Good morning and get ready for another great day! Yesterday was great...church work in the morning, then a quick 5 1/2 mile hike on the Finger Lakes Trail, then back home for lawn mowing and yard work. My allergies are in over-drive right now!
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| My lunch view at the Firefox lean to |
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| Yah, I know, I need to smile more! |
Chapter 6 isn't too difficult and is a continuation of yesterday's concepts of grace and sin.
In 5:20, Paul essentially says, "where sin abounded, grace abounded much more." He begins chapter 6 with a "disclaimer" saying, "After all...if God loves sinners the more you sin, what's the point of being good!" (v 1). Paul responds to his somewhat rhetorical question by saying absolutely not (v 2). Once we have a relationship with Christ, then our relationship to sin and with sin has also changed. Once we become a life-partner with Christ, we can't also be a life-partner with sin!
Paul then uses baptism as an illustration of what he just talked about. The concept of baptism is that we are "acting out" Jesus' death and resurrection. As we are covered with the baptismal water, it is as if we are being buried (with Christ) and when we come out of the water, we are rising as Christ rose at the resurrection. The immersion in the water represent our dying to the sin and our new birth comes about when we come up out of the baptismal water. Paul's point is that something dramatic and life-changing has happened at your baptism; you can't die and rise again without it dramatically changing your life!
Paul's use of the words "united together" or "joined with Him" (or whatever your translation uses) in v 5 symbolizes the close unity we have with Christ's death and with Christ's resurrection. If we participate in the death of Jesus then we also certainly participate in Jesus' resurrection. Our old life (v 6) of sin and hate and evil died with Jesus on the cross (some translations say "old man" referring back to Adam!). If the "old man" our old self is dead, then it can be replaced by the "new man" (Jesus) and the goodness of God will take the place of sin. The "new man" is a new person in us: obedient and pleasing to God. "Death is the only freedom a slave knows, that's why he is not afraid of it" were words spoken by Kirk Douglas in the 1960s film Spartacus. We are no longer slaves to sin, because those sins have died.
If all this is true, then we need to live in Christ (vv 11- 12). Death to sin is only one side of the equation; the other side is our new life in Christ. Do all Christians live up to this? Self-doubt, unbelief, backsliding all take us back to sin at times...some more than others. I remember reading a story of a slave woman after the Civil War questions if she was free or still a slave. She commented that when she asked her master, the master said she was still a slave and Lincoln had no right to sign the proclamation of independence; however, when she asked "her own people" they responded that she was a free person. Similar to the black woman, we have been "set free" yet some still question that validity of the proclamation!
We may know that we are "set free", yet we may still act as though we are slaves to sin. Think of a prisoner that has lived in prison for most of their life. When they are set free, they may still live and act as a prisoner, because that is the life they know best. It is difficult for them to integrate back into society. That's how it is like for us. We are set free, but we remember the life we used to have- and we continue to live that life of sin. We need to build habits of a Christian life (vv 13-14) by knowing what we are doing. We must not use our body for sin! We have ears- let them be sin free; we have heads- let them be sin free; we have legs- let them lead us to good and not bad, etc....Offer what we have to the goodness of God and let God use our body for good!
Paul gives us an option (v 16): we can present ourselves to sin and be slaves to sin or we can present ourselves to God and be "slaves" to God. Paul proposes that we were once slaves to sin, but now that God has presented grace to us, we would choose being "slaves" to goodness and life (vv 17-18). Paul continues through the rest of the chapter emphasizing the way we were compared to the new way that we should be living. Paul tries to drive home the point of sin and goodness; death and life. He does say that we may fall back and "visit our old master" (sin), but we have a new master that we need to stay with. We have had a change of ownership and must remember that we work for a new master now!
I think this was an easy chapter- quite repetitive (as Paul usually is), but he is trying to drive home a point. Paul will continue this discussion of good and evil in the next few chapters, giving different examples to work with.
I hope you have a good day and thanks for all your hard work with this!
