Friday 16 January 2015

Psalm: Psalm 103

Background

At the beginning of this passage Paul is challenging those whoargued that if God forgave sinners then we should go on doing wrongas the more a person did that the more God would forgive them andmore grace they would receive. For Paul this idea was nonsense, forby entering into a relationship with God, through Jesus Christ, wehave died to such things.

Those originally listening to Paul would be very familiar to thepractice of Baptism, which tended to be for adults, and was apublic sign of seeking forgiveness from God and being given a newstart, as was the case for people being baptized by John in theRiver Jordan (Mark 1:4-5). Paul takes this a step further andlinks the actions within a Baptism to the life of Jesus. With thepractice of full immersion it's as if the water buries the personbeing baptized, which Paul uses as a sign of being linked to Jesus'death. Equally, the raising up out of the water is a powerful signof being united with Christ's resurrection (verse 5). The sinfulbody is destroyed as part of this process (verse 6) and we aregiven a new life in return (verse 4).

As far as Paul is concerned, the death and resurrection of JesusChrist has once and for all time (verse 10) mended the relationshipbetween God and his creation which had been broken since the timeof Adam (Romans 5:12). Death or sin no longer has powerover Jesus (verse 9), and so feeling trapped by doing the wrongthings or taking the wrong paths in life as a result should nolonger have power over those who follow him. Instead we all havethe opportunity to be "alive to God in Christ Jesus" (verse11).

To Ponder

• Consider times in your life when you found it hard to do theright thing and think about what it was that helped youthrough.

• Pray for those who feel oppressed by what they have donewrong.

• Give thanks for those who have experienced a new beginning totheir life as a result of God's forgiveness.