Life in the Spirit: A Reflection on Romans 8.12-17

A recurring theme on this blog (and indeed in the New Testament) is that being a Christian means living a radically different life. There is supposed to a marked difference between life following Jesus and life following our own impulses, between life with the Spirit and life outside of the Spirit. There are few places in the Scriptures where this is taught more explicitly than in today’s Epistle reading, and so, I think it’s worth revisiting today.

The reading comes in the middle of Romans 8, which is among the meatiest chapters in the whole Bible. The passage:

So then, 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. (Romans 8:12-17)

Paul starts here by calling back to the previous verse, reminding his readers that they — that we — are indebted to God for the great blessings bestowed upon us, namely the gift of the Holy Spirit active and present in our lives. This language of debt or obligation feels a bit odd to our minds, but becomes clearer when we remember that Roman society was a complicated hierarchy of reciprocal (but unequal) relationships — there was no such thing as independent free agents with no ties that bind or strings attached. So here Paul uses this language of debt to describe the relationship of faith/faithfulness. To be faithful to Christ means no longer living as though our obligations are to ‘the flesh’ — Paul’s favourite way of talking about our natural appetites and impulses — but to the Spirit so generously given to us.

Throughout history, including today, many Christians have focused on questions of personal righteousness here, generally on abstaining from certain foods, alcohol, and sex. But while the Spirit certainly has something to say about how we use and abuse our bodies, that’s not its main focus. Losing one’s temper, following one’s greed, or harming others in the name of ‘personal security’ are just as much ‘works of the flesh’ as drinking too much or any kind of sexual perversion. And, as always, the point is about producing good fruit, in our lives and for the sake of others. (”The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control” — if your faith is not promoting peace, patience, kindness, and generosity in the world, then it is not of Christ!)

So, getting back to the point at hand, there is a relationship here, and therefore obligation (as many of our Indigenous neighbours would rightly remind us, there is no relationship without reciprocity). But, Paul insists that the proper relationship is not one of slavery — we are no longer enslaved to ‘the flesh’ — but of adoption. Note that to Paul the opposite of slavery is not some sort of libertarian picture of unrestrained personal freedom, but the belonging (and reciprocity) of found family. As followers and friends of Jesus, we are adopted by his Father, so that we too may call God ‘Abba’, or ‘Dad’, and become co-heirs of the Kingdom of God, the Kingdom of Small Beginnings, of Losers, Misfits, and the Humble.

And that, my friends, is the meaning of Pentecost.

May we all live boldly, by the Spirit, for the sake of Christ, and for the benefit of the world around us.