LIVING DIFFERENTLY (37 OF 52)
Scripture: Romans 12:1-8
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Living Differently (37 of 52)
Series: Lectionary, Year A
Christopher B. Harbin
Romans 12:1-8
Perhaps we talk too much about sacrifice. It's is not so much that sacrifice is important. It is more a question of our using a very different definition for the term than Paul or the writers of the Hebrew Scriptures used. We don't understand what sacrifice meant to the Hebrew and Jewish people. We couch the term in language referring to pain, loss, grief, and giving up something of value. We consider sacrifice as needfully coming at great personal expense. We consider sacrifice from the perspective of God being somehow pleased with human pain and suffering. Is that what we think of God and God's will for our lives?
Paul sets out an argument in Romans that has perhaps been great misdirection for our grasp of the gospel. It's not that Paul was wrong. Rather, it is that we have too often failed to understand why he set out his argument the way he did. It is not that Paul was ensnared by angst over sin and condemnation as we have so often seen the church present. Rather, it is that Paul was trying to establish an equal footing for us all to deal with God's wonderful gift of grace. We know the basic outline of the argument: Gentiles are sinners. Jews are sinners. We are all sinners. There is nothing we can do to escape sin on our own. As hard as we try to do what is right, we turn around and fall once more under sin. In Jesus, however, God has offered us a path to reconciliation. It is something God has done without our help and at God's initiative. Therefore, as we embrace the grace of God, we are called to live according to a new set of parameters in which grace plays the central character.
There is nothing in Paul's argument about God requiring sacrifice of us. Did you catch that? God does not require sacrifice of us. There is nothing in Jesus' words about offering sacrifice, whether of people or animals or through denial of what is good for us. There is nothin ...
Series: Lectionary, Year A
Christopher B. Harbin
Romans 12:1-8
Perhaps we talk too much about sacrifice. It's is not so much that sacrifice is important. It is more a question of our using a very different definition for the term than Paul or the writers of the Hebrew Scriptures used. We don't understand what sacrifice meant to the Hebrew and Jewish people. We couch the term in language referring to pain, loss, grief, and giving up something of value. We consider sacrifice as needfully coming at great personal expense. We consider sacrifice from the perspective of God being somehow pleased with human pain and suffering. Is that what we think of God and God's will for our lives?
Paul sets out an argument in Romans that has perhaps been great misdirection for our grasp of the gospel. It's not that Paul was wrong. Rather, it is that we have too often failed to understand why he set out his argument the way he did. It is not that Paul was ensnared by angst over sin and condemnation as we have so often seen the church present. Rather, it is that Paul was trying to establish an equal footing for us all to deal with God's wonderful gift of grace. We know the basic outline of the argument: Gentiles are sinners. Jews are sinners. We are all sinners. There is nothing we can do to escape sin on our own. As hard as we try to do what is right, we turn around and fall once more under sin. In Jesus, however, God has offered us a path to reconciliation. It is something God has done without our help and at God's initiative. Therefore, as we embrace the grace of God, we are called to live according to a new set of parameters in which grace plays the central character.
There is nothing in Paul's argument about God requiring sacrifice of us. Did you catch that? God does not require sacrifice of us. There is nothing in Jesus' words about offering sacrifice, whether of people or animals or through denial of what is good for us. There is nothin ...
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