This morning after I finally got around to my read in Romans, I just couldn't let these thoughts go.
In case you are a new reader, distractions and delays are frequent nowadays with the new pup training, and then last night, a special treat, a sleep over for the grandson, then of course school drop off. Love being a Poppi!
Back to my read, the more I scrutinize Romans 5:6-11, the easier it is to see that Paul was using language to dispell long held religious misunderstandings of God, who was truly the Christ incarnate.
In the eyes of his audience, all were ungodly, though fervently practicing rituals for appeasement whether Jew or Gentile, when in reality, they themselves (a recent aHa! for even Paul) were created in God's image, a Being self-identified as love.
Given that they considered themselves sinners, as Moses had portrayed them since Eden (I'm sure he had justification for his distain at times) sacrifices seemed still necessary.
Though even well before Moses, when Abraham out of a sense of desire for appeasement, attempted to offer his long awaited son, Isaac up as a sacrifice, God had an angel intervene, not only respecting Abraham's deep desire to please, but God's own intent to one day provide a ram "caught in a thicket".
Religion still holds us in a thicket today, the Ram (this One without blemish) ever bleating, but we humans still, like Paul's audience, tend toward our Mosaic Law based understanding, portraying a wrathful God bent on our destruction, unless we demonstrate a righteousness that satisfies the Law!
The Law as Paul came to see it was a "school master, frustrating us toward grace."
In Roman's 5, Paul's drives a stake in the ground on their wrath driven thoughts by saying, "For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly." â€Romans 5:6 NASB.
He then goes on to unravel the thought that we are considered "sinners in the eyes of an angry God" a concept far too long leveraged by evangelicals.
Paul then goes on to emphasize that it would be unlikely (scarcely his words) for one of them to even consider dying for another, even for a righteous man!
But God, has shown His true colors in that while we were still locked into a mindset of sin, Christ, who was God incarnate, "loved us to death".
Paul's logic thus dispells their concerns for wrath, in that this Lamb now sacrificed, surely justifies them, reconciling them to God. Their long sought atonement now achieved!
Better yet, with Jesus now raised from the dead, we can now "joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ". Not only appeasement but fellowship and joy!
Apparently that was still not enough to turn their hearts from an Old Covenant mentality (metanoi), so he goes on further, unpacking their well reinforced First Adam consequences, then leading them again toward the Second Adam and the "free gift"!
"Where sin abounded, grace does much more abound."
You'd think the Good News of grace would by now to be pretty clear:
"as sin reigned in death, even so grace would reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord." Rm 5:21.
Why is religion so often chosen over Love? It's the fear of wrath...the source of that fear, religion, misconstrued logic and language!
"Perfect love casts out fear!"
Let it happen, cause you truly are loved!
Then live into the Being you were created to represent. We were called the Sons of God for a reason!
Selah!