates a respect for the teaching of the word, then said person is one “who sows to the Spirit,” and therefore, “will reap eternal life from the Spirit” (6:8b).  Alternatively, if a person does not give to their teacher, presumably disrespecting the teaching of the word and the man (or woman) of the covenant God that delivers it, that person “sows to his own flesh” and will therefore “reap corruption from the flesh” (6:8a). 

Inevitably, verse nine is brought into play, insisting that even in times of struggle when it may seem difficult to tithe or to give in any way, “we must not grow weary in doing good, for in due time we will reap, if we do not give up” (6:9).  The fact that this is precisely the language of public benefaction is usually ignored, even though Paul follows up with “So then, whenever we have an opportunity, let us do good to all people, and especially to those who belong to the family of faith” (6:10).  Some even use the language of verse ten to justify giving exclusively within one’s particular congregation, putting undue weight on the “especially” of the verse, while allowing “let us do good to all people” to fall unceremoniously to the wayside. 

While it is undeniable that Paul is here insisting that respect be given to those who offer instruction in the words of faith, what is also undeniable is that he writes to a congregation that does not at all reflect the type of church structure with which most in this age are familiar.  In this congregation that existed very early in the infancy of the church, it is highly unlikely that there would have been a particular pastor who was primarily responsible for the instruction of the congregation. 

Teaching would most definitely not have taken place in a setting with which most today are familiar---the setting in which a single person, usually the same person week in and week out (with the occasional guest speaker or associate pastor mixed in) stands at the head of a gathered crowd, with said crowd dutifully listening to the instruction week in and week out, nodding their heads in agreement and offering up the occasional “amen” in support of the teacher’s assertions.  Now, this is not to say that there is anything wrong with such a setting, and it must be said that the setting to which the vast majority of Christendom has grown accustomed has served the church of the Christ relatively well.  It is simply to say that this is not at all the setting into which Paul wrote, which he would have had in mind as he wrote, or in which his letter would have been shared.

Set Free (part 5)

In the sixth verse of the eighth chapter of Romans, Paul relates that “the outlook of the flesh is death, but the outlook of the Spirit is life and peace” (8:6).  Seizing on these terms of “death,” “flesh,” “life,” and “peace,” as well as putting them into a context that would have been familiar to his audience, one can’t help but think about the “pax Romana” (Roman peace) and the repeated attempts to overthrow foreign powers that had been undertaken by members of the nation of Israel throughout the years leading up to Paul’s day.

The nationalism that surrounded the traditions represented by the works of the flesh is the same nationalism that fomented and sustained the revolutionary fervor against the Roman oppressors that was so prevalent in Israel in the days of Jesus and Paul.  Paul, with an undoubted knowledge of the words of Jesus as were then being communicated as part of an oral tradition prior to the composition of the Gospels, and ears to hear, on multiple levels, the message that Jesus was communicating to His countrymen, makes the point to Jews here in Rome, who might be tempted to support or take up arms with their brethren in Judea against the Romans if and when the time would come, that a life outlook that is dictated by holding to those things of the flesh, especially those which ultimately represented a fervent and hyper-nationalism, is death. 

Conversely, the outlook of the Spirit---with its understanding that the kingdom of the Creator God was established through what Jesus the Christ and Lord had done, without the use of sword or shield, and in which He suffered all of the violence and death---caused a looking upon of all men that believed in Jesus as heirs of the blessings of that kingdom, infusing a Spirit-empowered love and missionary compassion to extend the kingdom of their God to all peoples by the preaching of the Gospel, and the eternal life and peace to be had in union with Christ.    

