Content related to Romans 8

Symposium 2021: Children of God

A well-known American theologian named Dale Bruner wrote a book about the Holy Spirit several years ago, and he titled his book The Holy Spirit: The Shy Member of the Trinity. In his book Dr. Bruner shows how often the Holy Spirit works silently behind the scenes, rarely pointing to himself but always pointing the…

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Symposium 2021: The Realm of the Spirit

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Symposium 2021: No Condemnation

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Romans 8:26-39

Proper 12A

So many Christians cherish this passage that it’s sometimes easy to lose sight of its central meaning.  Paul talks in it about pivotal truths like providence, predestination and justification.  Yet all of those things are like signs along the road that point to one central truth: God’s love is as invincible as it is sometimes…

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Romans 8:12-25

Proper 11A

Parents take better care of their attractive children than they do their less attractive ones. At least that’s what an article in the 2008 edition of The New York Times reported Canadian researchers discovered. Researchers at the University of Alberta observed more than 400 parents’ treatment of their children during 14 different trips to supermarkets….

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Romans 8:1-11

Proper 10A

Few cinematic images are more powerful than that of a courtroom as a verdict is announced. In classic movies, the judge often verbally polls each individual member of the jury. Each offers crushing repetition. It’s especially poignant when the verdict is “Guilty! Guilty! Guilty!” The fear of having some great power or person pronounce us…

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Romans 8:6-11

Lent 5A

Romans 8: is there a better loved, more soaring passage in the New Testament than this one?   There is much here to linger over, savor, celebrate.  The Lectionary carves out only six verses but the truth is, Romans 8:1-17 form such a logical—and also lyric—unit that I would suggest reading all 17 verses, and indeed,…

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Romans 8:14-17

Pentecost C

Parents take better care of their attractive children than they do their ugly ones.  At least that’s what an article in a 2006 edition of The New York Times reported Canadian researchers concluded after observing more than 400 parents’ treatment of their children during 14 different trips to supermarkets.  They deduced that physical attractiveness makes…

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Romans 8:12-17

Trinity Sunday B

It should be no mystery why the Lectionary chose this passage as a Trinity Sunday text.  Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are all nicely on display in these half-dozen verses.  Of course, if you also chose the Romans 8 Lectionary text option for Pentecost last week, then you realize that for some reason the Lectionary…

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Romans 8:22-27

Pentecost B

Theologian and musician Jeremy Begbie has pointed out that all tonal music in the Western world relies on patterns of tension and resolution.  Songs begin somewhere, take us on a journey through a variety of ensuing notes and melodies, and then finally bring us back to where we started.  It is a pattern of what…

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