Real Hope: The TempleSample

United

Any Jewish person in the first century who clapped eyes on the Apostle Paul’s letter to Christians in Rome could not have missed it.

Having spilled a lot of ink on the pained, strained history of God and His people (read Romans 9–11), Paul alludes to established patterns and places in Jewish religious observance. Note the references in Romans 12:1–5 to sacrifice, worship, and corporate gathering. The undeniable echoes of temple law and systems scream of so much of what we see recorded within the Old Covenant.

However, there are wonderful differences for those under the New Covenant ushered in by Jesus Christ. In the power of the Spirit (Romans 8:1–17), we are to offer our entire selves as a ‘living sacrifice’. This is how we worship God—holistically, renewed, saved—and we’re called to do this together. United, we lovingly pursue God’s good, pleasing and perfect will.

Written by BEN MCEACHEN