Wrapping Paper (Once More)

For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.  Romans 6:23  NASB

In – Yes, God’s gift of life is free, but it comes packaged in a particular way.  We are often so intent on getting the gift that we ignore the wrapping.  In fact, some of us don’t even know the package was wrapped.  We just want the gift.  But the packaging is important to Paul.  He describes all the glorious wrapping in one tiny Greek preposition, en.  In fact, en Christos is a Pauline technical phrase that carries a great deal of meaning.

What does it mean, then, to have eternal life en Christos?  Well, here’s what it doesn’t mean.  The free gift isn’t from Christ.  It is from God through the Messiah, the anointed one.  The gift of eternal life is not a personal possession.  It is found in the Messiah.  I don’t own eternal life once I have accepted the gift.  It is a relationship that operates while I am actively engaged in it.  Eternal life is not a “get out of Hell free” ticket. There is no ticket at all.  It’s relationship or nothing.  Eternal life does not depend on some religious formula.  It isn’t the result of a proper prayer.  It is God’s gift-wrapped God’s way even if I don’t know anything about the right words or the gift wrapping.  Paul’s statement is not a mechanism for salvation.  It is an ontological fact of the universe.

Here’s what I do know about “in Christ.”  Like most Hebraic ideas, it is active and relational.  I participate in eternal life because I have a relationship with the Messiah, but the eternal life that I experience now and later is packaged as “eternal life in Yeshua HaMashiach.”  You can’t separate “eternal life” from “Yeshua HaMashiach.”  They are the same thing—one thing, not two.  Oh, and did you notice that Yeshua HaMashiach is also not separated from kyrio (“our Lord”)?  He isn’t the “Savior” unless he is “the Lord,” and God doesn’t gift you with some present called “eternal life” without a relationship to “our” Lord.  That tells me something else about being “in Christ.”  It is a packaged deal and it involves more than me.  Community is assumed in this gift.  It is “our” Lord, not “my” Lord.  Of course, to be “our” Lord, I must also participate in a community where he is also “my” Lord, but it is the community that is given the gift, not the all-important “me.”

What I also realize is that the opposite of God’s gift is death.  Paul doesn’t say “eternal death” since that seems to be an oxymoron.  Dead is dead.  How long is dead?  If you’re dead, are you really counting?  The important point is not about punishment.  Paul doesn’t even mention punishment.  The important point is not being alive.  Life is what matters—to nearly all of us—and God provides life, packaged in His son, the Messiah who is our Lord.  This reminds me of Moses.  There is a way that leads to death.  There is a way that leads to life.  Choose life!  Don’t unwrap the package so quickly that you fail to see how it is delivered.

Topical Index:  in Christ, en Christos, Lord, eternal life, death, Romans 6:23