Hinge Verse: Romans 8:9
Paul starts out our reading with the transition word="Therefore". It pains me greatly to say this {I'm not a fan of little sayings like this, very true but overused. 😄}, but when we see "therefore", we need to look back and see what it's there for. On Day 27, we were in Romans 6 and learning about the reign sin has over humanity. Sin comes with a paycheck--death. Paul made 2 lists-- the guilt and the gift. We have free will to decide which list we live by.
Paul spends Chapter 7 doubling down on the hold sin has over us. In case anyone in his audience--the Roman church(es)--misunderstands, he is not saying that the law is sin. The law is there to point out that we cannot reach the standard required to return to God. The law reveals our sin. Paul uses the example of the law Do Not Covet to prove his point. Paul (or any of us) may not have even KNOWN what it is to covet if the law hadn't said not to. And of course, the sin born in us, inherited from Adam, rares it's ugly head, and says "COVET? Develop an unhealthy yearning for my neighbor's house, my neighbor's spouse, my neighbor's stuff? Don't mind if I do!!" The commandment that was meant as life, for our good, brought about death. Why? Because sin has woven itself into every fiber of our being. While we were living in a not-so-blissfully ignorant state, the law held up the mirror and we saw who we are. And that is a good thing, the law is good, just, and holy. It's the sin that is death, not the revelation of it. The recognition of our sin is a vital step in realizing that THIS is what separated us from God, not His "rules". And once we realize, we are no longer ignorant, our eyes are open to sin that is even worse than we thought--sin beyond measure.
Paul flips himself out thinking about the pull of sin and the mirror of the law. He recognizes behavior-of-mankind-since-the-fall-in-the-garden in his own life...He doesn't practice what he wants, but ends up doing what he hates. He doesn't do the good he wants to do, but instead practices the evil that he doesn't want to do. There's a war waging inside of him, a battle for his mind, his body, his desires. He desires to do what is good, but cannot pull himself up by his bootstraps and do it. The minute good enters his mind, evil is right there making its case. Can you just picture him, Romans 7:24 Paul, pacing around his little temporary office in the home of his friend, Gaius, melting down over the wages of sin? There is nothing like a walk down memory lane, hand in hand with our past and present sins and struggles, to remind us of the sweet rescue of the Gospel. Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!!!
So finally, we are in Romans 8, and the "therefore" transition is running with the thought of rescue! Paul pivots his attention from death pointed out by the law, to the life-giving Spirit! We no longer fear the law, because it can't condemn us. Not because we look in the mirror of the law and see our own success. Far from it. Instead, when God looks at the law and would see our failure, He now sees the success of His own Son. What we had no ability to accomplish, God did. He took away the sting of sin and death by sending His own Son, Jesus--human like us. Jesus became a perfect--unlike us--sacrifice, fulfilling every requirement of the law, so that those who dreamed of rescue, return, redemption, reconciliation with our Creator would be gifted it through Him.
Every thought our flesh has is death. We cannot even begin to reach the standard of walking in fellowship with God on our own strength and merit. Every thought our natural self has is hostile to God because we see Him as the great rule maker, the tyrant of heaven. We are unable to live. Anytime we lift up what we think is life, it's filthy rags, bloody cloths that prove our flesh has failed and life has not taken root.
But God....If He has rescued you, if He has welcomed you home, if He has bought you back with His life, if He has put to death the hostile war waging inside of you and drawn you back to Him....you are no longer in the flesh. You are walking in the Spirit of God, the same Spirit who raised Jesus from death to life. The Spirit lives in you, and the paycheck sin wrote in the amount of death is canceled. The gift is not like the trespass. It's infinitely more, it's boundlessly better. Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!
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