Finishing the thought that was begun in the sixth verse, Paul writes that “the outlook of the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to the law of God, not is it able to do so” (8:7).  If it is remembered that the law was designed to allow God’s covenant people to effectively bear His image and shine as lights in the world that would engender their God’s blessing and draw all men to their God so as to bring them under the blessings of the Abrahamic covenant, while reflecting on the fact that Israel failed to uphold the minimum requirements of the law (resulting in destruction, deportation, and ongoing exile), and later turning the law into a barrier of hostility that effectively kept those that were not a part of Israel from entering into covenant, then one is able to understand why Paul speaks of the outlook associated with the works of the flesh as being hostile to God and not submitting to the purpose of God’s laws.  The law, which was not problematic in and of itself, was being perverted in its use, and could not serve in its intended capacity.   

So now it is better known why Paul would go on to write that “Those who are in the flesh cannot please God” (Romans 8:7).  Based on this examination, one can be justified in reading this as “Those who insist upon the tradition-bound works of the flesh that serve to isolate the covenant God’s people, while serving to stoke revolutionary sentiment against the Roman rulers of the day, cannot please the Creator God.” 

There was a widely held sentiment in that day that the Creator God’s people must act on behalf of their God.  Unfortunately, thoughts about that action generally took the route of a need for violent overthrow and expulsion of the Romans from their land of promise.  This would ultimately result in the destruction of Jerusalem, which Paul, readily understanding what he would have know of Jesus’ words to this effect, foresaw.  Furthermore, this belies an underlying lack of trust in the covenant faithfulness of their God, and His power to do that which He had promised.  The adherence to the flesh was the basis for their inability to please their God, as can be gleaned from the author of the letter to the Hebrews, when one reads that “without faith it is impossible to please Him” (11:6a). 

Set Free (part 4)

Moving along to the fifth verse of Romans’ eighth chapter, it can be read, “For those who live according to the flesh have their outlook shaped by the things of the flesh” (8:5a).  One has to work hard to resist the temptation to turn these statements inward and begin thinking about them in personal terms, thereby turning “things of the flesh” into those things that are generally defined as “sin” based upon nothing more than personal biases, prejudices, and preferences.  Doing this would do damage to Paul’s message and to the message of Christ as a whole.  The “things of the flesh” do not take upon themselves a new constitution as one reaches this statement, but must be understood  in the context already presented. 

That context is the covenant, the law, and the works of the flesh in which a fair amount of the Creator God’s covenant people (at the time of Christ and of Paul’s writing) were engaged for the purpose of separation and the eventual elevation of national Israel over the nations as the establishment of the expected kingdom of their God.  Therefore, when one reads about those who live according to the flesh, and understand that as living according to the works of the flesh (traditions that served as national boundary markers), then it becomes quite simple to understand that their outlook is shaped by the things of the flesh.  For so many, their entire interaction with the world was based upon the specific, nationalistic construct that had been created. 

For Paul, this would appear to stand in sharp contrast with “those who live according to the Spirit,” who “have their outlook shaped by the things of the Spirit” (8:5b).  Those who live according to the Spirit are those, both Jew and Gentile, that have moved beyond the nationalistic boundaries and associated desires, doing so by and through their recognition of, and belief in Jesus as Lord and Christ (Messiah).  This position of belief, as far as Paul sees it, is the result and evidence of the activity of the Holy Spirit---the same Spirit that delivered the power that raised Jesus up from the dead. 

Paul rather often points out that it is this that becomes known as union with Christ that is all-important.  This union with Christ, which is the believing, faithful allegiance to Him because of Who He is as proved by the Resurrection, is the new boundary marker of God’s covenant peoples.  It transcends the flesh (the old boundary markers of the covenant).  Owing to that, the all-important works of the flesh to which Israel has been holding no longer has a place of service in denoting the people of the covenant-making God.  In and through the Christ, there is a worldwide unity of peoples that form the kingdom of Israel’s God, where no division is necessary or even tolerated.  This, of course, can be seen as the fulfillment of the Creator God’s covenant with Abraham to bless all peoples through his (Abraham’s) seed (the Christ, Who can be understood as the faithful Israelite). 

