Scripture & Thought
Romans 8:9-11 (NLT)
“Since Christ lives within you, even though your body will die because of sin, your spirit is alive because you have been made right with God. The Spirit of God, who raised Jesus from the dead, lives in you. And just as he raised Christ from the dead, he will give life to your mortal body by this same Spirit living within you.”
In his second letter to the Church at Corinth the Apostle Paul made an interested affirmation in 2 Corinthians 12:10 –
“Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ’s sake. For when I am weak, than I am strong.”
I wonder why he did not say, “Therefore I take pleasure in my ‘achievements,’ in victories won, in numerical gains everywhere, in new conversions, and in personal gains.” I believe it was because of the last nine words of his declaration, “For when I am weak, then I am strong.” Paul understood that his strength did not come from within himself, but from the grace granted to him through the power of the Holy Spirit living within him. He knew that any strength he had come from God.
Romans Chapter 8 may be the single most important chapter in the New Testament (according to Dr. Tom Barnard) in terms of framing Christian beliefs about salvation. And when it is coupled with Chapters 6 and 7, we have what one New Testament scholar called the “crown jewel of the doctrine of salvation by faith.” Two powerful truths characterize this chapter. One is the reality of victory over sin and the glory that awaits those who are saved. The other is the reality of human weakness. There are words in this chapter like “mortal body,” “curse,” “groaning,” “pains of childbirth,” “decay,” “pain and suffering,” “distress,” “trouble,” “calamity,” and “threatened by death.”
Commenting on this passage, Reuben Welch wrote, “Both aspects of the Christian life – power and peril – continue to exist in us. The Christian life is lived in tension because it is life between the times. It is life in the world and not of the world at the same time. The victory that is ours through the sanctifying power of the Holy Spirit is real; but it is not absolute.” Welch concluded, “We are between what we are and what, by God’s grace, we will become; between what grace has done for us and what glory will do.”
The best news is the affirmation the Apostle Paul made at the close of the chapter: Romans 8:39 – “Whether we are high above the sky or in the deepest ocean, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
I can live with that, can’t you?
Prayer: Father God, thank you for sending your Son, Jesus, to die for my sins. And thank you for sending His Spirit to fill me with the power it takes to live above the power of sin. Why and how you did this is far beyond the capacity of my mind to comprehend. But it is not beyond the capacity of my soul to enjoy. Jesus promised this would happen, and it has! Even though I have been reminded many times this week that I am by nature weak, your Word has reminded me that through Your Spirit I can be strong. Empower me today, I pray, for the days that lie ahead. In the strong name of Jesus I pray.
Amen.