Life at PazNaz

Catching Up With Paul’s Argument:

- Problem: Jewish and Gentile believers reconciling together over following Christ and obeying the law (in particular the law of circumcision).

- Chapter 3: Righteousness (setting our relationship right) with God is a free gift given simply out of the loving character of the Father and it does not come through obedience to the law or through the nature of our character.

- Chapter 4: Abraham followed God before being circumcised. Abraham’s faith was demonstrated in his willingness to participate in God’s blessing of all the nations through him. God is reversing the destruction of sin in his creation and Abraham has “joined the revolution” and his faith was credited to him as righteousness.

- Chapter 5: God’s grace is greater than the power of sin. A new pattern of life has been established in Jesus that we can draw on – particularly as we participate in the redemptive suffering of Christ.

Slavery – The Paradigm of Exodus

- In the letter to the Romans Paul draws on the rich history of the Old Testament. In chapter 4 he used Abraham as a model of faith. In this chapter it is the exodus of the Israelites out of Egypt that serves as the paradigm for faith and freedom.

- Pharaoh was an oppressive master who held the Israelites in bondage with no hope of escape or freedom. God used Moses as the agent of his deliverance and led the people out of slavery.

- Immediately after leaving Egypt the people had to pass through the waters of the Red Sea (by faith) and came to the other side as a people no longer in bondage.

- In the wilderness, however, the people had to adjust to no longer having Pharaoh as their master. Their habits, their values, and their imaginations had been shaped by their oppression. Re-habiting life in the wilderness was difficult and led many to want to return back to Pharaoh. “It is one thing to get the Israelites out of Egypt. It is another thing to get Egypt out of the Israelites.”

Buried with Him through Baptism (6:1-5)

- It is apparent that Paul is concerned with people complaining that his stance on grace will lead people to think they can do whatever they like.

- For Paul, anyone who thinks in those kinds of terms or even needs to raise that question misses the point. In becoming Christian, Paul believed that people moved from one type of humanity to the other and that they should never think of themselves in the original mode again.

- As Christ identified with humankind, we identify with him. Particularly in the act of baptism the Christian re-enacts dying and rising with the Messiah. When people submit themselves to Christian baptism, they die with the Messiah and are raised with him into a new life.

- This includes, first and foremost, a change of status. We are not longer located “in sin,” but we are located “in Christ.”

Dead to Sin (6:6-11)

- Now that believers have entered into new life with Christ they must consider themselves as no longer slaves to the old life but as members of a new creation.

- I love this illustration from N.T. Wright: “Imagine renting a house from a landlord who turns out to be a bully, always demanding extra payments, coming into the house without asking, threatening you with legal action or violence if you don’t give in to his demands. You get used to doing what he says out of fear. There doesn’t seem to be a way out. But then, to your relief, you find somewhere else to live. Someone else pays off your remaining rent and you can leave. You move out and settle in the new place. But, to your horror, a few days later the old landlord shows up at the door and barges into the house. He is angry and demands more money. He threatens to take you to court. The old habit returns: you are strongly tempted to pay him what he demands, just to get him to leave. But you know you are not his tenant any more. You have seen the paperwork; his final bill was paid; nothing more is owed. Trembling, you get up and tell him to leave. He has no claim over you.”

Present Yourselves to God (6:12-14)

- The gospel is not just a different way of being religious, it is transferring obedience to a new master who brings radical demands into every aspect of life.

- When the Israelites crossed the river they no longer belonged to the old territory any more. They were not only under no obligation to obey the old landlord; they are under a new obligation NOT to obey him, but to obey the new one instead.

- In particular Paul sees the members of the body as instruments given over to the use of one master or another. Those who believe in Christ are to live as people who have come through the river and have arrived at life on the other side.

Two Types of Slavery (6:15-19)

- Paul is anxious to eliminate any suggestion that, because Christians are free from the slavery of sin, this gives them license to do anything they want.

- What Paul describes as slavery to God, however, is not oppressive servitude. Underlying obedience to God is the idea that the good purposes of the creator are to bring the world back from chaos into proper order, and to bring human beings into the right shape and right relationship to him.

- The verb form Paul uses for “present” means for one to “present and keep on presenting.” The presentation of the members of one’s body to the good purposes of God is not a singular but daily presentation.

Present Yourselves to God (6:20-23)

- The closing verses of this chapter are simple and yet profound. Paul argues that when we were slaves to sin we were “free in regard to righteousness” – we were under no obligation to live in right relationship to God. However, the end result of the life of the slave is brokenness and death.

- When one is freed from sin they are now “enslaved to God.” But what is the benefit of this life? We receive “sanctification” or the opportunity to be set apart for God’s redemptive purposes and we participate today in the abundant way of living in God’s good creation that can only be described as “eternal life.”