Because this breaking down of all divisions, which reminds the Creator God’s people of the removal of the wall of hostility that separated them from Him, in which all distinctions are erased is such a radical concept for the world of his day (and any day), the people that live inside this new construct are said to live according to the Spirit.  Indeed, Paul insists that it must be the case that their outlook is shaped by the things of the Spirit, with the main thing of the Spirit being the Resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth and His being shown forth as Messiah of Israel and therefore the ruler of the world through the now-inaugurated kingdom of the Creator God.  Since, as Paul presumes, one can only come to believe in such a ridiculous thing (a crucified man, who has been raised from the dead, is the world’s true King) through the powerful working of the Holy Spirit, via a faith that is somehow transmitted and brought about through the preaching of the Gospel, the only conclusion to be reached is that such an outlook, and therefore the responses of life that are dictated by that outlook, are shaped by the Spirit of God.

Set Free (part 3)

At that time, Israel was, for the larger part, observing the requirements of the law, but because it was being used as a boundary (keeping non-Israelites outside of the covenant) rather than as an aid to blessing the nations (bringing non-Israelites into the covenant), their God was still not receiving the glory that He desired.  Indeed, they were falling short, and seemed to be doing it willfully and proudly.  Jesus comes on to that the scene and condemns this sin of what was then termed as the “works of the flesh” (circumcision, food laws, Sabbath keeping --- what the “big three” of the law had become), which were being ardently held to as a means of identifying those that were truly God’s people and who would be the beneficiaries of God’s expected action on behalf of His people.  This apparently continued to defeat God’s ultimate purposes for Israel, for His creation, and for the people of a renewed Israel (from every tribe and tongue) that He had chosen for Himself from before the foundations of the world. 

The condemning of this sin of the flesh was brought about “so that the righteous requirement of the law may be fulfilled in us.”  This “righteous requirement” pointed to the plan, rooted in God’s covenant faithfulness (first revealed to Abraham so as to reverse that which was wrought by Adam), to extend His blessings to all peoples, doing so through the medium of His covenant people, functioning properly.  Through His faithfulness, represented by the faithful actions of His Messiah (Jesus of Nazareth), the Creator God was able to fulfill what it was that was required by His covenant, which was the creation of a covenant family that would encompass the peoples of the world. 

This covenant family would represent the living, breathing, serving kingdom of God, as in union with His Messiah through a trusting allegiance and belief in Him as the crucified and resurrected King of the entire cosmos, they would be a people willingly submitted to Him as Lord.  This submission would work itself out in countless daily actions, and it crossed all boundaries of race, ethnicity, class, and social status, showing itself as the anti-thesis of that to which Israel had been holding to through that day.

Rounding out the thought of the fourth verse of Romans eight, it can be seen that the righteous requirement is fulfilled in those “who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.”  This reinforces the point that has been being made, in that the Creator God’s covenant faithfulness is demonstrated, not in those who wanted to set up systems and hold to traditions of exclusivity, doing this in accordance with the flesh (works of the flesh ---- circumcision, food laws, Sabbath keeping --- and there is no sense here of earning God’s favor or earning heaven); but rather, God’s covenant faithfulness is demonstrated by those that walk according to the Spirit.  Those that are apparently brought to faith and belief by the activity of the Holy Spirit, believing in the Gospel of Jesus Christ, are a new creation in union with Christ.  The works of the flesh (circumcision, etc…) were now irrelevant in identifying those that were in covenant with the Creator. 

It is this new creation, empowered by the same Spirit that raised up Christ from the dead, that are those through whom the Creator God now works to continue to extend His covenant and bestow His blessings, with this accomplished first and foremost through the preaching of the Gospel (which must include crucifixion and Resurrection), which of necessity includes the living out of the Gospel.  As one continues to think about the works of the flesh that made for a continual separation of Israel from other peoples, one must also acknowledge that part of the work of the Spirit is the tearing down of those walls, so that “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female---for all of you are one in Christ Jesus.  And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s descendants, heirs according to the promise” (Galatians 3:28-29).      