Shalom+
Pastor Paul
Pastor Paul
Hmmmm - love the shirt!
ReplyDeleteIn reading this chapter I can see why people are always commenting to me - once they find out I am a Christian - well, you can sin all you want and just ask for forgiveness. Or, as I have heard many times about the Catholic faith, sin all week and ask forgiveness from the priest on Sunday and all is well. I can see why people objected to Faith by Justification only. Thinking people could live as they wanted and as long as they truly believed they would be 'ok"! I hate to admit but this is how I justified my younger "old" self.
I wish I had read/studied the response to this earlier in my life - not only for myself but to respond to others.
Grace is so tricky. I did a Bible Study on the three phases of Grace, according to Wesley and Methodism. My understanding is that Wesley says the first stage of Grace - the one we are given at birth - the Prevenient Grace - the one that is in all creation. But, again my understanding, Prevenient grace prepares us for justifying grace. "Justification," said Wesley, "is another word for pardon. It is the forgiveness of all our sins, and ... our acceptance with God." Justifying grace is the assurance of forgiveness that comes from repentance, from turning toward God's gracious gift of new life. It is being reconciled and realigned with God and the acceptance of God's atoning act in Jesus Christ. So the Grace that Paul speaks of - is that more inline with what Wesley calls our Justifying Grace? It's always there but we have to ask for it? And if we ask for it and accept God then we are trying to live as God and - as Paul makes clear - we die to the master of sin (I love that Paul personified sin - so much easier to grasp his idea) and live to the master of Jesus.?
Do I have that right? Grace is a bit confusing.
Prayers for my son. He went into the hospital this am with chest pains. They are running tests.
Blessings to all
Justification by faith is tough for people...like you say, the assumption is we can continue to do bad and all is well. What Paul is saying is that if we have faith we will want to be good people; if we have a relationship with God through our faith, then we will strive to build that relationship through better living and positive actions. James talks a lot about this in his epistle.
DeleteWesley had three "levels" of grace: prevenient, justifying, and sanctifying. Prevenient is that grace God gives us even when we don't know God; it is all the good we have in our life that pulls us closer to God. Wesley described it as a porch to a house- inviting, makes you want to come closer and stay. Justifying grace is our acceptance of God and the forgiveness that God's provides. It is our reconciliation with God and our faith that God is present. Wesley likened it to the door or the house...once you're on the porch, the nest step is to go through the door- to accept the invitation. Finally, santification- the idea of becoming perfect and holy- as God. The idea of becoming a saint. Many people never fully reach sanctification- but we strive for that; we have a desire to be as perfect as we possibly can. So, Paul is talking about justifying grace- yes.We have to accept that invitation and walk through the door once we are on the porch.
The personification of master-slave is directly related to the master-slave culture of Rome and many of Paul's readers (and many of the population of Rome) was in a slave status.
Good thoughts Donna- keep me updated about your son
Donna Hope all is well with your son.. Prayers for him
ReplyDeletePastor Paul looks like you had a great hike yesterday It was a beautiful day for it.
With yesterday's reading i lost track that paul was writing to the Romans and treaching them Today I got back to this letter to the Romans.
Sin was there from the beginning with Adam for us all because of him. Then Jesus came and died for our salvation. Now we must follow God and be thankful for his grace and gift of eternal life. So no more sinning at least as best as we can Let our bodies be an instrument to God and use it for His glory
I still have a confusion about our baptizing babies as they are not at an age where they understand what or who Jesus is. Altho Paul says that the baptizing washes away our sis and let us live in Christ. What are the babies sins? this is a little confusing to me.
Have a good day all
Cindy, Hope therapy is going well.
Jack and Rhea Hope all is well in Montana.
Cathy Love how you always have stories of friend etc that follow along with out readings.
