Forgiveness in Christ: A Study in Romans 8Sample

Physical Redemption

The redemption of our bodies. (v. 23)

The bodily resurrection of Jesus is the foundation of the Christian faith. Everything we believe and hope for depends on the fact that Jesus’s physical body rose from the grave. Paul puts it plainly: “If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied” (1 Cor. 15:17-19). Christ’s resurrection is the fulcrum of our faith and the promise that we, too, will experience resurrection.

The elderly man who shuffles his feet from the living room chair to the dining room table, step by painful step, knows deeply what Paul promises so beautifully. “We wait for the redemption of our bodies.” The young child who is tongue-tied because of some twist in the synapses of her brain, who has yet to speak a sentence clearly, knows well what Paul proclaimed. “We wait for the redemption of our bodies.” The person in the specialist’s waiting room, fearful of the diagnosis about to be offered, tired of treatments and medications, knows what Paul has in mind. “We wait for the redemption of our bodies.”

Christ’s death and resurrection set us free from sin and assure us that one day, our bodies will be redeemed. Until that day, we wait.

As you pray, ask God for patience as you wait for the redemption of your body.