Epistle 0723 Reflection

The Epistle

Romans 8:12-25

Brothers and sisters, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh – 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. For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God. 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!” it is that very Spirit bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God, 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.

I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory about to be revealed to us. For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the children of God; for the creation was subjected to futility, not of its own will but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and will obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. We know that the whole creation has been groaning in labor pains until now; and not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly while we wait for adoption, the redemption of our bodies. For in hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what is seen? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.

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As one who has been adopted, I love this theme of adoption.  I don’t need to strive to imagine what this looks like or how it feels.  I need only think of my adopted parents, how they took me into their home when I was 14, and how they made me their son.  Initially I did not fully appreciate the grace they showed me and how they strove to shape me into the man I am now.  But with the passing of time and advancement into adulthood, I came to appreciate them and what they did.  This holds true for my relationship with God also.  This Epistle reminds me that I and all Christians have been adopted by God who has worked on us to show us that we are sons and daughters of God.  I dare say that all of us did not truly appreciate this at some point.  But hopefully today we do appreciate fully, and will come to appreciate even more, the depths of the love of God which caused God to reach out to us and embrace us as his own.

There is something else in this passage as well.  Paul speaks of how we cry for the fullness of our redemption, even telling us that the creation itself cries out for that redemption.  We are now in the Time of the Church.  We have heard the fullness of the promises of the Gospel once more.  We know what awaits us.  Life eternal in the Kingdom of our God, in that place where sin and death are no more, where there are no more farewells from those we love, is held before us.  Advent is a long way away, and yet this Epistle reminds is that the Advent cry should be loud and passionate.  We look for something greater.  We long for Christ to fulfill the promises we have received and to which we cling by faith, longing to know these promises no longer by faith but with sight perfected in the resurrection of those who have been numbered among the children of God, joined in Christ, and clothed in his own life.

Father Tim+