Wednesday: Paul’s Guide to Living and Loving Well
Paul’s letter to the Romans is best known for its in-depth explanations of the great doctrine of salvation by faith through of the death of Christ. But after 11 chapters of such teaching, there is a change of emphasis. Paul offers a practical guide to living and loving well, based on the grace and love of God as revealed in Jesus and the gospel story: “Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship” (Rom. 12:1, NIV). In effect, Paul is saying that because of what God has done for us in Jesus, this is how we should live.
Read and summarize Rom. 12:1-21, particularly noticing the instructions to love and care for others, especially those in need.
Paul
In a sense, Romans 12 acts as a summary of many of the topics Paul gives more detailed attention to in some of his other letters. He talks about the different roles and gifts within the church body, including serving and encouraging others, and giving generously (see vss. 3-8 Rom. 12:3-8). But not only should these things be done, they should be done well, with enthusiasm and—above all—with love (see vss. 9-11 Rom. 12:9-11).
Paul describes in practical terms what this kind of life is about. He urges the believers to be patient in difficulties and persecution, to care for the needy, to be peacemakers wherever and whenever possible and—as we have seen previously—to respond to evil and injustice with kindness, overcoming evil by doing good (see Rom. 12:20-21).
This chapter outlines what it means to live as a new person, serving God individually and as part of a community of faith. Paul told these new followers of Jesus that their lives, priorities, and actions should be changed because of their response to what Jesus had done for them by His death on the cross and the hope of eternal life. Living as they were in an oppressive and often cruel society in the heart of the Roman Empire, Paul instructs them to live differently: “Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind” (Rom. 12:2, NIV).
| What are some attitudes and practices you need to resist in your community to help you live and love well as a follower of Jesus today? |
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Paul goes to some length in his epistles to point out what Christ has done for us. Eph 2:8 is perhaps the most succinct statement of all:
We often like to expound that, emphasising that it is grace and not works that saves us. We sometimes need reminding though, that the same sort of grace should be lived out in the lives of those who are redeemed. Christ gave us an example of the principle of living that should infuse everything we do. Perhaps God's grace is meaningless if it is not shared with others.
Paul says, "Love must be sincere." then he expounds on this statement.
Hate what is evil It is impossible to hate what is evil without the love of God dwelling in our hearts. “There exists a way that is upright before a man, but the ways of death are the end of it afterward.”
Cling to what is good - When we have something good cling onto it, grasp it, don't let go.
Honor one another above yourselves - if only we could practice this one statement our work on this earth would have been completed long ago.
Be devoted to one another in love - By this everyone will know you are my disciples if you love one another.
What is acceptable worship? To offer our bodies as living sacrifice. Sacrifice is to give possession to another.
Moses saw evil and he fought against the Egyptian. The Israelite whom he thought would be friendly turned against him.
When you fight against evil even friends can turn against you.
I would propose that this view of what Paul's outline of salvation paints way too narrow a picture of what salvation is.
I would instead propose that Paul understood that it was Jesus'obedient life unto death' that 'purchased/ransomed' our salvation (see Rm 5:19 and Phil 2:8).
What was the basis of Adam and Eve's abundant/eternal life prior to Gen 3? They had (a) a trust-based connection with God (the Source of Life) and because of this (b) they willingly lived in harmony with (ie 'obedient to') the Law of life - self-renouncing love. This is the ONLY way life can viably work.
What happened in Gen 3? The were (a) deceived into distrusting God and (b) consequently chose self-seeking 'love' in place of their former self-renouncing love. The orientation of their heart was irreversibly (from a human perspective) changed. All subsequent members of humanity shared this inheritance of the first Adam (Rm 5:14) - an inheritance that is incompatible with life and therefore results in non-life (death via perishing/ruination as per Jn 3:16, 1 Pet 3:9, Rom 6:23).
What was needed for salvation? Because of Rm 5:14, someone from outside of humanity needed to enter humanity and retrace the path of the first Adam - but without deviation from self-renouncing into self-seeking like the first Adam unfortunately did. Hence Jesus became human (2 Cor 5:21 which parallels Heb 2:17 and Heb 4:15; Isa 53:12; Gal 3:13 and Rom 8:3) as the second Adam.
And what Jesus do as the second Adam? No matter what temptation was thrown at Him, Jesus would not depart from self-renouncing love as the Law of life even when it mean being put to death (Jn 15:13). Thus, Jesus as a human, succeeded where the first Adam failed. So now there is the first Adam's failure and his biological inheritance passed on to humanity (Rm 5:14). And then there is the second Adam's success and His spiritual inheritance passed on to whosoever believes (Jn 3:16) and is born again (Jn 3:3-6) back to living a life of self-renouncing rather than self-seeking love (1 Jn 2:3-10).
What does all this mean? If you track what I have outlined above, it means that salvation is the actual restoration of every human who is willing back from living in harmony with self-seeking back to living in harmony once again with self-renouncing love. Why? Because that is the only way (true) life is viable.
This is why living a life of self-renouncing love is central to salvation. This is the gospel. It is not just theory - it is an absolutely imperative practical reality. There is no other way that life is possible.
The last paragraph in today's lesson proposes that
I would however propose that Paul was actually telling new followers of Jesus that their lives, priorities and actions NEEDED to be changed because that is the only way that abundant life is possible - on a foundation of (a) connection with The Source of life (Heb 1:3; Acts 17:25,28) and (b) actually living in harmony with self-renouncing love because our heart's have been re-born by the Holy Spirit (Jn 3:3-6). The difference between these two perspectives may seem small - but it is infact a HUGE difference in terms of the awareness of the need for and the strength of motivation for actual, practical, real life change.
If we are saved by grace then what's all this about "Paul guide to living and loving well??"
In effect, Paul is saying that because of what God has done for us in Jesus, this is how we should live(Rom. 12:1, NIV).By not living out and sharing God's grace we render it impotent in our lives and deny others the opportunity of coming into contact with God through us.
"The follower of Jesus should be constantly improving in manners, in habits, in spirit, in labor. This is done by keeping the eye, not on mere outward, superficial attainments, but on Jesus. A transformation takes place in mind, in spirit, in character" (Gospel Workers, pp. 282, 283).
Hi Lenard
In support of what you are saying...
The Protestant doctrine of salvation by grace alone was developed by Martin Luther as a strong reaction against (a) the prevailing view of his time regarding salvation by penance and indulgences and (b) the crushing agony within Martin that he could never be good enough for God's 'holy standard' of behavioural perfection that he believed had to be attained in order to avoid 'eternal damnation'.
Unfortunately, while Martin's development importantly focused on (a) the error of the notion of being able to work our way into salvation and (b) the role of God's grace in salvation, it was an incomplete picture of salvation that has unfortunately stuck.
Paul presents the complete picture in Phil 2:12,13 when he outlines the necessity of 'working-out' God's grace (ie putting God's grace and His empowering into action so that we progressively grow and develop back into harmony with God's character).
I am not advocating a view of salvation by works - but a view of salvation as healing/restoration via a faith that is put to work (Jas 2:22) - all the while being a collaborative union of God in us, working-out our restoration back to the abundant life (Jn 10:10) that is the loving/serving God and loving/serving others.
It is Christ in us, the hope of glory!!!