I know you covered 8:1 in the previous post, but 8:2 is a weird place to begin.
There is no condemnation for those who believe in Jesus because He has set us free from the law. He came down here to take our place on the cross. That doesn't sound like much when put into these words; this sounds like what we've heard out whole lives. Jesus died for us, He loves us, He saved us ... we've heard these phrases so many times. But what did it mean for Jesus to come down?
We all know that crucifixion was unpleasant but, just how much pain did Jesus have to endure? Needless to say, it was excruciating. (I've mentioned before ...) The term excruciating literally translates into "out of the cross". People today compare their pain to the pain felt by those condemned to the cross. A little while ago, the Discovery Channel aired a documentary series called Machines of Malice, which explains sadistic execution methods from different time periods. The first of the series was called Ancient Machines and featured execution methods from Roman times. Some of the more memorable ones were the bee basket and the tree tearer (Hooray for alliteration!). Kinda stomach-churning. Among this nastiness was crucifixion.
Jesus would've had to endure three things: humiliation, physical pain, and spiritual separation from God the Father.
In Roman times, crucifixion (well, execution in general) was a form of entertainment. Ironically, the same crowd that welcomed Him into Jerusalem with palm leaves mocked Him and spat on Him. He was convicted of blasphemy (which doesn't sound very significant today), which was considered like the scum of the earth. The degree of shame associated with blasphemy is probably the same degree of shame we associate with child molesters. Had I been in the crowd (and did not recognize Jesus as Christ), I probably would've mocked Him too.
Then there was the physical pain. Recall that the previous night, as He was praying on Gethsemane, He had sweated blood. (Luke 22:44) This is actually a rare condition called Hematohidrosis. It's caused by intense fear. Jesus was so stressed that His blood vessels hemorrhaged. Blood, then, flows into the sweat glands and exits through the sweat ducts. Sweat ducts are not designed to accommodate high volumes of liquid, so it would've been very uncomfortable. The condition leaves the skin very tender and any pressure or damage to the skin is more painful than usual. He also would've been very dehydrated and would experience hypovolemic shock, which is when you lose so much blood/fluids that your heart doesn't have enough blood to pump. This leads to organ failure. After that, Jesus would've been betrayed by Judas, and would've been dragged from trial to trial the whole night. Up to this point, He was weak from the hypovolemia, His skin is very sensitive, His organs are failing, and He wouldn't have gotten any sleep (b/c of the trials). Then the Roman guards decide to beat Him up just for kicks, stuff thorns into His scalp and spit on Him some more. After that, He gets whipped 39 times with the cat-of-nine-tails (9 leather whips in one, each with a sharp piece of bone at the end). Then the crowd sentences Him to crucifixion, which requires Him to carry the horizontal beam of the cross to Golgotha, which is 2 km away. Weak from the beating, whipping, and organ failure, He's unable to do this and falls on His chest, which probably severely bruised his chest and broke a couple ribs. (Some experts say it could also have caused an aneurysm) Then Roman guards nail His wrists and feet to the cross, hitting major nerves (pain sensors of the body) and dislocating His shoulders. And for three hours, as He stood on the cross, each one of His movements would stimulate His nerves and reopen His wounds. Jesus endured all this.
But that's just the physical pain. The physical pain was nothing compared to being abandoned by God. He spent His whole life with God the Father. Jesus, who was once Holy, was drenched in our sin. At that moment, Jesus literally held the weight of the world in His shoulders. And so, the Father couldn't be with Him. I can't imagine being abandoned by my own dad, much less by God the Father.
That is what Jesus did for us. He knew how much pain He would have to endure and still came. Jesus loves us and died for us. Never let that mean any less than it is.
Sonia
Wednesday, April 27, 2011
Tuesday, April 26, 2011
Romans 8:1
THEREFORE there is now no condemnation...
Therefore, there is NOW no condemnation...
Therefore, there is now NO condemnation...
Therefore, there is now no CONDEMNATION...
Therefore. Therefore means because, and indicates a link. So in order to begin to understand chapter 8, we need to look at the end of chapter 7. And so we find that BECAUSE we in our minds are slaves not to sin but to God, and BECAUSE God rescues us from the body of death, there is now no condemnation.
Now. Now indicates the present time. In chapter 3, Paul maintained that God had left sins committed in the past unpunished. But now "he condemned sin in sinful man, in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us" (v. 3-4). And because God had condemned sin in the person of Jesus, now there is no condemnation for us. I think that there is a very penetrating aspect about this, because at this very moment, God looks down from heaven and sees that each one of us who are in Christ Jesus as His child.
Pastor Paul has a story he's quite fond of using. He told his daughter Beatrice, "I'm proud of you." And little Beatrice, confused, asks "why?", and Paul simply says "because you're my daughter." And this exactly is the kind of love God has for us -- NOW.
