Praying Together 25th June 2023

What then are we to say??? Paul’s rhetorical question offers a response to the previous chapter 5, (specifically 5:20 ‘where sin increases, grace abounds all the more’) in which he proclaims that God’s Grace in Jesus is the response to human sin. He wonders whether when people accept this, and particularly when they hear elsewhere that they have to forgive others seventy times seven, that they will think that they may just as well keep on sinning because their sin will be forgiven every time. In fact, the greater the sin, the greater the forgiveness. In that case, the prodigal son may as well come home bringing his washing for his Mum, enjoy the fattened calf for dinner and then clear off to his previous life again.

Paul addresses the concern that by claiming salvation through grace alone, people will simply behave as they pleased without any moral constraint. Through the years, theologians have struggled with this – Martin Luther even had a name for those who believed it – he called it ‘antinomianism’.

In response he said that the Christian way of life post-Baptism is a process of growing throughout our lives, being simultaneously both sinner and saint, continually taking three steps forward, two steps back. Paul describes this as dying to sin and being born again in Christ. In Him, we are aware of our sin and its consequences.

The argument is complex, and the discussion continues. However, when it comes down to it in our day-to-day lives, it is quite simple. When we are baptised in Christ, washed free of our past, we have the opportunity of starting again. We try – and will inevitably fail. But that mustn’t stop us trying.