Day 1 | Paying Attention to Attention

Read: Romans 8:1-8 The Kingdom New Testament

God’s Action in Messiah and Spirit

8 So, therefore, there is no condemnation for those in the Messiah, Jesus! 2 Why not? Because the law of the spirit of life in the Messiah, Jesus, released you from the law of sin and death.

3 For God has done what the law (being weak because of human flesh) was incapable of doing. God sent his own son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and as a sin-offering; and, right there in the flesh, he condemned sin. 4 This was in order that the right and proper verdict of the law could be fulfilled in us, as we live not according to the flesh but according to the spirit.

The Work of the Spirit

5 Look at it like this. People whose lives are determined by human flesh focus their minds on matters to do with the flesh, but people whose lives are determined by the spirit focus their minds on matters to do with the spirit. 6 Focus the mind on the flesh, and you’ll die; but focus it on the spirit, and you’ll have life, and peace. 7 The mind focused on the flesh, you see, is hostile to God. It doesn’t submit to God’s law; in fact, it can’t. 8 Those who are determined by the flesh can’t please God.

THE KINGDOM NEW TESTAMENT: A CONTEMPORARY TRANSLATION by N.T. WRIGHT. Copyright (c) 2011 by Nicholas Thomas Wright. Courtesy of HarperCollins Publishers. Used by permission.

Reflect:

This passage can get confusing between all the mentions of flesh and spirit. Where do you usually hear the language of flesh and spirit talked about, whether in church or popular media? Think of some ways these uses may align or diverge from Paul’s use here. Take some time to journal about this.

Consider:

This passage relies on two claims: the promise of life and the luring of sin onto a single place. Why? God draws sin onto one point and, having condemned it right there, has done so in order to give, by the Spirit, the new life which Torah by itself could not give. God could not come to dwell where sin was still powerful and polluting. Sin had to be dealt with completely so that God’s life—God’s spirit—could dwell in the Messiah's people. This passage is perhaps the clearest New Testament statement of what we commonly call “penal substitution.” But that phrase covers several different meanings, and some of the popular ones are, at best, sub-biblical and misleading. To understand that phrase fully, the full story of God’s purposes must be considered.

Consider a story told in the north of Scotland to help illuminate this picture of sin being collected onto one place and there dealt with. It’s about how a fox gets rid of the fleas that have taken up residence in its fur.

A fox went slowly along a hedgerow, collecting a bunch of sheep's wool that had brushed off on the hedge. The fox then rolled this wool into a ball and went to a nearby stream, carrying the wool in its mouth. Slowly, very slowly, the fox waded down into the water, allowing the fleas time to realize what was going on and to seek higher ground on the fox’s back. Eventually, only the fox's head was visible, with the ball of wool, in its mouth, dry above the water, all the fleas now collected there to avoid the water. At last, the fox let go of the ball of wool, which floated off downstream with all the fleas on board, allowing the fox to emerge free of fleas. God drew sin, slowly but surely, onto the one place—the people who cherished Torah but found that it condemned them—so that the Messiah, as Israel's representative, could take that burden upon himself, dying under its weight. The Lamb of God, like the sheep's wool, carried sin off downstream so that his people could emerge clean. There is no condemnation for those in the Messiah because God has condemned sin in his flesh.

Practice:

Take a moment to meditate on and assess where your attention has been lately. Are there any areas in your life where your mind is focused on so-called fleshly matters? Pray for God to help you pay attention to what you’re paying attention to this week.