Romans pt 30 - (5:6-11) Who is God in you?
6 You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. 7 Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. 8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. 9 Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him! 10 For if, while we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life! 11 Not only is this so, but we also boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation. (Ro 5:6–11).
Who are you?
Verses 6-8 bring up a thought exercise. He wants them to ponder their state and who they view themselves to be, and he will build off of that. It starts with a question about what kind of person we would lay down our life for. Paul lists three “tiers” of people as society sees them.
Righteous Person?
A righteous person for the Jews was someone devout, who kept the Torah, who was circumcised, who kept the sabbath, and followed all the Jewish dietary restrictions. In the Roman world, it was someone who was of high status. They had honor, a good name, they belonged to a good house, etc. The righteous, from culture to culture, are all of those whom both we desire to be and who we think represent the best of our culture.
They are the ones that everyone else should emulate.
Good Person?
A good person is someone who, though they struggle, they understand what is required of them and they are trying their best. They have potential. They take part in the system, and they honor those who deserve honor because they also plan on climbing the ladder one day.
They have bought in, and they are reaching for it.
Ungoldy Person?
The ungodly person is the one who breaks the Torah, who disrespects those in high places. They are the one who will not take part in the system. Their presence is disruptive, they are a blight on society. Thy are the ones whom society looks at and says “all of our problems are THEIR fault, and if they weren’t here, things would be ordered.” The Romans felt this way about the Jewish leaders. The Jewish leaders felt this way about average Jewish peasant. The Jewish peasants felt this way about the Romans. It is all of those who they let rot in prison, who they made their slaves, who they sent to die for entertainment as gladiators.
These were the throw-away humans.
Sometimes in the course of human history, there are moments where we must make a choice between one human and another, who lives and who dies. If someone volunteers to die in place of someone else, that is a proclamation of worth. It says “they are more important than me, I am lower than them. They should continue in life, I offer my own.” Paul says:
Verse 6-8 tells a story about the crucifixion of Jesus in which the Christ — the Jewish expression for King — dies for them while they are still in a state of ungodliness (Jewish lowliness), and powerlessness (Roman lowliness). The highest of the high, looking up to the lowest of the low and saying “their life matters more than my own.”
This story is not told in a vacuum for no reason. He wants them to understand how God looks at them, because he wants to address how they look at each other! He wants them to think about who they think they are, so that he can ask them who God thinks they are.
Who are you in God?
So how do you answer the question “Who am I in God?”, you start by simply asking “What does God tell people about me?” When God is at a party talking about you, using your name… what is he saying? Do you think he is telling the angels, yeah, she had such potential, but is turning into quite the disappointment?
Is he ashamed of you?
Much of modern Christianity tells you exactly that.
I want to be clear, if you believe that GOD views people this way, then you will eventually view people this way. That is one of the reasons we have the book of Romans, to interrupt how we view each other, and to learn to look at each other through the eyes of Jesus, not the angry, far away, sky God.
But the God that Paul is portraying in Romans 5:6-11 is one who views the lowest humans as higher than himself. Jesus takes the towel and lowers himself so that he can look up to his followers.
So that he can serve them.
So that he can show them how his power works.
Which brings us to question three.
Who are they to you?
Many Christians live in constant bitterness and anger at the world around them because they have been discipled by the empire towards status and honor. We have outbursts when someone disrespects us. There are moments throughout each day where you communicate that you are higher than others. Its often subconscious, its likely unintentional, but there is sometimes something that says on the social ladder, you and I are not on the same rung. It’s a look. It’s a shortness. It’s a tone. It’s the way you drive, how way you order your food. Its your availability for some and your lack of availability for others. It’s in the reasons you withheld something from one person and offered it to another… and why. As long as we are driven by the market forces of Rome, there will be unevenness. When Paul says in Romans 12:1 “be not conformed to the pattern of this world,” he is talking about exactly this.
When we misunderstand the cross, we miss Jesus lowering himself. Instead of exercising humility and lowering ourselves below others, we demand respect and honor from them, we attack and defend because we refuse to be viewed as less-than. This reveals an insufficient theology of the cross. Much of our spiritual paralysis, our inability to love our enemies and to have patience towards the most difficult people in our lives stems from a deficient view of the cross. It is because you don’t fully grasp what it means to take up your cross and follow Jesus.
To embrace christ, for the early Christians, was to embrace your dishonor in society.
But there is one more question:
Who is God in you?
If you were to visit any established city in the Empire of Rome, you would have seen temples all over the city. These temples didn’t function like churches today, you didn’t go to these temples to hear a sermon, or to sing songs. You didn’t go to these temples at all. In fact, the gates of the temple would likely have been locked except for a couple of days a year when they celebrated that deity. The point of the temples was simple: to house the image.
Most would have been one room, a massive room, with a massive, often gold, statue of the god in the temple.
And so look at what Paul tells those same Christians living in Corinth:
1 Corinthians 6:19–20 (NIV): 19 Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; 20 you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies.
Christian theology teaches that we are image bearers. We are temples. We house the image of God. This means that when people are in our presence, they are also in the presence of the divine image, and it should be easy to see.
When we ask “who is God in you?” we are asking about the image that you are portraying to the world. Is God portrayed in you as an authoritarian being, ruling from afar, eyes burning in anger at what he sees? Is God portrayed in your life as judgementalism and fear? Is he high above, looking down on everyone? Is he angry at them, threatening destruction because of their sin? OR…
As they gaze into your temple, do they see Christ? Can they see his cross? Is there a willingness to be dishonored out of love? Is there humility and grace? Do those who gather near feel seen, heard, and embraced?
Discussion Questions
1) Who are you to yourself? How do you perceive your own identity, and how does this perception influence your interactions with others in your community and church?
2) Who are you in God? How does your understanding of your relationship with God influence your self-perception and how you interact with others?
3) How does the idea of being a temple of the Holy Spirit, as mentioned in 1 Corinthians 6:19-20, impact how we should portray God to the world? How can we reflect the image of Christ and God's love in our interactions with others?
4) Paul believed that embracing the dishonor of the cross can set us free from the dishonors of the world (1 Corinthians 4:10–13). How can embracing humility and dishonor in our lives help us become more compassionate and loving towards others, especially those who are difficult to deal with?
5) We often communicate our social status subconsciously in our daily interactions. Can you think of examples in your own life where you may have unintentionally communicated a sense of superiority or inferiority to others? How can awareness of these subtle cues lead to more equitable relationships?
6) The sermon emphasizes the importance of portraying God's image through our actions and interactions with others. How can we actively work on reflecting the image of Christ in our everyday lives, and what specific actions can we take to ensure that others see grace, love, and humility in us as representatives of God?