Friday, January 29, 2010

"I am the Vine, and you are the branches"--Romans 8:3-6

3 For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh, 4 that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. 5 For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit.6 For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.

I like plant metaphors!
To have the life of the Spirit is, I think, another way of putting the same truth that’s expressed by saying you’re part of the Body of Christ or you are a branch on the vine. The sap that runs through you belongs to a larger organism than yourself, a complete function of itself, of which you aren’t the whole but to which you wholly belong. That function or direction of the larger organism is to be completely your function; ie, if you are a leaf on a plant you are entirely given over to producing photosynthetic material, to the greater end that the plant might flourish and produce fruit. Such is the law of the plant—what happens to a living leaf, just by the nature of the way things are. To the extent that you’re not doing this, you’re not acting like part of the plant and you’re in enmity to it—you’re a parasite and a disease. And if the sap isn’t in you, you’re not part of the plant and as far as the plant is concerned you are dead.. You might still perform actions suitable to not being part of the plant, such as cell breakdown and getting eaten by bugs, but you’re not part of the greater life anymore. And you’re really pathetic, and you’ll die really soon. Such is the law of decomposition—the way nature works on a detached leaf. I think John 15 is talking about this. In this way, the law that brings death is actually the same law that brings life.

But that’s a passive metaphor… you’re part of the plant, its sap circulates through you, etc. What I like so much about Romans 8 (or maybe it’s just this translation) is its combination of active and passive words. When you’re in the Spirit, you are “walking” according to the Spirit, and you “set your mind” on the things of the Spirit. That’s what bothered me about this passage; because it makes it seem like once you are, through Christ Jesus, filled with the life of the Spirit, you will automatically be transformed into a creature that is free from the ways of the flesh and doesn’t follow them anymore. This doesn’t go along with observation, either of myself or of other people. It’s way too easy to sometimes have your mind on the things of the spirit and on the things of the flesh.

Martin Luther says that Romans 8 “gives comfort to those who are engaged in this warfare (struggling against the flesh, I think), and says that the flesh shall not condemn them.” That is, that as long as they are struggling against it and towards God, in Christ Jesus they are pleasing to him even as they fail and fail. We are children of God as long as we strive to put the flesh to death. So my plant metaphor breaks down a bit here. Not really, though. Life is just a very long wait to see if a graft will take or fail, assuming that the severed branch has some choice in the matter of whether it will be transformed to the new parent plant or remain itself.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I see a lot of truth in your metaphor. IMO, the Bible supports your premise that God's life for us is found in context of the body of Christ [as well as in other ways]. We have access to this life because we are grafted into his body-- "the church of the *living* God"! (1 Tim 3:15)

> But that’s a passive metaphor… you’re part of the plant, its sap circulates through you, etc
I think your "sap" idea is the truth. Look at 2 Cor 9:1-15:
1: Now it is superfluous for me to write to you about the ministry for the saints, […]
6: The point is this: whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. […]
8: And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work.
9: As it is written,
“He has distributed freely, he has given to the poor;
his righteousness endures forever.”
10: He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and increase the harvest of your righteousness.
11: You will be enriched in every way for all your generosity, which through us will produce thanksgiving to God.
12: For the ministry of this service is not only supplying the needs of the saints, but is also overflowing in many thanksgivings to God.
13: By their approval of this service, they will glorify God because of your submission flowing from your confession of the gospel of Christ, and the generosity of your contribution for them and for all others,
14: while they long for you and pray for you, because of the surpassing grace of God upon you.
15: Thanks be to God for his inexpressible gift!

In those verses, I see the "the sap running" in many directions. eg: 1) God gives us the sap of "surpassing grace" so that we "can abound in every good work" to other saints. 2) Our works of service are "also overflowing in many thanksgivings" of the other saints back to God. 3) This causes the other saints "to long for and pray for us". 4) God is "the increase of the harvest of our righteousness".

Sounds to me like the Life of God running throughout the Body of Christ! The sap indeed will "enrich [us] in every way".