Saturday 24 May 2008

Background

Later in this chapter Paul is wrestling with a problem that hasexercised Christians ever since - what happened on the Cross? Paulfrequently uses illustrations from the law courts to express hisunderstanding of this problem. Though helpful, this carries adanger. It might lead us to think we can say all that needs to besaid about the Cross of Jesus in terms of ideas like the wrath ofGod, reconciliation and so on. Here in verse 5, before he embarkson that work of explanation, Paul puts down a marker and in doingso gives us a reference point against which we are to evaluateeverything else he says on the subject. "God's love has been pouredinto our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given tous".

The most amazing thing here is that it goes so far beyond assertingmerely that God loves us, though on any account that is remarkableenough. Paul's claim is that God has "poured his love" into ourhearts, something absurdly generous, something whose effect is totransform us beyond recognition.

It was this sort of experience that transformed John Wesley fromthe dejected, failed, misfit clergyman returned home frommissionary work in America into a powerhouse that transformed thesocial and political life of Britain.

Often when we read the Bible we are liable to lose track of time.Has this happened? Will it happen soon? Did it happen a long timeago? Here Paul uses the past tense, and perhaps he is speaking onbehalf of a community for whom that was absolutely correct.

To Ponder

The challenge for us all is to ask ourselveswhether the experience of which Paul speaks is anything like ourown. Have our hearts been flooded with the sense that God loves us?Are our hearts overflowing with the love of God for the world andGod's people?

In what spirit do we even ask such questions? Isit about keeping ourselves up to scratch? Or is it aboutacknowledging that God's love has not yet accomplished in useverything that God hopes for? And if that has not yet beenaccomplished, where do we go from here?

Do the words of Paul come to you as if fromanother planet, across vast empty space? Or can you recognise inthem something that - in part - matches your own experience? Areyou eager for more?