No. I don't think we truly grasp the utter finality of this word. For us, if there are scraps of ice cream left in the bucket, we say that there's no ice cream. If there are still a few bread crumbs we say that there's no bread. But God is not like that. His "no" condemnation means that there is not one speck of condemnation reserved for us, because He condemned Jesus, forsook His only Son, and crushed Him (for a taste of God's wrath, read Rev. 16). The hardest thing for a human to do, I think, is to fully accept that, because we are so used to have to work for things, even our salvation. But I am convinced that if we were to fully accept that because of Jesus, there is no condemnation, we would be able to serve "in the new way of the Spirit." (Rom. 7:6)
Condemnation. I mentioned in my post about Rom. 3:21-31 that salvation is something we will spend all of eternity trying to comprehend. Condemnation is part of it, and it doesn't help that God is somewhat secretive about it. True condemnation, I believe, is meted out in only two places in the Bible: on the person of Jesus Christ at the cruxifiction, and in the last pages of Revelation when the dead are judged. I may be glossing over passages, but the more I understand the Bible, the more I find that even the "rough" passages such as slaughtering the Canaanites in Joshua and the fiery prophets are a call for the people to repent. And again, as Paul mentioned in chapter 3, God left the sins in the past unpunished. But when Jesus returns, He will judge the world and condemn those who have not put their faith in Him to hell. And if heaven is better than all we could imagine, hell must be worse than all we could imagine.
... for those who are IN Christ Jesus.
The most obvious passage that comes to mind is John 15, when Jesus tells his disciples to "remain" in His love (some translations use "abide"). I think the application is clear here, but I want to expand upon this little word. The Triune God can be thought of as an eternally co-existing Unity of three Persons. This means that there were not three Persons of God existing in separate corners of space; there were three Persons of God existing together in an eternal dance, if you will, in enjoyment of each other's company. And when we are called to be "in" Christ Jesus, we are called to join in this eternal dance. The second image that this little word brings to my mind is being surrounded by the grace of the Father, the love of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, 360 degrees, for ever and ever. Notice both the spatial and temporal eternity here. And so Paul's exhortation in Ephesians 6:13-16 is not so much separate pieces of armor, but a fully-enclosed battle-suit of holiness. Something like this.
And so once more I end with the command from God that Paul so faithfully wrote down: "[let us] serve in the new way of the Spirit, and not in the old way of the written code." (Rom. 7:6b)
Matthew
Therefore, there is NOW no condemnation...
Therefore, there is now NO condemnation...
Therefore, there is now no CONDEMNATION...
Therefore. Therefore means because, and indicates a link. So in order to begin to understand chapter 8, we need to look at the end of chapter 7. And so we find that BECAUSE we in our minds are slaves not to sin but to God, and BECAUSE God rescues us from the body of death, there is now no condemnation.
Now. Now indicates the present time. In chapter 3, Paul maintained that God had left sins committed in the past unpunished. But now "he condemned sin in sinful man, in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us" (v. 3-4). And because God had condemned sin in the person of Jesus, now there is no condemnation for us. I think that there is a very penetrating aspect about this, because at this very moment, God looks down from heaven and sees that each one of us who are in Christ Jesus as His child.
Pastor Paul has a story he's quite fond of using. He told his daughter Beatrice, "I'm proud of you." And little Beatrice, confused, asks "why?", and Paul simply says "because you're my daughter." And this exactly is the kind of love God has for us -- NOW.
No. I don't think we truly grasp the utter finality of this word. For us, if there are scraps of ice cream left in the bucket, we say that there's no ice cream. If there are still a few bread crumbs we say that there's no bread. But God is not like that. His "no" condemnation means that there is not one speck of condemnation reserved for us, because He condemned Jesus, forsook His only Son, and crushed Him (for a taste of God's wrath, read Rev. 16). The hardest thing for a human to do, I think, is to fully accept that, because we are so used to have to work for things, even our salvation. But I am convinced that if we were to fully accept that because of Jesus, there is no condemnation, we would be able to serve "in the new way of the Spirit." (Rom. 7:6)
Condemnation. I mentioned in my post about Rom. 3:21-31 that salvation is something we will spend all of eternity trying to comprehend. Condemnation is part of it, and it doesn't help that God is somewhat secretive about it. True condemnation, I believe, is meted out in only two places in the Bible: on the person of Jesus Christ at the cruxifiction, and in the last pages of Revelation when the dead are judged. I may be glossing over passages, but the more I understand the Bible, the more I find that even the "rough" passages such as slaughtering the Canaanites in Joshua and the fiery prophets are a call for the people to repent. And again, as Paul mentioned in chapter 3, God left the sins in the past unpunished. But when Jesus returns, He will judge the world and condemn those who have not put their faith in Him to hell. And if heaven is better than all we could imagine, hell must be worse than all we could imagine.
... for those who are IN Christ Jesus.
The most obvious passage that comes to mind is John 15, when Jesus tells his disciples to "remain" in His love (some translations use "abide"). I think the application is clear here, but I want to expand upon this little word. The Triune God can be thought of as an eternally co-existing Unity of three Persons. This means that there were not three Persons of God existing in separate corners of space; there were three Persons of God existing together in an eternal dance, if you will, in enjoyment of each other's company. And when we are called to be "in" Christ Jesus, we are called to join in this eternal dance. The second image that this little word brings to my mind is being surrounded by the grace of the Father, the love of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, 360 degrees, for ever and ever. Notice both the spatial and temporal eternity here. And so Paul's exhortation in Ephesians 6:13-16 is not so much separate pieces of armor, but a fully-enclosed battle-suit of holiness. Something like this.
