DISEASED LIVING (29 OF 52)
Scripture: Romans 6:2-11
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Diseased Living (29 of 52)
Series: Lectionary, Year A
Christopher B. Harbin
Romans 6:1b-11
I don't know anyone who doesn't want to be healthy. Wanting to be unhealthy is itself a sign of disease. We were not created to be ill. We were not created for mere survival. We were not designed to desire death, impairment, or infirmity. As a physician informed me, suicidal thoughts by definition signal that something is wrong. It is unhealthy to consider the possibility of killing ourselves. So also, desiring to live with an infirmity is a signal that something is wrong with us. Seeking wholeness and continuing the struggle to seek remedies for our ailments is not simply natural or normal, it is itself a healthy aspect of living and basic to survival itself. Why would we surrender to illness when wholeness is possible?
Paul was setting out the basic parameters of his theology for believers in Rome. He was presenting the essential elements of doctrine with a focus on Gentiles and Jews living on a single plane of existence before God. He was establishing that none of us is whole and none of us is beyond redemption. He was setting out the guidelines for a church composed of Jews and Gentiles to get along, to work for unity of purpose, and to refocus their energies and efforts on fulfilling the call of God upon all of us as one body joined together in Christ Jesus to represent the purposes of God over against any distractions or claims to separate us into categories or worth.
In today's passage, Paul addresses the unity of the church in our baptism. The Greek term here is often interpreted as meaning immersion, and that is a central focus of its use. In this passage, however, it has a different stress from what we might expect. While Paul indeed uses the term to refer to our rite of initiation into the body of Christ, he stresses the character of participation, unity, or joining associated with this term for immersion. To be fully immersed in water is to be joine ...
Series: Lectionary, Year A
Christopher B. Harbin
Romans 6:1b-11
I don't know anyone who doesn't want to be healthy. Wanting to be unhealthy is itself a sign of disease. We were not created to be ill. We were not created for mere survival. We were not designed to desire death, impairment, or infirmity. As a physician informed me, suicidal thoughts by definition signal that something is wrong. It is unhealthy to consider the possibility of killing ourselves. So also, desiring to live with an infirmity is a signal that something is wrong with us. Seeking wholeness and continuing the struggle to seek remedies for our ailments is not simply natural or normal, it is itself a healthy aspect of living and basic to survival itself. Why would we surrender to illness when wholeness is possible?
Paul was setting out the basic parameters of his theology for believers in Rome. He was presenting the essential elements of doctrine with a focus on Gentiles and Jews living on a single plane of existence before God. He was establishing that none of us is whole and none of us is beyond redemption. He was setting out the guidelines for a church composed of Jews and Gentiles to get along, to work for unity of purpose, and to refocus their energies and efforts on fulfilling the call of God upon all of us as one body joined together in Christ Jesus to represent the purposes of God over against any distractions or claims to separate us into categories or worth.
In today's passage, Paul addresses the unity of the church in our baptism. The Greek term here is often interpreted as meaning immersion, and that is a central focus of its use. In this passage, however, it has a different stress from what we might expect. While Paul indeed uses the term to refer to our rite of initiation into the body of Christ, he stresses the character of participation, unity, or joining associated with this term for immersion. To be fully immersed in water is to be joine ...
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