Romans 8:6-11

Lent 5 - Year A

Romans 8:6-11

Peering behind the word “condemnation” is this interesting definition of its Hebrew root: "by one's good example to render another's wickedness the more evident and censurable."

This sets Jesus and like avatars as background against which we better see ourselves and open choices of how we are going to proceed. This sort of condemnation sets a more positive direction than that of a doing away with, an annihilating. This sort of condemnation helps look at an otherwise dualistic split of flesh and spirit - it keeps them related.

This sort of condemnation stops short Paul’s description of sinful dead bodies versus righteous spirit living. When we move beyond that dichotomy we find the mortal connected with the immortal and any other either/or approach to life.

There is more than one way to arrive at relational unities rather than divisive dualities. For those in the Christian tradition these days it is important to listen to the last verse. From The Message: “When [G*D] lives and breathes in you (and [G*D] does, as surely as [G*D] did in Jesus), you are delivered from that dead life. With [G*D’s] Spirit living in you, your body will be as alive as Christ’s!”

Imagine G*D in you, you in G*D. If that doesn’t enliven, I wonder what would.