And so once more I end with the command from God that Paul so faithfully wrote down: "[let us] serve in the new way of the Spirit, and not in the old way of the written code." (Rom. 7:6b)
Matthew
Sunday, April 24, 2011
Giving When it Counts
This is a story I found randomly:
Many years ago, when I worked as a volunteer at a hospital, I got to know a little girl named Liz who was suffering from a rare and serious disease. Her only chance of recovery appeared to be a blood transfusion from her 5-year-old brother, who had miraculously survived the same disease and had developed the antibodies needed to combat the illness. The doctor explained the situation to her little brother, and asked the little boy if he would be willing to give his blood to his sister. I saw him hesitate for only a moment before taking a deep breath and saying, "Yes, I'll do it if it will save her."
As the transfusion progressed, he lay in bed next to his sister and smiled, as we all did, seeing the color returning to her cheeks. Then his face grew pale and his smile faded. He looked up at the doctor and asked with a trembling voice, "Will I start to die right away?".
Being young, the little boy had misunderstood the doctor; he thought he was going to have to give his sister all of his blood in order to save her.
Many years ago, when I worked as a volunteer at a hospital, I got to know a little girl named Liz who was suffering from a rare and serious disease. Her only chance of recovery appeared to be a blood transfusion from her 5-year-old brother, who had miraculously survived the same disease and had developed the antibodies needed to combat the illness. The doctor explained the situation to her little brother, and asked the little boy if he would be willing to give his blood to his sister. I saw him hesitate for only a moment before taking a deep breath and saying, "Yes, I'll do it if it will save her."
As the transfusion progressed, he lay in bed next to his sister and smiled, as we all did, seeing the color returning to her cheeks. Then his face grew pale and his smile faded. He looked up at the doctor and asked with a trembling voice, "Will I start to die right away?".
Being young, the little boy had misunderstood the doctor; he thought he was going to have to give his sister all of his blood in order to save her.
Romans 7:7-13
Paul begins reiterating that sin only exists only when law exists. "But sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by [the law], produced in me every kind of [sinful behaviour]." (Romans 7:8a) Interesting how "the [law], which was intended to bring life, actually brought death." (Romans 7:10) Once, a friend told me that God was cruel because He made the tree of knowledge of good and evil. He said that if God really wanted a relationship with us, God wouldn't have made the tree. My friend reasoned that by making the tree, God was tempting us, that God was making us sin. So by making Adam & Eve, then putting the tree there to taunt us, God was condemning us. I didn't have an answer for him at the moment. But I've since given it much thought. There's probably some theological answer I won't understand, but if God didn't put the tree there, our relationship with God wouldn't be real. Without the tree, we would stay with God only because we're ignorant and don't know any other way of living. But the tree offers another way of life: life without God. Through the tree, we'd have the choice to live for God or for self. If we choose God over the tree, that demonstrates true obedience and love for God.
Paul also says that we need to distinguish law from sin. We can't blame the law; law only shows us that we're sinful. At the root of it all, it's our sin that separates us from God, not the law. Disorder and chaos is naturally favoured in the universe. Even in a child, the innate desire to oppose authority is evident. Watch this! (This is an aside but ....) This can also be observed in the Second Law of Thermodynamics, which states that all changes (eg. chemical reactions) result in an increase in entropy (overall disorder) in the universe, and that any order is eventually overcome by more disorder.
Notice how, in verse 9, it says "Once, I was alive apart from law; but when the commandment came, sin sprang to life and I died." The way he says it, it seems so natural; "sin sprang to life and I died". Like sin just takes over. Why do we let it? Most of the time, when we sin, they're just small things. Smaller (in our judgment, not God's) than lying or cheating. It could be something like choosing to fool around on the internet and play Freecell (ingenious game, btw) over reading the Bible and posting on the blog ...
Sin is choosing something other than God. And it's about time I stopped doing that.
Sonia
Paul also says that we need to distinguish law from sin. We can't blame the law; law only shows us that we're sinful. At the root of it all, it's our sin that separates us from God, not the law. Disorder and chaos is naturally favoured in the universe. Even in a child, the innate desire to oppose authority is evident. Watch this! (This is an aside but ....) This can also be observed in the Second Law of Thermodynamics, which states that all changes (eg. chemical reactions) result in an increase in entropy (overall disorder) in the universe, and that any order is eventually overcome by more disorder.
Notice how, in verse 9, it says "Once, I was alive apart from law; but when the commandment came, sin sprang to life and I died." The way he says it, it seems so natural; "sin sprang to life and I died". Like sin just takes over. Why do we let it? Most of the time, when we sin, they're just small things. Smaller (in our judgment, not God's) than lying or cheating. It could be something like choosing to fool around on the internet and play Freecell (ingenious game, btw) over reading the Bible and posting on the blog ...
Sin is choosing something other than God. And it's about time I stopped doing that.
Sonia
Tuesday, April 19, 2011
Romans 7:1-6
"So, my brothers, 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 to God." Romans 7:4
"But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light." 1 Peter 2:9
"Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. And do not think you can say to yourselves, 'we have Abraham as our father.' I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham. The axe is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire." Matthew 3:8-10
In my last post, I talked about how I struggled with the concept of dying to sin. In this one, I find myself encouraged by the concept of dying to the law. I was reminded by Faith shortly after my last post that the greatest power of sin is its power to sever our relationship with God, and it was this power that was nullified by Christ's atoning death. Here Paul talks precisely about that: the law, which amplified sin, proved to be a stumbling block to the Israelites, and in the same way was a stumbling block to us. God himself removed this stumbling block, not that we could do whatever we want, but that we would belong to him. The relationship is restored.