Conduct In Step With The Gospel (part 3 of 3)

When we consider these desires of the flesh, and naturally find ourselves thinking of “sins of the flesh,” we should not be deluded into thinking of such things as drinking, smoking, and adultery, which are what we routinely and shortsightedly want to throw into that category.  Though this would be simple, it is far too shallow, and devalues the importance of the weighty issues with which Paul and the earliest Christ-followers were dealing.  As he puts forth these desires or sins of the flesh, Paul wants to remind his readers what it was that God’s people (Israel) had accomplished in their attempts to keep the law as the evidence, directed at God, of their faithfulness to the covenant.  This was designed to bring glory to themselves. 

Rather, keeping the standards of the covenant---the basic provisions of the law in regards to idolatry, sanctuary and Sabbath--- are what God said would lead to their blessing.  This blessing was to demonstrate to all nations God’s faithfulness to His covenant, through the visible blessings of His people, subsequently causing those nations to seek Him, and thereby bringing glory to Him.  Unfortunately for Israel, the works of their flesh, as we see throughout the histories of the Hebrew Scriptures, were all that would generally be evident: “sexual immorality, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these” (Galatians 5:19b-21a).  Yes, all of these things are to be found in the history of Israel, as they turned in on themselves and refused to be a light to the nations.  Paul saw this simple matter of divisions in the realm of eating together, in a keeping of the law (circumcision, Sabbaths, food laws) as symbols of justification inside the new covenant, as leading in this direction again.    

Contrary to our modern attempts at understanding this verse and utilizing it as a measuring stick for righteous behavior, this was not a list of personal, private sins of individual Israelites.  Rather, this pointed to issues that were corporate and relational, and generally connected to idolatry (which would inevitably lead to sanctuary and Sabbath issues).  When Israel would be viewed by the surrounding nations, rather than reflecting God’s intentions for His image-bearers for all the world to see, the Gentiles would instead see all of these things that Paul mentioned in verses nineteen through twenty-one.  We should not be amazed, then, that God brought the judgment of cursing and exile.  What should amaze us His longsuffering and merciful nature.      

On the other hand, the working of the Spirit, in the breaking down of barriers and extension and development of “the kingdom of God” (5:21c), as the Gospel was proclaimed and Jew and Gentile served one another through love, was manifested not in separation but in “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control” (5:22-23a).  Paul then adds, “against such things there is no law” (5:23b), which we can place alongside the fourteenth verse of this chapter, which says “For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: You shall love your neighbor as yourself” (5:14).  Doing this left no time for withdrawal and separation and inspections concerning circumcision.  Concordantly, all of these “fruits of the Spirit” should also not necessarily be seen as personal and individual traits and marks of private holiness, but rather, as the way in which the members of the kingdom of God, the body of Christ, behaved towards one another.    

Not succumbing to the desire to maintain those long-standing national separations, which would merely result in the works of the flesh that we saw above, would indicate that these people truly did “belong to Christ Jesus” (5:24a), and through their confession of Him as Lord, and the actions that followed, demonstrate a unity with Him in which they had, in fact, “crucified the flesh with its passions and desires” (5:24b).  The passion and desire to maintain the distinctions pronounced by the law would and should fall to the side.  Through the extension of love towards one another, as evidenced by the working of the Spirit previously presented, there was less chance that these Galatians Christians would “become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another” (5:25). 

God had broken down the barriers that separated Him from man, and which had separated man from being what God intended him to be, so it would be the height of presumption for His chosen people, Israel and Gentile, then and now, to allow for the erection of barriers amongst each other that serve to do little more than thwart God’s intentions for His kingdom.  Equally sharing in the kingdom of God, regardless of race, class, social status or any previously understood standard of separation, especially in the visible and important area of table fellowship and the eating of meals, would be something that would cause those outside to take notice, and eventually serve to make God’s people a light to the nations.  Reaching for this ideal, by the working of the Spirit, was a manifestation of conduct that would be very much in step with the Gospel.                

