Reading: Romans 7-8, Psalm 136

Having issued his challenge to the Romans Christians to live according to the law of Jesus as King instead of working for sin for death, Paul moves on to explaining how the law is actually a good thing, even if we cannot ever keep it. We have to remember that Jesus said the Scriptures cannot be broken, and not one iota or jot will disappear from the law until all things are accomplished. Paul was raised as a Pharisee, and even continues to identify as such in parts of Acts. The law of the Hebrew Scriptures continues to play a huge role in his life, and while he was quick to demolish the division between the Jews, who had the law, and the gentiles, who did not, he is not equally eager to trash the law itself. Having or not having it makes no distinction in the presence of the human problem. That is universal. But it is not a problem with the law, it is a problem with humans.

Paul continues to point to the only distinction that matters: those who accept Jesus as King and those who do not. For those who accept Jesus and his position of judge and redeemer, the law is a helpful guide towards God’s definitions of good and bad. For those who reject him, the law is a means of condemnation. Recall that Paul already argued that there was the written law, given to the Jews, and a law on the heart, which all people have. Either will serve to condemn. The written law of the Hebrew Scriptures makes obvious the condemnation, pushing the human problem above the surface and emphasizing the need for repentance. The heart law that every human has is less clearly defined, but it too raises the question in the hearts of every human. We know, somewhere in our hearts and minds, that it is not supposed to be this way. Murder, theft, violence, destruction, division, war, exploitation. On some level the human soul in every culture, time, and place cries out “I protest! This is wrong!” And yet every human participates in the thing which we protest, because we have a problem. It all started when we saw that we could rely on our own knowledge of good and bad, right and wrong. We stopped asking God for wisdom and instead took our own advice. And ever since we have been like Paul. I do not understand my own actions. I do not do what I want to do, but do the very thing I hate. In Christian theology this is the heart of the doctrine of spiritual inability. I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. Paul says the law of the Hebrew Scriptures is of great value in that it points to this inability in clear, obvious ways. Meanwhile, the general population has to sort of figure it out. Some do, of course, and I think that is where we get human religion. I do not think as some might, that those ancient beliefs were a power grab (though at times it did become that), but a desperate attempt to resolve the inability to do what is right even when we know what it is.

Paul says there is a better way. There is now therefore no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. There is another law, and Jesus is that law. By surrendering back the definitions of good and bad to God, we accept Jesus as judge and as redeemer. We still struggle, as Paul says, to obey the law. But there is the hope. Jesus died and rose from the dead. Paul suggests that we can die with him and be raised with him. What he calls dying to the flesh and living life in the Spirit. I do not think he is talking about a spiritual life beyond the death of the body. Or at least not only that. He states here (and elsewhere) that we hope for the redemption of our physical bodies. This is the great Christian hope. We all stand condemned by the law, written or not, and if we judge by our own standards we will all be condemned. But that is not the end of the Story. Jesus, the righteous judge and merciful redeemer, stands above it all calling any and everyone to repentance and life in his name.

This is where Paul starts to get excited. Having accepted that life, we have access to more than just a written law to direct us to righteous living. The Holy Spirit helps us in our weaknesses. Though we still struggle, we know there is no condemnation for us. And though we feel unable to do right, the Spirit can and does do right for us. Continuing his metaphor from the end of chapter 3, he says we are no longer slaves or hired workers, but adopted children. The people of God are the children of God, the united family not subject to the family division that defines every human family since Cain and Abel.

Why did this all happen? The futility of human attempts to find a way to do what is right are to make the Story better. It was 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. The really big Plan is for all creation to be set free. Those things which our souls cry out against in protest are to be destroyed. God will make all things new. For this hope we were saved.

This is where we would normally get bogged down in talking about predestination. While this is a worthy subject, it does not appear to me to be the core of what Paul is talking about here. He uses the idea of God’s foreknowledge to tell the Christians in Rome to hope in God’s eventual redemption of all things. If God is for us, who can be against us? These Christian, persecuted and condemned by the most powerful human emperor in the history of the world, need fear nothing. Who will bring charges against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? It is Jesus Christ who died and was raised to life, who sits at the right hand of God interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? The hope found in Jesus is so much greater than the threats of human overlords. What Paul is expressing here is why Christians in the early empire refused to recant, went to death with songs on their lips, and faced wild animals in the arena with confidence. Kill us? We believe in someone who rose from the dead. Also, that he is our brother as adopted children of God. Also, that he is the ultimate judge of the universe. Death is a pretty meager threat when you are loved by someone like that.