This is both the greatest challenge and the greatest hope at the same time. In 1 Corinthians, Paul notes that "The wife's body does not belong to her alone but also to her husband. In the same way, the husband's body does not belong to him alone but also to his wife." (7:4) It is the greatest challenge (I say "the" challenge as opposed to "our" or "my" challenge, because I believe this is universal) to give up ourselves so that we do not belong to ourselves but to God. At the same time, it is the greatest hope, because Christ did the exact same thing on the cross. He did not keep his body for himself, but freely gave it up for us. Also, it is our greatest hope because we truly live when this happens -- whatever truly living means. I can't say from first-hand experience.
And so we are a royal priesthood, a holy nation that belongs to God. Now what? Paul continues: "...that we might bear fruit to God." John the Baptist says the same thing: "Produce fruit in keeping with repentance." And Tim challenges us to be "real Christians". Since the last pre-study, I've thought briefly on the concept of "fruit". I'm sure someone has written a dissertation on the use of "fruit" in the Bible, but one thing that strikes me is that fruit is a) good, and b) reproductive. What if the forbidden tree in Eden grew vegetables? Or the different qualities of the Spirit in Galatians are rocks? I think the Bible would be less appealing. The "fruit of your labour" also refers to something that you enjoy after having worked for it. In the same way, we too would enjoy bearing fruit to God, and we would enjoy seeing the fruit. Being reproductive (through the seeds), fruit is passed around and more fruit produced.
And so as Paul says, let us serve not in the old way of the written code, but let us serve in the new way of the Spirit, for the Father delights in those who worship in spirit and in truth.
Matthew
"But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light." 1 Peter 2:9
"Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. And do not think you can say to yourselves, 'we have Abraham as our father.' I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham. The axe is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire." Matthew 3:8-10
In my last post, I talked about how I struggled with the concept of dying to sin. In this one, I find myself encouraged by the concept of dying to the law. I was reminded by Faith shortly after my last post that the greatest power of sin is its power to sever our relationship with God, and it was this power that was nullified by Christ's atoning death. Here Paul talks precisely about that: the law, which amplified sin, proved to be a stumbling block to the Israelites, and in the same way was a stumbling block to us. God himself removed this stumbling block, not that we could do whatever we want, but that we would belong to him. The relationship is restored.
This is both the greatest challenge and the greatest hope at the same time. In 1 Corinthians, Paul notes that "The wife's body does not belong to her alone but also to her husband. In the same way, the husband's body does not belong to him alone but also to his wife." (7:4) It is the greatest challenge (I say "the" challenge as opposed to "our" or "my" challenge, because I believe this is universal) to give up ourselves so that we do not belong to ourselves but to God. At the same time, it is the greatest hope, because Christ did the exact same thing on the cross. He did not keep his body for himself, but freely gave it up for us. Also, it is our greatest hope because we truly live when this happens -- whatever truly living means. I can't say from first-hand experience.
And so we are a royal priesthood, a holy nation that belongs to God. Now what? Paul continues: "...that we might bear fruit to God." John the Baptist says the same thing: "Produce fruit in keeping with repentance." And Tim challenges us to be "real Christians". Since the last pre-study, I've thought briefly on the concept of "fruit". I'm sure someone has written a dissertation on the use of "fruit" in the Bible, but one thing that strikes me is that fruit is a) good, and b) reproductive. What if the forbidden tree in Eden grew vegetables? Or the different qualities of the Spirit in Galatians are rocks? I think the Bible would be less appealing. The "fruit of your labour" also refers to something that you enjoy after having worked for it. In the same way, we too would enjoy bearing fruit to God, and we would enjoy seeing the fruit. Being reproductive (through the seeds), fruit is passed around and more fruit produced.
And so as Paul says, let us serve not in the old way of the written code, but let us serve in the new way of the Spirit, for the Father delights in those who worship in spirit and in truth.
Matthew
Monday, April 18, 2011
Romans 6:15-23
The passage begins by establishing that we are slaves to either righteousness or sin. However, the term 'slave' encompasses that we are bound to something. I'd like to think that it's our choice, that we don't do this out of pure obedience (to either God or the world). With God, our relationship is not that of a master & slave, but of master & ready and willing servant. We do this willingly. But yes, we can only serve one master (Matthew 6:24). Slaves obey their master to gain acceptance from their master. Servants of God are the exact opposite: we obey God because we are accepted and loved.
But anyway, we can choose one of two paths: with or without God. Both choices are heavily documented in the Bible. Life without God or slavery to sin is the easiest, we don't have to do anything! Sin is in our nature, we don't have to work hard to achieve it. That's exactly how God's people strayed away from God -- they had a great relationship with Him in the beginning, but they didn't work to live completely for God and naturally fell away from Him. So once a while, God had to send messengers of rebuke to wake up the Israelites. He ended up sending 14 prophets.
And if God just kept it that way and decided to wait 'till we've turned bad and send a prophet to rebuke us, we'd be screwed. If it were that way, we'd have had a couple hundred prophets, each telling us "dude, repent or die.". And each time, we wouldn't learn anything. That would suck to have to face God's routine 'nag' every other decade or so.
