The eighth chapter of Romans, following Paul’s confession “wretched
man that I am”, begins with a capital T “therefore” that should be underlined,
highlighted and printed in bold. “Therefore
there is no condemnation…” which leads Paul to declare by the end of the
chapter that he is convinced that the capital T “therefore” means nothing can
separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus. In between the beginning and
the end of the chapter Paul exhorts the Romans to live fully into this new
reality. So to set one’s mind on the flesh in spite of this new “nothing
can separate us” reality is to live as if death still had the last word which
is to give death more than its due. The trouble is we still live in the land
where death appears to have more power than life no matter where one’s mind is
focused so that even when we believe our minds are fully set on the Spirit our
lives have little peace. So what is a mind to do? Well maybe a little less
thinking about what happens in the middle of chapter eight in favor of letting the
beginning and the end have its way with us. Therefore nothing (not even our
minds set on the flesh?) can separate us from the love of God. Peace.
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