We know that the whole creation has been groaning in labor pains until now; and not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly while we wait for adoption, the redemption of our bodies. (Romans 8:22-23)
Living in the first-century Hellenistic world, Paul had no inkling of the Darwinian theory of evolution, nor of our contemporary scientific view that the universe began in a hot big bang and has been evolving into more complex and interesting forms ever since. But Paul did have something much of the Hellenistic world lacked, something that makes his thought closer to our own: a sense of the future, a sense that the universe is going somewhere, a sense that the universe is bringing forth something new and not just an eternal return of the same cycle of ages and epochs. Some historians suggest that one of the reasons Christianity caught on in the ancient world (along with its practice of radical hospitality) was that it gave people a hope for the future in place of an expectation of unending repetition. Paul says the creation is "groaning in labor pains," and that image of birth, even though it involves struggle and pain, that image of birth implies hope for something new in the world.
And Paul clearly ties that something new to the work of the Spirit. The Spirit, the immanent and active empowering and unifying power of God, is, Paul asserts, involved in the world now in a new way, and that new way has transformative potential for the whole universe. "We ourselves," Paul says, we followers of Jesus, "have the first fruits of the Spirit" — that is, we have in ourselves the beginnings of transformation in a new relational way of living that can change everything. Because of Jesus, because of the embodiment of divine Word and Wisdom in the human life of Jesus, because of Jesus’ faithful living-out of God’s purposes for him, because of Jesus’ death and resurrection, a new way has been opened up for the Spirit to enter into the very constitution of human life, a new way has been created for human spirit and Holy Spirit to synergize in enacting divine ideals of justice and peace and compassion and love in the very concrete and down-to-earth activities of human life. The Spirit empowers us to share with God the very same kind of relationship that Jesus has with God, so that, like Jesus, we can become agents and instruments of God’s love in the world.
This is not yet a fully accomplished transformation: we have just the “first fruits,” we are still “groaning” inwardly as we await the full new birth. But something new is already happening in us, and we can bring that newness to bear in the work of helping the universe itself in its labor of new birth. Relationships of justice and peace and compassion and love begun among us by the Spirit can and must be extended and enlarged, by the Spirit’s empowerment, to embrace all sorts and conditions of people and places and creatures and environments and ecosystems and even the most fundamental processes by which we exist in the world. We, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, are called to be midwives of the universe in labor to give birth to the New Creation.
That’s all very grand and cosmic — but it’s also very personal. We participate in the New Creation with every moment of our personal experience. When you speak to someone, that is a creative act. When you choose how to respond to someone’s emotions, with compassion or caring or anger or indifference or rejection or patience, that is a creative act. When you open your eyes and look at the scene in front of you, and your brain assembles thousands of nerve impulses into a visual image, and your preconscious mind connects the image to memories of other images and provides an identity and a context for what you’re seeing, and your emotional infrastructure provides feelings and responses and likes and dislikes and flights and fights and attractions and affections for what you’re seeing, and the whole thing comes to your consciousness as a world to be part of — that is a creative act. And the Spirit also enters into that creative act, lifting our perspectives beyond our own immediate horizons, and empowering us to respond with capacities for love beyond what we thought we were capable of. We midwife the New Creation in every moment, and out of those moments we, with the Spirit, build the transformation of personality, and community, and society, and ecology, and everything.
What new bit of the future, what first fruits of the New Creation will you birth today?
Living in the first-century Hellenistic world, Paul had no inkling of the Darwinian theory of evolution, nor of our contemporary scientific view that the universe began in a hot big bang and has been evolving into more complex and interesting forms ever since. But Paul did have something much of the Hellenistic world lacked, something that makes his thought closer to our own: a sense of the future, a sense that the universe is going somewhere, a sense that the universe is bringing forth something new and not just an eternal return of the same cycle of ages and epochs. Some historians suggest that one of the reasons Christianity caught on in the ancient world (along with its practice of radical hospitality) was that it gave people a hope for the future in place of an expectation of unending repetition. Paul says the creation is "groaning in labor pains," and that image of birth, even though it involves struggle and pain, that image of birth implies hope for something new in the world.
And Paul clearly ties that something new to the work of the Spirit. The Spirit, the immanent and active empowering and unifying power of God, is, Paul asserts, involved in the world now in a new way, and that new way has transformative potential for the whole universe. "We ourselves," Paul says, we followers of Jesus, "have the first fruits of the Spirit" — that is, we have in ourselves the beginnings of transformation in a new relational way of living that can change everything. Because of Jesus, because of the embodiment of divine Word and Wisdom in the human life of Jesus, because of Jesus’ faithful living-out of God’s purposes for him, because of Jesus’ death and resurrection, a new way has been opened up for the Spirit to enter into the very constitution of human life, a new way has been created for human spirit and Holy Spirit to synergize in enacting divine ideals of justice and peace and compassion and love in the very concrete and down-to-earth activities of human life. The Spirit empowers us to share with God the very same kind of relationship that Jesus has with God, so that, like Jesus, we can become agents and instruments of God’s love in the world.
This is not yet a fully accomplished transformation: we have just the “first fruits,” we are still “groaning” inwardly as we await the full new birth. But something new is already happening in us, and we can bring that newness to bear in the work of helping the universe itself in its labor of new birth. Relationships of justice and peace and compassion and love begun among us by the Spirit can and must be extended and enlarged, by the Spirit’s empowerment, to embrace all sorts and conditions of people and places and creatures and environments and ecosystems and even the most fundamental processes by which we exist in the world. We, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, are called to be midwives of the universe in labor to give birth to the New Creation.
That’s all very grand and cosmic — but it’s also very personal. We participate in the New Creation with every moment of our personal experience. When you speak to someone, that is a creative act. When you choose how to respond to someone’s emotions, with compassion or caring or anger or indifference or rejection or patience, that is a creative act. When you open your eyes and look at the scene in front of you, and your brain assembles thousands of nerve impulses into a visual image, and your preconscious mind connects the image to memories of other images and provides an identity and a context for what you’re seeing, and your emotional infrastructure provides feelings and responses and likes and dislikes and flights and fights and attractions and affections for what you’re seeing, and the whole thing comes to your consciousness as a world to be part of — that is a creative act. And the Spirit also enters into that creative act, lifting our perspectives beyond our own immediate horizons, and empowering us to respond with capacities for love beyond what we thought we were capable of. We midwife the New Creation in every moment, and out of those moments we, with the Spirit, build the transformation of personality, and community, and society, and ecology, and everything.
What new bit of the future, what first fruits of the New Creation will you birth today?
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