But God didn't do it this way. Parents know that nagging doesn't work, it's just annoying -- children hear it and dismiss their parents. The children may complete the task, but they will not be willing or full-hearted with the task. God sees this and stops nagging us with prophets. He does what any parent would; He gives us an ultimatum and sends down Jesus, who wipes our slate clean. So we either follow Jesus and be righteous, or follow ourselves and stay sinful.
If we were to follow our own ways and stay sinful, that could only lead to death. But because Jesus took our place on the cross and took the weight of our sin, we can be sin-free as long as we trust in Jesus. Doesn't that sound like the easier path to go through?
We can either mope around in our sin or live in Christ. For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Jesus Christ our Lord. (Romans 6:23)
Sonia
But anyway, we can choose one of two paths: with or without God. Both choices are heavily documented in the Bible. Life without God or slavery to sin is the easiest, we don't have to do anything! Sin is in our nature, we don't have to work hard to achieve it. That's exactly how God's people strayed away from God -- they had a great relationship with Him in the beginning, but they didn't work to live completely for God and naturally fell away from Him. So once a while, God had to send messengers of rebuke to wake up the Israelites. He ended up sending 14 prophets.
And if God just kept it that way and decided to wait 'till we've turned bad and send a prophet to rebuke us, we'd be screwed. If it were that way, we'd have had a couple hundred prophets, each telling us "dude, repent or die.". And each time, we wouldn't learn anything. That would suck to have to face God's routine 'nag' every other decade or so.
But God didn't do it this way. Parents know that nagging doesn't work, it's just annoying -- children hear it and dismiss their parents. The children may complete the task, but they will not be willing or full-hearted with the task. God sees this and stops nagging us with prophets. He does what any parent would; He gives us an ultimatum and sends down Jesus, who wipes our slate clean. So we either follow Jesus and be righteous, or follow ourselves and stay sinful.
If we were to follow our own ways and stay sinful, that could only lead to death. But because Jesus took our place on the cross and took the weight of our sin, we can be sin-free as long as we trust in Jesus. Doesn't that sound like the easier path to go through?
We can either mope around in our sin or live in Christ. For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Jesus Christ our Lord. (Romans 6:23)
Sonia
Monday, April 11, 2011
Romans 6:1-14
I consider this passage one of the most difficult parts of Romans -- if not the whole Bible -- for me to swallow. As I was reading this, I originally thought how I could write about how Paul juxtaposes life and death in this chapter, and the implications of that. I still will, because fleshing that out is an important part to this section, but as I read the passage again and again I felt torn, because I was supposed to be dead to sin, crucified with Christ, and free from the law. Instead, I find myself struggling -- if sin has no power over me, why do I struggle with sin so much? Certainly it's not because God allows it to happen so that he can display his grace more. Paul shot that down in the first verse. At the end too, Paul re-iterates his argument by saying "do not offer the parts of your body to sin, as instruments of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God, as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer the parts of your body to him as instruments of righteousness." (v. 13) However, I find myself offering the parts of my body to sin -- to pride and lust and anger, and probably some other sins that haven't been revealed yet. And it feels so good too, to feel "justly angry" at someone if they have been unfair to me, or to look down upon another conductor, because I feel that I talk less than him/her, or wave my arms in a more dramatic fashion, or have more expressive facial gestures. Paul does cover this in chapter 7 (hopefully it won't be me writing on that section; otherwise, it'll be essentially a repeat of this), but I find myself asking God, "What's going on? I trust in you. I've given my life to you, or as much as I can right now. Why then, do I still feel dead to Christ and alive in sin? Is there something lacking in your grace, or in the promises you set out in the Bible?"
I don't have an answer. But let's take a look at the text...
This section is the first of three arguments Paul anticipates people asking, and recorded in chapters 6 and 7. If God gave us the law to make our sin that much greater, in order that he might display his grace more, shouldn't we sin more so that we can receive more grace? And you know, the more I think about it and the more I experience God's work in my life, the more credible this argument sounds. God, we believe, is all-powerful, all-compassionate, and all-loving. These traits lead him to work through weak humans even though it would be much more cost efficient to simply do it himself. And as we fail and see God pick up our scraps and help us turn our failures into successes and us weak humans into stronger humans, we praise God for his grace. Given this context, it wouldn't seem far fetched or heretical that perhaps, we should screw up more so that God gets to flex his muscles more.
But Paul answers this by crushing it. "We died to sin", he says. "How can we live in it any longer?" This part points to our model -- Jesus Christ, and the Triune God. God is holy. It doesn't just mean that God cannot sin; it means that he cannot live in sin (which makes the 33 years Jesus was on earth that much more wondrous). So if we died to sin, we are to be holy like God, separate from sin.
Here Paul goes deeper into how we died to sin. It was something he began in chapter 5, when he said that we have been reconciled with God through Christ's death, and saved through his life. Paul explains this dual process: our reconciliation happened because Christ didn't just take our sins on that cross. He took our sinful bodies. That's the purpose of his death. And since we are now, hypothetically, disembodied spirits, we need a new body. And just as God raised Jesus from the dead through his glory (meaning that not only did Jesus' resurrection happen to the glory of the Father, but also it was the glory of God which raised Jesus from the dead), God the Father gives us new bodies. And these bodies are supposed to be pure, free from sin, and free from death. That's the purpose of his resurrection. We who have been baptized into Christ's death should count ourselves dead to sin.