Conduct In Step With The Gospel (part 2 of 3)

Having laid the foundation through our examination of the second chapter of Galatians, and specifically, the meal separation that was being fostered by the circumcision party, we can now move on to the fifth chapter of Galatians, which begins with “For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery” (5:1).  To what is Paul referring when he speaks of slavery?  We do not have to wait long to find out, as we read “Look: I, Paul, say to you that if you accept circumcision, Christ will be of no advantage to you” (5:2).  The thing that brought slavery was fairly clear.    

                          

Before we consider this issue of slavery, does this not bring us quickly back to the second chapter, and Peter’s separation of himself from the Gentiles for fear of the circumcision party?  Are we not made to contemplate the rebuilding, based on the ongoing idea of a need for circumcision and other delineations of national Israel, of what it was that Christ tore down, as also mentioned in the second chapter?  The things that God had commanded Israel to do as their end of being faithful to the covenant, which would have made them a light to the nations, had not been kept.  Not keeping to those things had brought God’s judgment.  That judgment, among other things, had taken the form of subjection to foreign powers, which could easily be thought of as a yoke of slavery. 

Pointing back to his discourse of the second chapter, Paul once again says “You are severed from Christ, you who would be justified by the law; you have fallen away from grace” (5:4).  Holding to the standards of the old covenant, rather than the new covenant of the Gospel, results in nothing more than being severed from Christ.  Under the old covenant, though there were times in which Israel had been blessed, cursing was what Israel had achieved.  Insisting on old covenant requirements, such as circumcision and separation and the making of distinctions based on national boundaries, would only keep one under the curse of exile, slavery, and judgment, rather than in the grace of God, awaiting “the hope of righteousness” (5:5b), which was an expectation of God’s faithful fulfillment of His covenant of renewal and ultimate restoration of His people and His creation. 

Paul goes on, writing “For you were called to freedom, brothers.  Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh” (5:13a).  Here, just like in the first verse, we find that use of the word “freedom,” making it an important facet to truly understanding Paul as we move forward.  In light of all that we have seen, what should we suppose that Paul means when he talks about opportunities for the flesh?  Well, it seems rather clear, based on the theme of the letter up to this point, that the opportunities for the flesh, which for Paul is also a sign of the old age prior to the Christ-event that changed everything, were somehow connected to the circumcision party, and the re-institution of the previously torn down marks of Israel, as seen in the desire to keep separate table fellowship, rather than acknowledge equality with Gentiles under the principle of the new covenant and the universal Lordship of Christ.  Rather, Paul insists that they should “through love serve one another” (5:13).  This was freedom.  The presentation of freedom should have effectively reminded them of the slavery that resulted from doing what it was that they were intending to do.    

As he observed the continuance of separation, Paul would say, “This persuasion is not from Him Who calls you” (5:8).  Jew & Gentile were to serve one another through love.  Taking opportunities for the flesh, insisting on an analysis and verification of circumcision, in the context of the standards of the now old covenant, was the opposite of the love that was dictated by the Spirit of Christ.  To this line of thinking, Paul adds, “walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.  For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for they are opposed to each other” (5:16-17a). 

