Romans 8:12 So then, brothers, we don’t owe a thing to our old nature that would require us to live according to our old nature. 13 For if you live according to your old nature, you will certainly die; but if, by the Spirit, you keep putting to death the practices of the body, you will live.
14 All who are led by God’s Spirit are God’s sons. 15 For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to bring you back again into fear; on the contrary, you received the Spirit, who makes us sons and by whose power we cry out, “Abba!” (that is, “Dear Father!”). 16 The Spirit himself bears witness with our own spirits that we are children of God; 17 and if we are children, then we are also heirs, heirs of God and joint-heirs with the Messiah — provided we are suffering with him in order also to be glorified with him. (Complete Jewish Bible).
Paul uses the word "flesh" to represent sin, death and the devil--a chasing after other gods, in other words breaking the First Commandment. The choice for Paul could not be clearer: life in Jesus or death in sin.
The irony that Jesus died for our sins and was raised to new life should not escape us. We too die to sin in baptism and are raised to new life in Jesus Christ. In baptism, we are adopted by God, grafted into God's family, cared for like God's own and called God's sons and daughters. This adoption means that God addresses our inability to escape from sin and give our life freely to God. God hears our call of desperation, our inability to care for ourselves and responds by adopting us and caring for us as God's own. God becomes our parent, teacher and guide where we learn from God, trust God and follow God's way. The beauty is that God cares for us like God cared for God's only son and gives us the same spirit that was in Jesus Christ. May the Spirit of Christ dwell in you richly.
O God, we give thanks that through baptism, we are adopted into your family and claimed as your own children. As a member of God's family, we are protected from all evil. Help us to know that the Spirit of Christ has defeated sin, death and the devil and the spirit now lives in us through Jesus Christ. Amen.
Micah Pearson, '14
Pastor at Woodlake Lutheran Church, Richfield, Minn.
Romans 8:12 So then, brothers and sisters, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh--
13 for if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.
14 For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God.
15 For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received a spirit of adoption. When we cry, "Abba! Father!"
16 it is that very Spirit bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God,
17 and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ--if, in fact, we suffer with him so that we may also be glorified with him. (New Revised Standard Bible)
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