Verse 10 sums up two things we can take from Jesus' death and resurrection. "The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God." "Once for all", or a variant thereof, is used many times in Hebrews 10. That chapter basically drills into a reader's head the totality and finality of Christ's sacrifice. And not only Christ, but we too, dead to sin, are supposed to be finished with the power of sin. The complimentary statement to the first part is "the life he lives, he lives to God." In Greek mythology, there is a story of a woman who became so madly in love with Apollo, the sun god, that she stayed rooted in the same spot for something like ten days, doing nothing but gazing at the Apollo as he crossed the sky, and finally became a sunflower. Living to God reminds me of that picture, that just as Jesus looked to God for everything (we talked about that in Seeker's Class yesterday), those who die to sin look to God with that much yearning and intensity, and through doing that live for God.
Matthew
I don't have an answer. But let's take a look at the text...
This section is the first of three arguments Paul anticipates people asking, and recorded in chapters 6 and 7. If God gave us the law to make our sin that much greater, in order that he might display his grace more, shouldn't we sin more so that we can receive more grace? And you know, the more I think about it and the more I experience God's work in my life, the more credible this argument sounds. God, we believe, is all-powerful, all-compassionate, and all-loving. These traits lead him to work through weak humans even though it would be much more cost efficient to simply do it himself. And as we fail and see God pick up our scraps and help us turn our failures into successes and us weak humans into stronger humans, we praise God for his grace. Given this context, it wouldn't seem far fetched or heretical that perhaps, we should screw up more so that God gets to flex his muscles more.
But Paul answers this by crushing it. "We died to sin", he says. "How can we live in it any longer?" This part points to our model -- Jesus Christ, and the Triune God. God is holy. It doesn't just mean that God cannot sin; it means that he cannot live in sin (which makes the 33 years Jesus was on earth that much more wondrous). So if we died to sin, we are to be holy like God, separate from sin.
Here Paul goes deeper into how we died to sin. It was something he began in chapter 5, when he said that we have been reconciled with God through Christ's death, and saved through his life. Paul explains this dual process: our reconciliation happened because Christ didn't just take our sins on that cross. He took our sinful bodies. That's the purpose of his death. And since we are now, hypothetically, disembodied spirits, we need a new body. And just as God raised Jesus from the dead through his glory (meaning that not only did Jesus' resurrection happen to the glory of the Father, but also it was the glory of God which raised Jesus from the dead), God the Father gives us new bodies. And these bodies are supposed to be pure, free from sin, and free from death. That's the purpose of his resurrection. We who have been baptized into Christ's death should count ourselves dead to sin.
Verse 10 sums up two things we can take from Jesus' death and resurrection. "The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God." "Once for all", or a variant thereof, is used many times in Hebrews 10. That chapter basically drills into a reader's head the totality and finality of Christ's sacrifice. And not only Christ, but we too, dead to sin, are supposed to be finished with the power of sin. The complimentary statement to the first part is "the life he lives, he lives to God." In Greek mythology, there is a story of a woman who became so madly in love with Apollo, the sun god, that she stayed rooted in the same spot for something like ten days, doing nothing but gazing at the Apollo as he crossed the sky, and finally became a sunflower. Living to God reminds me of that picture, that just as Jesus looked to God for everything (we talked about that in Seeker's Class yesterday), those who die to sin look to God with that much yearning and intensity, and through doing that live for God.
Matthew
Sunday, April 10, 2011
Romans 5:12-21
Through Adam, sin entered the world, and through sin, death entered; death because of one man. Would suck to be that man. Worse still, Judas Iscariot. I'm glad God made me me, not Judas Iscariot. Even the Bible says, "it would be better for him if he had not been born". (Matt 26:24b)
I find that I often categorize sins. Murder or rape would be a big sin. Petty theft or lies are smaller sins. But there are no degrees of sin, any sin results in death. (Romans 6:23a) So are we any better than Adam or Judas Iscariot? We're all worthy of death by God's standards. But often, we aim for human standards and fall short of God's glory -- we sin, we're worthy of death. God, who is sinless, has the authority to condemn us. But out of love, He spares us, just like He spared the adulterous woman. (John 8:1-8)
Knowing this, why do we continue to indulge in our sin? We know that with each sin we commit, we're nailing Christ on the cross. Does the fact that Jesus died for every sin we will commit mean that we should allow ourselves to sin to our hearts' desire? No. If my friend treats me to dinner, I wouldn't be cheap and order everything on the menu -- I would be abusing my friend's gift. God provided a way out from death, I can't be cheap and abuse God's gift.
I've always questioned why God would put the tree of knowledge of good & evil in the Garden of Eden. He knew that Adam & Eve would sin, so why tempt them? I guess v. 20-21 answers it.
I find that I often categorize sins. Murder or rape would be a big sin. Petty theft or lies are smaller sins. But there are no degrees of sin, any sin results in death. (Romans 6:23a) So are we any better than Adam or Judas Iscariot? We're all worthy of death by God's standards. But often, we aim for human standards and fall short of God's glory -- we sin, we're worthy of death. God, who is sinless, has the authority to condemn us. But out of love, He spares us, just like He spared the adulterous woman. (John 8:1-8)
Knowing this, why do we continue to indulge in our sin? We know that with each sin we commit, we're nailing Christ on the cross. Does the fact that Jesus died for every sin we will commit mean that we should allow ourselves to sin to our hearts' desire? No. If my friend treats me to dinner, I wouldn't be cheap and order everything on the menu -- I would be abusing my friend's gift. God provided a way out from death, I can't be cheap and abuse God's gift.