Ahhh...the question of infant baptism raises its head! The idea comes from the Roman Catholic church and "original sin"- the sin that we all inherit because of Adam and Eve (I am going to include her in this too!). The sins of Adam and Eve (original since they were the first ones) is passed down from generation to generation. So, the Roman Catholic church, and then its many offshoots, determined that infant baptism was essential to washing away that original sin. During the Protestant Reformation, some denominations (the Anabaptist movement under the guidance of Ulrich Zwingli) promoted the idea that baptism was only "valid" when the person was able to decide for themselves- thus they started the movement of adult (or older child) baptism. Some denominations (Methodist et al) stayed with the idea of infant baptism as it was a sign of acceptance by God into God's family and didn't require us to acknowledge that adoption/ acceptance. Many of those denominations have confirmation as teens when the child affirms and confirms they accept God.
DeleteSo...infant baptism is looked at as a way to wash away the original sin we inherit from Adam and Eve and as an affirmation of God's covenant of salvation.
I hope this helps more than confuse!
Great questions!
Thank you, Clara.
ReplyDeleteToday I have been thinking about grace. Years ago, unbeknownst to the library board, I started waving a lot of fines. If I thought a person couldn't afford the fine for whatever reason, I would just waive it. Poof! it was gone. One young mom was always late. She was homeschooling her 4 children and I knew that she was very busy. She would say "I think I have a fine" and I would just say, "no, you don't seem to". She caught on after a while and would say "thank you for your grace" which I found rather strange. Can we also give grace to others? I thought only God gave grace.
Many years later librarians around the country began thinking about the value of fines. Some libraries began being "fine free". The idea made it's way to the Finger Lakes Library System and was discussed at meetings of all the 33 directors and the FLLS staff. Some people liked the idea right away. You see, they thought that some children were not using libraries because their parents owed fines and didn't want to bring them for fear of being asked for the money. Or that the most important thing wasn't the .10 per day, but that we just wanted to get our books back. Or that maybe a car had broken down, or someone was sick, etc. etc. All this made sense to me.
At meetings people would say "But if we don't punish them for keeping our things, why won't they do it again and again?" and "You can't just let people do wrong things with no consequences."
Well, our library went fine free. And here's what happened. People were very grateful. And they told us so. And they seemed to try harder to be on time. People were also surprised to be able to "get a break". There was relief when they realized they no longer had to pay. Lots of books were returned that had been gone a long time because they could do it without facing the fines. It all worked in our favor.
Grace is a free gift. We don't have to earn it or even deserve it. I think God wants to forgive us and is pleased if we try to do better. He wants to pick us up and have us keep trying. And sometimes we want to try harder to be worthy of this gift because we know the sacrifice it took so that we can have it.
I really enjoy studying with all of you and reading your thoughts. I know I am growing in my understanding with your help.
We most surly do give grace to others...and the library fine story is a great example of that. To put it in context of the story. The mom was guilty, but you forgave that guilt. That's grace- the unwarranted forgiveness. We generally think of God doing it, but we have opportunities to offer grace all the time- we just see it as "kindness" maybe? In my ministry at Little Meadows, I have been shown grace/ forgiveness many times!
DeleteYour "fine free" idea and the idea of people "getting a break" is great. Too often we are "punished" for things that may be out of our control. It is nice to be offered forgiveness, and I think that builds relationship and trust between parties. How do you feel when someone does something nice and unexpected?! That's what God wants form us- to pass on God's grace to others!
Great story and great thoughts! Thanks!
We goofed. We completely forgot our Bible reading until just a little while ago. We read Romans 4, 5, and 6 and I have read the notes for Chapter 4 and 5. I even left a ridiculous comment in the notes for Chapter 4. However, it is now 10:05 PM and I can go no further tonight. I will have more to say tomorrow night when I am able to read and comprehend Chapter 7 and the notes and comments for Chapters 6 and 7. Rest assured that all is well here in Great Falls and we simply forgot. We both apologize.
ReplyDeleteHey Jack-- welcome back!! Catch up when you can!!
ReplyDeletePeace!