sin and grace

Friday, March 20, 2009
The first day of spring - may the Light lengthen in us! And may the Life grow and abound in fruitfulness!


[If I haven't heard from you that you read this blog, or visit it, I'd like to hear from you. It's meaningful to me, and helpful, but I'm evaluating whether I'll keep doing it after Lent. I'd especially like to hear from Church of the Apostles people. Thanks. markjdicristina@yahoo.com]


Jer. 11:1-8,14-20; Rom. 6:1-11; John 8:33-47

What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? 2 By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? (Romans 6:1-2)

This passage seems to get to the heart of our ongoing discussion of grace and works. The self-examination that Lent calls for, the perhaps hyper-sensitivity to our sin for a season, is not that we might pat ourselves on the back and present our goodness to the Father saying, "I deserve a party, I've worked so hard and been so faithful..." It is that we may not presume upon grace, it is that we may not deceive ourselves.

The language Paul uses here is death and new life; in John 8, Jesus is using the language of slavery and freedom, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin" (John 8:34), and "if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed" (v. 36).

Paul says, "We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life" (Romans 6:4).

For me, the question is continually, "am I truly trusting Christ?" (Of course, on one level the answer is always "no," but in specific areas I find, little by little, victories with God's help). Sin, by both omission and commission, exposes where I either am presuming on grace or trusting in my own righteousness - and either way, I am not trusting Messiah Jesus for my salvation, for my wholeness, for my life.

Indeed, the whole goal is to be "united with him" (v. 5), and this always and only happens through repentance and faith. "So," Paul writes, "you must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus" (v. 11). In Jesus' language in John 8, it would be "so you must no longer live like a slave (don't go back to Egypt in your body or in your mind!) but as the beloved child of your Father who delights in you!"

One additional observation that I think is cool - Paul says that "Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father..." (v. 4). It was by, or through, the glory of the Father that Jesus was raised from the dead. Not just to, or for, the glory of the Father, but by his glory! That can go some delightful places. God's glory could not be contained in his dead body, nor in a tomb. It reminds me of chapter 1, "And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth" (v. 14). That very glory effected victory over death, over sin, and brought newness of life - both for Jesus and for all who are united with him by faith in baptism...

Thanks be to God!