I've always questioned why God would put the tree of knowledge of good & evil in the Garden of Eden. He knew that Adam & Eve would sin, so why tempt them? I guess v. 20-21 answers it.
"The law was brought in so that the trespass might increase. But where sin increased, grace increased all the more, so that, just as sin reigned in death, so also grace might reign through righteousness to bring eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord."Sonia
Wednesday, April 6, 2011
Romans 5:1-11
This, I think, is one of the brighter passages in Romans, before Paul dives into the issues of sinning as a Christian, election, and general Christian lifestyle. Paul says that since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God.
What is peace? In 21st century North America, peace is an underrated concept. We wake up expecting peace. We believe peace to be our right. If we wake up to the sound of two people arguing nearby, we complain that they have disturbed our peaceful slumber. To a Libyan, however, peace must be a different concept. In Misrata, where the entire city is currently under siege from Gaddafi's forces, peace would mean being able to sleep without fear of an artillery shell landing next to you, or walk to the store without being afraid a stray bullet hitting you.
It would seem then, that the opposite of peace is fear. Now this fear would be a different kind of fear godly men have for God -- a more accurate term for that might be reverence. This fear is the fear of evil men when God unleashes His wrath on mankind, and men call out to the mountains and the rocks, "Fall on us and hide us from the face of Him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb! For the great day of their wrath has come, and who can stand?" (Rev. 6:15-17) Since Paul has established that all people are evil, all of mankind stands in this state of fear. This fear may not fully manifest until Jesus returns, but it will come. The good news is, we have been saved from having to face this fear, and instead have peace with God.
Peace here really reminds me of the time when Jesus calms the storm (Mark 4:35-41). He says to the storm "Peace; be still." The winds quiet down and the rain stops, and the disciples were amazed. God says the same thing to us: "Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth." (Psalm 46:10). Because we have peace with God, we can be still, be amazed, and exalt Him among the nations.
Going back to Libya, do the Libyans deserve peace? Yes, it is as much their right as it is our right. But do we deserve peace with God? Do we deserve to take shelter in the Ark of God while He floods the earth, after we have ignored His warnings for years? Of course not. And so peace with God is a gift from God. As Paul writes: "whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand." (v. 2) How much more should we be thankful for having peace with God!
And because of this peace we have with God, we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. The glory of God is God revealed. Isaiah, when he saw the glory of God, said "Woe is me! I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the LORD Almighty." (Isaiah 6:5) Revelation tells of the return of Jesus Christ (Rev. 19:11-21). In a display of His glory, Jesus fights the most one-sided battle in all of history -- His Word against the beast, the false prophet, and all the kings of the earth -- and wins. And yes, we hope for this glory, because we know that we have peace with God. We know that we are not people of unclean lips, and we know that we are not of the earth.
And so we hope. And we persevere through our sufferings by being focused on this hope. When I get asked to tell my testimony, I begin after my baptism. This is because in grade 10 I went into the baptistery fully prepared to get dunked, come out, live my life as I see fit, and then go to heaven when I die, or when Jesus returns, whichever comes first. God however had other plans, and stuck me with a rather painful relationship issue in grade 11, and only recently came to a close, and even now I feel somewhat depressed when I pray for her. In the summer of grade 11, I also lost the use of my left eye. Rather than these events being downer endings however, these events built perseverance, character and hope. Perseverance because I had no choice but to carry on, character because I learned to be dependent on God (among a whole slew of other things), and hope because I through dependence on God I know that He is in control, and therefore there are only happy endings. And here comes the best part: Hope does not fail us, because God has poured out His love into our hearts. Hope does not fail us because God does not fail us.
This only gets us to verse 5, but the next couple verses talk mostly about being reconciled through the blood of Christ, and saved by the resurrection of Christ. While important, I don't want to write an essay, and there is one final thing I want to concentrate on, and that is verse 11: "Not only is this so, but we also rejoice in God..." We rejoice in the peace we have, we rejoice in the hope we have, but most of all, we rejoice in the God who provides the peace and hope we possess.
Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
What is peace? In 21st century North America, peace is an underrated concept. We wake up expecting peace. We believe peace to be our right. If we wake up to the sound of two people arguing nearby, we complain that they have disturbed our peaceful slumber. To a Libyan, however, peace must be a different concept. In Misrata, where the entire city is currently under siege from Gaddafi's forces, peace would mean being able to sleep without fear of an artillery shell landing next to you, or walk to the store without being afraid a stray bullet hitting you.
It would seem then, that the opposite of peace is fear. Now this fear would be a different kind of fear godly men have for God -- a more accurate term for that might be reverence. This fear is the fear of evil men when God unleashes His wrath on mankind, and men call out to the mountains and the rocks, "Fall on us and hide us from the face of Him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb! For the great day of their wrath has come, and who can stand?" (Rev. 6:15-17) Since Paul has established that all people are evil, all of mankind stands in this state of fear. This fear may not fully manifest until Jesus returns, but it will come. The good news is, we have been saved from having to face this fear, and instead have peace with God.
Peace here really reminds me of the time when Jesus calms the storm (Mark 4:35-41). He says to the storm "Peace; be still." The winds quiet down and the rain stops, and the disciples were amazed. God says the same thing to us: "Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth." (Psalm 46:10). Because we have peace with God, we can be still, be amazed, and exalt Him among the nations.
