Paul's letter to the Romans is unlike all of his other letters. The difference is that Paul is writing to a church that he didn't found and that he had never visited. Since no one in Rome really knows Paul (except maybe by reputation) or what he believes, Paul uses his letter to the Roman Church to introduce himself and to explain his theology of the Gospel that he preaches. Paul was not answering questions posed to him through letters sent to him; rather he was providing a well thought out explanation of theology about faith and grace, spiritual life and the Christian life. The chapters and the verses are structured in such a way that they detail in a comprehensive way what Paul believes and preaches.

This doesn't mean that it's easy to follow Paul's line of reasoning. I have to confess, I have always found Paul's way of explaining his Christian theology somewhat confusing. I have to struggle with it, study commentaries, try to give it more contemporary words in order to make sense of what he is trying to say. This is one of those sections that's particularly difficult. Someone has suggested that the reason Paul is difficult to understand, at least in this passage, is that Paul is thinking and talking in cosmic terms. What is meant by that statement is that Paul in not concentrating on us individuals, rather he is speaking about the community of faith, the church, and he is relating that to all of creation, everything that God has created. 

You see, you and I like to talk about ourselves. Everything that concerns us is about us. But Paul is not talking about us; he's talking about the whole universe of which we are only a small part, yet a vital part. Paul is looking at the big picture, what it looks like from God's perspective, not from ours. So one commentator has suggested that the way to state Paul's thoughts is this way: “Christian life is life in the Spirit because persons led by the Spirit are the children of God.” (1) Let's look at this a little more closely and see if we can make sense of this statement. 

We first of all have to look at who we are. You and I might say we are people. Others might say, “Yes, we are people, but we are people with a soul, with a spiritual dimension.” We might talk about our environment and how we fit into the world around us. We might describe ourselves by our behaviors. We might also want to identify ourselves by what we do, those things that give our lives meaning and purpose. Or we might refer to ourselves as belonging to a particular family or group of people.

Paul however has a different way at looking at our identity. According to one version of scripture (NRSV), Paul says that we live in the Spirit, not in the flesh or under the law. What he means is that life is described as sin or holiness; we either live as sinful human beings or we live as children of God. There's no in between. Our true identity according to Paul is that we are people who have a relationship with God. And that's how the Christian faith defines us human beings: we are people in relationship, in relationship with God and in relationship with one another and in relationship with the rest of creation. The term that Paul uses is that we are children of God. How does that happen? Originally we are created by God and that makes us children of God. Yet through sin we have broken that relationship with God, a brokeness that separates us from God putting great distance between us and our creator God. So how do we get back into that relationship with God? WE can't. Nothing that we can do can close our distance from God. Ultimately it takes God to close that distance, which in Paul's words is that God adopts us. 

And in Paul's understanding, we are adopted by God through what Christ Jesus and his death and resurrection did for us. Through Christ's death we are saved or reconciled to God; the distance between us has been closed by forgiveness or grace. Once we are brought back to God, we now have a new relationship with God: God adopts us as children of God. But because this is a new relationship to God, we can't go back to where we were, we can't put distance between us and God again, and remain a child of God. Because we have become and are children of God, we now live a new life. We call this the Christian life style, Paul calls it life in the Spirit.

Look. We Christians are supposed to be different. I don't mean that we go out and judge and condemn other people. What I mean is that we live our lives differently than the rest of society. We don't live like people in sin. We have left the sinful life behind. We seek to do good first. We forgive rather than retaliate. We love rather than hate. We open up wholesome and godly possibilities, not only for ourselves but also for others. We offer people and communities hope in the midst of despair. We put first things first in life, first things like God and love. We are people of grace as God is a God of grace.

Because Paul is speaking in cosmic terms and really not in personal terms, the gift of grace that we experience goes way beyond my own salvation as an individual. In a sense Paul says that as we enter grace or the forgiveness of love there is more to come. For the grace I experience is not just for today, but it is for the rest of my earthly life and also for eternal life. It's not only meant for me, but for the world. As I live this grace, others will be blessed and they too are offered grace. My community is transformed into a better and more holy place because I live my grace in that place. The world I live in, all of creation is blessed and made more wholesome by the way I live faithfully to Christ. All future history itself is changed for the glory of God because I live life in the spirit. Don't ever think that how I live my life makes no difference to any one else or to the world at large or will not make a difference for all of the future. God gave us grace so that everything that God created might be saved. And salvation begins within each one of us.

(1) The quote and ideas for this sermon were taken from Marion Soards, Thomas Dozeman, and Kendall McCabe, Preaching the Revised Common Lectionary: Year C: Lent/Easter (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1994), pp. 175-177.