Clearly, what Christ demanded, and which He expected to be carried out by the Spirit that would be gifted to His chosen, covenant people, was not to be found in maintaining standards and boundaries that would be conductive of separation and isolation.  Israel had done this before, and in so doing, had not been the light of the world and the reflectors of the glory of God for all peoples.  Doing anything along such lines would, once again, defeat God’s purposes for the calling out of a distinct, covenant people to be a blessing to all nations.  The movement of the Spirit would be a movement of unity and the elimination of that which divided, whereas the desires of the flesh, in this case, would actually serve “to keep you from doing the things you want to do” (5:17b)

Law & The Turn Of The Ages (part 3 of 3)

Lest we surmise that a revival of talk of justification and its requisite accompaniment of the family of God is not applicable to this portion of Paul’s letter, we need only skip down to verse twelve, where we hear “So then, brothers and sisters, we are under obligation” (8:12a).  To whom or to what?  “Not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh” (8:12a), for that is the old age of division and a fractured humanity.  Emphasizing the seriousness of the new obligation of the new covenant, Paul expands upon and punctuates that statement with “(for if you live according to the flesh, you will die)” (8:13a).  Further elaboration has Paul offering the contrasting position: “but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body you will live” (8:13b).  This business of God’s kingdom come to earth is a matter of life and death. 

Without getting sidetracked into an examination of what Paul may mean with verse thirteen, we find him quickly returning to the familial theme with verse fourteen and “For all who are led by the Spirit of God are the sons of God” (8:14).  What is the evidence of being led by the Spirit?  It is belief in Jesus as Lord (the mark of justification/participation in the Creator God’s covenant people), and the resultant participation in His kingdom purposes (with its promises, cross-shaped responsibilities, and blessings).  Further extending the family metaphor, and perhaps offering a suggestion as to the nature of the composition of the congregation of believers to which he writes, Paul goes on to adapt the language of, and rely upon familiarity with, the practices surrounding the act of adoption in that day, writing “For you did not receive the spirit of slavery leading again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption, by whom we cry, ‘Abba, Father.’” (8:15) 

Though there are numerous ways to hear these words, and while it certainly is suggestive of the type of relationship that can be individually enjoyed with the Creator God, it is important to keep this in line with what we have learned to this point in the letter, and to assert that this ability to cry out to God is about Paul’s continued insistence that all peoples can now rightly cry out to the God of Israel as their Father.  Before now, in their role as the covenant people, which we realize had degenerated into a defensive, protective, and excluding stance, it was only Israel that could rightly and justly cry out to their Father God and expect to be heard.  This is no longer the case.  Paul declares that “The Spirit Himself bears witness to our spirit that we are God’s children.  And if children, then heirs (namely, heirs of God and also fellow heirs with Christ)---if indeed we suffer with Him so we may also be glorified with Him” (8:16-17). 

Talk of heirs reaches back to what was suggested in the fourth chapter, being firmly ensconced within the world of the Abrahamic covenant and the inheritance to be had by all those that are his children, by a faith like that which he exercised.  Here, Paul reaches out to the four corners of the world, suggesting a united, renewed humanity under the new covenant and in the new age that has dawned in the Resurrection, with that humanity joined together with the Christ, and called to a kingdom-oriented life that takes its cues from the suffering and shame of the cross.  This suffering, which we can certainly equate with conceptions of honor and shame as the implications of a willful journey to the cross are explored and embraced, is efficacious as the means by which Jesus’ Lordship is proclaimed and by which the kingdom of God is advanced. 

Because every act that would, in that day and age, bring shame upon the believer (at least as understood by the world and the court of public opinion), was an embracing of the cross and of the tenets of a Lord and a kingdom that is manifest in such ways, and because every shame-embracing act is performed because of the hope of resurrection and the renewal of creation, Paul cannot help but say “For I consider that our present sufferings cannot even be compared to the glory that will be revealed to us” (8:18).  For those that believe in Jesus, behind every kingdom-directed thought and every kingdom-inspired action lies the idea that just as Jesus was raised from the dead into a glorious existence of a glorified body here in a creation that has begun to experience its renewal through the resurrecting power of the Spirit, so too shall all those that believe in Him (with that belief the evidence of the Spirit’s present work and evidence that the power of the new creation is at work) experience the same.  