Going back to Libya, do the Libyans deserve peace? Yes, it is as much their right as it is our right. But do we deserve peace with God? Do we deserve to take shelter in the Ark of God while He floods the earth, after we have ignored His warnings for years? Of course not. And so peace with God is a gift from God. As Paul writes: "whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand." (v. 2) How much more should we be thankful for having peace with God!
And because of this peace we have with God, we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. The glory of God is God revealed. Isaiah, when he saw the glory of God, said "Woe is me! I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the LORD Almighty." (Isaiah 6:5) Revelation tells of the return of Jesus Christ (Rev. 19:11-21). In a display of His glory, Jesus fights the most one-sided battle in all of history -- His Word against the beast, the false prophet, and all the kings of the earth -- and wins. And yes, we hope for this glory, because we know that we have peace with God. We know that we are not people of unclean lips, and we know that we are not of the earth.
And so we hope. And we persevere through our sufferings by being focused on this hope. When I get asked to tell my testimony, I begin after my baptism. This is because in grade 10 I went into the baptistery fully prepared to get dunked, come out, live my life as I see fit, and then go to heaven when I die, or when Jesus returns, whichever comes first. God however had other plans, and stuck me with a rather painful relationship issue in grade 11, and only recently came to a close, and even now I feel somewhat depressed when I pray for her. In the summer of grade 11, I also lost the use of my left eye. Rather than these events being downer endings however, these events built perseverance, character and hope. Perseverance because I had no choice but to carry on, character because I learned to be dependent on God (among a whole slew of other things), and hope because I through dependence on God I know that He is in control, and therefore there are only happy endings. And here comes the best part: Hope does not fail us, because God has poured out His love into our hearts. Hope does not fail us because God does not fail us.
This only gets us to verse 5, but the next couple verses talk mostly about being reconciled through the blood of Christ, and saved by the resurrection of Christ. While important, I don't want to write an essay, and there is one final thing I want to concentrate on, and that is verse 11: "Not only is this so, but we also rejoice in God..." We rejoice in the peace we have, we rejoice in the hope we have, but most of all, we rejoice in the God who provides the peace and hope we possess.
Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
-- Philippians 4:4-7
Monday, April 4, 2011
Romans 4
The fourth chapter continues with the idea of righteousness through faith. In chapter three, he says that we are righteous through faith in Jesus Christ because He suffered the penalty of our sin for us. But what about all the Jews before Christ came? Paul discusses whether or not they were saved through faith or deeds. He points to Abraham, a man of great faith. He had complete faith in God -- who in their right mind would give up their own son!? (watch this!) Actually, if we take a look at the Mosaic Law ... it's pretty intense; it requires great faith to follow it.
Verse 5 makes no sense to me in the NIV. But if we take a look into the NLT, this is what it says:
"But people are counted as righteous, not because of their work, but because of their faith in God who forgives sinners." David says the same thing (Ps. 36:1,2) -- we are righteous through faith, not deeds.
Paul then revisits and expands on the topic of circumcision. In a nutshell, Abraham was faithful to God even before he was circumcised. His circumcision had no impact on his faith or righteousness. Circumcision (to the best of my knowledge) was to ensure that you were clean (an uncircumcised male newborn would be unclean). This was done to set apart Jew from Gentile. (?) But as we've already established, "there is no difference". So circumcision was performed more for symbolic reasons (though I don't know what it symbolizes). The point is that it wasn't through the law (and circumcision) that Abraham was saved, but rather, through faith.
And this next part explains itself:
Jesus tells us in Matthew 17:20b that "if we have faith as small as a mustard seed, [we can move mountains; nothing will be impossible for us.]".
Let's move mountains.
Sonia
Verse 5 makes no sense to me in the NIV. But if we take a look into the NLT, this is what it says:
"But people are counted as righteous, not because of their work, but because of their faith in God who forgives sinners." David says the same thing (Ps. 36:1,2) -- we are righteous through faith, not deeds.
Paul then revisits and expands on the topic of circumcision. In a nutshell, Abraham was faithful to God even before he was circumcised. His circumcision had no impact on his faith or righteousness. Circumcision (to the best of my knowledge) was to ensure that you were clean (an uncircumcised male newborn would be unclean). This was done to set apart Jew from Gentile. (?) But as we've already established, "there is no difference". So circumcision was performed more for symbolic reasons (though I don't know what it symbolizes). The point is that it wasn't through the law (and circumcision) that Abraham was saved, but rather, through faith.
And this next part explains itself:
13 It was not through the law that Abraham and his offspring received the promise that he would be heir of the world, but through the righteousness that comes by faith. 14 For if those who depend on the law are heirs, faith means nothing and the promise is worthless, 15 because the law brings wrath. And where there is no law there is no transgression. 16 Therefore, the promise comes by faith, so that it may be by grace and may be guaranteed to all Abraham’s offspring—not only to those who are of the law but also to those who have the faith of Abraham. He is the father of us all.(B/c of Gen. 17:5)Even when the going was tough, he trusted God. He did not doubt God when He said Sarah would give birth to a son, or when God instructed him to kill Isaac. Look how blessed he was.
Jesus tells us in Matthew 17:20b that "if we have faith as small as a mustard seed, [we can move mountains; nothing will be impossible for us.]".
Let's move mountains.
Sonia
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