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The concept of 'life' in Romans

Friday, August 10, 2007. 4 Comments:
At August 11, 2007, Anonymous Anonymous said...

It's nice to have a little bit of independent confirmation of my own thoughts. So often we read Paul only in light of guilt and judgment, which are obviously there. But it seems to me that death-life issues are just as prominent, particularly when Paul expounds the so-what of the gospel in 5-8.

 
At August 11, 2007, Blogger Kevin said...

What I think I was most surprised at was this: Paul doesn't seem to be saying, "now go live like this" but, "now you ought to be experiencing this new spiritual life." Paul is not devoid of mysticism.

 
At August 11, 2007, Blogger Kevin said...

I also find it encouraging to see that some Patristic thought is not *so* different from Paul after all.

 
At August 12, 2007, Blogger ~m said...

that's 'cause he is a mystic, kevin.

 

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Tonight I wrestled with Romans again. Though the letter remains largely opaque, Paul's argument is no longer a completely indiscernible. I see that although Paul spends the first six (or so) chapters describing the problem of sin and its solution (Christ died for us so we may be "justified" or, better, "be made righteous"), Paul also devotes much of his time to describing the complement of this: life. Although this concept is not developed to the degree that we find in the Gospel of John, it is still optimistic and realitic. By means of Christ and the Spirit, we really are freed from the hold of sin. Paul does not limit us to the cross, but calls us to life in Christ and the Spirit, which, when described in Romans 8 and the ethical chapters, does not appear so far off from some later Patristic descriptions of man becoming like God and participating in the divine life.

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