Law & The Turn Of The Ages (part 2 of 3)

Continuing in his train of thought, and highlighting the struggle of the old age, Paul writes “For I don’t understand what I am doing.  For I do not do what I want---instead, I do what I hate.  But if I do what I don’t want, I agree that the law is good.  But now it is no longer me doing it, but sin that lives in me.  For I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my flesh.  For I want to do the good, but I cannot do it.  For I do not do the good I want, but I do the very evil I do not want.  Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer me doing it but sin that lives in me” (7:15-20). 

We must resist the temptation to reductionism, hearing this as Paul’s personal, spiritual experience.  Instead, because Paul operates within a story that shapes his theology, his soteriology, his ecclesiology, his sociology, his politics, his economics, his psychology, his philosophy, and his missiology (though we don’t pretend that these are necessarily separate categories for Paul), we must hear Paul echoing the plaintive cry of all those, prior to the cross and against the powers at work in the old age, that have been called to carry the covenant and to reflect God’s glory into the world. 

Understanding the voice by which he cries, we hear him continue on to say “So, I find the law that when I want to do good, evil is present with me.  For I delight in the law of God in my inner being.  But I see a different law in my members waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that is in my members.  Wretched man that I am!  Who will rescue me from this body of death?” (7:21-24)  The answer, not just for Paul as an individual, but for all that have been called to bear the divine image and to carry the covenant banner, comes with the Christ and the cross, as Paul (as we are continually mindful of who it was that carried the title of Lord, along with the city to which Paul sends this letter) exclaims: “Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!  So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin” (7:25). 

The true self, which is the true human being of a renewed humanity animated by the Spirit of God, has come to life with Christ in the new age of the Spirit, in which the true law of God (love and sacrifice as manifested by Jesus) is served.  The flesh of the old age died with Christ on the cross.  This epic struggle, though it may not always appear to be the case, has now been set right in the new age of life in the Spirit, which, among other things, does away with the law and its covenant boundaries and creates a united humanity as a new family of God, capable of rightly bearing the divine image and of reflecting the glory of God into the world.  As we attempt to understand the various components of Paul’s thinking, picking apart various statements so as to gain an appreciation of Paul’s insights into what is accomplished by the work of God in Christ, we do not lose sight of the bigger picture that is being conveyed to the body of believers, which is the wholesale unity of those believers under one Lord as they serve as ambassadors of the kingdom of God.

This brief foray into the seventh chapter, as we have continued to find Paul encouraging a unified family of God, facilitates a more nuanced (and perhaps better appreciated) understanding of what can be found in the eighth chapter.  While we consider the over-riding corporate (people of God) application as opposed to the individual (person of God) application of Paul’s communication, along with Paul’s giving voice to the failed covenant bearers from the beginning, the contrasting presentation of the ways of the old age versus that of the new age allows us to make eminently more sense of “For those who live according to the flesh have their outlook shaped by the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit have their outlook shaped by the things of the Spirit.  For the outlook of the flesh is death, but the outlook of the Spirit is life and peace, because the outlook of the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to the law of God, nor is it able to do so.  Those who are in the flesh cannot please God” (8:5-8). 

With this being said and now better understood, we again hear Paul addressing the congregation, saying “You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you” (8:9a).  What will be the evidence that the Spirit of God is living in them corporately?  One such piece of evidence will be the lack of any division between Jew and Gentile.  Those who want to continue to maintain these divisions, continuing to insist on adherence to certain traditional provisions as marks of justification (covenant participation), rather than recognizing belief in Jesus as the sole necessity for covenant participation (justification), and thus perpetuate a divided humanity (and ultimately a fractured messianic banqueting table) are those that maintain the outlook of the flesh.  Those that rightly embrace the sole covenant provision that brings and indicates justification, are those that have the outlook of the Spirit, and are participants in the kingdom of God (life and peace).  Consequently, “if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, this person does not belong to Him” (8:9b).  Those that want to hold to old covenant markers (old age/flesh/death) do not participate in the kingdom whose head is Christ the Lord.